Post by fortharris on Apr 19, 2019 18:39:42 GMT
The Fatherhood of God
The love of the Father operates directly in the heart of the individual; the relationship is personal — man and God.
The Spirit of God which dwells in a man knows everything about the man and understands him: his faults, strengths, weaknesses, habits, aspirations, genetic makeup, even his motivation for doing things, and goes ahead to formulate a plan which when accepted by the man both consciously and subconsciously, gradually transforms him into the goal which is perfection.
Think of the Father as the one who truly knows you, and knows how to guide you to your destination.
We are all unique, and therefore may require different plans to achieve perfection — not rules of living.
A man’s growth is achieved as he accepts different stages of the plan. If the current stage demands that he gains a certain understanding by raising a family and for some reason he rejects this plan to become celibate, understanding must be gained through other means of his own choosing; the path can be altered but the goal remains the same. And since we all have different intellectual capacity and desire for truth, and varying sensitivity to the spirit, we are bound to have different religions. The growth must be organic (somethings must be experienced in order to be understood, to set the stage for another) — not imposed.
Moses introduced animal sacrifice in place of human sacrifice knowing how pointless they both were to the relationship with the Father. But it was a necessary step in bringing the Hebrews to appreciate a better relationship with the Father.
You cannot teach a man who finds nothing wrong with sacrificing humans (Jephthah and his daughter) to love his neighbor as himself until you have first found a way to make him forsake his backward ways.
Now you know why it is unwise to force a ready-made religion down the throat of another, why your relationship with the Father is not a standard for others, and why despite knowing that eating food offered to idols has no spiritual consequences you cannot impose it on others; what you can do is bring them to the knowledge of the truth, and as they apply it to their relationship with the Father they eventually come to the realization of the fact. You also know why promoting religious laws and creeds is not needful since they do not take into consideration our unique shortcomings nor offer a way out.
Our walk with the Father does not require us to suppress, obey, and conform to the rules of living, but rather be transformed by the Spirit of Truth who constantly works to renew our minds; he suggests a better way of living, a higher ideal of life according to our level of growth, and when we accept it (act on it) we are advanced. When a man discovers and falls in love with truth, a higher ideal, it acts like a magnet gradually pulling him away from the less ideal. When he begins to appreciate the fact that justice requires the collective agreement of his fellow man, he stops trying to impose his selfish will on him. And when he learns of God’s divine purpose to transform him into his image and begins to experience God’s divine presence within him he finds it easier to let go off the less desirable things in his life. When a man is presented with beauty he forsakes the ugly, and this is how good triumphs over evil.
Let us be patient and long-suffering towards one another even as the Spirit of God is with us.
The Spirit leads, never drives.
Sometimes the spirit makes suggestions: listen to a sermon, read a book, find out how you can be of help to someone, get to know someone, pray for an enemy (praying for people helps us to love them), thank someone with a gift, make amends with someone, and sometimes he points us in the right direction by raising honest questions in our hearts.
The Spirit of Truth also relates pieces of truth that we have learned to reveal higher truths to us.
These able Ministers do their work within the confines of the human will; they do not control you, curse you, or punish you for ignoring their counsel. And since their work here is done in our bodies it is only proper (not a commandment) that we stay away from all forms of profanities that we wouldn’t want to witness other people do with their own bodies.
In time, the spirit (Spirit of God) bears witness with your spirit (soul) that you are truly the son of God (you will know in your heart), born of the spirit, and this gives you the power to overcome all doubts and uncertainty about your sonship, even your faith.
The Father awaits you in paradise.
References:
Psalm 139:1–18, 23–24 (portions intentionally skipped because scripture is not perfect)
Galatians 5:25
1 Corinthians 2:11
Acts 8:29
Isaiah 28:9–10
Psalm 25:4–5
Psalm 31:3
Psalm 86:11
Psalm 143:8
Psalm 43:3
Psalm 16:7–8
Proverbs 3:5–6
Psalm 25:9
Psalm 32:8–9
Romans 8:28
Jeremiah 29:11
Psalm 73:23–24 (He awaits you)
Romans 8:16 (He won’t let you doubt your sonship)
The love of the Father operates directly in the heart of the individual; the relationship is personal — man and God.
