Christ’s Identity and Purpose – A Declarative Prayer

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Christ’s Identity and Purpose

 

Lord, I affirm and accept my status as a new creation in Christ and I thank you for making me a joint heir with your Son, Jesus Christ. I proclaim and also affirm that I am among the chosen, the fortunate ones you have selected as your holy and beloved.

Father, I thank you for piercing the darkness and searching for me and I especially thank you for your patient endurance in pursuing me, especially when I was fleeing and hiding from your Light.

I am eternally grateful my Father that you were steadfast in your love for me and that you found me, embraced me, and carried me out of this dark kingdom. I awakened in the brilliance of the One True Light which fills your glorious kingdom – indeed Lord, the New Canaan, the realm of your sinless Son who you loved even before the world began.

Dear Lord, I know in my mind and in my heart, and I affirm with my tongue and lips that you are the perfect, visible image of the invisible God and that when I look upon you, I behold the fullness and totality of God. I realize and affirm that to know you Lord Jesus, is to know the Almighty, the one true Creator – He who was, is, and is to come.

Lord Jesus Christ, you are the firstborn of the entire cosmos, the first person to appear in creation and that you are preeminent in all of it. All things visible and invisible were created by you, through you, and for you. You are the Originator and the Goal – the Creator as well as the Consummator – the Alpha and the Omega – the beginning and the end.

Lord Jesus Christ, you existed before time began as the eternal Son and you were before all things. The entire universe is held together in you and you are the cohesive force – the gravitational power that holds all created elements, seen and unseen, together. Without you, the entire universe would disintegrate.

It is you Dear Lord, the One True Light – Adonai – that gives meaning to all creation and all of life. Without you, there is no purpose, either universal or personal, for it is you Lord Jesus, that rose higher than the highest heaven, filling all things with your presence and your purpose. You are indeed the Way, the Truth, and the Light –

I thank you for adopting me into your Family of Light and I commit my life and my ways to you, your care, and your blessed Kingdom.

In the Holy Name of Jesus I pray,

Amen.

 

Essentials for the Spiritual Life: Self-Mastery (Part Three)

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Mick Turner

(continued from Part Two)

At first glance, it would seem this process of personal mastery and changing problematic behaviors would be simple. We just identify those behaviors and make up our minds not to engage in them anymore. However, as anyone who has ever tried to change deeply ingrained behaviors will attest, this process is far more difficult that it seems. Further, we are often our own worst enemies when it comes to this sort of personal mastery.

 From the time I was five years old I have been an avid baseball fan. I played the sport throughout my school years and, once I became an adult, played competitive softball for many years.

I normally played middle infield, either second base or shortstop. For many years I used the same softball glove. In fact, I used it so long that the strings kept breaking, all the padding was gone out of the pocket and the leather was cracked in several strategic places. Nevertheless I refused to buy a new glove, in spite of the frequent protestations of my teammates.

The reason was simple. I was comfortable with this old glove. It molded to my hand perfectly over the years and it felt reassuring to put in on before I took the field. All too often, however, I would catch a hard line drive right in the pocket and my hand would sting, then remain numb for several minutes. Still, I wanted no part of a new glove.

A new glove, as anyone who has played the sport knows, is a real pain for awhile. It feels funny, awkward and stiff. It is easy to make errors with a new glove, at least until it is broken in properly. No, my old glove was find thank you very much.

One day our third baseman wasn’t able to make the game and I played the so-called “hot corner.” Things went okay for the first two innings. Then, in the third inning the batter hit a hard liner right at me. I responded quickly and raised my glove, only to have the ball break right through the ancient webbing an hit me square in the forehead, knocking me out cold.

Two days later I bought a new glove.

My experience with my old softball glove is not unlike my experience with the behaviors that flow from my old self. No matter how much I try to take off the old and put on the new, the old keeps rearing its head and biting me. I suspect that I am not alone in this predicament.

Many of my old behaviors, like my old softball glove, may hurt me time and time again. But, they are comfortable in the sense that they are familiar and predictable. My old self resists change and it is here that we are vulnerable to our habitual responses to life, however unhealthy and painful they may be.

There is no need to complicate this issue of self-mastery beyond what it is. On a very practical level, mastery of self involves nothing more complex or arcane than saying no to self. Granted, this is often easier said than done, but let’s not kid ourselves by inserting all sorts of esoteric metaphysics or psychoanalytic mumbo jumbo into the equation. Like James Allen, let’s cut right to the chase:

By his personal indulgences a man demeans himself, forfeits self-respect to the extent and frequency of his indulgence, and deprives himself of exemplary influence and power to accomplish lasting good in his work in the world.

Perhaps one of the most vital areas where we must gain self-mastery is our tongues. Jesus, when he was being questioned by Pilate, chose to remain silent. Likewise, there are many occasions where our best recourse is to be still and say nothing. This is especially hard when we feel we have been wronged in some way or perceive some sort of encroachment has been committed. Still, learning to hold our tongue in such situations will eventually reap great dividends both in terms of self-control and relations with others.

Think about it for a moment. If you desire to be more balanced in your emotions and harmonious in your relationships, it is often best to maintain silence. Our world if filled with those who engage in excessive talk and empty diatribes. Even those who are moderately discerning can tell when a person is speaking weak, empty words. The control of the tongue is essential if we want to achieve success in any endeavor. Most often, it is better to not talk about what you are doing, but instead, just devote yourself to doing it. That way, when you are finished, your work speaks for itself.

The Book of James clearly warns us about the potential dangers of the unbridled tongue and the necessity of getting it under control:

For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way. We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes is praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. (James 3: 2-10)

to be continued….

(c) L.D. Turner 2011/All Rights Reserved

 

Essentials of the Spiritual Life: Self-Mastery (Part Two)

(Continued from Part One)

As we have seen, establishing and maintaining self-discipline has many rewards, the chief of which is an internal sense of strength and confidence. Rather than some willy-nilly, unfocused, and nebulous sort of confidence, the confidence that comes from being a master of oneself is a practical, concrete and highly efficient trait that serves as an anchor in life’s sometimes turbulent seas. Allen concludes:

 With the practice of self-discipline a man begins to live, for he then commences to rise above the inward confusion and to adjust his conduct to a steadfast centre within himself. He ceases to follow where inclination leads him, reins in the steed of his desires, and lives in accordance with the dictates of reason and wisdom.

 We all seek a North Star, a point of reference to which we can align ourselves and thereby judge our position. Without such a point of reference, we waste valuable time and energy, flitting here and wandering there and ending up nowhere. John Wesley wisely taught that when seeking such an anchor for our lives, we can turn to four sources: tradition, scripture, reason, and experience. During the course of my life, there have been occasions where I have used any one or combination of these sources to make proper judgments and reach vital decisions. Yet more than any other source, I have found greatest value in that “inner light” which God deposited in me. Known by many names, this is indeed the “light which lights every man that comes into the world” as John so aptly put it in the famous Prologue to his gospel. It is this same inner luminous core that George Fox, founder of the Quaker movement, spoke of as the radiant wellspring of Christian revelation.

