Today's Encouraging Word

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Jesus is like air to the lungs and water to a desert dweller. He is not a religious artifact. He’s not dead. He is alive. He is engaged and engaging. He is here now, changing lives all over this world this very moment. When He walked on earth He changed everything for everyday, for all time. What started then continues today. It can’t be stopped though many have tried. Jesus is the rock of redemption and His church will prevail. He is here in this moment with you, doing what He always does, calling you to a higher place, calling you to break free from convention and stop going to church and start being the church everywhere you go. Let’s be “Jesus people” again. Let’s be men and women whose hearts are captured, redeemed, renewed, enlivened, ignited, set fee! Let’s return to the revolution to be the change we want to see in the world!

David Foster
(from A Renegade's Guide to God)

It's Time To Become Who You Really Are

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L.D. Turner

In the Christian’s journey of faith it is foundational to understand the following biblical principles before we travel very far down the road of spiritual formation:

God has provided everything we need in order to develop and evolve spiritually. It seems he has done this in ways that are highly mysterious but also highly effective. One way of looking at it is that he has provided all that we will ever need on the spiritual level and also he has provided, through the person of the Holy Spirit, the power we need in order to contact these spiritual blessings and bring them down from the spiritual world and into manifestation in our daily lives.


Once we understand this fundamental reality, the logical questions now center on what our responsibilities are in this process. Some advocates of the “everything is by grace” school would insist there is nothing we can do to grow in the spiritual life, but even a minimal check of the reality of the situation would prove that position untenable. There is plenty for us to do as the process of our spiritual development, what is called our “sanctification,” is a joint venture.

Our part in this is first, to place ourselves into a position of receptivity and obedience. We can increase receptivity by practicing the classical spiritual disciplines, especially meditation, prayer, lectio divina, and contemplation. In terms of obedience, we do not need to make this process overly complicated. Most of God’s will for our lives in revealed in Sacred Scripture, but many of us ignore this aspect of obedience by looking for God’s “specific will,” which is fine, but can also be an exercise in self-absorption.

The other aspect of practical Christianity involves advancing God’s kingdom through service to others. That service, motivated by compassion and fueled by kindness is our main task. If we are to be truly obedient, we start right here.

So you see, here we have three aspects of practical faith before us:

Receptivity
Obedience
Service


The fourth element I might add to this is Sacred Character. The formation of sacred character is the goal of any path of spiritual formation. Sacred Scripture informs us that we have the mind of Christ and few of us it seems realizes just what a blessing this is. In addition to our own mind, we have operating in us the same mind that operated in Jesus when he walked the earth. We find that mind through quieting our own internal chatter enough to encounter Sacred Silence. The disciplines of meditation and especially contemplation are highly important here. It is through the transformative encounters we have with Sacred Silence and our Inner Light that the foundation stones for our journey of spiritual formation are laid. Encouraged by our increasing contact with the Divine Source, we are better equipped to walk boldly in the world and deal with the vicissitudes of life.

Sacred Character is synonymous with moral integrity. We know who we are, how we are supposed to live, and with the power of the Holy Spirit, we live consistently with those values. Sacred Character means that we have a highly developed, internalized worldview and concomitant value system and that we live accordingly. In this way, Sacred Character becomes a bridge that connects our receptivity and our obedience with our service to the world. Here, then, we have the dynamic of our four responses to God’s grace and equipping:

Receptivity
Obedience
Character
Service


If we seek a workable model of a person who integrated these four aspects of a dynamic relationship with the Father, we need look no further than Jesus. If ever a person was receptive and obedient to God, it was the Master. A deep, abiding sacred character was also evident in all Jesus said and did. And as far as service is concerned, Jesus gave us a great example in the 13th chapter of John when he introduced the disciples (and us) to the ministry of the towel.

I am certain you are aware of Paul's idea, repeated in one way or another throughout his correspondence with the fledgling churches, of the relationship between Jesus and God. Paul tells us that all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell in Christ, which meant that God and Jesus were in some mysterious way the same being. In the Jewish culture of his day, Paul was making an incredible claim here. Jews were not supposed to make any image of God and even to speak his name was considered a capital offense. Now, here was Paul echoing Jesus by implying that the great and mighty Jehovah was in essence a loving, creator who was not only the Father of Jesus, but was also Jesus himself. And the reverse was true. Jesus was not only a great teacher and a skilled Rabbi; He was not only a great healer and the leader of a band of shady-looking disciples; Jesus, according to Paul, was Jehovah Himself.

