On,Now,To the 42nd Level

If you've not been through your form of a Romans 7 then please look away now.....go to the next post or something! This will be meaningless to you. Enjoy God's cosy nest!

But for those who are going through Romans 7 now....and nothing is seeming to work. All those tried and tested ruses

like

fasting, praying extensively, conferences, mammoth Word sessions....lots of fellowship....praise CDs or praise meetings are just nolonger cutting it.....

Well....you know I've already introduced you to Mark Knopfler encouraging us to build on the Rock....This is Mark King of Level 42...in an extraordinary live version of "Man",written 1989, the lyrics of which were read out in my 1989 Introduction to the 3rd level.

This is the nearest you'll get to a Romans 7 song whose lyrics both encompass us as individuals....but also a kind of Romans 7 corporate thing the whole world is going through...mirrored by the groanings of the very earth itself, as we learn reading further in Romans 8.

"Staring at the Sun" album 1989, had many great sounds and lyrics, but as you'll hear on the Youtube clip...it's not a sound for the tops of the charts to keep you humming. And if you play the other Youtube clips....when it's done badly the song doesn't really work at all. But here it is done very well....and you can hear in the rather "Mythe de Sisyphe" chord sequence, the music describes perfectly the relentlessness of it all. Sisyphus was this Greek myth about someone condemned to roll a great big stone up a hill nearly to the top, but then it rolls all the way back down again, and the poor chap has to begin again.And again.And again. But, in the song, even in all the brokenness, and the pain you hear this concrete affirmation building on the inside of your spirit......

"Father.....the heart of history!" The musicians really break out in this performance.

It's all pretty meaningless when discussed by the left-brain....it takes music to define the whole process.

Man by Level 42

Hey man where you been
You can’t run away
From the life you made your own
Now that it’s gone and left you down and out
You’re not so complete
Now what do you say
All the answers you propose
Nobody chose to hear this time around

Hey man you’re so vain
You rise up again
To perform to pressure now
No way to treat that precious heart at all
Calm down you’re too proud
Now what do you know
You present some facts to face
But nobody chose to look this time around

Head in the clouds
No silver lining
What could be wrong

Hey man why so blue
What’s come over you
Sentimental apathy
Ain’t gonna buy no sympathy today
Wide world wearing thin
Wild words deafening
Shout about integrity
And then you go and throw your dignity away

We’re all the same
We’re all to blame
What could be wrong, yeah

Hey man you got carried away
Carrying on the games that you play
Playing is not the way to win
cos winning can be a way that you lose
And losing is not the way you would choose
Given the choice you’re trying to change
Changing again you’re carried away

Do you remember the day
So long ago so far behind
That history wrought in the fire
That filled your mind with mad desire
Chasing the centuries down
Long roads you cut through flesh and field
Pulling the past as you run
And it’s dragged you to your knees
It’s time to pray

It’s getting harder to pay
Too many people
For the rent

Given a number of ways
Is there no way you can change
”Father…..the HEART OF HISTORY”
”Time marching on….Face the future….(???)”

Hey man sing the blues

AND......."They Limited The Holy One Of Israel!" Rich Novak. Chris Welch on how this relates to "circumcision" and "contrite"

Rich Novak's note on Facebook Yesterday at 18:05
I am amazed as I look back on the last few months how God has gradually, and sometimes not so gradually, taken me into this place of just catching a glimpse of HIS UNLIMITED-NESS! And not only His Unlimited-ness in relation to the corporate body or the whole of our lives, but more specifically HIS DESIRE TO BE THE UNLIMITED EXPANDING ALL IN ALL, IN US, AS MEMBERS OF HIS BODY!

I woke up this morning with one particular verse, and I tried to sleep, but it wouldn’t go away! I then started seeing other verses, and then other verses, and again, and again! I then realized He was showing me HIS HEARTS DESIRE, which He expressed to HIS FATHER so wonderfully and with such passion in John chapter 17!