 If we are to  reach any degree of mastery over our lower self, we must establish, deepen, and maintain steadfast contact with this inner light. James Allen, speaking in context of establishing an anchor for our lives, describes the process in very succinct terms:

 A man does not commence to truly live until he finds an immovable center within himself on which to regulate his life, and from which to draw his peace. If he trusts to that which fluctuates, he also will fluctuate; if he leans upon that which may be withdrawn he will fall and be bruised; if he looks for satisfaction in perishable accumulations he will starve for happiness in the midst of plenty…Be contented that others shall manage or mismanage their own little kingdom, and see to it that you reign strongly over your own. Your entire well-being and the well-being of the whole world lies there. You have a conscience, follow it; you have a mind, clarify it; you have a judgment, use and improve it; you have a will, employ and strengthen it; you have knowledge, increase it; there is a light within your soul, watch it, tend it, encourage it, shield it from the winds of passion, and help it to burn with a steadier and ever steadier radiance. Leave the world and come back to yourself. Think as a man, live as a man. Be rich in yourself, be complete in yourself. Find the abiding center within you and obey it.

 Often the Holy Spirit brings to our attention areas of our thought, feeling, action, or belief that are either inaccurate or no longer serve a useful purpose. It then is incumbent upon us that we cast aside these aspects of our being. Paul speaks to this theme repeatedly when he tells us to take off the old and to put on the new. James Allen tells us:

 He who would be clothed in new garments must first cast away the old, and   who would find the True must sacrifice the false. The gardener digs in the weeds in order that they may feed, with their decay, the plants that are good for food; and the Tree of Wisdom can only flourish on the compost of uprooted follies.

…….to be continued

(c) L.D. Turner 2011/All Rights Reserved

 

United Methodist Church Aims at Relevance and Global Service

L. D. Turner

If you are a regular visitor to this site, you know that I often write about the major changes that are changing the face of institutional Christianity across the board. You will also recall that I have a sincere love and passion for the church, despite its many shortcomings, and genuinely believe that Christianity, when rightly practiced, has much to offer our hurting world. With its inherent creativity, its heart of compassion, and its depth of resources, the church universal is strategically positioned to become a positive force in helping shape our culture as this turbulent century progresses. The key to bringing these positive contributions to fruition is a willingness on the part of the church to be creative, progressive, flexible, open, and proactive.

 I have been a member of the United Methodist Church for many years and am proud to say that our church is moving forward in an attempt to make itself a positive and beneficial force in the world and, in keeping with its mantra of “open hearts, open minds, and open doors, is doing so in a creative and exciting way. The UMC “Rethink Church” programs, along with the Ten Thousand Doors initiative, are but two examples of this.

 Most recently, however, I came across a document that reminded me why, early on in my adult life, I chose to become a Methodist. The document I am referring to explains the rationale behind the UMC initiative entitled, God’s Renewed Creation: Call to Hope and Action. It is the “Foundation Document” for the initiative and is authored by the UMC Council of Bishops. After reading this “Call to Hope and Action” my Wesleyan fires were blazing to say the least. And while I am sincere in my belief that denominational differences in this country are far too overblown, this document illustrates the social principles of the UMC.

 “God’s Renewed Creation” maintains the firm commitment of the 1986 Council , namely that “nuclear deterrence is a position that cannot receive the church’s blessing. These documents, generated in 2009, also build on the observations of the earlier Council, that the nuclear crisis threatens “planet earth itself,” that the arms race “destroys millions of lives in conventional wars, repressive violence, and massive poverty,” and that the “arms race is a social justice issue, not only a war and peace issue.”

 The 2009 Council of Bishops expanded its focus to include three interrelated threats:

 Pandemic poverty and disease;

• Environmental degradation and climate change, and
• A world awash with weapons and violence.

 “God’s Renewed Creation” gives me both hope and a sense of loyal pride at being a part of the United Methodist Church as well as the Wesleyan tradition of social ministry. Recognizing that the world as we know it has become an interrelated, interdependent global entity, the UMC leadership is taking a proactive stance in terms of addressing some of humanity’s most critical issues. Also recognizing that the church has historically been part of the problems in our world, the Council of Bishops now seeks to become a creative and transformative part of the solution.

 The United Methodist Church has the vision to see that God is doing a “new work” in the world and is taking positive measures to be an integral part of God’s work at this critical point in our planet’s history. Rather than taking a myopic, “what’s in it for us” approach to humankind’s crucial problems, the Council of Bishops has given voice to a vision that is much broader in scope and, in keeping with the Wesleyan heritage of befriending the hurting and the marginalized, seeks to bring God’s healing grace to those who suffer the most in this time of rapid change.

 The “Call to Hope and Action” reflects the United Methodist Church’s mission to “Make Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World.” Additionally, the vision of God’s Renewed Creation clearly reflects the denomination’s “Four Areas of Focus.” The Foundation Document states:

 We know the world is being transformed and we seek to cooperate with God’s renewing Spirit, especially through our denominations Four Areas of Focus: (1) developing principled Christian leaders for the church and the world, (2) creating new places for new people and renewing existing congregations, (3) engaging in ministry with the poor, and (4) stamping out the killer diseases of poverty. Focusing on these four areas will shape our discipleship such that those who seek God will see an image in our behavior that is inviting, encouraging, healing, and inspiring.

 As a United Methodist, I clearly see the personal implications of these four areas of focus and, along with the biblical teachings of the Master, use them as a matrix through which I organize my personal spiritual disciplines. I especially find the principles of inviting, encouraging, healing, and inspiring helpful reminders for putting into practice what I have come to call proactive hospitality. This type of hospitality is not only sensitive to the everyday, routine ways of being open and hospitable in our homes and churches, but also actively looks for ways we can practice hospitality to others, even if it is nothing more than smiling and saying hello.

 Personally, I seek to practice proactive hospitality by holding doors open for people and allowing them to enter before I do. This may seem like a very small thing and perhaps it is. However, I have found this to be a simple practice that has enormous benefit when carried out over a period of time.

 The Foundation Document takes great care to show how the various problems facing humankind in this age are interrelated. For example, the issue of climate change is examined from an angle somewhat different than the norm. Rather than focusing on whether or not climate change is man-made or part of a natural cycle, the Council of Bishops views this vital issue in terms of its impact on those living under the thumb of oppressive poverty. In addition, climate change and poverty are seen as interconnected with violence and the sale of arms.

 Climate change poses a particular threat to the world’s poor because it increases the spread of diseases like malaria and causes conflicts over dwindling natural resources. Easy access to small arms ensures that such conflicts turn deadly, and the specter of a nuclear war that would destroy the world continues to loom over us.