Standing alone, that sort of statement was enough to give the High Priest a major migraine. Paul, however, wasn't finished. In fact, he was just getting started. If you take a look at Ephesians 3:19, the Apostle tells the early church members that he prays "that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." (NSRV) Here Paul was pulling no punches; instead, he went straight for the knockout. Paul basically was saying that he prayed for and believed that, as Christians, the new believers were expected to become like Jesus.

No wonder the religious establishment saw Paul as a dangerous, if not demented, man. Equating Jesus with God was a reach. Saying that a human being could become like Jesus was beyond the pale of comprehension and acceptability.

Yet is precisely the character of Christ that we are charged to develop within ourselves. In order to accomplish this great mission we have a divine partner in the Holy Spirit and our Christian brothers and sisters for power, guidance, and support. An open, honest relationship with the Holy Spirit is where we must place our energies at this time, even though much confusion and lack of knowledge about the Holy Spirit exists. We are told by Jesus that the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, is where we are to focus our efforts for learning and guidance. Unfortunately, many of us refuse to get too close to the Spirit, as we operate primarily out of fear and ignorance.

Part of our process of appropriating the divine gifts already provided by God in the spiritual realm involves claiming them. This process is not so much “name it and claim it” as often espoused in the so-called “Prosperity Gospel,” but does involve a similar principle. We are not claiming something that is not rightfully ours, but instead, we are claiming the free gifts of grace provided to us and for us as joint heirs with Christ. In this sense, we do “name and claim,” – we name and claim what scripture tells us we should name and claim. In fact, if we fail to claim these free gifts of God’s grace we are, in essence, rejecting much of what Christ achieved on our behalf.

One other aspect of this also needs to be mentioned. By naming and claiming the gifts of character that are rightfully ours by virtue of our new status of being “in Christ,” we are not pushing God to act in our behalf and do our bidding. Instead, we are recognizing, accepting, and appropriating what God has already done through Christ. This may seem to be a subtle distinction, but it makes all the difference in the world. By recognizing and claiming our scriptural status as new creations in Christ, we are exercising our faith in God and praising him for what he has already accomplished.

Unlike the prosperity preachers, we are not turning God into some sort of cosmic bellhop who fetches at our command. Instead, by claiming his free gift of a new heart, a renewed mind, and a transformed character, we are recognizing God for what he is, a loving Father who has provided everything we will ever need to live the kind of life he desires for us.

As new creations in Christ, we are blessed indeed.

© L.D. Turner 2011/All Rights Reserved

Today's Encouraging Word

I hear non-Christians say, “I feel as though there is something more to life than I am currently experiencing.” What they are missing is God’s great salvation. But I also hear Christians say, “I feel as though there is something more to the Christian than I am currently experiencing.” They, too, are missing God’s great salvation. They have not understood what God accomplished on their behalf. Their hearts have never been opened to understand what motivated God when He chose to save them from their sins and cause them to be born again into the family of God…One of the first great truths concerning God’s salvation is found in John 6:44. Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” Jesus knew that God the Father must be active in drawing persons to Himself before they would ever know the joy of salvation. Have you understood how significant this statement is concerning your life? God has called you into a love relationship with Himself through Jesus Christ. In other words, you are special. You are the object of God’s calling. You did not choose Him; he chose you. You can count on it; your salvation began in the heart of God and the love relationship that He initiated is life-transforming and all-consuming.

Henry T. and Melvin D. Blackaby

(from A God Centered Church)

Dreams Require Faith and Courage

L. Dwight Turner

I think it is imperative that all Christians realize that fear is one of the tools Satan uses most often to keep dreams bottled up inside of us. How many times have you felt that God wanted you to take a certain action on his behalf but you failed to follow through because of fear? I know that in my own life, this sort of thing has happened more than I would like to admit. And if you get right down to the brass tacks of the matter, even if it happens one time – that is one time too often.

After much trial and error and fits of starting and stopping due to fear, I finally came to realize several things that were of immense help in overcoming these purpose-aborting fears. First, I came to understand and accept that having such fears is a fairly normal process. The problem comes in when the enemy takes these fears and magnifies them in the mind. The problems associated with following your God-given dream seem larger than they actually are. Once I realized this, just having the awareness that Satan was most likely magnifying the fear broke the spell. I came to understand that what I often thought was a mountain was in reality a mole hill.

Second, I came to the understanding that God would never plant a dream in my heart that he would not equip me to realize. You can trust this fact above all others: God wants you to succeed and will provide you with everything you need to realize your dream, if indeed it is a dream he planted within you. Just as the Lord built his church upon Peter, the Rock, and the gates of Hell itself could not prevail against it, so too will those dark forces be unable to prevail against your God-given dream.

