Love and freedom

"If you spend a good amount of time around religious folk you soon begin to pick up on the fact that most of their focus and energy is upon being good. In order to achieve this goal they have built their individual and collective way of relating upon form. A set of rules and regulations that when kept do produce a temporary feeling of being good. This of coarse also comes with a side dish of fear and the realization that if you fail to keep up the rules you are no longer good. Leaving the evil religious empire we walk out into the realm of the secular world. Here we find the focus is not on being good, especially (your version of what that means), but instead on feeling good. Pleasure seems to be the highest rung on the ladder. For someone fleeing the strict rules of religion this can feel like the ultimate freedom. And though there is an allowance to participate in many things once forbidden you get the sense that you have traded on small jail cell for a much larger one. As I have observed these things in my own own life and in those around me I have found that in both you can have powerful experiences that touch things deep inside and as these are awakened they demand more from those systems than they are able to give. For me the freedom that I desire has not been found in form i.e.,the strict adherence to rules of men or in feeling i.e., the pursuit of what fulfills my senses, but in faith. Faith here is simply the belief that there is something apart from myself and those systems that can and has met my deepest longings. That which both the world and religion have awakened but failed to satisfy.The freedom it produces is not a freedom from religion or from this world but from myself. A freedom from a self centered life. A freedom from those deep longings that are motivating every human being as they strive to be good and to feel good.It seems for me that when I find this foundation beneath my feet the world and religion loose their hold over me and I can see clearly to move about and make rational decisions rather than feeling like a junkie looking for his next fix."

- Rodney Stepp

Yes, living a fulfilling and satisfying life would entail avoiding both extremes of religion/asceticism (trying to be good by following rules and rituals) and secular hedonism (trying to feel good by seeking sensual pleasures continually to find fulfilment). As the post noted, religion makes people temporarily happy when they think they obey the rules and miserable when they think they fail to be good. While secular hedonism may seem better, it doesn't satisfy one's deepest longings permanently. 

The middle path therefore is practising non-attachment to self and living a life knowing we are already loved and seeking the highest good of all. The pleasure that comes with seeking highest good is a complementary by-product. The act of loving and seeing others helped and blessed and uplifted is a pleasure and reward in and of itself.

 

 

Faith and doubt are parts of the human experience

"The one who commits themselves to the task of helping people really enter into doubt, unknowing, and ambiguity needs to be ten, twenty, even a hundred times better than those who sell certainty. They have got to be prepared to walk a difficult and often a dangerous path if they wish to invite people into this murky and uncertain world, for doing so they bring to the surface a whole host of anxieties that we spend so much of our time and resources repressing"~ Peter Rollins

I think as we grow to accept our humanity, with all our emotions of happiness, sadness, peace and doubts, we tend to relate to others who are open and authentic. Recently, I was reading this blog, and I can relate to the writer in this observation:

"In the past decade, I have read more than my fair share of self-help books.
Though I’ve enjoyed the ones with countless action steps and workbook sheets to change my life, I’ve felt the most moved and inspired by honest, personal stories of overcoming adversity."

I myself felt most moved and inspired by honest, personal stories of overcoming adversity whenever I read inspirational materials because I find that I can relate to them better in the light of my own experiences, and take comfort in the fact that I am not alone in facing my own struggles and doubts. It also inspires me to come to terms with my own feelings, and form my own conclusions and find my own answers in life, instead of feeling obliged to follow a certain formula.

I also agree with the interviewee in the blog on this:

"I was also worried that I’d come off as self-indulgent, but all of my teachers explained that healing from my own pain would make me more compassionate to the suffering of others. I try to build that awareness all the time now."

Yes, healing from my own pain also enables me to be more compassionate to the suffering of others, and I am also learning to build that awareness all the time now.

Here's sharing this blog, which I learnt about the differences between a leader and a friend.

"The reality is that I am no wiser than them; I just happen to publicize the things I observe and learn on a given day. And much like them, I sometimes need a little help accessing the answers within.

