Be and Agree, Pt. 1 (Re-Post)

On some level we're all connected and interdependent, which is why I've been teaching and talking so much lately about the power of AGREEMENT...remember Paul said that the eye cannot say to the hand 'I don't need you'...he used the metaphor of the operation of the human body to explain the mystery of the Body of Christ (where two are more are gathered together in My name), and the truth that we all totally need each other for survival and creativity...that being said, I want to underscore the fact that, even though the eye indeed needs the hand, the eye is still an eye, and the hand is still a hand...their agreement with one another doesn't morph them into the same thing (same DNA/different function)...

An important part of understanding the miracle of agreement and how to walk in it is learning and accepting the fact that your individuality or uniqueness will not be compromised in the process...that's why Paul went on to say, "you are the Body of Christ and MEMBERS IN PARTICULAR"...

You need to be connected, but you also need to be you...

"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are — no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.” (Matthew 5:5 - The Message)

One of the greatest things about the Man, Jesus, in His earth-walk, was that there was absolutely no one else like Him ("Never a man spake like this Man")...Jesus reveled in His own uniqueness...that's one of the main reasons that He was always at odds with religion...religion discourages uniqueness in individuals, and fosters conformity...

Agreement is not conformity...

It certainly may include some compromise of ideas ("How can two walk together unless they agree?"), but never the compromise of the sense of self...there's a reason why Jesus chose such a diverse group of men to be His disciples...His choosing of them, just as they were (no background checks, no screening process, no trial period) was a celebration of their individual strengths (and weaknesses)...His only original instruction to them was "Follow Me"...

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
- e.e. cummings, 1955

Perhaps one reason that Paul grasped the concept of "members in particular" is that he, himself, was so very different from the other Apostles...they only knew the Christ through the pre-resurrection Jesus, the Son of Man...Paul only knew Jesus, the Man, through his post-resurrection revelation of the Christ...while the others went to Jerusalem, Paul went to Arabia, and eventually ended up writing the majority of the New Testament...

If you really follow his writings closely, you'll see Paul working through and learning to accept his own different-ness, while all the while giving us the greatest revelation of the Christ expressed through the unity that we have...

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10 - Today's New International Version)

Paul did say, "Follow me as I follow Christ", but he also said "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling"...that's where the balance is...that's where the harmony is...

Maybe I should sum it up with three words: BE AND AGREE!

Be in agreement, but be yourself...

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.
- Oscar Wilde

In other words...U B U!

To be continued...

Be and Agree, Pt. 7

BE...remember, you are a human BE-ing, not a human striving, or a human trying...God revealed Himself to Moses as the I AM ("am" is another tense of the word "be")...the writer of Hebrews said that "they that come to God must believe that HE IS..." (another form of "I Am")...Paul said "by the grace of God I am what I am" (the ultimate in self-realization and self-actualization)...some of the most beautiful words ever spoken are "Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest"......when you learn to just BE...to just be who you really are, you will enter into the rest of the I AM...

BE...Jesus said to pray that the will of God would be manifested on earth AS IT IS IN HEAVEN...this concept is the blueprint and template for the Kingdom of God...the manifestation of heaven on earth is a choice you must make, not a place you must find, or try to get to...we're not hoping and laboring to make it to heaven one day, rather, we're in the process of realizing that we are from heaven...

BE...this idea must permeate our consciousness on every level..."on earth as it is in heaven"..."in the seen realm as it is in the unseen realm"..."in the visible as it is in the invisible"..."in the material as it is in the immaterial"..."in the flesh as it is in the spirit"..."in the real as it is in the ideal"..."in the natural, as it is the supernatural"...

BE...on a personal level we could also say, "in the person that you are now, as it is in the person that you are becoming"...you cannot understand "AGREEING" until you embrace "BEING"...you are God's workmanship...God's masterpiece...fearfully and wonderfully made...get your head around this truth, and you will never be lonely...you can't be lonely if you like the person you're alone with...you are always a valuable, worthwhile human being...not because anybody says so...not because you're successful...not because you make a lot of money...not because everyone thinks you're holy...not because you are in church...but because you decide to believe it simply on the authority that it is the truth of the I AM, and for no other reason...

AGREE...love your neighbor AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF...love is the ability and willingness to allow those that you care for to be what they choose for themselves, without any insistence that they satisfy you...this is why BEING is so essential to AGREEING...

Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you've got it in you, get along with everybody. Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do. "I'll do the judging," says God. "I'll take care of it."

Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he's thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don't let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

(Romans 12:17-21 - The Message)

Beginning tomorrow at CITN we'll be observing the 2 proactive commandments of the TRUE GOSPEL in a manner that will be more in-depth than anything we've ever done or discussed before...the series will flow all the way until the end of the year...if these 7 installments on the blog have interested you, or blessed you in some authenitc way, you probably don't want to miss any of these upcoming services...see you tomorrow!

PEACE

Be and Agree, Pt. 6

BE...(from today's AYITN)

Today I will live in the now! I will live in the now because I have been commanded to let my light – my personal, individual and unique light – shine before people in such a way that I would attract them to God's light. In the same way that the moon reflects the light of the sun, and ultimately draws attention to it, I have a purpose in showing my good works – my light – to show that it is God who enables and empowers me to do what I do!

...AND AGREE...

2. When they had all come up higher together, He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying:

3. “Blessed are the poor in spirit – those who have been broken emotionally and whose self-esteem has been severely damaged – for they have the opportunity to rethink their lives, and are in a position to receive total restoration by seeking the kingdom of/from the heavens!

4. “Blessed are those who are in mourning – those whose dreams have been shattered, who have known nothing but heartbreak and disappointment – for they have the promise that they shall be completely comforted!

5. “Blessed are the meek – those who regularly exercise strength under perfect control – for their restraint, humility and self-control will ultimately cause them to literally inherit the earth!

6. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness – the seekers who want more, who refuse to settle for the religious status quo, and who earnestly desire to embrace all truth – for they shall be spiritually satisfied!

7. “Blessed are the merciful – the ones who are quick to forgive and move on, who are slow to judge, and are unwilling to condemn – for they themselves shall obtain mercy in their own lives!

8. “Blessed are the pure in heart – those who do not live by hidden agendas and ulterior motives…the unpretentious…the real people experiencing the real God in the real world – for they shall be able to see God fully and clearly, and without any optical obstruction!

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9. “Blessed are the makers and maintainers of peace – the ones who build the bridges, tear down the walls, and are repairers of the breach – for their noble and humanitarian efforts shall cause them to be called the very sons of God!

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10. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake – those who are misunderstood, misquoted and misjudged for their beliefs, and are hated for their stand for the truth – for their clear vision will reveal the kingdom of/from the heavens on the earth!

11. “Blessed are you, even when people revile you and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil things against you, and make up hurtful and ridiculous rumors about you on My account.

(Matthew 5:2-11 - Matthew In The Now)

Be and Agree, Pt. 5

You shall also decide and decree a thing, and it shall be established for you; and the light [of God's favor] shall shine upon your ways.
(Job 22:28 - AMP)

Be and agree...be yourself (agree with yourself), and then find a place of agreement with others...it’s time to change the way we think and speak about our terms of agreement...time to change the way we think about our dreams...we have been talking about these things for some weeks now, because we are ultimately transforming a conversation...

Transforming a conversation, just like manifesting a dream, begins by setting an intention...we hear a lot these days about the power of intention, a concept which is both Scriptural and eternal, and there can be no agreement, internal or external, without an intention...

God said to Job, "decree a thing, and it will be established to you"...your intentions will assist you in taking greater control of your life...here in the Amplified version He says DECIDE and DECREE a thing...agreement is always the result of a quality decision...

A working definition for intention is: “to have in mind a purpose or plan, to direct the mind, to aim”...lacking intention, we sometimes stray without meaning or direction...a double-minded person is unstable in all of his or her ways...but with it, all the forces of the universe can align to make even the most impossible things, possible...our intention in embracing this word about agreement is to transform the conversation around dreams from fear and doubt, to hope and possibility, followed by action and results...James said that faith without works is dead...agreement is not just something you think or say, it's something you do...

There are some who might say that this is not the right time to dream...the media and the masses say, “It’s time to be realistic”...the majority of the world still ignores God's original commandment, and eats daily from the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, and when your belly is filled with the fruit from that tree, you usually can only see the evil...

But consider this...without our dreams, all we have is our present reality...reality is not a bad thing...even those of us who make the conscious effort to eat from the Tree of Life are still aware of the bad things in the world that happen every day...and we have to know where we are so we can design the appropriate strategy for getting to where we want to be...