One of the basic principles built into creation is that of “harmony.” All things, when they are in alignment with God’s will, work together in perfect harmonic rhythm. We can see this on a macrocosmic level when we look at galaxies, the solar system, and the natural world around us. The same principle operates on a microcosmic level as well. We see this aspect of God’s harmonics when we see how efficient our bodies work and on an even smaller level, how perfectly composed a single cell is. God is an amazing craftsman, creating all things in perfect balance. This is not some New Age airy-fairy principle, but instead, is a fundamental law with universal application.

How does this apply to our dreams? The answer is simple. When our dreams are in what I like to call “harmonic consonance” with God’s purpose and plan, we can trust that God will assist us in the process of bringing those dreams to fruition. Our “kingdom dreams” have their origins in God and he wants us to be successful in manifesting those kingdom dreams right here on the physical realm. God will not do the work for us. That is our part of the equation. But don’t be surprised if God arranges things in ways that you could have never expected. In fact, I have found that more often than not, God will arrange things in was better than I could have ever expected.

This doesn’t mean we won’t encounter resistance. We will. Chances are if your dreams are from God and are in harmonic consonance with his plans and purpose, you can count on trouble from the enemy camp. This, too, can be expected because Satan’s goals are the opposite of God’s plan and purpose. Still, we can take heart because the Master has achieved victory over the enemy and has placed within you the same power that raised Christ from the dead. With the Holy Spirit as your ally, you are on solid footing, indeed.

So step out in faith, my friend. Like Peter, step out of the boat and start walking. Just keep in mind to keep your eye on the Master and not on the waves. When you move forward in vibrant faith to pursue your dream, keep your focus on God and not on any problems that may arise. If you stay focused on God, you will find that solutions will manifest in unexpected ways. Keep your eyes of discernment open and be ready to act at the right time. Maybe in the past you hesitated and even halted because of your fears, both real and imagined. Those days are over. Jesus demonstrated through his life and his miracles that the rules of the game have changed. Trust that the Master means exactly what he says when he promises that you can and will do even greater things.

(c) L.D. Turner

Reflections on Faith, Hope, and the Christian Journey

L. Dwight Turner


“Faith” is one of those terms that get thrown around quite often in spiritual circles, especially Christian circles. The fact that faith gets talked about so much points to something extremely critical: whatever it is, faith is at the core of the Christian spiritual journey. We can see the centrality of faith in many ways, not the least of which is the fact that the whole undertaking of living as a Christian is often called a walk of faith.

The problem is, there seems to be a great deal of confusion out there about what faith is and what faith is not. Some see faith as synonymous with hope, while others see faith as pretty much the same thing as belief. Yet others, especially those of the Word of Faith movement, see faith as a physical substance, a kind of energy which can be molded and directed to respond to our wishes and desires. With all of these options out there, it is easy to see how Christians in general and new believers in particular can come up gasping for air whenever they get caught in the whirlpool of a discussion on faith.

I have found, however, that discussions of faith do not have to be so perplexing and, whenever I find a writer who puts forward teachings about “faith” in a straightforward and understandable manner, I feel obliged to share those teachings. Erwin Raphael McManus is one such writer. Recently, while noting several key passages in his book Wide Awake I reread some of his ideas of faith in general and the connection between faith, hope, and positive expectation in particular. As these three concepts are part of such a tightly interwoven pattern, I want to share with you in some detail a few of his passages on these critical themes, starting with:

A life of faith is a life of expectation. The book of Hebrews gives us snapshots of individuals who lived a life of expectation, internalized optimism, and refused to give up. We are called to emulate the lives of women and men who kept leaning into their future. Through their stories, we are given clues about how we can begin to expect more and live bigger than ourselves…..

McManus describes the Faith Hall of Fame from the 11th Chapter of Hebrews as folks who:

Lived lives of expectation

Possessed an internalized optimism

Refused to give up (tenacity)

Without elaborating too much on this from a personal perspective, suffice to say that I have found that this trio of character traits are essential to an effective Christian life. As Christians we have every right to be radically optimistic, based on the scriptural revelation of the God we serve. This optimism is more than fleeting, but instead, is internalized and forms part of the bedrock of our Christian worldview. It is this internalized worldview that forms the matrix through which we filter and interpret the events in our lives.