Maybe that’s what it means to really help people—to help them help themselves.
None of us has it all figured out, and maybe we never will.
Acknowledging this, to me, is the difference being having followers and friends. With followers, you lead the way. With friends, you support them in discovering it for themselves."

I think it is perhaps unfortunate that in the christian circles, a number of preachers tend to see themselves more as leaders than as friends. As a result, they think they have to lead the way all the time, and end up telling the congregation what to do (or believe). Such sermons usually become dry and formulaic, as in reality there are no seven steps to achieving a better life and becoming happy. Also, from what I heard in a church institution, the preacher feels that he should look happy the moment he steps up on stage, regardless of what went on in his own life, whether it be an argument with his wife earlier that morning before going to the church building or some other challenge, so that he will be able to focus on preaching a faith-inducing sermon to help raise other people's faith.

I feel that while this might be well-intentioned at first, it can inadvertently become a subtle form of legalism because the people in the congregation may feel that they also have to follow the preacher's example and act as if they have faith all the time. It can become a performance-based living, and instead of helping people in the long run, it may even cause some people to feel disappointed with themselves for not being able to match the preacher's level of faith.

Perhaps a better way for preachers/teachers to help people is to treat them as friends rather than as followers, by giving them the space and time to discover the way for themselves. For example, Rob Bell prefers to let people think for themselves and come to their own conclusions about their faith instead of giving them certain answers to follow without questioning. I think that is a better way of helping people help themselves, so to speak.

After all, we all are already spiritual and we don't need to become spiritual. I realise our journey in life is to become more human instead - to embrace our humanness in all its fullness.

I think one reason that christian evangelical preachers tend to focus so much on faith is not because they have a lot of faith themselves, but because they are trying to have faith in their own lives. In other words, I am beginning to think that the "faith movement" is actually motivated by fear. This is somewhat ironic because one would think that if a preacher talks a lot about faith, it means he is a man of great faith. This is not necessarily so, because when I looked back at the sermons I used to listen to, I recalled that the preachers tend to use old testament examples, such as how the children of Israel could not enter the promised land because they did not have faith and doubted their "god". So maybe these preachers were afraid that they also could not enter the promised land themselves because they thought the promised land was referring to a physical place called heaven.

Yet I have come to learn that we are all already in the promised land - it is the kingdom of heaven within us, not some physical place to go to after we die. In fact, I realise there is no such distinction between "believers" and "unbelievers" today because these are only labels in the old covenant mindset. When the old covenant of law system became obsolete in AD70, the symbolic lake of fire would destroy all the old Adamic identities that existed in the separation mindset, including "fearful, unbelieving, murderers, etc". In the new covenant mindset, there is only one true identity - Love. We no longer see one another (and ourselves) from the worldly point of view, for the old has passed away, and the new has come - we are all new creations, made in Love's image, and our minds are renewed to see this truth restored in our lives.

Faith, then, is not something we do or have; faith is who we are. So, in our day and age, our "faith" does not make us "believers", and our "doubt" does not make us "unbelievers". Since every human being would experience ups and downs as well as moments of faith and doubt in real life, it doesn't mean that each person keeps changing from "believer" to "unbeliever" and back again. Hence, the labels "believer" and "unbeliever" are simply man-made concepts. To me, the truth remains that we are all spiritual beings on a human journey, and whether we experience faith or doubt, happiness or sadness, etc does not change the truth that we are all beloved children of God/Unconditional Love/Universe.

The deep things of God

"The kind of faith Jesus invites us into doesn't skirt the big questions about topics like God and Jesus and salvation and judgment and heaven and hell, but takes us deep into the heart of them." --LOVE WINS Rob Bell

I suppose we are all designed to have an inquiring heart - Jesus himself was found asking questions in the temple when he was 12 years old. It looks like Jesus understands our innate hunger and thirst for the deep things in life, and in this respect, the kind of faith Jesus invites us would involve deep questions about God, Jesus, salvation, judgement, heaven and hell. I remember Jesus challenged his disciples to answer his question "who do you say that I am?" I believe he would want every one in every generation to think about this question as well because it is a key to finding answers to those big questions. It is also a question that each person has to answer for oneself and not go by what others say about him.

