Meditative Prayer

I have recently found that what I call meditative prayer is a very effective technique for my personal prayer time. I call it meditative prayer because I use some of the meditative techniques to prepare for and participate in the prayer. I begin by taking deep breaths and talking my way through the process. Initially, I take three deep breaths to concentrate on my breathing. I instruct my self and my wife as she often participates with me in each of the steps. I will say, "take three deep breaths.....inhale....exhale" and I will repeat this all three times. Next, I tell myself and who ever may be participating with me to stop the dialogue in the mind. I will say just cut off all of the thought chatter and concentrate on your breathing. These techniques tend to bring one into awareness of what is happening right now...at the very moment.

I continue then with relaxation instructions beginning with the feet. This technique can be used either by one sitting down in a chair or by one lying flat on his or her back. I will say, relax all the muscles in the feet and feel the stress of the day and life begin to flow out of the feet. These verbal instructions tend to cause a heightened awareness of the body part spoken of and it begins to tingle and feel very alive. Step by step, the instructions move on to the ankles, thighs and up the body torso to the tip of the head. It is important to mention the neck, forehead and cheeks.

Next in the process is instructions to begin to feel that the Holy Spirit will quicken (bring life) to the physical body. I actually acknowledge this out loud and the awareness comes into being. Of course we realize that this is a scriptural reality promised to all believers but, it helps immensely to become aware of it. You can really begin to feel your body come to life and you can feel a pulsing sensation through out your body and overall you become more and more aware and in tune with the present moment, the now. This is a good time to openly acknowledge the forgiveness that has been received via Christ and furthermore, it is important to recall the things forgiveness is needed for and acknowledge that you also forgive yourself and others. Forgiveness is very important in spiritual growth.

The idea behind all of this is to reduce the thought process and begin to commune on a spiritual level. I find that it really works. The next step that I often take, not always but often is to encourage my spirit to begin to praise God in tongues. The Spirit has allowed me to see that one of the major benefits of unknown tongues is to stop the thinking process and allow the spirit to commune with the Father in the now, i.e., the present moment.

Finally, I begin to thank God for all of my blessings and his goodness and love. I thank and worship him for his kingdom and all that is happening in the realm of spiritual growth. I have felt the anointing rush in my hands and course through my body. It is at this juncture that I totally allow the Spirit to take over and sometimes I will pray for others, sometime I will pray for healing...whatever the Spirit directs that is what I do.

One thing I can say for certain is that I find it to be a powerful experience!

New Age

I find that many of my Christian friends are fearful of the term "New Age" and see it as something to be avoided at all costs. That seems a little curious to me from a group that were the original "new agers." The ushering in of Christianity two thousand years ago brought to fruition a new age that has lasted for two thousand years. It was a shift in worship and awareness of God. It was a major shift in who could worship the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. It was a shift that brought about a new kind of mysticism and relationship with God. It was the "age to come" that was spoken of so often in the New Testament writings. It was prophesied by the great prophet Isaiah who speaking for God wrote, spoke, "behold I do a new thing." Still, when one considers any of the ideas that have come to be labled "new age" many Christians become mortified fearful that hell and damnation is at the very door.

A new age is just that it is a new age. It is a shift in spirituality and awareness of our connection to the God of the universe the ONE creative source of all that is. We are on the dawn, will I scare you if I use the term cusp of a "new age." It is dawning right now! It is so ripe that one can smell it in the air. It is a fragrance of change and the transformation of humanity yet again. Even among some of the most calcitrant evangelicals there is blossoming a new awareness of the Christ within. You can hear more and more of them acknowledging that they can be just like Jesus in this world. There is a longing for the kingdom to manifest in greater power.

Correct me if I am wrong, but one of the main focuses of Christianity is the Holy Spirit and therefore, it is a focus of spirituality and spirit. I think that we can safely embrace the spirit to guide us into all truth. There is much of the truth that is still shrouded from our awareness. Light will illuminate it. Sometimes it takes explorers to uncover new frontiers to later inhabit. There are many explorers that are venturing out into new awareness of spirit and connectedness to the source of all that is. I celebrate this and continue in the spirit of exploration. Maybe we should lighten up just a little with some of our fears. We could possibly miss out on a new land flowing with milk and honey.

One with the Father

Jesus said, "I and the Father are one." He also said, "that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me." Now then, what does it mean to be one with the Father? Well, for Jesus it meant that he had prefect communion with the Father. Jesus meant for us to be one with the Father just as he was. Yes, that means being one with God; one with the source. That is what we were meant to be. We were meant to have total communion with the Father and to be one with the source. Not disconnected but one with him.