What I am saying here is this: we serve a God of integrity who has made promises to us that he cannot break. Further, he has demonstrated to us that he intends our greatest good to unfold and, from this, we can be both radically optimistic and expect good things to happen in our lives. When bad things happen, we can still remain optimistic and expect the best, because, again, God has promised this and will not lie to us. In fact he cannot lie to us. Thus, we can be very tenacious in pursuit of godly goals because we know deep in our hearts that:

.... God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose

At its core and depth, the Christian life is about living for something much greater than ourselves. It is not only about self-transcendence, although that is part of it, it is more about the death of self and rebirth into a much larger story than the petty dramas in which we lived before. We see this in the stories of the heroes of faith that we meet in Hebrews 11. The vital background of their lives is encapsulated in these words of scripture:

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what was seen was not made out of what was visible.

Speaking of the ancient faith of these biblical figures, McManus goes on to say:

A life of expectation is the result of living in the dynamic tension that exists between faith and hope. When you begin to live a life that integrates faith and hope, you begin to internalize optimism. Faith, we are told, is the substance of things hoped for. There is an interconnection between faith and hope.

As stated earlier, faith seems to be a somewhat nebulous commodity when it comes to definition. Yet it is this very faith that God has placed at the center of his plans of salvation, reconnection, resurrection, and restoration. According to scripture, faith is the dynamic catalyst for conversion, salvation, and even sanctification. Paul understood this clearly, as did most of the early church fathers, and most certainly Martin Luther and the reformers of the 16th Century.

Why is it that we have grown so confused about the centerpiece of God’s plans to restore this world to its proper alignment with his will and purpose? I think one reason for this is that more than a few teachers try to make “faith” fit their own agenda. They should know better and to tell you the truth, most of them do know better. Perhaps these “teachers and prophets” have yet to die to their own schemes and get on board God’s plan. Thus, we are bombarded in the Christian media and from the pulpit with concepts of faith that miss the mark. McManus continues:

We find that faith is different from what we oftentimes thought. Faith isn’t so much about having a big idea. Faith isn’t about how much belief you can muster up. Faith isn’t like spiritual childbirth, where you experience the pain of labor. It is not about trying to create the future by believing it will be so. Faith is not the Christian version of a wish. It is not about speaking something into reality. Faith is different. Faith is about substance. It’s about knowing what has not happened will certainly happen. Not because you will make it happen but because God has promised it will be so. It is a conviction about things unseen. It is the promise of a better world, a better future – a better you.

As you can see, the concept of faith espoused here by McManus is far different that much of what we see and hear today. Faith is not so much dependent upon who we are, but who God is. Faith is not so much concerned with what we say, or believe, or speak….it is more about what God has said and done. I firmly believe that God has already provided all that we can ever need to live the kind of holy, godly life to which we are called. I firmly believe that I can do exactly what God say I can do – again – not so much because of who I am, but because of who He is.
It is for these reasons that I can trust God and begin to lean into the future with confidence and even boldness, knowing that God has provided for my journey in ways both great and small. Returning to McManus:

Faith is about conviction, while hope is about confidence. Faith grounds us in the certainty of God’s faithfulness, and hope pulls us into the mystery of God’s future.

Think about it.

© L.D. Turner 2009/All Rights Reserved

A God of Purpose - A God of Provision

L. Dwight Turner

I am convinced that few of us truly understand our true potential as children of the Father of Lights, the Living God. By remaining ignorant of who and what we are, we end up limping through life rather than soaring. We end up settling for scraps from the table when we should, in fact, own the table and the house that it sits in.

For many years I either failed to understand the blessings of the full gospel or I misunderstood it. Either way, I wasted a lot of time thinking I knew what I was talking about when, in fact, I didn’t. I would be greatly saddened if that happened to you and this, my friend, is one of the main catalysts that gave birth to Sacred Mind Ministries. God etched upon my heart the need for sound teaching and quality educational materials that would foster deeper awareness of the Christian’s true potential and identity “in Christ.” Further, I began to understand that the primary purpose of having this blessed gift of a new identity and new personal power in Christ is to assist in the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth. It is to this mission that we at SMM remain committed.

Understanding our true identity is intimately connected with the realization of our divine potential. These issues are among the deeper things God, working through the Holy Spirit, wants to impart to us. All we need to receive these vital revelations is an open mind and a receptive heart. We don’t need to wait until we arrive in heaven to gain awareness of these gifts – in fact, by the time we get to heaven we will have already been utilizing our divine power here on earth for many years. Dr. Myles Munroe speaks clearly to these themes:

God has prepared so many deep things about who we are. Our eyes can’t see them, nor can our minds conceive them, yet God is revealing them to us through His Spirit. God doesn’t want us to wait until heaven to know our full potential. He didn’t give birth to us so we can develop our potential in heaven…..God wants us to realize here on this planet who we are. That is His purpose in creating us. We need the Holy Spirit because eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, nor has it entered the minds of men who man really is. Only the Holy Spirit searches “the deep things of God.”…..God beckons you to take another step into a deeper, more relevant knowledge of your potential in Christ – Though you may have been saved for years. You need to take this step because you still don’t know who you are.

