[For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides].
(James 1:8 - AMP)
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
- Mahatma Gandhi
As has already been said here, you need to be connected, but you also need to be you...and you can't really be you until your own spirit, soul and body are in complete harmony...you have to be in agreement with yourself first before you can flow in agreement with others...just as external conflict begins with inner conflict,
so external agreement begins with internal agreement...
Emerson said, “The reason why the world lacks unity, and lies broken and in heaps, is, because man is disunited with himself.” Until you walk in righteousness consciousness...until you are right with yourself...no one else can or will be right with you...self-confidence, self-awareness, self-esteem, and self-love are all essential to an individual being able to live in harmony and agreement with the rest of the world...
Of course, self-esteem must be tempered with love for others...balanced by the awareness that accepting and loving yourself just as you are means you never have to feel "less than", because you don't have to compensate by feeling "more than"...Paul said:For by the grace (unmerited favor of God) given to me I warn everyone among you not to estimate and think of himself more highly than he ought [not to have an exaggerated opinion of his own importance], but to rate his ability with sober judgment, each according to the degree of faith apportioned by God to him.(Romans 12:3 - AMP)
I can't say this enough...a major part of the true Gospel is loving your neighbor AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF...if more people in the world really loved themselves...if they could learn to love and accept their true selves/identities/uniqueness (as David did, as Jesus did, and as Paul eventually did), there would no doubt be a manifestation of a lot more love all around us...if more people could forgive themselves, they could easily forgive others...world peace can only come to a world full of people possessing inner peace...
I'm excited about the possibilities of self-discovery...about people learning who they are in Christ, and acting out accordingly...the dreamer in me imagines a world, a church, a Kingdom where pettiness and superficial competition become a thing of the past...where gossip and backbiting are obsolete because they are completely unnecessary...a place where I can think I'm great, and I can think you're just as great...a state of mind that causes me to want to do well, and want you to do equally as well...a revelation that confirms that you don't have to be wrong for me to be right...
When that part of the Kingdom comes, agreement will be the natural result...
Come, let us reason together...
To be continued...
16 comments:
I wonder how much we go into debt, emotionally, spiritually, and financially, trying to prove to the world that we are "ok". When what really matters is working out our own salvation within ourselves
Absolutely amazing!...This has got to be put into a series! I am surrounded by people TODAY that need this message...
Talk about KEYS TO UNLOCK HIDDEN ROOMS!!!!!
GO BISHOP!
I was gonna post something else, but the song playing on the playlist here caught my attention instead....and it goes along with what you said, Bish, about dreamin of a church where everyone is accepted and seen for who they are, etc... So, I will just post the lines of the song playin..
"I see friends shakin hands...sayin "How do you do?"....they're really sayin "I LOVE YOU"....
Peace,
Northern Light
John W. Brumlow said...
I do like the fine print on the bottle. Hope this is one of your originals. It is great. And if only it were that easy...
Taurea Davis said...
Again, Good one!
Joel Nunn said...
exactly...
SHAZAM Bishop, I totally agree and I will be passing that on to my circle of friends.
Great phrase...”this miracle of agreement”...and I agree, given all the ways that we humans have found to walk in dis-agreement, it truly is a miracle.
“Come, let us reason together”...okay, cool...discussions on agreement often lead me to recall the Abilene Paradox...the name given to the phenomenon that a group can decide to do what no individual member of the group wants to do. Failing to recognize and manage their “unspoken” agreement, often from wanting to “conform”, the individuals think their thoughts and desires are out of step, among other things, and never speak up.
So, Bishop, as with other times that you have brought definition to what something is by stating what it is “not”, I liked your part 1 statement, “agreement is not conformity.“
"...the kind of agreement that exists between those in the heavenly realm" (MITN, part 2) and "people learning who they are in Christ and acting out accordingly..." (part 3)
O-o-o, o-o-o...it's difficult to contain the excitement in those possibilites.
Dream on...there's a whole flock dreaming with you.
Cheryl Tiedemann said...
Soooo good!
Joy Bendoy said...
I love it Bishop Jim and I am with you. I wish many so called Christians can think the way you think or we think and can look at others the way we look at them.
Vanessa Faye Mattox said...
Three in one... Slam dunk!
Linda M Curtis said...
Love the line that reminds me of "You may say I'm a dreamer....but I'm not the only one" .... it's coming... I know it is ... I BELIEVE it ~
Very nice...enjoyed the reading...in agreement for that kind of agreement...inner...and in the Body too.
A man of two minds-this morning reminded me of Bailey my special needs daughter telling me her head hurt and she didn't feel well. When I told her I guess that means she can't swim today and play with her cousins, she said "I changed my mind".
The ultimate agreement, not just atonement, but at-one-ment...
Hi Tracy,
I have missed you.
Sissiedo
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