I am reflecting that we all have the spirit who is the candle of the Lord, searching the deep things of God, like the woman sweeping the whole house for that lost coin. I understand Jesus' question in terms of knowing his true identity, which in turn is about knowing ourselves. As Aristotle put it, knowing ourselves is the beginning of all wisdom. Hence, when we know who Jesus is, we know our true self and origin.

When we see our true identity in the image and likeness of Christ, we see God, for he who has seen him has seen the Father. Thus we see ourselves as one with the Father, as Jesus is one with him. Thus knowing ourselves, as I understand it, is the beginning of wisdom to find our own answers to the other big questions on salvation, judgement, heaven and hell.

At this point of my journey, I see salvation in terms of awakening to our innocence and know who I really am. Judgement to me is a matter of evaluating my value and worth in the light of my true identity - this is the boldness we have in the day of judgment, for as he is, so are we in this world.

Heaven is the state of being when we are like little children, not knowing good or evil, who simply live in the warm embrace of the presence of love, and living in the present. Jesus said to the religious Jews that unless they become like little children, they will by no means enter (or experience) the kingdom of heaven. He also said the kingdom of heaven does not come by observation but is within us.

Hell, as I have learnt, is simply a state of ignorance, as Jesus said to Peter that upon the rock of our true identity he will build the church (who are called out of darkness) and the gates of hell (ignorance) shall not prevail against the church. We shall awake from the illusion of separation and overcome fear, guilt and condemnation.

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, and it is the glory of man to search out a matter, as proverbs says. The kind of faith Jesus invites us would involve searching out the deep things of God and in the process, we discover more about ourselves, which will determine the quality of our life on earth, such as how much of heaven we will experience on earth, as in how we all can live a life of love, grace and acceptance.

Be aware of how you feel at all times

"Be aware of how you feel at all times. Your feelings will point out where the subconscious blockages of pain are."-Jason Hairston

 I suppose being aware of how we feel at all times is part of living and being in the present moment, practising mindfulness and meditation. We can watch our feelings pass by, just as we observe our thoughts come and go, like passing clouds in the sky, without necessarily engaging or acting upon our thoughts or feelings. Our feelings may or may not be validated, depending on how we perceive things, since I learnt that life is a matter of perception. I am not sure what the quote meant by subconscious blockages of pain - if they refer to guilt and regrets about the past, I would say it is only human to experience such feelings, since we all tend to do some self-reflection and wish we could have done something better (I tend to do self-evaluation from time to time, such as in the area of my work). 

 I believe even as we embark on this inner journey, it is also good to remember that our past - whether shortcomings or achievements - does not define us since our true identity is based on that which is unchanging and eternal - beloved, blameless, beautiful and perfect spiritual beings on a human journey - we are here to have a human experience. This is how we can reconcile to our highest self (the Father) whenever we come home and remember who we really are and awake to our innocence, being embraced in divine unconditional love. Being aware of our feelings at all times thus becomes a meditation practice in which we make peace with ourselves, and experience inner bliss. 

As the verse goes, "Having been made righteous by faith (awakening to our true identity of innocence and perfection and wholeness), we have peace with God (our highest self) through our Lord Jesus Christ (representative of our human race, our true identity), in whom we have access in this grace (divine favour) through faith." We can continue to expect wonderful things to happen to us because we are beloved and precious children of the universe.

"Behold, now is the day of salvation. Now is the time of favour." Every day is a good day because we are accepted in the Beloved.

How do we overcome the illusion of separation in the material realm?

"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other." --Mother Teresa

I asked a question in Yahoo Answers recently: Since we are living in a material dimension which causes us to have an illusion of separation and false identity, how do we walk by faith and not by sight in this world?
 