You see, friends, most of us claiming to be followers of Christ are well intended but poorly equipped to make those intentions a reality in daily living. This statement is not intended to be a criticism of the modern church or a slap in the face of well-meaning Christians who are committed to bringing God’s kingdom out of the spiritual realm and making it manifest right here on earth. Instead, I say these words because they are true. Most of us do not have a clue as to what we can do to not only make our lives more fruitful and productive, but also to bring success to the calling that God has placed in each of our hearts.

The good news is, however, that we serve a God of purpose and provision. The Father of Lights has a well-planned purpose for this world which involves redemption and restoration. He is proactive in redeeming what was lost in the Garden and, joined at the hip of this plan of redemption, is the reality of restoration. Each of us, and that includes you and me, are being redeemed for the purpose of restoring God’s will on earth as it is in heaven. We are being redeemed in order to bring about the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth.

Please note that I use the word “redeemed” not just in the past tense, but in the sense of an ongoing process. We were indeed redeemed when we acknowledged and accepted Christ for who and what he was and is, but it doesn’t stop there. The process of redemption continues and goes deeper and deeper as our bodies, our minds, our wills, and our spirits, become properly aligned with those of the Master. In essence, we were given new life and a new identity at our second birth. Now each of us is in the process of growing into that life in increasing measure. The goal is that we have, as Paul so aptly puts it, the “full measure of Christ” within us.

We are given this new life, this new status, and this new power for the primary purpose of continuing the incarnation that we saw so vividly in the life of Jesus. The Master announced the coming of the kingdom and then proceeded to go about the work of making it manifest in this world. And hear this, he charged us with the task of carrying on where he left off. Furthermore, he sent the Holy Spirit to live in us, empower us, and guide us forward in that holy process. God not only has given us a calling and a purpose, he has provided the power we need to meet that purpose and make it a living reality.

In 2 Peter 1:4 we are told that God has put us in a position where we can share in his divine nature. No, that doesn’t mean he has made us Gods, or even little gods as some have suggested. It does mean, however, that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead now resides in each of us. The Father of Lights, as stated earlier, is not only a God of purpose, but also a God of provision, enabling us to meet the challenges of doing those things that he has called us to do. Friends, if you can understand that principle, make it yours through faith, and take action based on it, you can succeed at any God-directed, God-ordained calling.

The Essence of Spirituality: Radical Compassion

L. Dwight Turner

Jesus Christ was not a man of compassion; he was a man of radical compassion. From his voluntary mission to this broken world, to his mysterious ascension back into the heavenly realm, there was no theme he stressed more in both word and deed. From his opening salvo quoting Isaiah about bringing release to the captives and good news to the poor, to his dying plea of, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” Jesus exemplified a compassion far beyond what the world had seen before. Indeed, it was and is a radical compassion.

Jesus’ stories about the Prodigal, the Good Samaritan, and his treatment of the woman caught in adultery all point to the need for a compassion that transcends the normal boundaries defined by contemporary culture, then and now. Indeed, it was and is a radical compassion.

Five-hundred years before Jesus, another prophet of radical compassion graced our world. Gautama Buddha was an example of grace and perfect love incarnate. After finding his awakening under the Bodhi tree, the Buddha went about spreading the truth that he had discovered, a truth that when astutely applied to life, could liberate beings from endless rounds of suffering. Just as with Jesus who would come later, Buddha taught through sermons, informal talks, parables, and above all, his actions.

Just as Christ would later set an example for his disciples to follow, the Buddha also would serve as the divine prototype for the essence of “metta,” or “loving-kindness.” In Metta, there is an internal manifestation and an external manifestation. Internally, increasing feelings of loving kindness give rise to a vital sense of compassion that is also based on the realization of the oneness of all things. These internal states of loving kindness and compassion result in the external manifestation, which is proactive service to the world.

This eventually gave rise to the Mahayana Buddhist ideal of the Bodhisattva. On a theoretical level, one can accurately say that the ultimate goal of the Bodhisattva is enlightenment and to some extent this is true. However, on a highly practical level, the Bodhisattva’s highest goal is selfless service. Personal enlightenment takes a back seat to serving others, spiritually and materially. Perhaps no where in the sacred writings of the world is this reality presented so directly as in the 13th Chapter of the Gospel of John.

