Wednesday, July 8, 2009

For We Know In Part...














Hey bloggers, comments are coming in concerning the message I delivered a little while ago ("For We Know In Part"), and since the comments page from yesterday was getting so long I decided to open up a new entry, and move the comments that were just posted here...

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
I can't seem to shake something I heard on an Oprah rerun last week (I saw it the first time and did not hear what I heard this time). It was the show about extending life. It talked of many things, but one segment was about regenerating body parts. They discussed growing replacement organs and such. The story I remember clearly and made such an impact was about a 70 year old guy who through an injury lost part of his finger down to the first joint. His brother is responsible for developing a product used to regenerate body parts. He sent some to the injured man and told him to apply it to the injury. I don't remember the specifics but it was applied and his finger regrew including nail and all in about 4 weeks (as I recall). This nail now grows faster than the others - he says its because the rest of his body is 70 years old but this new part is only 2 or 3 years old.
The part I can't get out of my mind/spirit is a statement he offhandedly said about the reason the powder works is because it keeps the wound from healing and this allows the regeneration to take place.
We are all so focused on healing our wounds and moving on with less than we started with, but this just covers them up with scar tissue, but the wound must remain open and tender for a while for complete restoration and regeneration of skin, bone, nail etc to occur. I have not quite wrapped my head around this, but feel there is something very significant here to meditate...
Just sharing my thoughts.

Anonymous said...

It keeps the wound from healing and this allows the regeneration to take place.

I'll take that.

Seminal message tonight. I sense many a stronghold have been laid waste this night.

Anonymous said...

Larry Usher said...

Wed night service- had to work late & just got in in time for streaming the message. I believe once again that the plowing of the ground and the tilling of the soil as was evidenced tonight indicate that the growth and fruit is closer. Because to recognize in ourselves something unwhole, and moving past it indicates the whole is moving in to supplant the former.
Like TD Jakes says: "Get ready, get ready, get ready!"
Those that want God will find God, and the more pure the presentation of God, the stronger the bond formed between the Creator and His created.(As seen in the shepherds receiving the message from the angels of THE GOOD NEWS!)
Thank you Bishop for allowing yourself to be open and vulnerable before our Father in a way that encourages us to do the same- we are all such lumps of clay with such scars & unevenness but wonderful potential.
Our openness before God I believe has a lot to do with His openness before us, as a covenant is shared and does not exist in a vacuum.

I believe that what God has planned for CITN is so unconventional that if it was dumped upon us at one moment, we would regurgitate it straightway; this is both frightening and exciting concomitantly.

Lots stirring and being shaken!
(Unlike James Bond who always preferred shaken- not stirred!) ;)

Anonymous said...

An uncompromising, crowning culmination of personal and corporate advancement and breakthrough in the word tonight.

A conclusion of an evolution, and a simultaneous bright dawning commencement of new life, in the church, and in the personal tribe.

Big League Blessings lie ahead.

ver: permash

A cloaked clutch of phariseeism is permanently mashed, unleashing the path for love's truth! And it comes blazing on the dawn.

Bishop, you choked it dead in you right before our eyes tonight. I watched you struggle under the anointing as your hate for the lie, and love of the truth, tore it out from its very roots. It crumbled in the light of the weak pathetic fiction it always was, in you and in many others as well.

"O Lord, I know that the way of man IS NOT in himself: it is not in man that walks to direct his steps" (Jer. 10:23)

"Sons are taken captive BY HIM at HIS WILL" (II Tim. 2:26)

Anonymous said...

Son of Zadok said...

I come downstairs from that most excellent message, turn on the television, and the first words from the set as it came to life are Billy Graham thundering with authority:

"That's why you cannot judge on appearances! Because God only looks upon the heart!"

You can't make this stuff up.

Donald said...

My daughter came home tonight for the first time in two months, so I didn't watch the streaming while it was happening.
I did record it though and will either watch it in a few or will watch it tomorrow evening.

Monica said...