We all need spiritual eyes to see beyond the illusion and realise we are all one and not separate from one another. Though each of us is unique and different, we are all one in divine love and are interconnected and interdependent. I like the quote by Mother Teresa too - to realise our connectedness is to have peace in this world as we would seek to love others as ourselves, and love ourselves as others.

Daily Meditation: Signposts on the Way to God

 How do we know about God's love, God's generosity, God's kindness, God's forgiveness?  Through our parents, our friends, our teachers, our pastors, our spouses, our children ... they all reveal God to us.  But as we come to know them, we realise that each of them can reveal only a little bit of God.  God's love is greater than theirs; God's goodness is greater than theirs;  God's beauty is greater than theirs.

At first we may be disappointed in these people in our lives.  For a while we thought that they would be able to give us all the love, goodness, and beauty we needed.  But gradually we discover that they were all signposts on the way to God.
- Henri Nouwen

I think this is a gracious view of the various people in our lives, including pastors. I have come to see that while I can be grateful for pastors who have contributed in my life, in terms of preaching the gospel of grace and unveiling God as our loving Father, I am also learning to see them as humans who are subject to fallibility.

As I am growing and learning new things beyond mainstream christianity, I have grown out of my former church pastor's teachings. When I look back at the institutional church system from the outside, I begin to see that it has pros and cons. The upside is that it favours those who are part of the system, as the members get to enjoy the privilege of fellowship. The downside is that it draws a clear distinction between those who are "in" and those who are "out" of the system.

For example, those who do not subscribe to a particular church system's teachings are seen as "apostates" or "heretics". This is especially so if the church institution leaders are insecure and feel threatened by what is seen as a challenge to their "authority".

Secondly, megachurch pastors tend to be regarded as celebrities, who are usually too busy or important to address queries and needs of the church members. They would usually delegate the tasks to their appointed leaders and deacons. While having a busy schedule is understandable, we can't help remembering Jesus for being different from most megachurch pastors. Jesus made time for everyone, regardless of their social status, whether be they Roman centurions or fishermen or widows or Samaritans.  Jesus sees and treats everyone as equal.

Thirdly, I have ceased to be reliant on church pastors to feed me with daily manna. Maybe the fivefold ministry of apostles, evangelists, teachers, preachers and pastors are only applicable in the old covenant system of law during Paul's time in the first century AD. Once the new heavens and new earth began in AD70, as the new covenant of grace took effect, we no longer need a preacher to teach us about God. After all, the new covenant said "None shall teach his neighbour 'Know the Lord', for all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest."

Therefore, everyone knows God intuitively. Everyone can listen to the still, small voice of God for himself or herself. We may learn from others when they share their insights about God and their encounters with God, but we can only truly experience God for ourselves.

I have come to see the danger of depending solely on a preacher to share about God because we can become confined to or restricted by the preacher's own theological box. Besides, by doing so, we would be subjecting ourselves to the mood swings and emotional experiences and religious sensibilities of the preacher. What if the preacher gets up one Sunday morning and decides that God is displeased with him about something, and he starts to preach a message that focuses on sin management? This will invariably affect the minds and emotions of the listeners.

Fourthly, megachurch pastors are probably more susceptible to becoming a victim of their own success, so to speak, if we were to measure success by their popularity, compared to pastors of smaller ministries and denominations. Some of them may have started well when they preach grace at the expense of themselves being criticised by more legalistic preachers. But the moment they become well-known, they may become addicted to fame and recognition.

What happens when people around the world experience spiritual awakening and start questioning traditional doctrines on the literal hell, rapture, literal second coming of Christ and penal substitutionary theory of the cross? Are the same pastors willing to bear the costs of exploring these questions and display intellectual honesty to admit they might be mistaken in their interpretation of the Bible if they were to consider certain principles, such as time references, audience relevance and symbolism used in the Bible? The costs of being intellectually honest may include being ostracised by the mainstream church circles, losing support of their peers, losing church membership, being labelled as heretics, and experiencing their own spiritual crisis, not to mention the risk of losing their regular income in the process, along with their comfortable lifestyles.

