Hey bloggers,We're back. Everything was great. Thanks for the awesome comments. I have a lot to tell you, and I will...please be patient...I'll answer your questions, address your topics of interest, return your many phone calls and e-mails just as soon as I can.
I missed you, and I love you all very much...got to get some sleep...
later...
P.S. Yes, that's the real location (picture above)...I was going to go barefoot since I was "Paul", but we had to get the shot quickly to avoid getting hit by a car...
And I've got a great word for you tomorrow night...
And, Bishop Tommy, if you're reading this...I'll call you tomorrow. Let's do the ordinations when I come to the Philippines in October...
And God is good...
29 comments:
Wow… I am so glad the Blog is back…. I was having Blog withdraws… Most of all I’m glad that Bishop, Pastor Debye, Judah and Jonah are back… Welcome home. And Yes God bless America…
I have been pondering on the Abram…Abraham experience… To believe beyond what I have hoped for… To allow God to do more than what I hoped for… to just let Him be more than enough… To let my mind go farther than what I might think I need. Not making the enormity of what God is doing, be a need… Not being desperate for His abundance…because the entire kingdom is here… So there is no necessitate for desperation out of need… But pressing in to what is not seen…and walking in it…Not to limit myself to just my hope… Hope has boundaries… My mind only sees the hope… not the vastness of what actually is…
A friend of mine and I were talking about the Wizard of Oz a week or so ago… Dorothy lived in two different realities… or different worlds if you may… The whole time she was in Oz she wanted to go home… she hoped for home… she was desperate for home… she went to great lengths in search for home… She even sought after the great Wizard in HOPE that he could get her home… But the Wizard was just a mere man… had no special powers… on special gifts… even he couldn’t send her home….
But in reality home was within her… she was already home… she had to get beyond her hope and see herself home… And when she woke to the realization to what really was… her perception changed… her life wasn’t as bad as she perceived it to be… Everything she hopes for and searched for she already had…everything that she always wanted was already… she was always home…
All the things that we can imagine about heaven or the kingdom is already here… it’s our perception that says we are not here…or that we can’t have it now… We can dream about what might be in the sweet bye and bye… Streets of gold… mansions… (Hooo... Humm)… or we can live in the reality of the Kingdom now…The Kingdom is more than the Hooo Humm hoped for heaven…It is just a tweak of our perception…we become aware of the actuality of the Kingdom now…we have all that we hoped…but it is better than what we have hoped for.. because of hopes limitations… It’s far more…when we change our awareness and live in the reality of the realm of what really is… We are home… and it’s better than what we hoped home would be…
Love you all…
Iris
Food For Thought: Remember to live in paradise, you must create paradise within you first.
Welcome back Pastor George, Bishop Paul, Ringo and John!
Go Abbey Road --- The Pic, Paul was always alive - never played the album backwards, ;cause we are ' Moving Forward' Love all the Time.
Bishop (and family),
Welcome home! Love the Abbey Road pic. At your convenience, could you answer a question for me...Is there an itinerary for the GPF in D.C.? I have searched for one on the recently updated web page but cannot locate it. Also on that subject,I was reading over the weekend that the leader of Uganda's rebel Lord's Resistance Army is ready to complete a peace agreement that he had previously refused to sign and has said that he no longer desires to war against Uganda but instead wants peace for the nation. Very exciting!
-Shannon
Good morning all,
And Bish if your up yet. My Grandfather used to say that sleeping late was "layin out with the dry cattle" (dew on the cattle didnt dry till about 8am) just threw that in there.
I will never see the wizard of oz the same again......great analogy Iris!
I have "somewhere over the rainbow" in about three versions on my blog. I didnt put Kermit's version of it though, but really I do like it too.
when I was a kid the wizard of oz came on once a year as a "special" and I couldnt wait to see it. I think that shows that there is a searching heart, a hope, a dream, an inner knowledge that there is something better out there "somewhere" in all of us. This "faith" is one of Gods gifts to humanity that drives us to seek Him and His Kingdom.
Peace,
Dennis
Yes, Iconoclast, I'm up.
Great photo-op... FUNNY!
Hey Iris,
Good call. We have always been home, just like Dorothy was already home, she just did not perceive it, she was unconscious in her own bed. When she sang ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ she was still in the ‘By and By’ perception that ‘Home’ was somewhere in the future, somewhere to ‘hope’ for, while she was actually in her home, surrounded by her family the whole time. Like John’s perception changing in ‘The Unveiling’.
Thanks for reminding us we are already home, that we are in The Kingdom, we are always fully in the Presence of God, we have every day in His Courts, our perception is ours to choose. We can choose to perceive it ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ , choose to perceive we are held in this ‘temporary filed’ until we ‘go home’ to find we have always been home. Then the others say, they are glad we have come around, and we say, ‘No, No, you were there, I was gone, I worked so hard to get home’. They say ‘ Oh child, you have been here the whole time, we were waiting for you to awake’ .