It also means being one with the Father now. Not in the sweet bye and bye; Not someday but right now and always in every now. When we commune with the source we are timeless. In the now with the Father there is only timeless eternity. There is a lot to be gained by reading Eckhart Tolle's *The Power of Now.* The book is devoted to explaining why and how one should be connected to the source in the now. Paul wrote now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. Unfortunately, all to often, we allow our minds to keep us in the past or day dreaming of the future.

We tell ourselves that tomorrow we will be successful; we will be happy if only we have this or do that. Friend, the time to be successful and happy is now. In the presence of the Lord there is complete peace and it is something that you experience now. You may remember that you experienced it yesterday but to have peace one has to have it now, in the present moment. Being one with the Father is acknowledging the presence of God; feeling that presence now. Not tomorrow or when you get your life straignt but you must feel the presence of Him now. I encourage you to take time for meditative prayer. Not a prayer where you are asking for something but, a prayer of silence where you are acknowledging the presence of God in the now, in the present. That is what presence means it means that you experience God in the present because he is present.

The Fall, Redemption and What it Means to Humanity Part III

In Part II we discovered that faith is the only way to overcome the greed brought about by the survival instinct. It is in this that Jesus of Nazareth became the first born among many brothers/sisters. If we can truly believe, rest in the certain knowing that we are eternal, then and only then can we transcend the ego and become selfless or unselfish. This was Jesus true obedience. He had perfect faith and, his perfect faith was his obedience. He was able to completely transcend ego. We are told in John's gospel account that Jesus didn't do anything unless he was told to do it by the Father. In this way, Jesus was completely connected to the source. He achieved this via the Holy Spirit, that is to say, the Spirit of God had connected perfectly with his spirit. That was the Christ nature that Jesus had. It is the same Christ/anointing that is promised to the believer. It is the Christ that indwells us and is our hope of glory. Faith in Jesus is what gives us the Christ anointing. If we will truly accept with a deep knowing that we have this Christ in us, the Christ will give life to our natural body.

If we stay connected to the source at all times via the Christ, then we are made alive in the spirit and it is this spiritual life that will bring healing and deliverance. In fact, this is the only place in which humanity can receive true deliverance. It is a deliverance that enables us to transcend the ego just as Jesus did. The scripture also states that as Jesus was in the world so are we. We are if we stay connected to the source by acknowledging the Christ in each of us. It is truly the hope of our glory. It is the hope and the source of the transformation that is approaching. This transformation is a shift in the spirit. It is a shift from the ego to the spirit. It is a shift from greed to selfless love; the agape love of God the source. It is all by virtue of the indwelling Christ which is another way of saying the indwelling ever present spirit of God; our connection to the source.

Herein lies deliverance, healing and the transcendence of the ego. Herein lies the kingdom of God and the shift from ego to anointing. Jesus is the pattern. Let us acknowledge the ever presence of the source, God and thereby we connect to it.

The Fall, Redemption and What it Means to Humanity Part II

In part I we found that the knowledge of good and evil, coupled with mortality or death was/is the cause of most of the suffering in the world. This is at least true of all of the suffering caused by humanity against members of the human race. And furthermore, a future discussion could prove that we, via the same fallen state, are responsible collectively for the suffering caused by nature but, that is another article. This suffering stems from the greed that results from human mortality. This greed is merely the survival instinct left unchecked. This condition creates faulty judgment of what is good and what is evil in the world. Therefore, many times, when people think that they understand good and how to achieve it, they actually are clueless as to what true good is. True good is found in absolute justice and fairness. All of the great religions teach that God is good and just. Jesus stated that there is none good but God. So then, if one is to determine what is truely good, one must be in communication with God or the source of creation. Some people call it the mind at large or collective consciousness. What ever the case, the true knowledge of good can only come from the source. One finds that goodness is the nature of God.

What is the nature of God you may ask? Well, the apostle John stated that God is love. God is selfless love. The apostle Paul describes this love with the following definition: "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends." It seems that human nature is the opposite of these things. There is no way that natural humanity can fulfill these statements by nature, unless, they gain the qualities of God or the source. If we are made in the image of God, if we are inhabited by the divine, if the divine nature is our true nature then it should be possible for us to have these qualities.