 The Foundation Document was created out of the Council of Bishops being “called to speak a word of hope and action.” The document is also a product of the church’s sensing of God doing a new things, as described in Isaiah 43:19:

 Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

 As I read over the document the first time I was able to experience that sense of calling – that blessed sense of God’s love in action in the world. I understood at a deeper level that we, indeed, are living in a critical era in the world’s history – an age in which the matrix of the future is beginning to take shape. The Foundation Document, which came into being in reaction to the critical nature of our time, addresses the needs of our age – an age the document calls “a hinge of history. In terms of its contents, the Foundation Document of God’s Renewed Creation:

 Describes the interconnected nature of poverty and disease, environmental degradation and weapons and violence through stories of those most affected;

• Shares information about Christian scriptures and beliefs, and our Wesleyan heritage in order to provide a foundation for our response.
• Recommends a variety of actions; and
• Reminds us of the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the great sources of encouragement and hope all around us.

 To be continued

 © L.D. Turner 2009/ All Rights Reserved

 

Do You Hear What I Hear?

L. Dwight Turner

Although many things in the modern world conspire to deafen us to the subtle voice of the Father, rest assured that his voice is indeed there. God calls to us continually, asking us to put down our nets and, like the fishermen disciples of old, come and follow. Jesus tells us in John 6:44 that no one comes to him unless the Father first draws him. What this means in highly practical terms is that we not only have a God, we have a proactive God that seeks relationship with us. Our end of the bargain is to put ourselves into a position of deepening receptivity, so that we might hear his voice more clearly and experience his love more intensely.

 There are others who hear God’s voice and respond, accepting his offer of grace, forgiveness, and acceptance into his blessed family. These are generally sincere disciples and are often quite active in their local church fellowship. They also involve themselves in service work and serve the Master to the best of their ability. Yet it is these very people – these sincere followers of the Lord – who, in their heart of hearts, often find themselves asking, “Isn’t there something more to the Christian life? I feel like something is missing. I can’t put my finger on it, but there is a vague emptiness…”

 It is to these genuine disciples that the still, small voice comes beckoning in the silence of a sleepless night, or drifting in on the golden leaves of an autumn wind. That irresistible, persistent voice that repeatedly whispers:

 Come, follow me….

 When we find ourselves in such a situation, we need to recognize that we are both blessed and vulnerable. We are blessed in that the divine source, the creative power that put this awe-inspiring universe together, seeks relationship with us. The incomprehensible intelligence that maintains all that we see and even more remarkably, the mysterious quantum realm that we don’t see, together in harmonious balance desires intimacy with us – intimacy beyond anything we have ever known.

 Yes, friend, God calls to us in a gentle voice that only the mystic can truly hear. And in that persistent calling, the Creator invites us to join in the mysterious dance of spiritual transformation. Most amazingly, he is not calling us to go into a monastic hideaway or a hermit’s cave, but to stay put right where we are. And if we stay and we become open and discerning, he will use the mundane events of our daily round as his methodology of instruction. More often than not, God’s classroom is characterized by the pedagogy of the ordinary and it is precisely in the realm of the unremarkable that true divine alchemy occurs. Sue Monk Kidd, a woman who knows this process through personal experience, describes it this way:

 It seems to me that Christ continually calls us through the daily events of our lives…In moments like these God stirs the waters of our lives and beckons us beyond where we are to a new dimension of closeness with Him…God desires to transform certain experiences of ours into awakening events. These may be our most common moments, but if we let them they can become doorways to a deeper encounter with Him. Who knows at what moment we may begin to wake up to the astonishing fact that Emmanuel (God with us) is still God’s name, that every moment the Word of God, Jesus Christ, is coming to us.

 I know that in my experience, God calls me in ways I never expected. I have discerned his voice in the sacred silence of meditative stillness and his message has often slapped me to my senses as it spoke from the pages of Holy Scripture. I have also learned to be increasingly sensitive to his call as manifest in the choreographic harmony of the natural world and especially when it dances in the eyes of a child.

 If you want to validate the existence of this divine presence, forget your test tubes, your state-of-the-art laboratories, and your most advanced computer programs. Instead, go find a child and spend the day with them. Any kid can teach you more about the inner workings of this energy, what the Chinese call the ‘Dao, than an entire university physics faculty.

Children are one of the most spectacular yet subtly sublime gifts God can bestow upon us. God surprised and blessed my wife and I with the birth of Salina in May, 2004. For me, it was particularly surprising as I was 55 at the time. Now I am 60 and Salina celebrated her fifth birthday a few months back. In this past half-decade, I have been given a new perspective on why Jesus told us to be as little children if we wanted to see the kingdom.

Salina has always amazed me with her curiosity, her sense of discovery, and especially her spontaneous wonder and awe as she encounters things new and exciting. Further, she never tires of things that strike her fancy, especially if I do something that she likes but has never really seen before. I am reminded, for example, when I first showed her how to blow bubbles with bubble gum. For me, it was old hat – but for her, this simple act was like seeing a rainbow for the first time or discovering the wonders of ice cream. Whenever I produced a large, pink bubble as if by magic, she would pop it with her hand, laugh in that way that only children can laugh, and say, “Do it again, Daddy; do it again.”

This amazing ability to turn something new into an almost sacred event is, I think, part of that unsullied and untainted aspect of the image of God that we are blessed with in our creation. Moreover, children never seem to tire of monotony, at least until they get a bit older. At those miracle ages of two through five or so, kids just seem to revel in both newness and repetition. I am reminded of the famous words of G.K. Chesterton:

Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity to make all daisies appear alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never grown tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite for infancy: for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”

Sometimes when I sit quietly and open myself to what Chesterton says in these few words and what the Holy Spirit speaks to me when I reflect on them, I am literally stunned into silence; and then I shiver.

Children have not forgotten how to experience our world with a sense of wonder and awe. Noted Jewish philosopher Abraham Heschel, one of my very favorite authors, calls this capacity for reverence in life “radical amazement” and affirms that the spiritual journey cannot be completed until we reattain this inborn spiritual quality. Heschel makes this statement, “The beginning of awe is wonder and the beginning of wisdom is awe.” When I first discovered these words, I pondered on the meaning for weeks and eventually discovered by doing so I totally lost their true import. I have come to see that Heschel is alluding to the fact that true wisdom begins with the experience of awe, and this basic sense of “radical amazement” has its birth in a childlike wonder at the incredible thing we flippantly call “life” ; the unfathomable creation that surrounds us every moment. I will let Heschel say the rest:

The secret of every being is the divine care and concern that are invested in it. Something sacred is at stake in every event…..The meaning of awe is to realize that life takes place under wide horizons, horizons that range beyond the span of an individual life or even the life of a nation, a generation, or an era. Awe enables us to perceive in the world intimations of the divine, to sense in small things the beginning of infinite significance, to sense the ultimate in the common and simple; to feel in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal.