The challenge is our attitude around “reality”...our paradigm of what it means to be “realistic”...our acceptance of the truth about what being realistic has actually cost us...our obsession with "reality" has often cost us our passion and joy, our hopes and dreams...our trademark statement at CITN is 'REAL PEOPLE EXPERIENCING THE REAL GOD IN THE REAL WORLD', but what, exactly, is the "real world"?...John said that he saw a new heaven and a new earth...Jesus said, "Behold, I make all things new"...

Faith is the evidence of things not seen...

I feel like we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg on this concept, and I certainly want to continue the conversation...

In the meantime, don't be afraid to think in a new way...don't discard your dreams...don't be untrue to yourself...don't second-guess your decisions, and don't doubt your intentions...

There's a new world coming...

To be continued...

Be and Agree, Pt. 4

Thanks for the good feedback on this series...glad it's making a difference...if you weren't at CITN yesterday, or didn't get a chance to stream the service, and you're receiving some insights and confirmation on this subject, you may want to get the CD or DVD of the sermon (title: Once Upon a Time: Re-writing the Story of Your Life)...

We've been discussing the power of agreement here and in church for a few weeks now, and have explored the concept of external agreement beginning with internal agreement...for those who are walking out this word, it means that we are all, on some level, in a process of learning to think in a new way...

Changing your thoughts and attitudes really can lead to making your most impossible dreams come true..."I set before you life and death, blessing and cursing...therefore CHOOSE LIFE!"...life is a choice...blessing is a choice...choose your thoughts...create a new contract with yourself that will enable you to make of your life everything you want it to be...

Disharmony causes scarcity to become a reality in your life...your finances, struggles, even some health problems...not everyone is able to do this, and there may be some exceptions to the rule...but to be able to look at your life and say: "For the most part, I created this...my life is the result of the choices I've made" is at once sobering and liberating...and it is empowering...

What we think determines what happens to us, so if we want to change our lives, we need to stretch our minds..."be not conformed to this world, but be TRANSFORMED by the renewing of your mind"...

This isn't New Age psychobabble...this concept is supported in the Scriptures, as has already been said ("the knowledge of the Lord fills all the earth as the waters cover the sea")...in fact, we become what we think about. William James, the father of psychology, said that if you form a picture in your mind of what you would like to be, and you hold it there long enough, it will become a reality...Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and and a few others in the Bible knew this long before Mr. James ever found it out...

But if your life isn't changing in the ways that you want it to, realize that insanity is repeating the same thoughts and behaviors again and again, and expecting different results...to get a new outcome, you have to rewrite your agreement with reality...agree with yourself...BE AND AGREE...

A part of what we call repentance is composing a brand-new agreement with yourself that says: "There is nothing that is not possible for me...I can attract abundance into my life."...connect with that thought...

Norman Vincent Peale said, "Change your thoughts and you change your world."

But when you focus on all the things that you don't have, you stay stuck...every thought you have either makes you stronger or weaker...thoughts of kindness, hope, forgiveness, and peace are strengthening...anger, anxiety, worry, and fear weaken you...

For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].
(Philippians 4:8 - AMP)

You must process events in terms of appreciation rather than depreciation...you either feel and believe that God and His universe are plentiful and providing, or you feel short-changed, that nothing is ever right...that kind of scarcity mentality causes you to always be expecting that things won't work out for you...

Jesus said, "As your faith is, so be it unto you"...

To be continued...

Be and Agree, Pt. 3

[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...

Be and Agree, Pt. 2

19. "This is why relationships are so important. See, if two of you on earth come into the kind of agreement that exists between those in the heavenly realm, you create a supernatural harmony together that makes a symphony…and that kind of harmony is the music of God…the ONE song, or the ‘Uni-Verse’…no discord…no dissonance…no instrument out of tune with the others. And when that symphony is played, the agreement causes whatever…anything and everything…they may ask to come to pass and be done for them by My Father in heaven.

20. Because wherever at least two or three are gathered or drawn together in and into My name…when that kind of harmony takes place…there is a revelation of the Christ, and there the I AM is in the midst of them”.
(Matthew 18:19, 20 - Matthew In The Now)

Again, an important part of understanding the miracle of agreement and how to walk in it is learning and accepting the fact that your individuality or uniqueness will not be compromised in the process...("Now, you are the Body of Christ and MEMBERS IN PARTICULAR")...unity is harmony...harmony with others...and it begins with your own inner harmony...

