Sunday, March 1, 2009

CREATION'S LONGING

It's not a leap year, but this is the AYITN entry for February 29...


All around we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us.But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy. (Romans 8:22-25 - The Message)






















1. Today I will live in the now! I will live in the now because the Holy Spirit is actively in the process of working to reveal my true identity as a manifested son of God in the earth. I am aware that something is developing and maturing on the inside of me that is real and alive, and it is increasing in the now!

2. Today I will walk in the revelation that the whole creation of irrational creatures has been moaning together in pains of labor until now, and not only the creation, but I too, groan inwardly. Because I have and enjoy the first fruits of the Spirit, I continually experience a foretaste of blissful things to come that causes me to wait expectantly for the redemption of my body from sensuality and the grave.

3. Today I will not attempt to resist the emergence of the real me, as I begin to finally live my life from the inside out. The concept of existing in the eternal present is becoming less abstract to me, and the infilling of the Holy Spirit is becoming more important and precious to me every day, as He produces in me the reality of sonship that cries “Abba! Father!”

4. Today I will communicate a certain confidence that comes from comprehending that I am a child of the Creator and, therefore, I am His heir, which makes me a fellow heir with Christ. Knowing that I share Christ’s inheritance with Him enables me to gladly share His suffering because I also share His glory!

5. Today I will not allow myself to become frustrated in waiting for my personal manifestation of God’s will, because waiting is a necessary part of the birth process. The waiting is not decreasing the quality of my life in any way—on the contrary, I am being increased by it! Through faith and patience I inherit the promises, and while faith is coming to me by hearing the word, patience is being developed in me by counting it all joy!

6. Today I will walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh.

7. Today I will intercede harmoniously with the rest of creation for the Kingdom to come, and today I will live in the now!

Father, help me to pray Your will today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

31 comments:

Unknown said...

...yes...and...amen.

Wordver: abran...a bran-d new day.

Anonymous said...

God morning,

nursing wife who is having flu like symptoms. will mis being itb today but will try to be its. thanks to everyone who agrees for wife to be made well. This word from ayint and the message amazes me at how well it agrees with the way i feel about being a sog.

have a blessed service, maybe see ya'll tonite.

Anonymous said...

Creations greatest desire is to "know God" whether realized or not. To Truly know God is to Love God; it would be impossible to come to any other conclusion after seeing God as God is. This can only be accomplished by the Spirit because God is a Spirit. To quote Sarayu "So many people believe that it is love that grows, but it is the knowing that grows and love simply expands to contain it. Love is just the skin of knowing . . .”

Peace,
Dennis

Anonymous said...

Hey Y'all enjoy the snow I sent down there from Arkansas! It's a foot deep here in places.

Donald said...

Thanks, but no thanks on the snow Dennis.
It's not snowing here on the coast, but you can believe I'm not running around with short pants on either.
I just checked out one of the webcams located on the Mississippi State campus and they've been getting snow through the night.

Anonymous said...

the only way I like snow is in a picture.....

Anonymous said...

Love this translation. I realize the importance of context, but can't help noticing how this Scripture seems to complement the most recent MITN.

Beautiful butterfly pic. Seeing the earth like that reminds me of a program I watched yesterday about the Mariana(s) Trench. Wikipedia says it's the deepest part of the world's oceans, as well as the deepest location on the surface of the Earth's crust.
When I consider Ps. 103:12 thanksgiving erupts in my soul.

Love everything about today's post & add my agreement to everyone's comments.

Anonymous said...

Bishop it was as if God himself looked and saw my pain and gave you this message to heal me as you will never know. I come every week to hear his word and I say I am a better person for it, that my life is enriched and I am growing in leaps and bounds but how do I know that when my life has been so rosy and everything is going so well. I have walked with the Lord long enough to know that with every lesson he gives you a test so that you can really see if you are getting it. I never have liked test but you get what you get when you sign up as a student. I was like you today, I was telling God, I didn't even sign up for this I was minding my own business listening to my same old sin sermons and then you sent me to CITN and opened up this whole new world and look where I am now. I know I am only feeling the birthing pains of what I will become but it still don't feel good and then I hear all the word I have heard from you and I say NO I don't what to hear it,I want to have this pity party and blame someone but I can't because God says I've already delivered you from that and you may try and go back but its not going to be good. I went where my mind said don't go but my heart took me anyway. I made a decision, one which I knew better, it was really a bone-head decision but I went any way and now my heart is broken but today is a new day and I can recover. God is not condeming me I'm condeming myself and as I do that I make the cross of non effect. His mercy is sure everyday and I can and will re-write the story so that what was will be no more.
Every word that you said was so real and the examples were right on the money. I felt so lost when I came to church today but after I left even though it was snowing and gloomy I could see the sunshine. The sun did come out and athough I must go through the pain and cry the tears of sorrow I know that I will laugh and I know that the lessons will be learned.
I am reconciled to him and my life is already better. I know that these pains that I am having is just the baby getting in position making ready to come forth. I must be careful not to get distracted and abort the baby at this late date.
Thanks for being transparent today because I truly believe you to be anointed, because the word of God from your mouth came forth and healed me, but when you tell your story and your shortcomings I can better see Jesus being human and devine. You don't pretend to be more than you are and so when I mess up I can see that I am not the long ranger and I do have a shepard that can feel what we are facing each day. I love you Bishop and my new family because I have a safe haven when life seem to offer me lemons, you all are the sugar for my lemonade.