Deep in my personal spirit, when it is connected with and animated by the Holy Spirit, I know with certainty that my daughter Salina innately understands this. She cannot articulate it with the eloquence of Heschel but she expresses this sense of radical amazement nonetheless. Every time she giggles when Daddy blows a bubble; every time she sits on the deck and watches birds feeding in the back yard and cows feeding in the field beyond; every time her eyes dance with wonder when she sees a sunset and screams, “Look Daddy, God is smiling,” – I know she gets it just as much as Heschel ever did and just as much as I long to once again.

I am always amazed at how she sees the world in all its glory, the way God intended it to be seen, and responds without any sense of guile or bewilderment. Just yesterday we stopped the car along a rural lane near our home to watch a group of wild geese circle a field, then land in a large pond. My daughter’s eyes grew wide as she saw these birds gracefully glide almost silently on to the surface of the water. She sat there spellbound as she quietly took in this aspect of God’s remarkable world.

 My grandfather was in many ways my first spiritual director. Working as a game warden, a career that my father also pursued, he spent most of his time in natural settings and he had this uncanny ability to see the intricate and interconnected patterns that were everywhere to be witnessed if a person only had “eyes to see.” My grandfather often said that it was important to see each new day with what he called “fresh eyes.” A deeply spiritual man, he rarely attended the Baptist Church where my grandmother was an active member. Instead, he often went off into the woods of north Alabama with one of us grandkids in tow, giving us his own version of Sunday School.

 I don’t say this to discount the importance of church-going, only to say that, for my grandfather, it was not a high priority. Coming from a family with a long tradition of Quakerism, my grandfather treasured silence and solitude and often told me that my “inner light” could best be seen on a calm lake or pristine mountaintop. According to my grandfather, the best way to rediscover my “fresh eyes” was to go into nature and go into “the sacred silence,” then just notice what was going on around me. Yesterday, as I watched Salina as she “noticed” the geese as they went about their business, I understood deeply that she had “fresh eyes” and that most children possessed this significant talent, at least until they were educated out of it.

 I also understood why my grandfather never said I needed to develop fresh eyes; he always said I needed to rediscover them. The childlike perspective of awe and wonder that we all possessed when we were young is still there. Our task, with the divine assistance of the Holy Spirit, is to go through the cognitive clutter we have all accumulated and find it once again.

 On the way home I also recalled a passage from a remarkable little book, written by Jeanne Gowen Dennis. The book is entitled, Running Barefoot on Holy Ground and subtitled, Childlike Intimacy With God. A fine and educative book, “Running Barefoot” discusses the notion of having fresh eyes. Let’s listen to the author:

 “Why do children notice so many things that adults miss? Maybe being closer to the ground gives them an advantage. Perhaps it’s because they’re discovering the wonders of the world around them for the first, second, or twentieth time, and somehow the novelty has not yet worn off. Unlike most adults, little children also pay attention to details. We are so distracted by our responsibilities that we often miss what is right before us. Perhaps we should take regular walks with toddlers and let them lead us along. Still, we’ll only learn to see through their eyes if we use the time to exercise our sight, not just our bodies.”

 Having Salina around has been a blessing in many wonderful ways, but one of the most beneficial spiritual lessons she has brought my way is helping me rediscover my fresh eyes – helping me learn to see again. She has in some magnificent manner taught me the spiritual discipline of “noticing.” For example, there was the time she looked into a clear night sky at a quarter-moon and said, “Look, it’s just like my fingernail,” or the occasion when she sat in wondrous rapture watching three butterflies flitting about on our back deck. As the two of us “noticed” the choreography of their airborne dance, I became aware that I was, for a few brief moments, actually seeing what was going on. It was, in a word, exhilarating.

 All of this comes natural to children, but we adults must now somehow train ourselves to be open to the marvels God parades before us on a daily basis. It not only involves “slowing down to smell the roses,” no – it goes much deeper than that.  In my experience, I have had to learn to live in my body again; allowing myself enough time to become reacquainted with my five basis senses and perhaps discover a few I didn’t know, or more likely forgot, that I even had. In order to see like a child, I needed to rediscover how to experience life in the pristine clarity of the moment – unsullied by morbid memories or future fears.

 I not only needed to learn how to see – I needed to learn how to be.

 A good way to begin this process of rediscovery is by learning to pay attention to what is coming in through your senses. Pick on of your senses, say hearing, and go outside and just spend five minutes paying attention to what you hear – the birds chirping in the trees, a distant plane overhead, a passing truck on the Interstate two miles away. Don’t strain to do this; simply allow the sounds to come in and just notice them. Just allow them to be what they are and just allow yourself to just be. I have found it useful to spend about three days on each one of my senses and to keep a journal of my experiences. I record what I noticed and also what prevented me from being present to my surroundings. For me, as well as others I have taught to use this exercise, let the sense of vision be the last one you focus on. I can’t explain why this seems to be the best way to do this, all I can say is, for the majority of people, it works best that way.

 In conclusion, let me suggest one other thing that might seem a bit silly to you. You may, in fact, think this is childish. Yet, when you think about it, that’s the whole point, isn’t it. Try doing things the way a young child does them. Experiment with your body and your posture. What do I mean? I’ll close with this quotation, again from Dennis’ book:

 “To see as children see, all our senses must be alert. New worlds open up when children exercise their power of sight. They see with fresh eyes – fully, simply, and in intricate detail. Young children experience each new discovery to the fullest, first with their mouths, then with their hands and fingers, and finally with their whole beings. They “see” with all their senses and in every possible position: on their knees, on their stomachs, on their backs, upside down, backward, and sideways. They explore the world with eyes wide open, closed, or squinted; through drinking glasses or cellophane; from inside cabinets, under coffee tables, and even in mirrors.”

 If you apply these ideas you may, like my daughter Salina and the great poet William Blake, discover (rediscover) that you “hold infinity in the palm of your hand.”

 © L.D. Turner 2009/All Rights Reserved

 

On Vines, Branches, and the Inner Light

L. Dwight Turner

Keep watch over your heart, for therein lie the wellsprings of life. [Proverbs 4:23]

 Abide in my love….[John 15:9]

For the Christian, these scriptures imply that life is to be lived from the inside out. This is something that cannot be reiterated too often. The wellsprings of life flow from within. Christ calls his followers to tap into the divine source of power residing within. Without this vital connection we can do nothing. It is only by realizing that there exists within us a Divine Light that gives us both life and power that we can begin to accomplish any task that Christ has set before us. If we are to be successful in working with the indwelling Holy Spirit in the process of spiritual transformation, we must have an experiential understanding of the fact that the core of the Christian life involves connecting with the Divine Source, which is the  Inner Light.