The message helped me to reconsider some of the choices I have made in my life. Specifically with regard to making life decisions based on partial prophesies that have been spoken over my life but expecting the full manifestation. This message has encouraged me to seek out the full counsel of God's word before making critical life decisions. Thank you Bishop Swilley for encouraging me to have more questions. I couldn't wait to get home to search and study the scriptures as a reponse to my new eagerness to have the full counsel of God; I'm ready to know the other PART.

Anonymous said...

Bish, the last song on your playlist ("Deceived By Religion") is amazing! Has that been on there for a while?

Son of Zadok said...

In another strange synchronicity, I was ran over to a friends house and on the television was a forensic pathologist speaking on a crime show:

(I know this sounds kind of Old Testament and gruesome, but I'm just going to go ahead and put it out there because theirs something in the air tonight that feels like our God of Love, is also a God of War for that which He loves.)

Anon @ 9:56 - Bishop, you choked it dead in you right before our eyes tonight

The lady on t.v. went on to describe what has to actually take place to choke someone to death. She stated that the force, and power, and sheer will it takes to cut off something's oxygen for those 15 seconds, takes an enormous fortitude and determination; leaving no doubt to anyone who kills in this manner, a thorough premeditated decision before hand that it is to be dead.

Macab - Yes
A possible spiritual analogy - maybe, I only see in part.

See, I am the only God. There are no others. I kill, and I make alive. I wound, and I heal, and no one can rescue you from my power.

Deut 32:39 KJV

Anonymous said...

The message tonite...WOW ..what amazes me is even the little part that we think we know, We don't even really know that...tomorrow it can look completely different then it does right now...have to start bringing a box of kleenexes to church...laugh so hard that I cry...thanks for being so honest & open...Love ya

Son of Zadok said...

"I'll be back next week at this same time with another Sea Hunt story"

From A Course In Miracles

WHAT IT SAYS (Part 1 of 3)

Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.

This is how A Course in Miracles begins. It makes a fundamental distinction between the real and the unreal; between knowledge and perception. Knowledge is truth, under one law, the law of love or God. Truth is unalterable, eternal and unambiguous. It can be unrecognized, but it cannot be changed. It applies to everything that God created, and only what He created is real. It is beyond learning because it is beyond time and process. It has no opposite; no beginning and no end. It merely is.
The world of perception, on the other hand, is the world of time, of change, of beginnings and endings. It is based on interpretation, not on facts. It is the world of birth and death, founded on the belief in scarcity, loss, separation and death. It is learned rather than given, selective in its perceptual emphases, unstable in its functioning, and inaccurate in its interpretations.
From knowledge and perception respectively, two distinct thought systems arise which are opposite in every respect. In the realm of knowledge no thoughts exist apart from God, because God and His Creation share one Will. The world of perception, however, is made by the belief in opposites and separate wills, in perpetual conflict with each other and with God. What perception sees and hears appears to be real because it permits into awareness only what conforms to the wishes of the perceiver. This leads to a world of illusions, a world which needs constant defense precisely because it is not real.
When you have been caught in the world of perception you are caught in a dream. You cannot escape without help, because everything your senses show merely witnesses to the reality of the dream. God has provided the Answer, the only Way out, the true Helper. It is the function of His Voice, His Holy Spirit, to mediate between the two worlds. He can do this because, while on the one hand He knows the truth, on the other He also recognizes our illusions, but without believing in them. It is the Holy Spirit's goal to help us escape from the dream world by teaching us how to reverse our thinking and unlearn our mistakes. Forgiveness is the Holy Spirit's great learning aid in bringing this thought reversal about. However, the Course has its own definition of what forgiveness really is just as it defines the world in its own way.
The world we see merely reflects our own internal frame of reference -- the dominant ideas, wishes and emotions in our minds. "Projection makes perception". We look inside first, decide the kind of world we want to see and then project that world outside, making it the truth as we see it. We make it true by our interpretations of what it is we are seeing. If we are using perception to justify our own mistakes -- our anger, our impulses to attack, our lack of love in whatever form it may take -- we will see a world of evil, destruction, malice, envy and despair. All this we must learn to forgive, not because we are being "good" and "charitable," but because what we are seeing is not true. We have distorted the world by our twisted defenses, and are therefore seeing what is not there. As we learn to recognize our perceptual errors, we also learn to look past them or "forgive." At the same time we are forgiving ourselves, looking past our distorted self-concepts to the Self That God created in us and as us.

