Thursday, June 17, 2010

REAL WORLD!

"This is how much God loved the world: He gave His Son, His one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in Him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending His Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again." (John 3:16, 17 – The Message)



















Today I will live in the now! I will live in the now because I know the real God, revealed through the real Jesus Christ, and I know that there is a very real world out there, full of real people with very real problems, who really need Him! They don't need the phoniness and irrelevance of dead religion; they need a real Jesus, and I will do what I can today to make Him real to my world.


Today I will not let myself become out of touch with the genuine issues that the people around me are dealing with, but I will be empathetic, touched with the feeling of their weaknesses as Jesus is.


Today I will remember that the field is the world, and I will volunteer once again to be a laborer in the ripe harvest of the earth.


Today I will be understanding and non-judgmental in my relationships, accepting people and receiving them just as they are.


























Today I will be a good listener, and a safe place for the wounded to find help.






















Today I will intercede for the lost, the hurting, the rejected, the disenfranchised and the broken. I will love with the agape of God and will fulfill my duties as an ambassador of Christ to my community.


Today I will speak the word of reconciliation in an effort to bring many sons to glory. I will not do or say anything that would make anyone feel alienated from God. I will be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit in this area today, and today I will live in the now!


Father, love Your world through me today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

10 comments:

River said...

Love can turn a harden heart around.
I pray for the church that is telling the world God hates them.
It's really sad that people today are still living with a religious mindset. The only thing we can do is pray and show them the love the Father has shown to us.
Whatever happened to harden the heart I pray peace and mercy so the love can shine through.

Unknown said...

Amen, River.

"touched with the feeling of their weaknesses" as Jesus is...

Makes me think of "walk a mile in their shoes". Never thought much about walking a mile...a whole mile...literally in someone else's shoes...how really long that would be, in shoes that might be floppy or tight, or whatever...there's a lot of different shoes out there.

On second thought...a mile is still long...even in some of my OWN shoes. I need to get some comfortable shoes.

Anonymous said...

Today's ACIM teaching is: By grace I live By grace I am released.
By grace I give By grace I will release...

Today's AYITN is: SUFFICIENT GRACE!
Father, let Your grace work in me today.

My affirmation for today: I am perfect just the way I am AND...however I evolve today in every moment, I remain perfect just the way I am!

Anonymous said...

Sahib,


Sup?


DBA

Unknown said...

DBA!

I'm not Sahib, of course, but Hey, dude...you're a sight for sore eyes!

Bishop Jim Swilley said...

Hey, DBA...long time, no hear...thanks for dropping in...

Erik said...

We are ALL, ALL, each one is We. --- We Love each other. We are a Safe Place for each other.

We welcome each other as each is. We apprehend any perceived alienation, revealing the indwelling we all effortlessly share.

Enjoy, relax, have fun, with the Love through each of us for all of us and all we perceive.

Izumi/JOY said...

God morning beloved, benevolent Universe!

Love how the first couple of pics remind me of 1 Samuel 2:8, and Ps. 113:7,8. (of the many years I've read Scriptures, I've just this minute discovered 1 Sam. repeated in this Psalm.)

2nd pic may be Genesis 2:7,8 account.

Pic 3 reminds me of Gen.1:12 & Matthew 13:37,38.

Pic 4 - the Books of Matthew, Mark, John & (Isaiah 52:14). Jesus scourged.

Pic 5 - is like Gen.22:14.

Pic 6 - like Proverbs 27:17.

Pic 7 - ...and a little child shall lead them.

(wow - word ver: solacing)

Anonymous said...

What I hear in my Spirit this morning...
You have heard it said that CITN is a body of entrepreneurs...
I say that we are more than that... we are a body of pioneers...

Not everyone is ready to be a pioneer...some will leave, but many are coming to bind together to do that which has never been done before...

Consider this...an interesting thought was presented to me in the book Spontaneous Evolution...

...we may need to return to real old-time religion, a path that only makes sense when we evaluate the root meaning of the word religion...the word religion derives from the Latin religare, which means "to bind together". The joining character of ligare is expressed in the word ligament, the structure that binds muscle to bone. While traditionally this binding has been linked to obligation - and some would say bondage - there is a more sane interpretation...religare means to rejoin the individual with society, the world, and the cosmos. This fundamental meaning of religion has nothing to do with a personal god, theology, or dogma. It is, above all, a term that implies coherent connection, a connection that doesn't necessarily require a priestly intercessor. Unfortunately, this deeper meaning of religion got buried under a pile of dogma-doo. Any spiritual or philosophical ligaments that remained to connect humanity to the world were severed when scientific materialism superseded monotheism. Instead of extracting the loving wisdom from both earthly and theistic paths, we threw the Baby Jesus out with the bath water. We invested our faith in the material world and allowed ourselves to believe that power could be a substitute for, and as good as or better than, love.
But, now that humankind has recognized that worship of matter is an unmistakable mistake, we are becoming aware that the god of money can neither provide happiness nor end suffering.
Sanity, therefore, means that we graduate from a disempowering religion or, for that matter, a disempowering anything. Sanity means that we grow past the blind obedience and the blind rebelliousness of adolescence. Sanity means that we, as children of God, put aside childish things and finally become adults of God.

(Later in the book - my paraphrase of the definition of adults of God)
...evolving beyond worshiping the lawmaker to living God's law (i.e. God's law which is the root of all world religions, in some form or fashion, that can very simply be defined as The Golden Rule of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you...unconditional love...)

karl cobos said...

Good morning bishop!

I hope that you have a great day today. You are blessed...the Lord's strength and guidance is on your paths...enjoy the morning, and don't forget the moments needed to chill, and laugh and play.