 When this awareness finally dawns in our hearts and minds, we can exclaim along with the apostle John:

 See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are.  (1 John 3:1 NAS)

 What happens when a person begins to abide more consistently in the Light of the Holy Spirit? What sort of changes is wrought in his or her character and what impact does this have on daily life? Thomas Kelly tells us:

They become a holy sanctuary of adoration and of self-oblation, where we are kept in perfect peace, if our minds be stayed on Him who has found us in the inward springs of our life. And in brief intervals of overpowering visitation we are able to carry the sanctuary frame of mind into the world, into its turmoil and its fitfulness, and in a hyperesthesia of the soul, we see all mankind tinged with deeper shadows, and touched with Galilean glories. Powerfully are the springs of our will moved to an abandon of singing love toward God; powerfully are we moved to a new and overcoming love toward time-blinded men and all creation. In this Center of Creation all things are ours, and we are Christ’s and Christ is God’s. We are owned men, ready to run and not be weary and to walk and not faint.

 Kelly’s vision of the person abiding in Christ is astounding but not different from what Jesus prayed to the Father in the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of John. Imagine what it would be like to be touched with Galilean Glories, to be owned men…ready to run and not be weary and to walk and not faint. These truly are the blessings of abiding.

 When we abide, truly abide, the living and Word of God becomes a concrete reality in our lives, giving us guidance, comfort and peace. The Living Word becomes a tangible reality, not a distance, broken echo.

 When we abide, truly abide, our spiritual life becomes a living organism, not a withering garden. We are grafted to the life-giving vine. Kelly says:

 To that divine Life we must cling. In that Current we must bathe. In that abiding yet energizing Center we are all made one, behind and despite the surface differences of our forms and cultures. For the heart of the religious life is in commitment and worship, not in reflection and theory.

 And when we become deeply engrafted into the Vine, God speaks to us on all levels, giving direction, comfort, strength and assurance. A.W. Tozer says it well:

 He communicates with us through the avenues of our minds, our wills, and our emotions. The continuous and unembarrassed interchange of love and thought between God and the soul of the redeemed man is the throbbing heart of New Testament religion….

So when we sing, ‘Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,’ we are not thinking of the nearness of place, but of the nearness of relationship. It is for increasing degrees of awareness that we pray, for a more perfect consciousness of the divine Presence. We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts.

 Isn’t that a wonderful thought? Our intimacy with God deepens and our sense of his presence becomes more consistent and less sporadic. In fostering our ongoing connection with the vine, we come closer and closer to realizing that divine light that shines somewhere in the breast of every believer. Tozer speaks clearly to this theme when he states:

 As we begin to focus upon God the things of the spirit will take shape before our inner eyes. Obedience to the word of Christ will bring an inward revelation of the Godhead (John 14:21-23). It will give acute perception enabling us to see God even as is promised to the pure in heart. A new God-consciousness will seize upon us and we shall begin to taste and hear and inwardly feel the God who is our life and our all. There will be seen the constant shining of the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. (John 1:9)

 Sadly, for many sincere followers of Jesus, the Master’s words about being with us always and about his love for us are little more than arid ideas with little emotional, experiential impact. This is due to the fact that so many times we are distracted by “busyness” and spend little time communing with the light and love that are the first emanations from Christ’s being. The only way to rectify this and turn God’s love for us into a living, life-changing reality is through regular periods of quiet communion. Contemporary spiritual director Jan Johnson speaks clearly to this issue, reminding us of the importance of our times of spiritual refreshing:

 One of Jesus’ greatest promises was this: “I am with you always.” (Matthew 28:20), but we may not experience this. Instead, we keep praying, “God be with us.” That’s because we are distracted by life’s thousand demands and by our habit of filling in empty time slots with entertainment. Our mind flashes from one thing to another, always occupied. A weekly visit to church can’t begin to penetrate this busyness. Contemplation reconnects us with God in the midst of this scatterdness. Life pulls me in so many directions – between the demands of my work, my husband’s plans, the kid’s needs…..I may say I am “thirsty for God as the deer is for water,” but at the moment I need to get my hair cut. However, when I pause to contemplate and be with God, I sense that this God who holds the universe together can also hold me together. In the quiet, I recall how God has helped me in the past. Without the clamor of demands around me, I remember that I am one God so loves.

 Contemplative practice can be far more than a powerful mode of mystical prayer – it can also be an exercise in healing. This is especially true in relation to psycho-spiritual issues. Jan Johnson discusses a few of the ways in which contemplative practice can help with personal healing:

 The simple practice of contemplation creates a bond with God in which God can heal the scatterdness of our lives and these other unhealthy spiritual states you may be experiencing:

 Spiritual dryness

Guilt and Shame

Lack of Direction and Purpose

 I don’t know about you, but in my life, I can relate to all three of these negative psycho-spiritual states. And, like Sister Jan, I have found that contemplative prayer, in whatever form it might take, can be of immense value.

 Evelyn Underhill, that master of the mystic life, vividly described the nature of her prayer life in its more negative aspects:

 We mostly spend our lives conjugating three verbs: to want, to have, and to do. Craving, clutching, and fussing, we are kept in perpetual unrest. My jabbering prayers have been full of what I want, what I think I should have, and what I want God to do.

 Johnson goes on to describe how our self-absorbed prayers have a tendency to lead us down the road of spiritual anguish and despair. In the end, it results in a sense of hopeless desperation and the irony of it all is that it stems from our own misguided notions of what prayer is to begin with:

 Imagining He has let us down, we become estranged from Him. In a culture that teaches us to perform for rewards, prayer becomes one more place of defeat and God is one more disappointment. We may even keep going through the motions spiritually – going to church, helping others – but in our heart we wonder, “If God is good, wouldn’t He give me the good things I want? Because He doesn’t, either God is not good, or I’m hopeless….We come to a dismal place because we misunderstand prayer as a means to have our desires fulfilled instead of a place to encounter the compassionate, all-seeking God.

 There are times, those special times when I sink deeply enough into the silence, when I come face to face with my own tendency to not pay close enough attention to what is going on in these “quiet times.” I love the way the writer closes out the paragraph with that stinging juxtaposition about whether we see prayer as a place where we have our desires filled or a venue where we encounter the compassionate, all-seeking God.

 In his own marvelous and direct way, Steve Brown shares with us the fact that he, like so many Christians, was well educated about the realm of the spirit, even that quiet center that so many have described over the centuries, but had little personal experience of that quiet abiding.

 I was only a tourist describing a country I had never visited. I was convinced that the country was there, I had read the travel brochures, I had worked hard at learning the language of that country. I had even met people who lived there and had listened to everything they said about the country. The problem was that I had become an expert on a country that I had never visited.

 Richard Foster opens his classic book Celebration of Discipline by stating that what is needed today is not more gifted people or intelligent people. What is needed today is more deep people. And how to we become deep? We become grafted into the Living Vine. We abide.