Radical compassion is compassion with legs; radical compassion is a verb. Just as the Bible tells us in the Letter of James that faith without works is dead, also, compassion without concomitant action is a lifeless phenomenon. Many sincere aspirants have the mistaken notion that the ultimate goal of the spiritual path is enlightenment. Although a sincere desire for motivation is one of our most treasured possessions, it is actually penultimate. The real aim of the spiritual journey is simply this – Sacred Service. All that we do is dedicated to the greatest good of all beings in all the worlds. Our gain is their gain, our loss is their loss, our advancement is their advancement, and it is to this sacred reality that we offer our benedictions at the end of our times of meditation and prayer.

In the Christian faith especially, personal enlightenment takes a back seat to serving others, spiritually and materially. Perhaps no where in the sacred writings of the world is this reality presented so directly as in the 13th Chapter of the Gospel of John.

Imagine for a moment that you are one of Jesus’ twelve disciples and you, your band of rag tag friends, and the Master arrive at the Upper Room after a long, tedious, dusty day going about your business. You sit for a moment to catch your breath and unwind a few moments before you go wash up for the evening meal. You close your eyes for a few minutes, only to feel something or someone taking off your sandals. And to your utter disbelief, kneeling in front of you is the Master Jesus with a basin and a towel. Incredible….

The Master taught his disciples, and all of us who have read of this amazing episode, a clear and concise example of the essence of spirituality: selfless service with a heart of humility. If only more of us, especially those who claim to be followers of Jesus, would take this lesson to heart, our world would have much less pain.

The Kingdom of God is a divine realm of proactive compassion. This is the message that Jesus came to deliver and through his actions as well as his words, he delivered it consistently. In all that he did and he said, Jesus revealed to us the nature of God. This incarnational revelation was hinted at in the Master’s magnificent prayer in John 17. In the 21st verse the Master says:

I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one – as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

In the Bible’s most well known verse, John 3:16, it is stated that for God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life. (NLT)

Now, to make this even clearer, let’s look at one more verse in John 17. In verse three John records:

And this is the way to have eternal life, to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. (NLT)

Putting all this together, Jesus gave us a powerful but very real theology in this prayer and his disciple, John, fully caught its significance by saying in 3:16 that God loved the world so much that he sent his Son to save it. On God’s part, this was a perfect example of “proactive compassion” or what we often call “grace.” Motivated by the purest form of love, God was moved to have compassion on we fallen creatures, even in our blind ignorance, and he literally gave that compassion flesh by sending us the Master Jesus.

In order for compassion to become more than just a nice idea or a sentimental feeling, it must flow out of the internalized wisdom of the ages, particularly as related to the reality of “interconnectivity.” The idea of interconnectivity, now confirmed by the field of quantum physics, has been around for many centuries and is at the core of interspiritual mysticism, that one aspect of world religion that seems to transcend culture, time, and especially theology. It is a mystical connectedness that promotes compassion and engaged action to make the world a better place for all who dwell here. In essence, it is a deep wisdom that gives flesh to grace. The great spiritual writer Kahil Gibran spoke of this interconnected reality when he said:

Your neighbor is your other self dwelling behind a wall. In understanding, all walls shall fall down. Who knows but that your neighbor is your better self wearing another body? See that you love him as you would yourself. He too is a manifestation of the Most High.

In India, for example, we have the story of Indra’s Net, which is strung throughout the universe with a precious jewel at the places where the cords of the net intersect. These jewels, in turn, reflect all of the other jewels. Similar to the modern discovery of the hologram, the image of Indra’s Net is filled with symbolic wisdom depicting the interconnectivity of all that is. Gary Zukav, in his groundbreaking book entitled, The Dancing Wu Li Masters tell us:

…the philosophical implications of quantum mechanics is that all things in our universe (including us) that appears to exist independently are actually parts of one all-encompassing organic pattern, and that no parts of that pattern are ever really separate from it or from each other.

In the Christian tradition, the writings of the great mystic teachers echo these same truths, often in symbolic and metaphorical ways. Julian of Norwich especially comes to mind as well as Hildegard of Bingen and Madame Guyon. The writings of Saint Theresa of Avila and the life and work of St. Francis also point to the interconnectivity of all life and the necessity of having a heart of radical compassion.

The great Romantic poets like William Wordsworth and Percy B. Shelley have voices that ring loudly with the sense of the interrelated aspects of the natural world and their American counterparts, the Transcendentalists, in the writings of Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman, also echo this theme of divine connectivity. And then there is the work of that master of the arcane, William Blake who spoke of the mystic’s ability:

To see a World in a grain of sand,
And Heaven in a wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour.