Izumi/JOY said...

He's a little bit country
He's a little bit rock-n-roll
He's little bit of Memphis and Nashville
With a little bit of Motown in his soul...

About last night - WOW. (loved what I saw/heard of streaming) There's such expectancy in the atmosphere.

And, P. Debye, I don't know how you could be any more beautiful on camera than in person, but you are!

River said...

Every now and then I go to a lake or the ocean to find myself. Sometimes I like what I see but as the ripples or waves show I have room to grow (improve).One thing I learned at the ocean was learning to stand. I have a poem about it on my site www.theriverpoetry.blogspot.com
Today I was looking through my pics and found some that speak more than words can say. The Father has given us the power to use our five senses to understand who we are if we just take the time to stop and see, smell,touch, hear,& taste. The person we think we are keeps changing. Facebook has a quiz you can make up called how well do you know(insert name).
a few people who thought they knew me found that they don't know me as well as they thought. We are an ever changing people living in an ever changing world reaching for the truth to find the answer we all are searching for. I can't help but to bring up the picture of the man who is being stripped from the darkness to show the purity that lies inside. We are all made in His image purity but being raised in a world of religious spirits we not by knowing at times cover ourselves in it so as to seem to blend in. I find an image of sand instead of a mirror. digging through the sand after a lightning strike to find pure crystal glass. You have to dig through the dirt (sand) to find the true treasure just as you have to face your own dirt to find the true treasure God has called you to be.

Anonymous said...

Bishop,

What you imparted to us last night is truly a LifeSkills teaching - maybe even greater and more valuable than those you have given that "label". Most of us don't have to look very deep to find our own inner religious spirit in some shape or form and it feeds on our environment that we create through our daily thoughts and conversations...

Holy Spirit teach me to Be Free of Judgement on any level if it serves no purpose for Your Kingdom.

Anonymous said...

One aspect of the "I am" is that in the Hebrew it has two implications: 1. It means that all that God is, the fullness of His being is implied but not delineated. It also means, "I will be," leaving the future open to His ongoing revelation of Himself in life and our need of Him. Moses, when He asked God His name, was trying to pin down all that He was to tell Israel, but God would not give it all at that point. It was to be an ongoing revelation. So I find in this the implication that we might want to put God in a box but He will not have it. He wants to be tied up to mankind "to be" all that we need to be complete.

Brenda said...

Thanks for that in time word for it was directly from the mouth of God. I know it was from God because my heart did burn as you spoke the words and I was able to see myself in the mirror of the words. As we struggle to get ours heads around the news the doctors handed down I now see things in a different light and know that we are only hearing in part, God has the last word in the matter. This was the best lifeskills message yet and as I look back over my notes I'm still basking in that word as it reads my book. The message forces you to look and say wow is that whats inside me and then it allows you to come before the healing powers of Him and be restored.

I had a lot of time to meditate on Him and where my life is going while I was in the woods of Alabama. As I sat on the bank overlooking the lakes I thought about all those fish that were in the lake and why I only caught one. The reason was I didn't want to put in the time, I wanted them to just bite the moment I cast out but that didn't happen. I got frustrated and gave up, but my Dad had a string of them and said you judged too soon now you will only eat your one. As I look back on things that has been my pattern, judging too soon. Wow that opens up so many possibilities if I just don't get frustrated and judge too soon because what I've experienced in the past was but an installment of what is coming. My latter years will indeed be better.

Izumi/JOY said...

Good morning (again) beloved Universe!

I read these earlier today, when I could barely keep my eyes open. Love how each one makes me think expansive thoughts.

Anon@7:25, I really get that about God. (wanting to put Him in a box, but He won't have it)

Your words (and these other posts) encourages me to share this:

I don't want to be only called that cute, little friend with the Epicanthic fold.

God says, "I AM."

I don't want to always cover my diastema smile - complete a popular shy/awkward/geeky stereotype.

God says, "Then, don't."