And of course, The Spirit is always with us, going wherever we need to go, to change our perception, on our own, Toto in this version of waking up.
Love it. We are Spirits in a material world. A fun material world
OMG! I just love the picture!! It brings a smile to my face!! So glad you all were able to take such an amazing vacation!!! We missed you all dearly and it feels like you have been gone for a year!!! Can't wait to be ITB tonight!!
Our God Reigns
Iris, "the vastness of what actually is!" Infinity and Beyond! Let's go!
The Conyers Fab Four---awesome.
I won't mention the fact that I had an original first album which my younger sibs friend stole and sold for drug money because that would mean I'd have to acknowledge that I still have some forgiveness work to do. Amazing how that stuff surfaces from our amazing brains. Thanks. I guess. Excuse me while I go take care of this. Man, that's old junk!
Later.
Loved the cool picture, made me feel good!
God bless America, God bless our CITY. God bless our HOME.
When I read the blogs I feel HOME.
I sense people stirring and walking in the HOUSE. I hear conversation down the hall, and smell bread in the toaster!
Home is where my heart is.
In my Father's house are many rooms...
As Christ enjoys residence in me/us may we all realize like Iris mentioned about Dorothy that we already have a home on this side, within each one of us...where we can be content, because Christ is all we need in us.
I'm thankful for all the "living stones" here and at CITN, the stones beside me in this New Jerusalem, where we all become one, one city, Jew and Gentile alike to the glory of our Father and Lord.
...so today (as mentioned in AYITN)...I will look for a revelation of the omnipresent Body of Christ in the ordinary things around me: the bread, the wine, the table, those familiar faces around the table; Christ is here and Christ is now!
I speak peace and contentment to you all today in Jesus' name.
Love,
Karl
Trying to find the old album cover. I think you guys came pretty close to nailing it, except the shoes of course.
It is great to blurk again.
Iris, what a beautiful word man!
Lisa, celebrating birthday for your new son in faith. Looking forward to your mother and (dad also) child reunion.
Marvelous hear reading from you all.
Blessings in continuity,
ONE
Sahib,
Dia duit, rah jay urt and welcome back.
Remember the roles the Fab Four played in the pic? John was the preacher, Ringo was the mourner, Paul was the guest of honor (hence no shoes) and George was the interment specialist. Funny how real that seemed. I had the albums and used to know the clues (he blew his mind out in a car; he didn’t notice that the lights had changed). I Googled it today and Wikipedia has some pretty interesting stuff. More than I thought.
Glad you are back from Ireland, I pray that you are refreshed and reinvigorated for the victories yet ahead.
God Bless America,
Ain’t God Good?
Sahib,
Dia duit, rah jay urt and welcome back.
Remember the roles the Fab Four played in the pic? John was the preacher, Ringo was the mourner, Paul was the guest of honor (hence no shoes) and George was the interment specialist. Funny how real that seemed. I had the albums and used to know the clues (he blew his mind out in a car; he didn’t notice that the lights had changed). I Googled it today and Wikipedia has some pretty interesting stuff. More than I thought.
Glad you are back from Ireland, I pray that you are refreshed and reinvigorated for the victories yet ahead.
God Bless America,
Ain’t God Good?
Picture is AWESOME! Love the Beatles. Glad you are back!!!!
The discussion surrounding the perceived reality is giving me goose bumps. What we want - we already have yet do not perceive it is ours. Dorothy was in two seprate realms - exisitng in one and dreaming in the other. Yet both were very real to her. I remember something Mark Hanby said once - what if the second coming has already happened? What if we are living in the times after Jesus came? The religious did not see Him for who He was the first time He was here so whose to say we would know Him again? How do the perceptions of who we think we know coexist with who we know? We have known Him from the beginning of time, seated in high places until our time to come here. Therefore, what we already have known is being realized now in our time but yet has already been there.
Dorothy's hopes were set on a wizard that was perceived by the Munchkins to be something he was not but yet still was because of their belief he was who he said he was. When Dorothy came to see him, he was exposed but he still showed them how to get what they already had on the inside of them. They group had just proved it by going through all the trials and tribulations of getting to OZ only to discover they had what they wanted all along.
Could the kingdom of Heaven actually be here on earth just in a different realm but existing here with us all along? The Bible is full of metaphors and similes - whole religions have been based on just a few mere words. Why go away when it is all right here? If we are gods there be gods here. Different phrases come to mind in regards to heaven - done on Earth as it is in heaven, I go to prepare a place for you, streets of gold, and so on. Please understand I am not saying Heaven doesn't exist, I know it does but where it exists, I do not know - haven't been there. I watched my maternal grandmother cross over and it was the most beautful thing I have ever seen so I know it is there, somewhere. Her spirit left a day before her body did. So was she really gone when her spirit left or when her body finally went? Either perception is real.