River said...

Yes and Amen

Missed being ITB this morning because my car has no defrost or heat.Thank you for the streaming.

Bishop you said you wished you could have served the care pastors communion this morning. When I went to church as a young girl our pastor every communion service would meet with the choir and servers before service in the choir area and serve them communion. I remember because I was one who brought in the light to light the candles at the alter.
It really made the service seem more meaningful then we took communion with the rest of the church after the message.
Just a thought.

Anonymous said...

Bishop,

Your empartation of the word was more clear than ever before concerning the writing of Paul that describes eternal salvation.

Thank you for the communion of flesh and blood. I felt it even though streaming.

There is a powerful awareness of the common unity shared by all humanity rising among truth seekers right now. I see it everywhere I turn. There are even some good old boys that were once rigid in their views that are recognizing a powerful presence of something bigger than their own dogmas and are now expressing unity with others who would have never been considered a part of them a few years ago. This could be the shift in the polarity that most of us obnoxious optimists have been looking for and expecting or perhaps it is the effect of our solar system aligning with the center of our galaxy. It does not matter much to me what the cause of this effect is. It is just a great joy to me to be part of something like CITN with a vicar such as you that is obedient to the Word of the Spirit.
I believe it is the unseen power and presence of the Divine that is both pulling and pushing humanity in the direction that we have desired to go from before the beginning or big bang or what ever concept can be conjured by the imagination concerning eternal existence.

You are right on the money with your teaching this morning taken from Paul's writing. An often overlooked truth in his writing is when Paul gave the discourse on seeing in part and knowing in part.

You made the point that some of the things Jesus made reference to that were pertinent to the age he was in are not today except for the foundational truth that was being spoken. That is also important to the big picture of applying real truth to what we have learned so far that stands in contrast to what we once believed to be factual.

An interesting parallel to this is that as late as 2007, scientists who study the cosmos believed the universe to be about fourteen billion light years old but also knew that what we observe is on a disc shaped plane in the blackness of space and was about a one hundred fifty billion light years of expanse in its diameter. To explain the difference a theory was developed that at the beginning of the big bang, the expanding matter traveled significantly faster than the speed of light. That in itself is contradictory to any currently solvable formula but as recent as January of this year information has been gathered that shows something even bigger. When starring into the blackness of space outside the known plane of our universe for eleven days with the Hubble telescope some burry light began to appear and when it came into focus it revealed a whole different set of galaxies about seventy eight billion light years away from our known universe.

For this to be a part of the entire universe suggests an age much older than what was thought to be time from the big bang. Something unusual about that is that it sends all the scientists back to the drawing board on considering the vastness of life.

This also blends with the teaching that I heard today about listening to the Word beyond what is said within the collection of books we call the Holy Bible. A point made by you this morning that you have said before and it needs to be said often is that the Bible was comprised of books written earlier than those who published it and it was by their rules that the writings were considered to be valid. This has happened repetitively and created a type of memory or comfort zone that has adapted to various challenges proving the previous theories to be incorrect. It will continue to happen until we find that place of truth that can be believed by all that says we are created to be good and we are good past, present and future. The ears that I was listening with this morning heard you say that truth.

River said...

Oh ya a comment on today's pic. looking at the butterfly the body looks like a lighthouse lighting the world but if you look at it again for me I see a person. in the center of the butterfly. Cool pic.

Larry Usher said...

Bishop- the best thing I took from being at church today was when you said, "I really needed to be here today". For me the last three years have been absolutely phenomenal but unbelievably challenging! My financial situation has been in a barely hangin' on mode and at times very distracting. But in the midst of it all there is CITN, the Body and you Bishop. These are my "lifelines"! I figure as long as I can still hear the voice of God through the Body, I know I can't be too far off track no matter what the circumstances.
Yes, I do look around the church and see many I call "friends" and others that are becoming so, and I receive strength. I linger around people to catch a glimpse of what God can speak to me through them.