“That they may all be one; even 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 sent Me.”

Then I started seeing how people have limited God all throughout history!

And I saw the Unlimited God grieving because we also “limit the Holy One (Christ IN US) of Israel!”

Passages were coming before me like a freight train, such as the infamous one in Isaiah 40, where God is painting a picture of our Unlimited Life in Him as an eagle soaring above ‘OUR HIGH PLACES”……. which brought me to Habakkuk, chapter 3, where all Habakkuk sees (in his limitation) is misery and barrenness, at which time the Prophet’s eyes are opened to see the Unlimited God in the middle of all the seeming lack……… which then took me to David, who after Jonathan, his covenant partner dies (as a picture of Christ) in battle, goes out searching for Jonathan’s remaining descendants (a picture of us) and finds his son, whose name is Mephibosheth, hiding from David in a place called Lodebar, (meaning barrenness and limitation) and David, (being a picture of the Father), takes this man who is the last descendant of Jonathan, and is lame in both feet, (also a picture of us) and who called himself a “dead dog”, into the King’s Unlimited Kingdom, where he goes from barrenness and limitation to the UNLIMITED-NESS OF DAVID’S ENDLESS SUPPLY…… which then reminded me of Jesus and His feeding of the Five Thousand…….. which made me then think of Elijah and the widow woman, and because of her selfless act of OTHER LOVE, she ate from the UNLIMITED BREAD AND OIL, which……..is also a picture of The MANNA which comes down from Heaven in Deuteronomy 8, as the UNLIMITED SUPPLY IN OUR ETERNAL DAY!
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The House That Keeps Framing Itself.. (Interjection from Chris Welch on Facebook)
Like a developing cell or a developing brain,what you thought was the House was just the inner ringlet valve of the inner antechamber to the smaller bathroom of the outhouse in front of the main vestibule.


Each generation has to "go outside"and Hebrews13:13 peg out the next rough ground that the architect gives you from his massive wad of unfolding plans. (Hmmm if Kafka met Ed Miller)
"No,David....You shall not build the House....but I shall build for you a house that will outlast all generations!!!
Susie Golmon Cox Yes! Yes! Yes! Chris! I am Bursting at the reading of this! I am coming to understand that as God's plan is unfolding...in and through each of us(and I agree that FB is a part of this) that it is also opening up like a Bloom. Each next moment as each of us become increasingly aware of our absolute reality of Christ's Life within us as our Life AND ... See morethe reality of His Life in each of our Brothers and Sisters we are experiencing His ongoing increasing 'Flowering' of Himself, if you will, unto all of us.Sometimes we Christians forget or have not realized that our spirits/inner man are being renewed day by day. Our bodies are the ONLY thing getting 'older' We are increasingly smelling both...more 'like' and smelling more 'of' the Flower's(Jesus) scent and seeing more of our Home, like the vision of the crystal citadel, by the Faith of God within us! We are homesick for a place we've never been...but in fact we ARE THERE! For He has MADE US to SIT WITH HIM in Heavenly Places! And many times I notice a common 'subject' on FB on any given day. We are all more on the 'same page' than we realize. Consider this on Don Nori Sr.'s FB Status this morning...1st the status..then the comments.............................................................
"We are changing from earthly people to spiritual people. We are becoming newly aware of a realm we did not know had such power. We are learning that things are not always as they appear; that the five senses cannot interpret the things of the spirit realm, since they cannot even sense them. We are discovering new levels of reality, trust, joy, fulfillment and love. The best thing of all is that this is only the beginning!"
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Rich continues

