"Living In More Gracious Space" podcast

This is a good podcast on living in more gracious space (click here to listen). I like the mystical approach that both Wayne Jacobsen and Kent Burgess has regarding relationship with God, in terms of slowing down and being present and in touch with God (or our inner/highest self). I agree with the interpretation that Kent shared about the parable of the prodigal son who came back to the fatheer after venturing to distant lands - a symbol of how we too have left the present moment and got distracted by the performance mindset of the world (religion/politics/society). It is perhaps ironic too that Buddhism and new age seems to help people connect with God (or highest self) better than mainstream Christianity.

Like what Wayne shared, religion with all its rules and regulations and competition with one another tends to make people relationally challenged. On the whole, it is a great message about returning to the present moment and being in touch with our true self.

As also shared by Wayne, the performance mindset of the world/religion/modern societies tends to cause people to want to resist and change things on the outside, but it is much better to be in the flow/present moment of life. I also like the examples given in the podcast that Jesus would take time away from the hustle and bustle of life and find secluded places to pray/contemplate - indeed, Nature is perhaps the best "church" or "sanctuary" where we find rest for our soul and peace for our heart and mind.

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.

My soul finds rest in God alone (Psalm 62)

Rest in the consciousness of his closeness - FDT

Rest in the consciousness of his closeness! Separation is an illusion! Oneness was God's idea all along! He desires to express himself thru your touch, your voice, your presence; he is so happy to dwell in you! There is no place in the universe he would rather be!" - Francois Du Toit

Nuggets of encouragement (August 2010)

We are not just a face in the crowd. We are favoured children of God. We are a precious blessing wherever we go, bringing refreshing and peace and joy and acceptance.

Jesus is meek and lowly, noble and honourable, gracious and compassionate and full of mercy - and so are we in this world!

Prioritise rest as rest is our greatest responsibility.

Expect the favour of God to work in our life, health, relationships, finances, work today because God treats all of us as Jesus.

Speak blessings because our tongue is like the rudder of the ship, setting the course of our destiny. :)

Keep sowing, keep blessing, and God will bring a harvest in people's lives.

The more we talk about and meditate on the truth of "Christ in us, the hope of glory". the more it becomes a living tangible reality in our lives because what we are conscious of will ultimately manifest. :)

"Rest in the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will make your ways come to pass."

Appreciate what we have because God (our highest self) has blessed us with so much, with the best for us. Thank You, Abba!

When God (our highest self) makes it happen, it's beautiful and effortless. "Commit your ways to Him and He will bring it to pass."

Build our consciousness on Christ by spending time to behold His glory and grace. Children are naturally righteousness-conscious.

God (our highest self) is pleased with us all the time because He sees us in the perfection of His Son (our true identity).

Heaven (our highest consciousness) is where Jesus (our true self) is - His love makes a difference.

Jesus is our perfect representative, and since His thoughts are holiness to the Lord, we are accepted before God (our highest self).

The more we rest, the more we see God's grace in our lives. :)

Jesus is our perfect representative, and we are a reflection of His glory and goodness.

Knowing we are God's beloved gives us dominion in life (over death and condemnation and fear).

God favours us and has crowned and encircled us with glory and honour.

Small acts of kindness are powerful seeds of God's love to help others succeed in life.

"I stand, I stand in awe of You (our highest self). You are marvellous beyond description, too wonderful for words."

God has made us sufficient to be a minister of the new covenant, ministering grace and peace, life and righteousness and no condemnation to people.

Be ourselves, for God has made us unique and complete in Christ.

Jesus (our true identity) is lion and lamb, majesty and meekness, mighty to save yet lowly to serve.

Jesus (our true self) came not to be served but to serve (willingly, out of revelation of kingship and sonship), and give His life as a ransom for many (to redeem ourselves from the illusion of separation and fear).

Jesus is our joy; we don't have to do anything to become joyful.

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.

I AM in the Now

There's a reason they call God a Presence - because God is right here, right now. In the present is the only place to find Him, and NOW is the only time. 