I don't know much about mathematics, and use the dictionary, a lot. Not because I think I'm better than others. Just trying to make myself understood. Because, I think maybe you'll only look at my eyes and not hear my words.

God says, "Go on."

I don't carry a camera, and am the only one in my whole family who can't use chopsticks.

God asks, "How about tongs?"

I hate the annoying cowlick in the back of my head. It makes me look like I just woke up.

God says, "Oh good. You slept."

I don't want my scars to show. The ones from accidents, surgeries and self-inflicted ones. The ones when I cut myself just to feel I was alive.

God says, "I AM."

I don't want to think sentimentally, superfluous stuff, one moment, snarly, snarky stuff another, silly, stupid stuff another, or sanitized, sterile stuff another.

God says, "Sssh...then listen to Me."

I don't want to compulsively form animal features out of flour tortillas when we're dining out.

God says, "Creating's fun, huh."

I don't want to be over- confident, insecure, too full or depleted.

God nods, "Seasons."

Sometimes, I might embarrass you; laugh before the punchline. Or, maybe not at all. You might have to explain the joke again - on my left side. My right ear doesn't always hear as much.

God says, "That's OK. Make Me laugh."

Some days, I can go for hours without any conversation, concerned I might say the wrong thing. Candor's tricky. One questionable exchange can wipe out years of unity.

God says, "Let's work on that."

Izzumi/JOY said...

If we were friends, I can promise with full assurance: I'd never eat your cilantro or pets.

Izumi/JOY said...

I have no tattoos, have never burped the alphabet, and don't karaoke.

I put most of my candy bars in the freezer - they just taste better that way.

Once, I had a major crush on Johnny Bench.

Izumi/JOY said...

Once, I answered the phone using my prayer language, just to get the telemarketer to stop calling.

(OK... maybe more than once.)

Izumi/JOY said...

Once, I slept through a severe thunderstorm, and only awoke when I heard my 2 year nephew crying in another room.

Izumi/JOY said...

My dad used to call me, "Spock", because of the shape of one of my ears.

Izumi/JOY said...

Last week, I was convinced God hated me: strep throat, sunburn and hot flashes, all at the same time.

PattiL007 said...

Bishop...Hey! I resemble those remarks!

Anon @ 9:44PM...Wow! If that don't make you go Hmmm...nothing will. Regeneration BECAUSE of a Lack of Healing...very deep...thank you for sharing it!

Izumi...thank you for the laughter...again

Incredible night...still absorbing...don't have to look very hard to see my inner Pharisee either...I do have to watch myself to make sure I don't begin to hate him/her...he is part of me and I have to reign him in, correct him, control him, keep him silent...I must make him repent and become included and inclusive...in short, I must OVERCOME him...

Thank you, Lord, for your admonition to "Be of good cheer for I have OVERCOME the WORLD!" I was IN YOU when You overcame and I am to overcome my inner Pharisee just as You overcame him/them.

No disrespect intended here...please don't anyone be offended...I apologize in advance if it happens...

I'm now considering the things Jesus said to the Pharisees more closely...we all know He was quite vehement with them at times calling them snakes, painted graves, open pits...etc. I'm wondering if, perhaps, His statements were not only directed toward the actual Pharisees...but toward the possibility of His own "inner Pharisee."

I know, I know...but what if? He was human as well as divine...He was "tempted in ALL points"...wouldn't that be a point in which we would be tempted? Wouldn't we, if we truly knew who we are as He did during His ministry, at some point think that it would benefit us to become a friend of the Pharisees instead of tweaking their noses all the time? Would it not have been easier to tell ourselves that we would "work from the inside" and enjoy the benefits the Pharisees could provide? The religious rulers were politicos...if He had offered to join them they would have done exactly what a politician would do today...the same thing Obama did with Hillary...accept them in to the fold and use their charisma and talents for their own purposes.

It does make sense...He had to separate from the crowds who wanted to make Him king of Israel to avoid the temptation...perhaps He had the most difficulty with a religious spirit in the wilderness...isn't it a possiblity? I'm just sayin...

Ok...you can fuss at me later...just think about the possibility...