The instruments in the orchestra all harmonize with one another to make beautiful music, but the violin is still the violin...the oboe is still the oboe...the trumpet is still the trumpet...the tuba is still the tuba...the drum is still the drum...

You need to be connected, but you also need to be you (U B U), 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 you first before you can flow in agreement with others...a double-minded person is unstable in all of his or her ways...outer conflict really begins with inner conflict...

We're all familiar with God's proclamation in Genesis, "The people are one (better translated the people IS one), and now nothing they imagine to do will be impossible to them"...but we could go even deeper with that and say that when you are one with you, nothing will be impossible to you on a personal level...

I've written and posted a lot about the importance of loving yourself (see July 12)...a major part of the true Gospel is loving your neighbor AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF...again, outer conflict begins with inner conflict...if more people in the world really loved themselves...I mean their true selves...there would no doubt be a manifestation of a lot more love all around us...if more people could forgive themselves, their forgiveness would come much easier for others...the secret to world peace is a world full of people possessing inner peace...

Paul seemed to resolve his own inner conflict through his revelations and writings...he gradually became less and less defensive over his own apostolic authority, which was constantly being challenged by Jews and Christians alike...he said things like, "By the grace of God I am what I am", and went on to not only accept his infirmities and weaknesses as a part of his reality, he even began to boast about them ("when I am weak, then I am strong")...

These are the words of a man at peace with himself:

Who in the world do you think you are to second-guess God? Do you for one moment suppose any of us knows enough to call God into question? Clay doesn't talk back to the fingers that mold it, saying, "Why did you shape me like this?"
(Romans 9:20 - The Message)

Be and agree...

The great majority of us are required to live a life of constant duplicity. Your health is bound to be affected if, day after day, you say the opposite of what you feel, if you grovel before what you dislike, and rejoice at what brings you nothing but misfortune. - Boris Pasternak

Be and agree...

The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them. - Thomas Merton

Harmonize with yourself...harmonize with others...harmony is a beautiful thing...

To be continued...

Be And Agree, Pt. I

On some level we're all connected and interdependent, which is why I've been teaching and talking so much lately about the power of AGREEMENT...remember Paul said that the eye cannot say to the hand 'I don't need you'...he used the metaphor of the operation of the human body to explain the mystery of the Body of Christ (where two are more are gathered together in My name), and the truth that we all totally need each other for survival and creativity...that being said, I want to underscore the fact that, even though eye indeed needs the hand, the eye is still an eye, and the hand is still a hand...their agreement with one another doesn't morph them into the same thing (same DNA/different function)...

An important part of understanding the miracle of agreement and how to walk in it is learning and accepting the fact that your individuality or uniqueness will not be compromised in the process...that's why Paul went on to say, "you are the Body of Christ and MEMBERS IN PARTICULAR"...

You need to be connected, but you also need to be you...

"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are — no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.” (Matthew 5:5 - The Message)

One of the greatest things about the Man, Jesus, in His earth-walk, was that there was absolutely no one else like Him ("Never a man spake like this Man")...Jesus reveled in His own uniqueness...that's one of the main reasons that He was always at odds with religion...religion discourages uniqueness in individuals, and fosters conformity...

Agreement is not conformity...

It certainly may include some compromise of ideas ("How can two walk together unless they agree?"), but never the compromise of the sense of self...there's a reason why Jesus chose such a diverse group of men to be His disciples...His choosing of them, just as the were (no background checks, no screening process, no trial period) was a celebration of their individual strengths (and weaknesses)...His only original instruction to them was "Follow Me"...

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
- e.e. cummings, 1955

Perhaps one reason that Paul grasped the concept of "members in particular" is that he, himself, was so very different from the other Apostles...they only knew the Christ through the pre-resurrection Jesus, the Son of Man...Paul only knew Jesus, the Man, through his post-resurrection revelation of the Christ...while the others went to Jerusalem, Paul went to Arabia, and eventually ended up writing the majority of the New Testament...

If you really follow his writings closely, you'll see Paul working through and learning to accept his own different-ness, while all the while giving us the greatest revelation of the Christ expressed through unity that we have...

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10 - Today's New International Version)

Paul did say, "Follow me as I follow Christ", but he also said "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling"...that's where the balance is...that's where the harmony is...

Maybe I should sum it up with three words: BE AND AGREE!

Be in agreement, but be yourself...

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.
- Oscar Wilde

In other words...U B U!

To be continued...