*That is the best "This is only the beginning" and I'm so excited!
*Born again to see and access a Supreme Reality (John 3)...
*How mighty are His wonders!!!!
*AMEN!!! We haven't even begun to see all that awaits for us as we fully yield to Him who lives inside!!!!
*Don't let nostalgia tie you to former mentalities. You can remain loyal to the launch pad without lingering on it.
*This spirit man who is this new being walking the planet is ruling from this spiritual dimension with His Majesty King Jesus. It’s a spirit people, a throne room people. We have been transformed, having the mind of Christ.
*Awesome!!!!!
*I think it was Dutch Sheets who said, "We are not human beings who have occasional spiritual experiences; we are spiritual beings having a temporary human experience."
*Amen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope this encourages you as it has me....keep posting your God-given insights....they are reaching just whom they are supposed to reach and making the Divine connections bringing about the blossoming of the Kingdom of Heaven!
20 May at 19:31 ·
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CAN YOU SEE IT? HOW CAN WE AS HIS BODY NOT SEE IT? “AND THEY LIMITED THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL!”

If I may be so bold, please let me translate the following popular verse as to what I believe they are NOW SAYING; as I NOW see them IN Christ, AS THE UNLIMITED ALL IN ALL!

“IF ANY MAN BE IN CHRIST HE IS A NEW CREATION, THE OLD HAS PASSED AWAY, AND BEHOLD, ALL THINGS ARE BECOME NEW!” (II Cor 5:17)

“In Christ the old consciousness of limitations has died, and in its place, the UNLIMITED CHRIST LIVES IN US, IN THE FORM OF THE SAME SPIRIT WHO RAISED HIM UP FROM THE DEAD, AND WHO NOW LIVES IN AND THROUGH US, SO WE MAY SEE AS HE SEES……EVERYTHING NEW, AND THE NEW CONCSIOUSNESS OF THE UNLIMITED CHRIST IN US AND AS US, HAS SWALLOWED UP THE OLD CONCSIOUSNESS OF SEEING MORE THAN GOD, AND ALONG WITH IT, ALL OF ITS ATTACHED LIMITATIONS!”


“I HAVE BECOME ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN THAT BY “ALL” POSSIBLE MEANS I MIGHT SAVE SOME!” (I Cor 9:19-23)

“WE have become HIM in our form as the UNLIMITED ONE, for HIS NAME IS “ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN”, JUST AS IT IS “I AM THAT I AM!” And this wonderful PERSON, whose name in this ETERNAL DAY called “TODAY” IS “ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN!” AND BY HIS DOING, WE HAVE ALSO BECOME THE SAME, THAT WE (as Him in our form and expression) MIGHT SAVE THOSE WHO SEE HIM AS BEING SEPARATED FROM HIM!”


“WHEN CHRIST WHO IS YOUR LIFE WILL APPEAR, YOU WILL ALSO APPEAR WITH HIM IN GLORY!” (Col 3:4)

When Christ, THE UNLIMITED ONE, makes himself known IN YOU, YOU ARE HIM IN YOUR FORM! Because Glory is not a place which is limited by time, or focused on a specific event, GLORY IS THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST! When He is in me, wherever I go He is there because there is no separation or division in the UNLIMITED GOD WHO HAS CHOSEN TO ABIDE (LIVE) IN US BY HIS GRACE AND POWER!

This morning I believe God said to me, "NOW is the time to come out from under the cloud of limitations…….. of seeing separation and division by continuing to see………God “AND”….. IN US!"

"NOW is the time to walk in the NEWNESS OF LIFE, which is HIM IN HIS UNLIMITED-NESS IN US AND AS US!"

AND…… "THEY LIMITED THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL!”

“All of us WHO ARE MATURE (perfect) should take such a view of things. And if on SOME POINT you think differently, that too GOD WILL MAKE CLEAR TO YOU. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.” (Phil 3:15-16)