"There are few things more dangerous than inbred religious certainty.”
― Bart D. Ehrman 

At the same time, I do not want to come across as being judgmental, because as the saying goes, when I judge someone, it reflects more about me than about the other person. Besides, if I were to be in their shoes, would I be certain I would not have made similar decisions and faced similar dilemmas? I have been "unconscious" myself in the past as I was also involved in mainstream christianity for several years, and I used to think such church doctrines and programmes were "normal".

Then again, I would not be true to myself if I were to close my eyes to what is happening in the world today. Maybe there is a fine balance between making an observation and making a judgment. By being aware of what is happening, and by questioning the status quo, I may be helping both myself and others to come to terms with the whys behind the whats. In this case, I am questioning why the church institutional systems, particularly mega church institutions, are continuing to function the way they do (as corporate entities) and the preachers seem unwilling to question doctrines that are based on the illusion of separation (such as literal hell and literal second coming of Christ and sin and penal substitution). Perhaps this is a question only the preachers can answer for themselves honestly.

As for me, I am still growing and evolving. I have come to a place where I think everyone needs to have the freedom to explore spirituality on their own and come to their own conclusion. Each of us is a mystic, and we are our own preachers. We are our own pastors. We don't need to rely on someone else to pastor us or save us. We are our own saviours. We don't need any external saviours.

We are saved by grace through faith, yes, and yet grace is not separate from us. We are saved daily by our own repentance (change of mind to believe the gospel). We are saved by our own thoughts and beliefs about who we really are - Christ in us the hope of glory.

The implanted Word that is able to save our souls is not an entity separate from ourselves. We are the implanted Word. We are the good news. We are the mirror image of our Beloved, in whom we live and move and have our being. As we behold our true divine Self, we are being transformed into His same image from glory to glory.

Peace and blessings.

Related post:
Our Purpose - Joshua Guild

Nuggets of encouragement (Jan 2011)

We are all God's beloved children, in whom He is well pleased and delighted. We are all complete and fulfilled and blessed in Christ.

His mercies are new every morning. Enjoy the gift of the present. Don't regret the past or worry about the future.

Jesus' presence is always in the present. He is our I Am.

God's unmerited favour is found in the present.

Preaching to ourselves helps renew our mind too.

Jesus, hide us under the shadow of your wings, and keep us as the apple of your eye.

(Expecting favour on royalties.:)

Jesus is our right place, right time. He is our favour, our restoration, our rest.

Jesus is the high priest of our confession. His hand of blessings always gives grace to us His people.

We receive abundance of grace to reign in life as we cast our cares on Him, for we gives grace to the humble.

We sought the Lord and He heard us and delivered us from all our fears. He speaks shalom to our situation and restores our soul.

Keep hearing the ram's horm proclaiming Jesus' work has been finished. (Jewish perspective)

Have a different spirit of faith. Take heed what and how we hear. We believe, therefore we speak.

Change the course of destiny for the better by speaking words of blessings.

His grace (unmerited favour) is sufficient for us; His strength is made perfect in weakness.

We are forgiven much, because Jesus (our true self) loves us much.

It is the goodness and kindness of God (our highest self) in His consuming fire of love that leads us to repentance (change of mind to believe the good news of grace and peace).

God gives grace to the humble who are casting all our cares on Him, for He cares for us.

Guard the finished work of Jesus because only His finished work works.

God wants us to eat from the tree of life and live by His unmerited favour.

Our happy God richly gives us ALL things to enjoy.

We are created for love. Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends.

Enjoy and rejoice in the Lord (our true identity) always.

With Jesus in the centre of our lives, everything remains whole and integrated.

Jesus is more than willing to bless and prosper and make us whole. Lord, your blessings be upon us as you will.

We can experience God's best every single day. He (our highest self) is God of more than enough!