The world that we interact with each day only appears to be solid. In point of fact, it is an intricate dance of sub-atomic waves and particles that obey none of the traditional or expected moves of predictable choreography. At its core level, our apparently solid, material world is less like classical music and more like jazz. Just when we think we have a handle on how things are, these very things change, morphing into something totally unexpected and often totally mysterious. Someone wise, I forget who, once said the life is not a riddle to be solved but a mystery to be lived. How true, and the sooner a person grasps this fundamental truth, the less frustration will appear in his or her life.

It is not my intention to travel too far down this road of quantum physics at this juncture. Suffice to say that contemporary science is increasingly coming to grasp the same fundamental truths that mystics and shamans have voiced for many centuries. Simply put: Everything is interrelated and interdependent and when one part is affected by something, at a very core level, every other part is also impacted.

In teaching about the interrelated aspect of the universe, I often use a simple analogy that explains these principles in a basic way. I use the example of raisin Jell-o. Imagine you have concocted a delicious tub or raisin Jell-o. Choose your favorite flavor if you like. The raisins are the important thing, here. Now, what happens when you take your index finger and thump one of the raisins? All the raisins move. Crude as this metaphor is, it makes the point that all the raisins in the bowl are connected and if one raisin moves, they all move. This is what the mystics, and the quantum physicists, are talking about when they speak of interconnectivity.

Christian writer and teacher Elizabeth Elliot, looking at God’s wondrous creation with both attentiveness and wisdom, grasps the profundity of this theme of interconnectedness and how it illustrates a foundation of commonality between humans and other species in God’s creation:

The closer one comes to the center of things, the better able he is to observe the connections. Everything created is connected, for everything is produced by the same mind, the same love, and is dependent on the same Creator. He who masterminded the universe, the Lord God Omnipotent, is the One who called the stars into being, commanded light, spoke the Word that brought about the existence of time and space and every form of matter: salt and stone, rose and redwood, feather and fur and fin and flesh. The titmouse and the turkey answer to Him. The sheep, the pig, and the finch are His, at His disposal, possessed and known by Him…We too are created, owned, possessed, known.

As the church moves into the second decade of the 21st Century it has already become apparent that great changes are in the wind. I feel some of these changes are connected with an increased understanding of how God’s magnificent creation is put together in this incredible holographic manner in which each part contains the totality of the whole and every aspect of his world exists in an interdependent relationship with every other part. This is no romantic sentimentalism I am speaking of. Instead, it is a living, vibrant reality that, when one takes it to heart, changes everything. For the church, the message of the gospel become less of “let me show you the way,” and more of “What do you need?”

This move toward proactive compassion is a move of grace. Perhaps you are not accustomed to looking at grace that way, but grace is what we are dealing with. As stated earlier, a major part of Christ’s incarnation and our ongoing mission is to give flesh to grace. Caroline Myss makes this cogent observation in her book, Invisible Acts of Power:

What really happens inside you when you respond to someone in need? Why do some people jump out of their seats to help another person, while others look the other way? No doubt, some people have been taught to be kind and others may be naturally thoughtful. But I think something greater than compassion or good manners is at work, something beyond the motivation of the strong to help the weak or the wealthy to help the poor. I think it is the invisible power of grace, moving between the open hearts of give and receiver. The action itself, the lifting of a heavy piece of luggage or the drink of water offered to the thirsty man, may be small. But the energy that is channeled through that action is the high-voltage current of grace. It contains the power to renew someone’s faith in himself. It even has the power to save a life.

It should not be too difficult of an intellectual jump to see why this concept of interrelated reality should lead to a true and radical sense of compassion. What happens to me in the ultimate sense, happens to you and vice versa. When a child dies of hunger or disease in a poverty stricken nation, some part of each of us dies. We may not feel it, understand it, or even recognize it. Still, it is a fundamental spiritual and quantum truth. It is wise to remember the words of the 17th Century poet John Donne as he spoke of the custom of the time which involved ringing the town’s bell whenever someone died:

Any man’s death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind;
Therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.