Today I experienced the joy of the Lord in praise and worship. I know who my Daddy is- I am a blessed child of God. I know what He has started in us He will complete, so we hang in, knowing that something good always comes to rescue us.

I have done with little before and if necessary I can do it again, except this time knowing that all is well with my soul!
There was a time in my life I would have given everything I "owned" to be free, now I can say that the best thing in my life is the freedom of knowing I am eternally well. There's no buying that!
Blessings & love to all.

Larry

Hi River!

P. Dennis- Thanks for the SNOW!!! Got out of church and it was and is still coming down! Love it!!

Dittos Brenda! You've got it!

Unknown said...

Interesting, Pastor Dennis, that you would include that quote--at 9:47am. I'm reading the book right now and as I found the quote just prior to yours I thought...oh, that would be good for the blog...and then I realized your quote directly followed it. So, here it is...

"in context": Mack is saying that he might get embarrassed or angry with his kids, but even when they act badly, they are still my kids. What they do might affect my pride, but not my love for them. And the woman at the large desk says, "You are wise in the ways of real love" followed by your quote.

Forgive for the correction, PDennis, but I think its important here to note that the woman was Sophia...a personification of Wisdom.

And that's all I have to say about that!

Larry Usher said...

Ahhh...winter!!

word ver: CANTJD- Can't tuj dis

Larry Usher said...

Really enjoyed The Shack, laughed and cried(a lot)!

word ver: REFINSC- "Refine" in Popeye talk! For you cartoon buffs only!

Anonymous said...

Thanks Avatar, for the correction. I don't know why I wrote Sarayu except that I think I am especially fond of Her. I am not surprised by the coincidence with the quote though. I have heard there has been some strange things happen when people are reading this book. I myself thought it strange that when I started reading it, it was back at the beginning of the big ice storm we had here and as, I do work at home on a computer now through the Internet and my wife is a nurse hmmmm. Sound familiar?

I think there something extraordinary and mystical about this book. I bought several and gave them away.

Peace,
Dennis

Anonymous said...

Man! Today's sermon was awesome. An area I needed a little encouragment and refreshing in. I will put a star by this one in my archives. I know you were going over a lot of stuff that you have covered before; but it just spoke clearer to me this time. Maybe it is just because we are growing together in the Lord. You certainly covered all the bases theologically; I must say that we really are on the same page.

Peace,
Dennis

Unknown said...

PDennis, I share your fondness for Her! and for our Bishop's teaching today and yes it does sound familiar. I'm still reading...back later.

PS...snow is falling in HUGE flakes! All the kids in Georgia say, "THANK YOU, PASTOR DENNIS!"

Anonymous said...

Let it snow....let it snow...let it snow. A light covering looks beautiful.

It's Georgia. It will all be gone quickly and 60 to 70 degrees is just around the corner.

It's all the wonders of God.

Peace and Love to you all!!!

Ray

Anonymous said...

Wow Bishop,

It's been a long day, my computer froze up right after streaming in to service this morning and it FINALLY is letting me on ~ I have been holding onto this all day.

Whew.....I laughed and cried today at your sermon........it was like getting my monies worth at a good movie!

Giggles at the snow conversation, but we don't have to go there. In fact, it DID NOT snow in MI today.
But it was in the teens for temps.

First, when your mom came up to speak and "apologized to YOU" for having candy in her mouth and then your back and forth together, I was laughing so hard. Then, when you spoke of Jared and that "parenting twang" of a child that you have differences with from time to time, struck home.......hence the tears ~~~ parenting is a ride !
Also cried some gentle tears when you spoke out to the Pastors and mentioned them by name, the true care of the shepherd was evident.
Laughter again, but right now I can't recall what.......oh yea and tears at some baptisms. Particulary Isaiah. He struck me.

THEN>>>>>I want to thank you for including us streamers in on Communion. I did, indeed, get my bread and wine (yea, it was red and it was wine.) Been having it for communion on Sundays' since age 8, with nary a problem. OH YEA> that was the other laugh..the cartoon about Jesus turning water in to wine......it WAS WINE........first miracle. If I had a soap box in my faith, it's that one, so I try to avoid it, but do enjoy when it pops up !

Thanks for EVERYTHING today, Bishop!

Peace,
Northern Light

Son of Zadok said...

I'm trying to get through reading the posts here right now, but I can't because they are all so beautiful!

River said...

The Snow Was and Is Beautiful!!!
BUT 5 hours without power stinks.
Power's back on YEA!!!
The Kid and I had one heck of a snowball fight.
What about you all!!!

HEY LARRY !!!

Son of Zadok said...

God you all are so incredible!
I'm so glad that this ministry is in the world. And not just somewhere out in the world, but literally reaching the globe with this gospel. River I'm glad you all got snow and enjoyed it, welcome to what winter is really like.