 Sometimes I think we lose track of how incredible the whole concept and process of prayer is. I know I am guilty as charged. In my work at LifeBrook I once designed a two-day training, not on prayer as many people had asked, but on preparing for prayer. You see, I had come to the point of awareness where I saw that I had not been giving the practice of prayer the place of honor it deserved.

 It is hard to express this in words, but I had a personal epiphany around this issue. It dawned on me, in my gut, that when I went into my prayer closet I was coming into the presence of that very being, that inexplicable intelligence responsible for putting together this incredible universe, with all its complexity, diversity, and finely-tuned balance. Friends, it literally took my breath away.

 What made this prayer experience so profound for me was the reality that God, the divine being and creator of all that is and ever will be, not only wanted to spend time with me, but he actually loved me. And what is even more amazing was the fact that his love was not static, but instead, was dynamic – a genuine affection that provided me with provision, purpose, and passion for life. As I sat there in silence that blessed morning, the words of the prophet Jeremiah jumped off the page and penetrated my heart in a way both novel and life-changing:

 For I know the plans I have for you…They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you…I will end your captivity and restore your fortune. (Jeremiah 29:11-14a)

 As I said, this episode literally left me panting for breath, but it didn’t end there. As is my practice, I normally take a book of devotions with me into my prayer sanctuary, just in case the Spirit leads me to open and read, especially if my period of prayer seems do be without direction. I opened the book, a short collection of essays on scriptural themes. It was no coincidence that I opened the book to the page where I had placed book mark, totally at random, prior to beginning this period of prayer. You can imagine what I felt when I began to read these words by Lloyd Ogilvie:

 Talk about a conversation opener! Imagine someone you love and admire and whose thoughts and opinions you cherish, saying to you, “You are constantly on my mind. And when I think of you they are wonderful thoughts of peace and future happiness for you. I’m pulling for the very best for you. What a joy it is to be your cheerleader!” I would not be difficult to find time for conversation with a person like that. Multiply the best of human care and concern for us a billion times and you’ve only begun to fathom God’s love for us as He calls us into conversation. That’s the whole point of time alone with God. It is to allow Him the opportunity to love us.

 Rather than write more about this, let me issue you a challenge. Over the next week, spend a block of time each day, say 15-30 minutes, during which you reflect on just what prayer is and what it is not. Really spend time with this, keep a small journal of your thoughts, and especially consider just who and what it is you are encountering when you go into prayer.

 Don’t approach this as an exercise in intellectual snobbery or any kind of effort at theological description. Instead, let your heart lead you into your response.

Be especially open and sensitive to meeting the incredible being that created all that is, even you, in all its incredible complexity.

If you persist with this exercise over a period of several weeks, I predict your prayer time will be forever transformed. Try it and see.

 © L.D. Turner 2009/All Rights Reserved

 

A Biblical Worldview: Don’t Leave Home Without It (Part Two)

L. Dwight Turner

…continued from Part One

I am, as I said, a bit of a maverick (If McCain and Palin can use that term, so can I). I read widely and study many different schools of thought when it comes to the faith. That’s why you might see me refer to many odd bedfellows in my writings. I have learned a great deal from, say, a raging liberal like Marcus Borg and I have equally benefited from the writings of Chuck Colson. Politically and theologically, I am about as close to Colson as Tacoma is to Tierra del Fuego. Still, I find few writers who engage me as much as he does. Colson makes me think, just as Borg makes me think. So you see, if you are trying to find out a theological box to put me in, better get a shoe horn.

I’m a mutt!

With that said, let me share a bit about my views on several issues often discussed in Christian circles. I think you will see why I call myself a mongrel yet, hopefully, you will see that these positions are well thought out. None of my beliefs are of the knee-jerk variety and I am quite comfortable with what I believe. I see no reason to make any attempt to get others to view these things from my perspective. I say this not only because I believe each Christian has a fundamental right to establish and maintain a personal relationship with the Lord and his or her belief system is a big part of that relationship.

A second reason I do not seek to convert others to my way of thinking is the salient and inescapable fact that I could be wrong!

Just because I believe something to be true, doesn’t necessarily make it so. Our world in general, and the Christian faith in particular, are both far too complex for me to assume I have a complete understanding of anything. Second, even if you do disagree on certain point, I hope you will not cast me into the mold of an unrepentant apostate and put this blog on your Black List. I do believe, in the final analysis, we may all be surprised about a few of our cherished opinions when we get to heaven.

 

As to God, I have a firm belief in God as a creator and sustainer of the universe. I am not nearly knowledgeable enough to debate Creationism versus Evolution. It would not surprise me in the least if God used certain evolutionary principles in moving the universe forward. The closest thing I have discovered in terms of my beliefs in this area is Intelligent Design, but, as I said, I am not an expert here.

 

As for Jesus, I part company with the liberal theologians who deny his divinity. I believe in Christ as the Second Person of the Trinity; that he was a pre-existent being who came down into this world for a reason; and that the miracles really did happen. Further, I believe firmly in the Resurrection and that Christ indeed is still alive. In my view, the central theme of Christ’s mission was to announce and inaugurate the coming of God’s kingdom on earth.

 

In addition, Christ accomplished the reconciliation of God and humanity. How he did this is a mystery to me, but I don’t believe it had much to do with appeasing the wrath of a despotic God who demanded justice. As I will explain later, I am not a strong advocate of the notion of the substitutionary atonement. I think this doctrine was ill conceived and belittles God. Perhaps Christ, through his death, resurrection, and ascension, introduced a new, sacred presence or energy into creation which allows each of us to once again walk in unity with God, his plan, and his purpose. To me, this makes more sense than the substitution explanation. If this part of my world view makes me a heretic, then so be it.

 

Along these lines, I think that the implications inherent in the wonderful prayer of Jesus recorded in the 17^th Chapter of John’s Gospel offer a far more cogent explanation of the results of Christ’s mission here on earth. Christ’s description of his unity with the Father and our unity with Him, is more understandable than any vicarious atonement explanation. Granted, the whole issue of dying on the cross as the perfect sacrifice would have made sense to a First Century Jew, steeped in Hebrew tradition. It is the same with the book of Hebrews in the New Testament. I am sure a Jew living in Palestine could easily make sense of what was being said in those pages. For the Gentiles of the day as well as the 21^st Century non-Christian, these ideas are as alien as visitor from Neptune.

 

 I also believe in the power and person of the Holy Spirit. I have never had the experience of speaking in tongues, but I do not question its validity. I am far from the view that the mighty gifts of the Spirit ceased with the Apostles. I think to hold the view that the gifts ceased with the advent of Scripture is a bit of a reach. I cannot fathom any reason God would choose to communicate his absolute truth through a book, or collection of books, when the vast majority of the world’s population was illiterate and further, there existed no means of mass producing the book. It just defies rational thought completely.