God's grace and goodness is ever flowing bountifully and freely in our life, regardless of our performance.

What is desired of a man is kindness.

Enjoy heaven on earth on our way to heaven.

In Christ, we are healthy. We walk knowing we are healthy and whole.

We know our God is God of more than enough. We can experience His best every single day, every moment.

God (our cosmic consciousness) wants us blessed more than enough. Hallelujah.

Let not the Word sown in our heart be stolen or choked by cares of this life.

At all times, we will bless Him, His praise shall be in our mouth, our soul makes its boast in the Lord.

Dec 2010 Grace Nuggets (Think About His Love)

Grace is always supplying because love is always giving.

The best way to experience God’s blessings is to enjoy the Lord every moment. Never feel rushed, stressed or pressurised. Rest in God’s grace who is always supplying to us.

It doesn't matter how much theology we know. It's how much we are willing to believe and receive God's oversupplying love and grace and enjoy our blessedness in Christ.

You are our hiding place. You shall preserve us from trouble; You shall surround us with songs of deliverance. (Psalm 32:7)

God has made us masterpieces, created in His glorious image.

"I love my Master, my wife and my children. I will not go out free", for true freedom is found in a loving family relationship.

 It is His (and our) joy, pleasure and glory to overlook a transgression. (Proverbs 19:11)

We are a new creation in Christ, made in His glorious image, a masterpiece beloved and whole, blessed to be a blessing.

Remove condemnation and the outward symptoms will disappear.

Expect good because God's favour is on us in Christ.

It is the goodness and kindness of God that leads us to repentance (change our mind to believe the good news of grace). Keep expecting to experience His goodness!

Surely goodness and love shall chase us down all the days of our life and we will dwell in Christ (or Christ consciousness) forever!

Create a beautiful world and glorious future with positive words of faith.

God (our highest Self) sees us all holy, righteous, blameless and above reproach. We are beloved and valuable in Christ.

Experiencing the perfect love of God casts out every fear, and faith becomes operative.

"Think about His love, think about His goodness, think about His grace that brought us through."

"For as high as the heavens above, so great is the measure of our Father's love. Great is the measure of our Father's love."

The revelation of the gospel is the revelation of the fullness of Christ in every one of us.

 Love life and see good days, and speak positive words of faith and blessings.

The Spirit love of God perseveres and sustains soul love, as in the marriage between Christ and the church.

"In the light of the king's face is life, and his favour is like the latter rain."

It's all about Jesus (our true identity) and His finished work because He and us are One. He loves us so much.

See one another as finished and perfect workmanship in Christ. We are blooming wherever we are planted.

Expect the favour of God (cosmic consciousness) wherever we go. It is our Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom (righteousness/innocence, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit within us) where all our needs are met.

Jesus is love in action. He came to serve and give His life for us. He (our true Self) continues to live in and through us.

We are believers in Christ who live by His indwelling life.

Every day is Today for us to enter into rest. Jesus is our today, our rest.

Jesus always sees us His bride without spot, wrinkle or any such thing because as He is, so are we in this world.

Life begins when we realise who we are in Christ.

The gospel and our consciousness (Video transcript)

The following is a transcript of my video "The gospel and our consciousness" which I posted online on 4 July 2011.

Hello, here am I again. I am going to talk about the gospel. The gospel is the power of God to save those who believe the good news, and what is the good news? It’s simply that we are righteous, or another word for “righteous” is “innocent”, that we are, before the beginning of time, we are already seen as innocent and righteous, holy, blameless before God, and that is the good news.

God does not want us to be afraid of Him

There is no bad news in the good news, and that is why there is much concern, especially in the “Christian” world about the mixed gospel because there seems to be some bad news in the good news, the so-called “good news”. But we know that God does not give any kind of fear or condemnation because 2 Timothy says that “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind”, and also we learn that Jesus always said “Do not be afraid.” 