Is there anything that could grieve HIS HEART more than LIMITING THE UNLIMITED GOD..... IN US?
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I replied
Only just read this this morning.There's a flow going on.What I wanted to post was a kind of Jim Robbins Good and Noble Heart thing (Facebook Group) and the two are related.As follows:
Circumcision is not the same as having your penis cut off...phew!Circumcision of the heart is not the same as a vampiric removal of our whole heart.
Circumcision I now realise is the removal of anything else but SEEING God only! Period.Religion is nothing but a vampiric gameplay, where you are left with no heart at all.Absolutely devoid of passion.
True religion is helping widows and orphans in their distress.But what is that shorthand for....being alive and sensitive to what He wants to do thru us as us in OUR surroundings.Or somewhere else that Jesus specifically puts on our hearts to go to.
This whole thing has got reduced to rattling tins in front of supermarkets.
The other thing that we've completey missed that circumcision means and that you are pointing out...is if we are stripped to seeing God only...then we are stripped back to fully operational status for being able to say our Word of faith uncluttered.Faith operates out of a ... See moreheart that sees only God. One of the graphic OT pictures of all this is Judges 6 and the smashing of the pots.Since the 80s a lot of us have seen this in relationship to "brokenness"; only trouble was this never led anywhere because it became a stultifying fake religious brokenness that was so far from seeing only God. In fact the reality was we were just religious rebels going thru the motions but dying in the wilderness instead of actually going anywhere. Whatsoever is not of faith....that is based rooted and grounded in all things God says I am....is sin. Without (such) faith it is impossible to please God.
8 hours ago
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Rich replied
WOW, what you are talking about is where most believers live, move, and have their being (identity), THE DEATH SIDE! We always bear in our bodies HIS DEATH......BUT, there is a time death works it's work, DEATH WORKS LIFE! That is why I love Philippians 3:15-16, the key words "All of us who are mature" All who have passed from death to LIFE! AND... See more WE ALL HAVE! THAT is the amazing part! WE JUST NEED TO SEE THAT THE SPIRIT is THE ONLY WORKER, THE SON IN US, the ONLY WORD, and all of it flowing from the SINGLE thought of the FATHER!>>>>>>>> "THAT THEY MAY BE ONE EVEN AS WE ARE ONE!" AND WE ARE ONE! As soon as we move past the elementary "DO' gospel to seeing this as being already FUlFILLED! WE ARE ONE!

Is Christ Separated?

The need is evidence the SUPPLY IS HERE! NOT vice versa! We have need of Nothing, because The Law of Supply is HIM ONLY IN ALL, AS THE ALL IN ALL, WHO FILLS EVERYTHING IN EVERY WAY!

I call it the LIFE SIDE! Seeing ONLY HIM IN ALL THINGS! And like you pointed out CHRIS, the process of elimination, and moving beyond a philosophy of "eternal brokenness", and behavior and other performanced based doctrines, to HIM IN US AND AS US................And NOW THAT SAME FAITH that raised HIM, working through us to perfrom His Eternal purposes.........and THE MINISTRY of RECONCILING ALL THINGS, PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE to HIM AS HIM! FOR AS HE IS (RIGHT NOW) SO ARE WE IN THIS WORLD! (I John 4:17)
6 hours ago · Flag
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The other thing I was thinking about before reading this was the word contrite....related to the previous brokenness issue.The Lord dwells with a contrite and broken heart.The Lord dwelt with Jesus.Jesus knew no sin. So clearly contrite comprises an element that has to do with sin.....but clearly it has another element that has no relation with sin whatsoever.
In 1980 Jorge Pradas made the shattering statement that there was a stage of "adoration" that made no reference to sin.Jesus did not need sin to be contrite.And this is why your note is so important for it describes this state.People always say "he/she is only human".....implying the mistakes keep us humble. NO, the humility that is embedded throughout Christ's Person keeps us humble.That IS GOD LIFE.It just is so.And without understanding anything about containers etc. the world must necessarily accuse us of the most awful pride....either that or enter into brokenness themselves discovering the Son's Life within them....but the truth is God works all this stuff within us if we only believe His Word.
46 minutes ago >>>>>>>>>>>>Back to 1st of Rich Novek's Series.........
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Appendix