The Spirit of God which dwells in a man knows everything about the man and understands him: his faults, strengths, weaknesses, habits, aspirations, genetic makeup, even his motivation for doing things, and goes ahead to formulate a plan which when accepted by the man both consciously and subconsciously, gradually transforms him into the goal which is perfection.
Think of the Father as the one who truly knows you, and knows how to guide you to your destination.
We are all unique, and therefore may require different plans to achieve perfection — not rules of living.
A man’s growth is achieved as he accepts different stages of the plan. If the current stage demands that he gains a certain understanding by raising a family and for some reason he rejects this plan to become celibate, understanding must be gained through other means of his own choosing; the path can be altered but the goal remains the same. And since we all have different intellectual capacity and desire for truth, and varying sensitivity to the spirit, we are bound to have different religions. The growth must be organic (somethings must be experienced in order to be understood, to set the stage for another) — not imposed.
Moses introduced animal sacrifice in place of human sacrifice knowing how pointless they both were to the relationship with the Father. But it was a necessary step in bringing the Hebrews to appreciate a better relationship with the Father.
You cannot teach a man who finds nothing wrong with sacrificing humans (Jephthah and his daughter) to love his neighbor as himself until you have first found a way to make him forsake his backward ways.
Now you know why it is unwise to force a ready-made religion down the throat of another, why your relationship with the Father is not a standard for others, and why despite knowing that eating food offered to idols has no spiritual consequences you cannot impose it on others; what you can do is bring them to the knowledge of the truth, and as they apply it to their relationship with the Father they eventually come to the realization of the fact. You also know why promoting religious laws and creeds is not needful since they do not take into consideration our unique shortcomings nor offer a way out.
Our walk with the Father does not require us to suppress, obey, and conform to the rules of living, but rather be transformed by the Spirit of Truth who constantly works to renew our minds; he suggests a better way of living, a higher ideal of life according to our level of growth, and when we accept it (act on it) we are advanced. When a man discovers and falls in love with truth, a higher ideal, it acts like a magnet gradually pulling him away from the less ideal. When he begins to appreciate the fact that justice requires the collective agreement of his fellow man, he stops trying to impose his selfish will on him. And when he learns of God’s divine purpose to transform him into his image and begins to experience God’s divine presence within him he finds it easier to let go off the less desirable things in his life. When a man is presented with beauty he forsakes the ugly, and this is how good triumphs over evil.
Let us be patient and long-suffering towards one another even as the Spirit of God is with us.
The Spirit leads, never drives.
Sometimes the spirit makes suggestions: listen to a sermon, read a book, find out how you can be of help to someone, get to know someone, pray for an enemy (praying for people helps us to love them), thank someone with a gift, make amends with someone, and sometimes he points us in the right direction by raising honest questions in our hearts.
The Spirit of Truth also relates pieces of truth that we have learned to reveal higher truths to us.
These able Ministers do their work within the confines of the human will; they do not control you, curse you, or punish you for ignoring their counsel. And since their work here is done in our bodies it is only proper (not a commandment) that we stay away from all forms of profanities that we wouldn’t want to witness other people do with their own bodies.
In time, the spirit (Spirit of God) bears witness with your spirit (soul) that you are truly the son of God (you will know in your heart), born of the spirit, and this gives you the power to overcome all doubts and uncertainty about your sonship, even your faith.
The Father awaits you in paradise.
References:
Psalm 139:1–18, 23–24 (portions intentionally skipped because scripture is not perfect)
Galatians 5:25
1 Corinthians 2:11
Acts 8:29
Isaiah 28:9–10
Psalm 25:4–5
Psalm 31:3
Psalm 86:11
Psalm 143:8
Psalm 43:3
Psalm 16:7–8
Proverbs 3:5–6
Psalm 25:9
Psalm 32:8–9
Romans 8:28
Jeremiah 29:11
Psalm 73:23–24 (He awaits you)
Romans 8:16 (He won’t let you doubt your sonship)