He doesn’t want us to be afraid of Him at all, and He is the same as God, and there is a misquotation (or rather misinterpretation) about “Do not fear those who can kill the body and can do no further, but fear him who has the power to destroy both body and soul.” But that is actually not referring to God. That is actually referring to the enemy. The enemy is not God; He is always our Friend; He is our Father in heaven. 

The enemy is actually that part of our conscience, our human psychology, that caused us to feel condemned, and that is actually a symbolic representation that is simply called Satan or the devil or the accuser of the brethren in the Bible. Now, for every interpretation of the Bible, I think a safe guideline to go by is: Whenever it ministers peace to us, that is a safe bet to say that it is “scriptural” because we know God always wants us to be at peace with ourselves and with Him. 

If there is any interpretation of the Bible that seems to generate some fear or condemnation or guilt or shame, then it’s probably, most definitely actually, not from God. If you disagree, that is ok because I think we all have the freedom to discover for ourselves what the Bible says or what any other holy scripture that we deem to be “scriptural” to ourselves, because after all, we are made to have our own freedom to pursue the path that we think what God is like. 

One person’s understanding may differ from another person’s understanding of God, and I don’t claim… and I don’t think other people also would have the same… would have the full understanding of what God is really like, and I definitely don’t have all the answers, but I can only share what I have studied so far in my journey of faith because I believe that I am a spiritual being on a human journey, and vice versa. I am a human being on a spiritual journey as well.

How does the good news affect our consciousness?

So, what I am going to talk about, as I mentioned, is the gospel. I think the power of the gospel is when we believe the good news. The good news is simply that God is love and He sees us in His image, and it is because the first Adam partook from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he felt alienated from God, but God has never alienated Himself from us down through the centuries. So that is the reason Jesus came to show us that God is all the while with us. He is one with us, as He said in the prayer of John 17.

How can we apply this practically because theoretically and theologically we can go into a lot of details to explain the gospel and the salvation story? But, practically I would say, in my life, when I believe God is good and only good – He is love – His love endures forever, somehow good things also happen to me in my life, practically, realistically.

I think there is something to do with the – maybe you can call that – vibrations. New age and… ya, this might raise some alarm bells from some of the more conservative Christians, but actually new age thinkers and new paradigm thinkers, or we call that new thought philosophers, they are actually… they have something that is quite close to what we so-called know as the truth or the reality – whatever you call it – or quantum physics or quantum science.

We actually live in a matrix kind of world, and I am sure some of you would actually be able to tell the parallel between "The Matrix" and the gospel story, that we actually live in a world that is something like a holographic universe. So, how we perceive the world to be actually will play out in real life. So, it is very important what we believe in our consciousness because the battlefield is in the mind. 

And I’m going to just talk about one passage from the Bible before I go long-winded and go into other rabbit trails. It’s 2 Chronicles chapter 20 where King Jehoshaphat and his army were facing a huge dilemma because they seemed to be outnumbered by the enemies from Moab, Ammon and some other countries. 

I would say there is a spiritual significance to this story because in our lives, there seem also to be some instances where in our mind or our consciousness, we may imagine that some things are overwhelming us. They are overwhelming to us especially when we go through some challenges, but even if there are no challenges, our mind sometimes can still sabotage us and think that “Hey, something’s bad going to happen.” Maybe we’ve done something wrong. Or even if we have done nothing wrong, somehow there is a voice that seems to tell us that “Hey, don’t expect too much. Sometimes bad things do happen.”

Well, what happened in the story in 2 Chronicles chapter 20 is that King Jehoshaphat and his army, they actually learnt to sing “Praise the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever”, and I believe they sang this over and over again. They were actually building in their mindset or their consciousness how good God is, who is all the while with us, who is our heavenly Father, who loves to bless us, who is already blessing us actually all the while. So, the more we are aware of that, the more we actually become conscious of God’s goodness and love that endures not just for a moment but forever. We can also believe that at every moment, we can expect good things to happen to us.