This is where redemption comes into place. Redemption brings us back to the state we enjoyed before we were born into this world. If we are part of the eternal, and I believe we are with all my heart, then we have these timeless qualities. We need to connect with them however. The way to do that is to be able to transcend our mortality. We must be convinced, i.e., know for certain, that we are eternal. This can only be accomplished by faith. We must have faith in the eternal goodness and purpose of God. Furthermore, we must be convinced that we are children of God with a direct connection to the source of creation and the ultimate creating power of the universe and finally, we must rest completely in this knowing. It is not a mental assent. It is not an intellectual knowing. It is a spiritual knowing at the very base of our spiritual existence. It must come from the indwelling Christ/anointing.

In Part III we will look at the role Jesus of Nazareth played in this redemptive process and find out what is meant by the phrase, "the first born of many brethren."

The Fall, Redemption and What it Means to Humanity Part I

When one looks at the violence in the world; at wars and man's inhumanity to man it becomes obvious that we humans suffer from some sort of pathology. I actually prefer the word pathology to the term sin. the term sin has developed a religious connotation over time that I do not think was intended in its original use. Both of the scriptural words translated as sin have essentially the same meaning. CHATA, the Hebrew word translated sin and HAMARTIA the Greek word translated sin have similar meanings. CHATA means to miss the way and HAMARTIA means to miss the mark. In my view this means that one misses the mark or way in terms of God's intention; It means to miss the intention of the creative source of the universe whether one calls it God, the creative source, or the collective consciousness. I like to think of it and describe it as humanities pathology.

So then, how did this pathology enter into the life and affairs of humans? It appears that there was/is some kind of fall. It was/is a falling away from the intention of God. It seems an obvious conclusion to draw whenever one looks at the local or national news broadcasts. The symptoms and results of our pathology seems to be everywhere all the time. Certainly it is not the result of the prototypes eating a certain forbidden fruit. That is a metaphor and the story is an allegory. The creation story however has some interesting truths about it. The fruit is the knowledge of good and evil and the punishment for partaking is death. It would be fair to characterize the reason for the fall, as the combination of the ability to discern good from evil, along side the ever present fact of mortality. These seem to be conditions brought on by the four dimensional universe and self awareness.

Further, it seems that the knowledge of good and evil coupled with mortality are responsible for most of the evil in the world. Death creates the need for the survival instinct. The survival instinct promotes greed. In the animal world this is merely a fact and the strongest deadliest predators triumph over the weaker species. But, when you add the element of the knowledge of good and evil, and one realizes that living is good and death is bad; that abundance is good and scarcity is bad, judgment comes into being. Judgment is a good thing if one judges fairly. However, humans with the survival instinct tend to judge erroneously in favor of themselves. They use the knowledge of good and evil to justify themselves over others. Therefore, the knowledge of good and evil, combined with the human ego controlled by the survival instinct, causes humans to exercise faulty judgment. We end with the situation where those with power judge and, by virtue of the power can cause their judgment to stand. This is the source of much of the suffering in the world. We have looked at the pathology, the sin. Tomorrow we will look at the redemption and a possible cure.

The Mystery of Christ in You

The Apostle Paul wrote about a mystery that was being revealed in his day. It was the concept of Christ dwelling in the saints. We all have that ability to connect directly to the source of all that is. The creative source of the universe. It is the Christ, anointing that dwells within us. It lays dormant only because we do not recognize and exercise it. All of the power we need for life is found in this source, It is that part of us that is divine. Peter explained that we become partakers of the divine nature. I personally don't think that we fully appreciate and understand what that means. We, are too often guided by religious connotations imposed by the thinking and thought processes of men and women.

What it really means is that in each of us is the essence of the Christ or anointing that Jesus of Nazareth had. It will not be manifest unless we truly believe we possess it. We need to exercise the gift and realize that it is ever present and that we by virtue of this connection to the source are ever in the presence of God. Jesus demonstrated the way to access this. He completely set his ego aside when he died on the cross. The concept of dying to self is dying to ego. It is dying to being right and defending our rightness. Jesus surrendered his ego to those who wanted to do him harm. He was able to do this because of his unique connection to the source. Through him, we have that same connection to the divine and we can set our egos aside through faith.

Faith is the action that allows us to set our egos aside....to completely trust in a loving Father that wants the best for us always. We can surrender to the source.... Surrender to the source means setting our ego driven world aside. We may not be tested to the point of death, but connecting to and, believing in our connectedness to the eternal source will enable us to face the trials of life and emerge victorious.

God loves his creatures.....He loves us and wants us to acknowledge the Christ in us, knowing that it is our source of glory. The Kingdom of God is within us and at hand! Celebrate!