Just a interesting flow going on here today.
Bish and Pr. Debye, Judah and Jonah...Welcome back!
Good Morning bloggers, it feels good to be home again.
Iris that was a very spirit filled observation and what you say is true, in my belief.
There is no place like home...but home is always...already...at all times...within us! It is like that scripture that speaks about when the Lord set free from captivity...we were as one who dreamed!
We truly want God to find a home in our hearts, our lives, our speech, our paradigms, our thoughts and our ways. And we haved been in Him since the foundation of the world...therefore the more we know Him...the more we feel comfortable in our own skin.
That is kind of ironic how you are speaking about perception and I am writing an article on perception and the seen and unseen worlds.
I believe the Holy Spirit prompted me to truly examine different definitions of perceptions and viewpoints and so it is very much in the flow to read your comment pertaining to peceptions. Bishop, I have your 20/20 Vision sitting on my desk as I type, which is absolutely a timeless piece of perception.
Iris, it is really cool to know how connected we are and how much covenant and agreement is between the BITN bloggers.
A movie which is the flipside to the Wizard of Oz, is the Matrix which I viewed last week and understood for the first time on a different level.
It was kind of the twist to the Wizard of Oz, in that they were trying to get to a dream land or have their hopes fulfilled, however in the Matrix, they were seeking reality from the dreamworld of the Matrix or the world's system.
And I do liken it to the Kingdom of God, in that the unseen things are eternal and the seen things are temporal. Very interesting paradigm. I do believe the more we walk by faith and are led by the spirit and are willing to launch into the deep, the more defined the lines between spirit and flesh becomes as a by-product of our actions!
WE have more light and we can see clearer!
Thank you Lord for light and deliverance for the oppression and deception of the world's system!
Selah!
Water Walker
Thanks Dennis, and Avatar… It is so cool when we realize that the somewhere over the rainbow is not somewhere…. it is in us…
Erik… I loved the part where you said “Oh child, you have been here the whole time, we were waiting for you to awake”… I think that the whole universe is waiting for us to wake up… For us to take our place in the Kingdom now…. When are we going to walk in it the way it was designed to be walked in… “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”… To show them that the Kingdom is here now… right under our skin… It is within us and them…. We are home… all that we have ever desired and beyond is right here… right now….
Then I was thinking about the Scar Crow who wanted a brain…the Tin Man who wanted a heart… and the Lion who wanted courage… That is something that Dorothy perceived in her comatose state as lack… something of need… But in reality… the real now world… home… they already had those things… but in a bigger better way….
How many yellow brick roads are we going to have to walk… before we realize the yellow brick road experience is a waste of time… the only journey we have to take is the tweak of our perception and we realize we are home….
Maybe the tweak begins when we tapping out heals together 3 times… saying there’s no place like home… there’s no place like home…
Iris
Food For Thought: Today, Remember, you are an unlimited being.
Hey Blog Fam!
Spending the day being content today... (AYITN)
Iris-- you knocked that one out of the park! What you wrote is so timely for me to share with a friend who really needs those very words-- thx!
Welcome home Bishop and family.. is it o.k to be a little "green" (yes, pun intended) of the trip to Ireland? Guess I'll have to go BE CONTENT for now (and go sniff some Irish Spring) till I get there myself... :o)
TTFN
Clapping Loudly, Praise God !!!!!!!! Iris, Christy, Water Walker --- Everybody !!!!! We are creators made by The Creator, We choose what we perceive for 'God knows how many reasons'. What do we choose to perceive now? I am clicking my heels, (they aren't sparkly red heels though, maybe they should be? ) :)
The unseen combining with the seen. At home and in the dream , perceiving both simultaneously. The yellow brick road AND the farm?? The talking trees and the bedroom, talking tress in the bedroom, both as 'solidly' perceived as the other. the material world AND the cloud of witnesses. Oh yeah, Elisha did that. Even changed his apprentices' perception. Seemed quite a bit of peace for Elisha.
The tree out my window, my keyboard, AND The Kingdom same 'place'.
Clarity, Peace, Joy.
Thanks Christy and Water Walker…
Christy you said… “What if the second coming has already happened?” I know this is not popular in most religious settings…. But I truly believe that WE are the second coming… We are to be and do what Jesus did here on earth…We are Him who lives inside of us manifested again… The second coming has already taken place… it is just that to many people are still looking in the sky for an event… but the event is in them… their perception is all wrong…
Water Walker I have seen the Matrix… and I totally agree… the unseen things are eternal… the outward world is temporal… The eternal things live within side of us… It is actually our home… It is where we have to live for the Kingdom to be manifested here and make a difference….