 

I know that God’s ways are higher than my ways, but that doesn’t mean God would do something that by any measure was just plain ignorant.

 

If I stopped right here, it would be reasonable to assume that I am a conservative or fundamentalist, but that would be a big mistake. Where I part company with my fundamentalist brothers and sisters probably start with the Bible. I do not see the Bible as the inerrant Word of God. I do not hold to a literal interpretation of Scripture, but instead tend to view it mostly as history and metaphor, revealing the grand story of God and the world.

 

The Bible is more about God than man and reveals his drama of creation, redemption, and restoration. I think the unique aspect of the Christian faith lies in the fact that it is the only religion where God chases humanity rather than humanity trying to work their way to God. As far as the “Jesus is the only way,” debate, I have my doubts. To believe this just on the basis of scripture alone (and only a few references at that) is an affront to both reason and common sense. Just because the Bible said something is so, don’t make it so. Scripture is of human origin, not divine, and subject to human fallibility.

 

For me, God is a being of grace and divine love who seeks our best. As far as original sin and the notion of atonement for sin, I find this to be a bit of a mystery.  As mentioned earlier, I cannot fathom why God would require such an act. My reaction to Mel Gibson’s film “The Passion” was not like most. I walked out of the theater wondering, “What kind of God would require such a hideous thing?” My conclusion was: God wouldn’t.

 

So, as you can see, I don’t fit squarely in either camp.

 

Please keep in mind that I didn’t post this to initiate argument or debate. No, my only purpose is doing so is to stress the importance of clarifying our worldviews and share a bit about my experience in doing so. Also, I ask that readers understand that what I have stated here is just my personal belief system as it stands today. With this in mind, I offer two caveats, which I think a very important to this discussion. First, just because this is how I see things doesn’t make what I have said true. I could be wrong on some of these things. Further, I have no intention of trying to persuade you to see things the same way I do. I only posted this because several readers asked that I do so.

 

The second caveat is this: These are my views today. I have discovered that my views tend to evolve over time. That doesn’t mean that, like political candidates, I am often flip-flopping on the issues. Instead, it means that I do have an open mind and I am committed to growth and the discovery of truth. This necessarily means that God can, and often does, open my eyes to new realities that I failed to see before. Emerson once said that “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” By this he meant that often times people do not change their minds on issues, even when evidence clearly indicates that they should, because they believe to do so would be inconsistent.

 

This post, taken together with Part One, hopefully communicates the importance of clarifying one’s worldview, especially in the culture we find ourselves living in. These days, with the shifting sands of post-modern culture and the general acceptance of moral relativity, deciding what one firmly holds to be true is more essential than ever before. For these reason, I encourage anyone reading this to set aside some time for prayer and reflection on this issue.

 

It will be time well spent.

 

(c) L. D. Turner 2009/All Rights Reserved

 

Characteristics of a Post-Religious Spirituality

As I have discussed before here on Wellsprings of Light, the western world is clearly moving into an age in which humankind’s divine pursuits are increasingly taking place outside the confines of traditional religious institutions. As is now said so often the phrase is becoming trite, “We are spiritual, not religious.”

Even if it seems trite, that well-worn phrase contains more than a germ of truth. More and more sincere seekers of the sublime aspects of reality are finding what they are looking for in “new wineskins,” which are often far different from the old models of religion. This is, indeed, a positive trend and one that creates great hope for humankind as we shake off the shakles of false religion and begin to get a foretaste of what authentic spiritual reality is like.

With that said, what follows is a listing of characteristics that one often sees in the “New Spirituality.” Keep in mind that this listing is far from complete. In fact, it barely skims the surface of the rapidly evolving spiritual scene in western culture. Some of the common and not so common characteristics are as follows:

It is post-religious in the sense that there is a recognition that genuine spirituality in this era will most likely evolve outside the parameters of traditional systems of faith.

 

Focused on increased understanding and application of universal spiritual/mental laws.

 

Seeks to facilitate a decreased dominance of the Small Mind.

 

Brings about an increased capacity to operate out of Sacred Mind.

 

Promotes discovery of our true spiritual identity.

 

Is far more experiential in pursuits and content; less emphasis on conceptual knowledge and doctrine.

 

As a result of the preceding point, it is oriented toward disciplined spiritual practice.

 

Pays honor to the reality and the sanctity of “Sacred Silence” and, as a result, is contemplative.

 

Focused on spiritual growth and the development of Sacred Character.

 

It is purpose driven (universal and personal).

 

Exhibits an engaged spirituality that seeks the betterment of life for all beings. In the fullest sense, the post-religious spirituality is “Socio-Spiritual.”

 

It promotes a deep ecological consciousness, flowing from reverence for and compassion for the planet.

 

Fosters the spiritual practices of a “Mysticism of Nature.”

 

Views the body as the Temple of the Spirit and seeks to promote positive health based on holistic practices.

 

It is at vanguard of the study and application of Energy Healing and working with the Divine Light.

 

Although community based, it maintains a global focus based on the interconnectivity of all things.

 

 

© L. D. Turner 2009/All Rights Reserved

 

Wise Words for Today

“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”…..

He is saying that a whole new order is about to enter history and, if you want to be part of it, you will need a change so fundamental that the Gospel of John would refer to it as a new birth. Being born again was not meant to be just a private religious experience that is hard to communicate to others, but rather the prerequisite for joining a new and very public movement – the Jesus and kingdom of God movement. It is an invitation to a whole new form and way of living, a transformation as radical as a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. It is far more than a call to a new inner life, or a rescue operation for heaven. It is an announcement of a new order of life that is intended to change everything about the world, and us with it.

Jim Wallis

(from The Great Awakening: Seven Ways to Change the World)

 

From Potential to Glory: Our Journey Into Excellence

Mick Turner

At Sacred Mind Ministries and LifeBrook International we have a corporate mission to provide programs and materials that assist individuals and organizations to become the optimal version of themselves for the benefit of others. This has been our mission since the founding of our ministry and we have never wavered in our pursuit of creating opportunities for people to grasp a real sense of who and what they are, what their God-given potential is, and that to which they are called. Once this happens, we feel a person is then ready to find a vital, living personal vision and, when this vision is fully realized, to walk in the full harvest of their personal glory.

 

Let’s take a little time a look at the how this flow normally takes place. Briefly, we can say that our growth into Christ-like character and into the optional version of ourselves moves through five interrelated phases.

 

• Acknowledging and accepting our new identity “in Christ.”
• Understanding our “Seed Potential.”
• Discovering our “Call to Purpose”
• Living with “Vital Vision.”
• Our “Harvest of Glory.”