Bede Griffiths..
I suddenly saw that all the time it was not I who had been seeking God, but God who had been seeking me. I had made myself the centre of my own existence and had my back turned to God. All the beauty and truth which I had discovered had come to me as a reflection of his beauty, but I had kept my eyes on the reflection
and was always looking at myself. But God had brought me to the point at which I was compelled to turn away from the reflection, both of myself and of the world which could only mirror my own image. During that night the mirror had been broken, and I had felt abandoned because I could no longer gaze upon the image of my own reason and the finite world which it knew>God had brought me to my knees and made me acknowledge my own nothingness, and out of that knowledge I had been reborn. I was nolonger the centre of my life and therefore I could see God in everything.
Bede Griffiths, the Golden String Posted on Facebook by Merrill Thompson

Seeing God Only - Nancy Fitzpatrick Gilmore's new blog

Seeing God Only ..... New blog by Nancy Gilmore

Apart from exploding on to the scene with

161 Posts this month alone....the majority are ofcourse links,

the wealth of material you will find here includes

a link to Francois Dutoit's Thoughts For Life

a link to Andre Oosthuizen's Notes

a link to Ole Henrik Skjelstad's Notes
a link to Steve McVey

even links back here, plus a whole array of centuries old classics including Madame Guyon, plus heroes from the 20th Century like Dietrich Bonhoeffer. You will find many more links to people that I am only just getting to know or to hear of , and have started posting their material here: Jacob Boehme,Dan Stone,Fred Pruitt,James S Stewart,William Law.

Info about persecuted peoples. Many many inspirational Youtube clips.

Warning: For Mature Audiences by Rich Novak (The original on seeing Only God)

FacebookSunday, 25 April 2010 at 06:18
“All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.” (Phil 3:15-16 NIV)

As far as I am concerned, this is one of the most powerful passages of scripture in the New Testament! Yet, I have never heard so much as one teaching on it. For the past several years I have meditated and pondered on this passage of scripture and its meaning! I believe the Holy Spirit has opened my eyes to the meaning and would like to share the tremendous impact it has had on me, and what I believe God is saying.

First of all, God is speaking through Paul to people who have reached a level of awareness that goes far beyond the status quo of what we consider maturity in modern Christendom. All of us who are MATURE or some versions even use the word PERFECT! Well, we need to be real here and not religious, and recognize that NOT all of us ARE MATURE! In fact, there are many who, though desiring the “meat”, are not able to digest what God is saying. (I Cor 3:2) This is also one of the reasons why I believe there has been so little said about this particular passage in the third chapter of Philippians!

Maturity is defined by God as seeing past division and separation, including the elementary teachings of the church that Paul talks about in Hebrews, and SEEING ONLY GOD in ALL THINGS!

Seeing Only God in ALL things………… is the mature VIEW Paul is talking about! After all, what is there but God? What “some point” in our lives is not God? So in this place of seeing God in ALL as the ALL, who also fills everything in every way, we also see why this teaching is not for everyone! Let me correct myself, it IS for everyone, just not everyone AT THE SAME TIME (point). The Spirit is the ONE who will WORK to illuminate it in us, through the MIND of CHRIST!

For, "Who can know the LORD's thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?" But we understand these things, for we have the MIND OF CHRIST! (I Cor 2:16 New Living Translation)

“And if on some point you THINK differently.” If we are Seeing Only God, and we recognize He is All there is in every form and expression, than why would we be believe we are doing the THINKING? If you and I have The Mind of Christ, it’s only ONE MIND, HIS! And the only thought He is thinking is the ETERNAL THOUGHT of His Father!

Jesus let’s us know what that ETERNAL THOUGHT is in John 17. “That they may be ONE, even as you and I are ONE!” The ONLY thought the Father has ever had is in reconciling ALL things, including every thought, word, moment person, place, and thing, every past, present, and future to HIMSELF! We have NOW moved into maturity and beyond thinking about what we “need”, to THE ONLY UNIVERSAL NEED THERE IS……..The RECONCILIATION OF ALL THINGS IN HIM!