~ from "Eat Pray Love" book

Yes, God's presence is in the present for I Am is in the present and His words are always pleasant.

Proverbs 16 says "Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to
the bones."

Another verse came to mind: "Behold, now is the day of salvation, now is the time of favour."

Every moment is the now, and every moment is the time to experience salvation (freedom from religious lies that bring guilt and condemnation) and now is the time to receive favour because we have been reconciled to God knowing we are made in His image and we are one with Him.

We can enjoy the kingdom of God within us - righteousness, innocence, peace and joy in the present moment. Yes, no challenge is too great for us, for His grace IS sufficient for us, and His strength IS made perfect in our weakness. We can rest in His goodness and grace, for whom He calls, He also equips. Heaven is our present reality, right here, right now.

Ripples of Love Bring Unity and Peace

No acts or words of love--or thoughts--or any kindness is ever wasted. In fact, every such act or word or thought flows and ripples, as Living Water, into the universe to expand, include and transform every appearance that calls for love.

So, the sandwich you give to a homeless person; the help you give to the one who needs it; the word of uplifting wisdom you offer; or the ray of light you shine into the silent darkness could be the thing that snowballs as the OMnipresence and helps to find a missing child in the rubble of an earthquake or give hope to the hopeless or bring comfort to those who mourn.

I AM-WE ARE Light and we are Love in our true being. Let's all do what we do so well and let who we are ripple out in ever-increasing circles of Blessing, Love, and Light. Hand to hand and heart to heart we share the Living Water of the LOVE in which we live and move and have our Being.

Be still and know that I AM LOVE. REST! It is in the stillness and silence, listening and receiving from the ONE, that we are resurrected AS Love. When we share this Love-Self (Christ-Self) in any way, however small, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is withered at its root.

- Loving Unity

Yes, as we share this love-self (Christ-self), in any way, whether online or offline, the tree of knowledge of good and evil - the system of duality and separation - is withered at its root. We are witnessing the transition of global awakening to our true self and common humanity indeed.

Working as to the Lord, and not to men

Someone asked in Yahoo Answers about whether working smart is ethical, moral, godly and good. The following is my take on this topic.
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I think the best way of working is to rest in the Lord because rest is Holy Spirit directed activity. When it comes to work, I believe in working as unto the Lord, not as unto men. “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.” (Colossians 3:23-24)

Yes, in a company or organisation, we may be working for a boss or supervisor, but they are ultimately not our boss because God is our source and rewarder – our salaries come FROM Him THROUGH our employers.

Take Jesus for example. When He was ministering on earth to teach, preach and heal the sick, or lift up the poor and outcast, He was all the while working as unto His Father in heaven. “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” (John 5:17)

There were times He worked on the Sabbath days, which were supposed to be rest days, according to Jewish customs. That’s breaking the law. Was Jesus overworking? No, He was simply flowing with the heartbeat and rhythm of love. “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him… and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; but with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth” (Isaiah 11:1-4)

On the other hand, there were times He slept when others were working, such as when He was on the boat sleeping when His disciples were busy rowing the boat during a huge storm. Was Jesus lazy? No, He was living by the Spirit of grace and love – He lived a life of REST, knowing everything in the universe is in His Father’s control. He knows everything’s gonna be alright. Indeed, He later calmed both the storm outside as well as the storm in His beloved disciples’ heart with one word – “SHALOM!” (Peace, be still)

“Be still, and know I am God” (Psalm 46)

Jesus is COOL, SMART and GODLY and GOOD. When we are yoked with Him, knowing His burden is light and His yoke is easy, we will flow with the unforced rhythm of GRACE. (Matthew 11:28-30, Message) At the end of the day, we work not so much to earn income, since our heavenly Father is our source of income, but we work to express the gifts and talents God has given us to bless others.

Last but not least, Jesus wants us to be like Mary – to do the one thing needful – sitting at His feet and listening to His words – and we will, like Mary, end up doing the right thing at the right time in the right spirit, without fear or worry. Mary ended up anointing Jesus for His burial and her story was told as a memorial for generations after that.