(This comment does not reflect the views or opinions of the Blogmaster, Bloginthenow, or anyone else...the views stated here are solely the opinion of the writer...that'd be me...and I AM...MYSTIC)

Larry Usher said...

Izumi-it is high time you burped the alphabet! ;) (You are so multi-faceted, enigmatic and fun all at the same time!-don't change a thing.)

Only in death of the false do we realize the life of the true. God is doing a major work on old paradigms and they die hard in all of us. The struggles the last few weeks have been monumental and heavy, heavy, heavy.
After death comes resurrection-

"Aaron knew well that it was God who made his rod sprout...Aaron knew that all ministry was based on sprouting, not on himself. Today as we minister before God we too ought to know that ministry comes from resurrection and resurrection comes from God.
Resurrection means that which is not of the natural, not of self or self-capability...I can paint and carve flowers on a rod, but I cannot make it sprout.
Resurrection is that which I cannot, but which God can; what I am not, but what God is. It matters not what I am, for it is based on God. It does not depend on greater cleverness or better eloquence. Whatever I have spiritually is due to God's own working on me."-

From "Spiritual Authority" by Watchman Nee

Ps 20:1 May the Lord answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
Ps 20:6-7- Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed; He answers him from His holy Heaven with the saving power of His right hand.
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will trust in the name of the Lord our God.

Sleep well in the boat as the storm rages on around you and know tha Master has it well in hand...

Bro Lar

Izumi/JOY said...

Thank you and you're welcome, Mystic and Bro Lar.

Sometimes, I type right-handed, so you won't recognize it's me.

Personally, I didn't perceive any disrespect; am not offended. And, certainly didn't intend on offending anyone with my (numerous, seemingly rambling) posts.

But, my God - ever get tired of apologizing? I do. (then, the whole treadmill repentance cycle for not wanting to apologize) Aaack! Enough!

Unless otherwise stated, my comments are directed to the beloved Universe.

As for Jesus recognizing His own inner Pharisee, interesting point. Since He had the Spirit without measure, and knew what was in men, surely He had to recognize His own weaknesses.

How would He be more tempted by a religious spirit in the wilderness? Vulnerable, you mean? (please elaborate)

Bro Lar - I'm working on the vowels.

You are encouraging, thought provoking and a spirit lifter. You often make me laugh, without even knowing it.

Ditto that for so many blessed CITN'ers. I intentionally don't mention it - fearful you'll modify or (or worse) hone mannerisms that make you who you are to me.

Anonymous said...

When burping the alphabet, it is acceptable to do lmno in one burp but do not do r on an enhalation burp because it comes out as rah and causes zombies to start popping out of the ground. A seems to be the easiest to do with the most force K is similar. S is just plain hard to do without being confused for F. The whole experience is rather pleasant and may be enhanced by using a carbonated drink but be careful not to miss the rapture.

Unknown said...

In Part...
I now see...
how A@M^A@Z%I!N#G&...
the hem of the garment...
of the Christ...
will be...

Unknown said...

btw...
since I am only known in part

and some might see the typical use of typing characters as cursing and not art...

here's a clue: if you look closely, each character is actually a shadow of the one just before...

Son of Zadok said...

Izumi/Joy

Johnny Bench is the man!

God Reds!

Anonymous said...

do you mean "Go Reds!"?

Son of Zadok said...

I did mean Go Reds.

Really don't know how that D got on their. But frankly, their offense needs all God's help they can get.

Izumi/JOY said...

Anon@ 5:40 - wonder what would happen if I tried that with root beer Fizzies...

Avatar, my eyes are open
Still, I no can see
For cues and clues confuse
Again
You sure you ain't me?

SOZ - Johnny Bench was on a talk show recently, and I thought, Wow! He's still cool!

PattiL007 said...

Izumi...yes,thank you for the clarification, that is what I meant.

Son of Zadok said...

Stephen: Fine speech. Now what do we do?
William Wallace: Just be yourselves.
Hamish: Where are you going?
William Wallace: I'm going to pick a fight.
Hamish: Well, we didn't get dressed up for nothing.

Son of Zadok said...

whoops wrong thread. Time to go to bed.