"Ok, ok, get on with it northerner..."

Bishop. Yes! Yes! Yes!

You were hitting them out of the park today. Grand and thundering moonshots that will never come down.

What is the gospel?
What is this message we are to carry?

Today you honed in on it with brave and noble precision, while upholding the glory and power of the life, death, and life of Jesus Christ. Love convicts the world of sin and righteousness. We get to partake in that love by being conduits in the family of God. The world is already under the burden of sin. Now, we in the ministry of reconciliation, if we lift that burden with the grace and truth of the gift of God's love; the goodness of God will apprehend all of His creation. It's that simple, we carry the grace of the love of God now. I love how today's blog talks today about coming to full term in that love. What a day, what a day that will be!!!

In the old testament they would make a salt covenant. We are all like the grains of salt mixed together in the salt-grain covenant, everyone...everywhere. The only way to separate us from God and the whole of creation is if you can find your salt and separate it from mine. We keep a jar of salt on our open communion table at church and you can add your salt to the jar as a symbol of the truth of our wonderful covenant with God and the world. Today was the first time I went back and had communion their. I'm glad my timing was in line with you all today for some reason.

Erik,

I wanted to tell you that your post yesterday was full of wonderful understanding.

Brenda, I second that. Beautiful post. What you said is so very true.

Pastor Dennis and Avatar, I'm so glad you all have gotten to read it now. Maybe when the solar system is lined up we'll be at the movie house seeing the film version. I love seeing a movie after I've read the book. Pastor your quote from earlier here concerning truth containing and enlarging love reminds me of something I read earlier today in a book I'm reading now called Gandhi on Christianity.

If it is possible for the human tongue to give the fullest description of God, I have come to the conclusion that for myself, that Truth is God. I then found the nearest approach to truth was through Love.

verword: lowsialt - I'll take that to mean we are going to need a bigger jar for more salt.

River said...

Hey SOZ My family is from Ohio & Vermont. I just miss seeing the snow. LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!!

Oh ya I Have a Praise Report...
I was taking pictures of my daughter in the snow. I told her not to get close to the tree but she thought I said to get close I took a couple shots and then we heard snap bang. A limb snaped and could have hit her but the limbs below it broke it's fall and she got out of the way on time. Thank You Jesus

Son of Zadok said...

I think snow in GA is awesome. I'm just being the guy who says something semi condescending like that.

Wow though. That's a great praise report concerning your daughters safety. My dad was standing out in his yard when the hurricane made it all the way up here to Ohio last fall. The neighbor came outside to say something to him and right as he moved towards him, the whole tree came crashing down right where he was standing.

River said...

GOD IS SO GOOD
GOD IS SO GOOD
GOD IS SO GOOD
HE'S SO GOOD TO ME/US

Larry Usher said...

Awesome SOZ and River! God IS so good.

Wonderful service tonight with the storm raging outside. Really enjoyed Mom Swilley's message and prayer following- the Lord told her EXACTLY how to pray for me! It was wonderful and confirming! As she prayed for me my lips became hot! Never felt anything like it! God has much work for us to do, great adventures are yet to come...I'm sure of it!

Blessed goodnight to all!

Bro Lar

Son of Zadok said...

God Bless You Brother Larry

Anonymous said...

SOZ,

Loved your 11:53 post on 3-1. Also relate well to your veriword lowsialt. The ending of my last name is low. My son has adapted the word high to his last name that he uses on his email as part of identifying with some of his early achievements during his frat years at his under grad school.

Yesterday was an awesome day for lows and highs and they are all found in the essence of salt too.
The blending of salt is a nice concept for representing a church body. There is an anointing on that. It makes me think of unity and also what it means for some of the salt that is higher in savour helping the other salt that is lacking. If you were to take your blended salt and solve it in water and then boil it down over a contuous degree of heat until it was reconstituted in a single cake of salt, You would have a form of salt that was much more powerful in savour than the strongest single amount of salt that had been placed in the jar. Isn't that cool? It speaks completely to the power of communion and the synergistic product of a community that is working together.

blessings,

JB

my veriword is amawkwk

DoubleBack Alley said...

Sahib,

Many moons have passed. Just wanted to drop in and say, "Hi". I have mulled the idea that relationships take time and time takes relationships. I wonder if it's because it's supposed to be that way or if we cause it to happen. Or it is.

Don't know if you have traversed "The Shack" or not. If you have, I would like to know what you think of it, if you haven't, I can't say that I would recommend it, but it might be worth the two or three hours it takes to read.

Anywho (sic), hope all is well in your kingdom and that you have all of your needs met.

Waiting for a recount...
Ain't God Good?
DBA

Bishop Jim Swilley said...

DBA...answered this on next post...

Thanks, everyone!