Yes, it has nothing to do with our performance because the moment we think it has something to do with our performance, we are actually going back to the law mindset, to the tree of knowledge of good and evil where Adam used to eat, and that’s how he felt alienated from God. But Jesus came to bridge the gap, not in terms of the actual separation but in our mind, to show us that God is all the while with us, to show us that He is our true identity – “as He is, so are we in this world” – accepted, beloved, favoured, prosperous, completely healed, whole, healthy, peaceful – that is shalom. 

Jesus is our Shalom. And I would say the battle is in our mind. The only way to overcome, to fight this battle is to actually be at rest. “Be still and know that I am God.” We are actually gods, according to Psalm 82,  which Jesus actually quoted to say that we have the divine nature in us because we are all made in His image, which has never changed and will never change. So this is the battle that we continue to fight, not by struggling, but by resting.

Rest is the greatest work that we can do in order to stay victorious. This is spiritual warfare, and probably it’s not like what some of the traditional Christianity has taught. So, this is basically the gospel, the aspect of the gospel which I want to focus on in this message. And keep on fighting the good fight of faith, believing that we are righteous, we are innocent, we are holy, we are blameless. 

Christ is our wisdom, righteousness, holiness and redemption. We are redeemed from the sense of alienation because by one man’s disobedience – Adam’s – he made all sinners. “Sin” is not a moral thing; “sin” is simply ignorance about our true identity, ignorance of the love of our God. But by one Man’s obedience – Jesus’ obedience – all were made righteous. The word “many” there means “multitudes”. So, it actually means “all” – the multitudes of everybody. We are ALL made righteous, in our mind, and God has all the while seen us righteous because we are all wrapped up in Him – the new Man, Jesus Christ, the second Adam or the last Adam.

This is the gospel, as I believe it, and I’m still on a journey. If you are blessed, I am glad to know that because I am also blessed by knowing the gospel, and it is my privilege and pleasure to share this with you. God bless you. Know that we are loved by God always unconditionally, universally, individually, personally forevermore. Amen.

Personal devotional thoughts (July 2010)

There is nothing more fulfilling than being preoccupied with the knowledge of Christ (who is our true identity) in all His fullness.

God (our highest self) is love and love keeps no records of wrongs, and love never fails.

Thank You Lord (our higher consciousness and our true self), for Your lovingkindness is better than life.

Faith is having a good opinion of God (who is our highest self, who takes care of even the minutest detail in our lives).

Give thanks in everything because of His grace and our worth (our original design and value).

Rest in the Lord (our higher consciousness) and wait patiently for Him.

Jesus (our true identity) is in the present (I Am). Peace and joy is found in encountering Him in the simplest things in life. :)

God's presence is found in the present.

Focus on living in the present, for He (our love consciousness) takes care of the future.

We experience life and victory when we focus on Jesus (our true identity) and meditate on His goodness and love.

The more we know Jesus (our true identity who is beloved and complete), the more grace and peace is multiplied in our lives.

Righteousness is not based on what we do. Righteousness (or innocence) is based on who we are because Christ (our true origin and identity) is our righteousness (and innocence).

We are all complete in Christ and the beloved of the Father (our highest self).

As Jesus is, so are we in this world. See eveyone through His eyes of love and wisdom.

A life of being under grace is a life of thanksgiving for God's constant supply (within us).

As Jesus is healthy and strong and favoured, so are we in this world, and the Holy Spirit (our inner witness in our heart) bears witness with the truth.

Every time we worship God (our true self - feeling good about who we are), we are redeeming the time.

As our days, so shall our strength and rest be. Every day, we are growing stronger, healthier and more youthful. :)

What faith really is to people

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Don’t speak to me about your religion; first show it to me in how you treat other people. Don't tell me how much you love your God; show me in how much you love all his children. Don't preach to me your passion for your faith; teach me through your compassion for your neighbors. In the end, I'm not as interested in what you have to tell or sell as I am in how you choose to live and give....Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark, New Jersey