 

Our New Identity in Christ

 

It begins with the acknowledgement that we are not functioning anywhere near our true potential and, at least initially, this stems from the fact that we believers have little idea of who and what we are “in Christ.” For many reason, the church has jettisoned the vital half of the gospel, choosing instead to focus on the blood and forgiveness at the expense of the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

 

It is as if you own a house with an exquisite, one-of-a-kind door. You fell in love with door and worship it so much that you never cross the threshold and go inside the house, which is even more beautiful. Likewise, many Christian become so immersed in Christ’s atoning work on the Cross and the cleansing of his blood they never grasp why he did this in the first place. He didn’t go through what he did so we could live life half-way, filled with doubt, inadequacy, and spiritual instability. Christ did not die just to get us into heaven my friend; he died in order to get heaven into us. Christ rose, met the disciples, breathed the Holy Spirit into them, gave them a Great Commission, and ascended into heaven, thus making the Pentecost possible.

 

In light of these realities, our first task is to understand and accept just what Christ accomplished with his death, resurrection, and ascension. We have a new identity and in the words of Paul, the old has passed away and the new has come. We are new creations in Christ and what’s more amazing, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

 

Until we grasp the character and the ramifications of our new identity, we will only grow in fits and starts, if at all. It’s time to walk on through the door, grand as it is, and see what blessings have been placed inside.

 

Understanding Our Seed Potential

 

God has placed a potential on the inside of each of us and I am convinced this occurred before we were ever born. This seed has the fulfillment of our calling, purpose, and vision in its core, just as an acorn has a mighty oak hidden within its fibers. God-given potential is like a seed and, with the proper environment, that seed can develop, grow, and manifest those things hidden within its hull.

 

You potential is like a seed and, until you allow that seed to grow, your dream will remain just that – a dream. God gave you this potential and, with the right environment, that seed potential will grow and develop into something quite magnificent. Dr. Myles Munroe speaks of these issues cogently:

 

“The entire creation possesses this principle of potential. Everything has the natural instinct to release its ability. The plant and animal kingdoms abound with evidences of this fact. The Creator designed everything with this principle of potential, which can be simplified to the concept of a seed. The biblical document states that God created everything with ‘seed in it according to their kinds’ (Genesis 1:12). In essence, hidden within everything is the potential to fulfill itself and produce much more than we see.”

 

It is vital that every person understand that we are responsible for developing the potential stored within us. We must deepen our contact with our divine potential and do all that we can to nurture, feed, and actualize our true mission and purpose. Further, we must recognize that as we move forward in developing our optimal potential, we can never afford to stop. In essence, when we travel the spiritual journey, we are either moving forward or backward. There is truly no place to stand on the spiritual path.

 

Our journey of discovering and developing our divine potential must begin with a commitment to excellence – an agreement with our Creator that we will walk in cooperation with the Spirit to become the best version of ourselves.

 

 Necessarily, this commitment will involve personal challenges and, at times, a degree of personal discomfort. Spiritual growth involves change and change always requires stepping out of our comfort zone. Still, the process of realizing and manifesting our divine potential is one of the greatest adventures we will ever undertake.

 

Discovering Our Call To Purpose

 

Three terms that are often heard when discussing our “purpose” in life are purpose, mission, and calling. These words often used interchangeably and can mean basically the same thing. I think the confusion comes in when an author or speaker uses these three expressions to mean different things. With that thought in mind, whenever I use these words, I take them to mean basically the same thing. Our mission, our purpose, and our calling refer to our God-given reason for being here on this planet at this time. In addition, I firmly believe that God has a highly specific calling for each of us that has three primary aspects:

 

• It is personal and specific to us;
• It is related to our spiritual gifts
• The realization and actualization of this mission is a major part of our spiritual formation and helps grow into the optimal version of ourselves.

 

In the next section we will talk about vision and it is important to understand how mission and vision are different. Our mission or purpose is far more general than our vision. Basically, you can say our vision is the specific way in which we will realize our mission.

 

We can say that your mission is your life calling, your reason for being here. It is not so much specific activities as it is the reason you perform those activities. Your mission gives your life meaning and gives you positive motivation to get out of bed each morning and, in positive faith, face the challenges that may come your way. Your true mission is a major motivator, something you enjoy doing, and something for which you have passion and enthusiasm.

 

Living With Vital Vision

 

As mentioned earlier, vision is intimately related to purpose but more specific. Put simply, vision is the method whereby you see yourself living out your mission to completion. Living with vital vision involves every area of your life and how those aspects of your life related to your personal mission. Your vision involves your family, friends, associates, and especially your choice of career. Ideally, all of these things come together in a harmonious orbit around the specific vision you develop for carrying forward your mission.

 

Arriving at your vision is a process, not an event. It requires much planning, organization, and flexibility. Most significantly, developing your vision involves deep, focused, and above all, consistent prayer. You cannot expect to discover what God wants you to do and the best way to do it without communing with Him on a regular basis. Pray that the Holy Spirit walks with you, guiding you, and challenging you to move forward with your vision, even if it means stepping out of your comfort zone. More than anywhere else in the process of growth into excellence, the phase of vital vision may require you to think out of the box.

 

A simple way to look at the relationship of vision and mission is as follows. Let’s suppose that three friends all have a mission to provide convenient, quality, fast-food to busy workers. One may decide to open a Burger King franchise, another a Pizza Hut. The third may have a vision of a Taco Bell. You see, the mission of quality fast-food is the same; the vision of each friend is different. I realize this example is overly simplistic, but I do think it serves our purposes of demonstrating how a vision is a specific plan for carrying forward a more general mission or calling.

 

Your Harvest of Glory

 

Your God-given potential began as a seed planted in you by the Creator before your birth. Further, he not only planted this great potential within you but also gave you all the talent you needed to discover this potential and, in concert with the Holy Spirit, connect your potential to a divine personal purpose – a call to a specific mission that was yours to carry forward. Once discovered, this mission hopefully gave you sufficient passion and motivation to develop and carry out a specific personal vision that allowed your talents and gifts to blossom and your personal vision to become a vital, living reality.

 

By realizing the manifestation of your mission you necessarily had to hone and develop your God-given talents and gifts and, in so doing, became more and more the optimal version of yourself. Now, walking in your personal excellence, creativity, and commitment, you are harvesting your personal glory.

 

We can see hints of this process in the Master’s great prayer in the 17^th Chapter of John’s gospel when he expresses that as he is glorified, the Father is glorified. And the reality is my friends, when we walk in our excellence – when we manifest and live as the optimal version of who we are, we glorify the Master.

 

As you see, we move from our seed potential to walking in our manifest glory. We do this not to glorify ourselves, but to glorify our Master, our Father in heaven, and the Holy Spirit that has dwelled within us, walked along side us, empowered us, and made all this possible. When we come to walk in our personal glory, we are then able to be of true, selfless benefit to others while bringing glory to God.

 

This is our true aim and our ultimate calling – to be all that we can be; to give glory to our Creator; and to serve others with love. In the final analysis, we can ask for no greater destiny than this.

(c) L.D. Turner 2009/All Rights Reserved