© L.D. Turner 2009/All Rights Reserved

The Blessings of God's Presence

L. Dwight Turner

For many years in my spiritual walk I wandered in the wilderness, seeking answers down many avenues and not a few dark alleyways. I often felt bewildered, alone, without direction and devoid of guidance. All too often I found myself isolated at a spiritual dead end, trumpeting loudly in my heart like an elephant at a dried out waterhole. I often felt abandoned by God and spiritually exhausted. I was burned out, burned down, and, more times than I care to admit, so despondent that I wanted to take the whole spiritual quest and toss it once and for all. But now, in retrospect, I can see God's hand in each dark alley I stumbled down. I can see his caring guidance in each barren and arid well. For in each of these wanderings I learned much. I gained not only knowledge that has proved useful in many areas of life, but also obtained an experiential understanding of what Solomon meant when he said so many of our pursuits, even the most noble ones, are chasing after the wind. Most significantly, the Holy Spirit gave me the awareness that in my times of despair and what I thought was spiritual failure, I had not failed completely.

I only failed to hear the voice.

What voice? The same voice that accompanied Moses and his large band of followers in their forty years of wandering in the wilderness. The voice that whispered the comforting words that would have filled my empty heart with a glimmer of hope. The voice that said, "I am with thee".

The Creator and Sustainer, the God of All Comfort led the wandering Israelites through the barren landscape, always remaining faithful in his promise to lead them into the land of plenty. He remained with them, in spite of their lack of fidelity, in spite of their disobedience, in spite of their seeking comfort in places and things other than Himself. "I am with thee", he said and surely he was. How much more is he with us now? Has God changed? No. Has he altered his promise? No. Has he withdrawn his covenant to lead us into the Promised Land? No.

In fact, since the Incarnation he is with us more than ever. The angel of the Lord announced to Joseph, "They shall call his name Emmanuel,” God with us. How much more is God now with us, even in our meandering faithlessness and spiritual adultry? No less than he was with the Israelites. In fact, he is now with us in a new and more glorious way. He lived among us and left one-third of himself to reside in each and every one of us. It is to this God who we are called to consecrate our lives. The call to us is the same as the call in those days of old. We are called to trust in the God who is with us.

Again, Hannah Smith says it so cogently:

God is everywhere present in His universe, surrounding everything, and sustaining everything, and holding all of us in His safe and blessed keeping……We cannot drift from the love and care of an ever-present God. And those Christians who think He has forsaken them, and who cry out for His presence, are crying out in ignorance of the fact that He is always and everywhere present with them. In truth they cannot get out of His presence, even should they try.

The message in these words by Smith, as well as in the adventures of the Jewish people in the wilderness serve to bring home to us the fact that God is always there whether we perceive his presence or not. He is there with us in times of trial and in times of blessing; in the darkness before the dawn and in the brilliant light of midday; in the brittle and barren moments of spiritual aridity and the lush and lovely times when we feel awash in the everlasting waters. He is, indeed, Emmanuel – God with us.

Given the realities of the pressure-packed, fast-paced world in which we daily go about our business, it is an easy affair to forget God’s presence. I know this is true in my own life and I suspect, from time to time, this sense of God’s absence is a universal experience. It is a vital blessing and a comfort to know and trust that, even in those times when we think the Lord has gone on Sabbatical, that his live-giving presence is as close as our own breath and our own heartbeat. It is so easy to overlook this reality and yet it is so crucial that we keep coming back to the awareness, revealed not only in scripture, but in the experience of countless saints and in the traditions of the church in all its flavors, that God is right there with us.

Often our sense of God’s absence is brought about by external factors such as stress, pressures from family, work, or friends, or the myriad responsibilities we all face in trying to make ends meet in a world that demands much from us. At other times, however, we avoid God’s presence if at all possible. Take Jonah, for example. God had a clear mission for Jonah to accomplish yet Jonah wanted no part of it. He chose to flee God rather than face him. God directed Jonah in one direction and he went double-time in the opposite way. The results were predictable because God is there, even when we don’t want him to be. Perhaps nowhere is this reality more clearly penned than in the words of David in Psalm 139:

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there?
If I make my be in Sheol, you are there.

If I take the wings of the morning
And settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
Even there your hand shall lead me,
And your right hand shall hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
And the light around me become night,”
Even the darkness is not dark to you;
The night is as bright as the day,
For darkness is as light to you.

(Psalm 139: 7-12 NRSV)

I take great comfort in the promise that God is there at all times, whether I want him or not. You see, the reality is that I want him far more than I don’t. I have come to understand that even thought there may be things that I want to hide from God from time to time, it is in my best interest not to hide them. And beyond this, I could not hide them, even if I wanted to.

God is described by Paul as “the God of all comfort,” and to my way of thinking, one of the greatest comforts is the fact he is always present, no matter what I am going through. We could ask for no greater resource than this. Jesus clearly understood this when he made this promise to his disciples (and to us) shortly before he ascended into heaven:

“And be sure of this, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20 NLT)

(c) L.D. Turner 2008/ All Rights Reserved