When Jesus was being baptized, John protested, Jesus said to him this MUST be this way in order to fulfill ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS! He than demonstrated the ministry of reconciliation by having John baptize HIM! When He came up out of the water, the Spirit landed on Him in the form of a dove, symbolizing the SPIRIT (The Worker), who would from that point work in HIM ALL things after the counsel of HIS OWN WILL! (Eph 1:11 NAS)

The first time Jesus spoke publicly:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed.”

And the SAME Spirit of The Lord is upon US to agree with him that ALL things have been reconciled to God through CHRIST! The ONLY GOOD NEWS is found in SEEING ONLY GOD! The only way the blind can be healed is by SEEING ONLY GOD! The Only way the captive can be set free is by SEEING ONLY GOD! The only way oppression can be gone forever is by SEEING ONLY GOD! SEEING GOD IN EVERY MANIFEST FORM OR EXPRESSION KNOWN TO MAN!

And God is living through US, His BODY, reconciling ALL things to HIMSELF by first allowing us to see “by appearances” all division and separation in every form and expression. In HIS REST, the Spirit is sent out by our Spoken Word to will and to work according to HIS GOOD PLEASURE! We Rest, He Works……….all things after the counsel of His Eternal Will, and ONLY in the Eternal Now! And He does it through those of us who are mature and SEE ONLY HIM in ALL THINGS!

The ONLY MINISTRY, CALLING, MOVEMENT, or LIFE is the ministry of reconciling all things, no matter what or who they are to HIM! Where I used to see fear as something separate from Him, I NOW see fear as HIM......... coming to me for the expressed purpose of my calling it God! Fear, which was seen as separate is now reconciled to God by the Spirit who works in me to will and to DO according to His good pleasure! I used to worry, but NOW worry is the invitation to see it as just another expression of HIM! And instead of seeing fear and worry as separate from Him, I agree with HIM that ALL things, including fear, worry, etc., are reconciled to God, and in doing so remove the dividing wall of hostility! I also "disarm" the power I have given fear, worry, or anything else that has caused me to see these things as separate from Him! I NOW, in HIS REST, SEE everything that crosses my path and beyond, as ONLY God! And the things that I don’t see, He promises to reveal to me as I “ONLY live (in the Eternal Day) up to what I have already attained!” I NOW walk this daily walk in FREEDOM in the ETERNAL TODAY, allowing HIM to reconcile ALL of my life, and what I previously saw as separation and division in myself and others, to HIMSELF! I NOW SEE ONLY HIM IN ALL THINGS!

“And if on some point you think differently” Look at the above passage, notice the two words, VIEW and CLEAR? We see ALL THINGS AS HE DOES and SEE them in PERFECTION…………..but, if at some point we don’t see as He sees, it simply means we are seeing more than HIM! And in seeing more than Him we become “the house divided”, by falsely believing my trial, tribulation, relationship, financial concerns, etc., are somehow SEPARATE from Him! It’s also at that exact “POINT” HE PROMISES TO REMOVE THE “DIM GLASS”, which is a perfect symbolism of our seeing more than Him, so we can SEE ONLY The Perfection in the mirror that He SEES IN US and AS US! And Now we walk in the same POWER because AS HE IS, so ARE WE IN THIS WORLD! (I John 4:17) Sinless, perfect, and the exact representation of HIM in OUR FORM!

“And ALL of this is a gift from God, who brought us (and everything that could ever concern us, past, present, and future……every “point”) back TO HIMSELF through Christ. And God has given us this task: OF RECONCILING (not only people but everything we see as separate) ALL PEOPLE TO HIM.” (II Cor 5:18 New Living Translation)

All of US who are MATURE should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently (seeing separation) that too He will make CLEAR, ONLY let us (who are mature, SEEING ONLY HIM IN ALL THINGS) live up to what we have already attained (by Entering into His REST in the ETERNAL TODAY of WHO WE ARE IN HIM!)