Very cooooool,
Iris
I see in the picture, that the Swilley fam is walking together away from that to which they knew, (look at the matured vegetation and the established look of the walls on the left) into their future, (the new construction on the right) which will be more than they could ask or think.
Nothing to lose
Erik in sparkly red heels...I'd almost pay to see that...a bit more Sgt. Peppers than Abbey Road though...yes?
Thanks for the great photo, Bish...and for the spiritual food, blog fam...I need that today...(and everyday). So nice to have everyone back where they belong...
Blessings Blog Fam!
Cool dialogue.
The thought that pops into mind is, "Oz never did give nothing to the tin man... that he didn't, didn't already have."
Hhhmmmm...
(continuation from Nothing to lose)
From what they knew to their future in that Judahs left hand is open more than the left hands of Jonah, Bishop and Pastor Debye, signifying to me that Judah is closest to the completion of
crossing the road (in the picture) and that for what's in store for them, an open hand will be able to contain the more.
Nothing to lose
If I am not mistaking you guys look like the Beatles, at like one of their videos. Can’t wait for tonight to listen to every details of your trip. P.Debye thank you for your word on Sunday, it really ministered to my spirit. And Bish I promise no more looking back for me anymore. From now on it’s all FORWARD for me. I declare it in Jesus’ name Amen!
WELCOME BACK!
KETTLY
Iris and everybody,
We are so close to getting it! I have pricklies on the back on my neck. We are really stretching out of this realm, this co-existance. I blogged something along the lines one time of reincarnation which you are touching on but in a different light. We are the reincarnated of the many member body of Jesus Christ, the Anointed One. We are the fruit of His tree, extensions of His flesh. He has come back - into those that perceive His existence here on earth. We are walking in a closer revelation than those that actually walked with Him in the flesh because we did not know the flesh but we know the Spirit. The Spirit is what draws us together and constantly reveals Jesus through the perceptions of our own realities, perceived or other wise, co-existing with each other. As we step out and peel back the edge of our reality to see what is on the other side of our realm, we have to be ready for what we see, touch, hear, feel or taste. For what is there we already know.
I read the Robert Pullman series - Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and the Amber Spyglass. Dark but really makes you stretch the imagination because they are written about what we are discussing. The children find a way to travel between worlds all co-existing at the same time. They have to be very observant to find the tears in the reality of the world they are in to be able to go into the next one. The movie was down played and criticized by the church because they say it was denouncing God when had they read the books, they would see the battle is against the Church. I thought they were awesome because it really makes you think beyond what is here. Along the same lines as the Matrix, just not with machines. I saw it as "the child shall lead them."
So coooooool!
The Swilley version of Abbey Road brought back early art memories. Don't know how well this will show up on here, but I did a painting of that album cover for a friend of my 'then' boyfriend when I was attending art school in Hilton Head (mid eighties). He was a DJ at a radio station in Savannah, I think, and actually commissioned me to do a couple of pieces for him. Funny thing is, it wasn't an exact replica. The canvas that I was working with was not square like the album cover, so I had to extend out lengthwise a little. He'd have preferred it square, but didn't seem too disappointed!
Shucks Elle, I wuz gonna rite a song with that line in it an you stole it right out from under me!
It’s so funny how Spirit really does communicate with Spirit. Just a while ago Pastor Ben and I were sitting outside the house talking about the same thing Iris.
I was saying to him we Christian are looking and waiting for the Day of the Lord, when I surely feel that, that Day happens every time we have a new REVELATION of who CHRIST IS inside of us.
I believe some of us don’t get it because we are way too busy of waiting for a particular Day. And furthermore! We are too busy worry about the everyday CRISCIS in our lives to hear the voice of God speaking to us to give direction of our lives.
If I can be allowed to give a word of wisdom or knowledge, whatever you want to call it is this: The Lord has made a covenant with us by sending His only begotten Son to die for us. Today again, the Lord says it on Zechariah 3:4- “SEE I HAVE TAKEN AWAY YOUR SIN AND I WILL PUT RICH GARMENTS ON YOU.”
You probably saying what on earth she’s talking about?
What I am saying is this God has made a covenant with us, to not let us die on our sins. Like Prophet Hosea says on Hosea 6:1-3 “Come let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but He will heal us; He has injured us but He will bind up our wounds. 2- After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will restore us that we may live in His presence. 3- Let us ACKNOWLEDGE the LORD; let us press on to ACKNOWLEDGE HIM. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.
Let us ask ourselves this question: what truly we understand the covenant God made with us. When He reveals himself in us?
Kettou
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