The way I See It......(so far) - Rich Novak

Facebook Monday at 17:13
Norman Grubb's explanation of the Father, Son, and Spirit in his book "Yes I am" is awesome! He describes the Father as The Eternal Thought, The Son, The Eternal Word, (or you could say The Eternal "Spoken" Word), and The Spirit as The Eternal Action (Worker or Doer is what I call Him), or The One who adds substance to the Word! The One who Paul describes as both willing and DOING of His Good pleasure IN US! "For it is God (The Spirit) WHO IS AT WORK IN YOU, both to WILL and to WORK for His good pleasure." (Phil 2:13)

The way I see it, we were specifically designed for God's REST (in the Father)! And in that place of REST, where we have ceased from our own works.... WE SPEAK THE WORD (of the SON) by faith! And in doing so...... the Spirit (IN US, and WHO is joined TO US) then goes to WORK, bringing the "SUBSTANCE" to OUR SPOKEN WORD! Because, "AS HE IS SO ARE WE IN THIS WORLD!" (I John 4:17)

Anything else is Christian dysfunction, and so we have no other choice than to come back under condemnation (the law of sin and death), which is another way of saying we become "slaves" to seeing separation and division. And under that condemning law, we receive the "punishment" of seeing more than God! That is, until we once again see ONLY HIM in that person, place, thing, situation, feeling, or circumstance! Until we agree with our adversary (who becomes God by our seeing more than Him!) quickly! What Norman calls QUICK SINNING, QUICK CLEANSING! Guilt always demands punishment, and we will punish ourselves if need be....... in seeing separation and division......... in seeing more than God!


"And now we are consciously in our "father" stage, where we have, like Paul, "won Christ", and thus the highest privilege of being leveled with Him as co-saviours."

1 Corinthians 9:22......... To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. "Co-commissioned, co-laborers, co-sufferers, co-diers, co-risers in co-resurrection which with us brings "many sons to glory". (Norman Grubb)


And then there is this little gem tucked away in Philippians chapter 3 that has brought much freedom to my contolling thoughts and ways! I call it a "hinge to freedom", everything swings on it, because it's purpose is to takes us from death to LIFE! From slavery to FREEDOM!

All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if ON SOME POINT YOU THINK DIFFERENTLY (the hinge), THAT TOO GOD WILL MAKE CLEAR TO YOU . Only let us live up to what we have already attained. (Phil 3:15-16) I don't know about you but this little passage brings so much freedom to my soul! It all starts with HIM, and it ALL ends with HIM!

God is saying it is The Spirit's job (or WORK) to save and keep us, and it's also the Spirit who brings the next thing! We just stay yielded! This is so awesome, and what amazes me, in 30 years I have never heard so much as one teaching on Philippians 3:15-16! More than likely because of the first 6 words...... "All of us who are mature." God's definition of maturity is much different than that of organized religion. God's definition of Maturity: SEEING ONLY HIM IN ALL THINGS!
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It's taken a few days to really work with the phrase seeing ONLY GOD.
It's something I do ...or aim to do ...instinctively.
That seems presumptious...but think about it. Hundreds of thousands, millions even have been baptised in the Spirit and have been learning over decades to approach God in Spirit and in Truth. I know there are many negatives, but the raw truth is that is what multitudes have been learning and are poised to export onto the streets and towns in the form of
learning the same walk now outside meetings. That's how the third level works. Praise God,it's not done quite like the charismatics think...ie pray for 5 hours, then walk around locked into praise mp3s fed through earphones, lest the evil demonic world grab you and seduce you away.
Thankfully it's easier than that, entering into what Norman calls the Freefall of faith, where we believe on the inside of us what the scriptures say about us...that it is Him as me.

Having got this off my chest, there is nevertheless a series of similar "arcs" of seeing God only going on. This is my comment on Facebook to what Rich wrote.
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I really appreciate these sessions.Rich obviously gave me a prescreening of this, because we were chatting the other day. But do you notice how because we all see things a bit differently (and here I don't mean wrong and right,I mean God may have spoken to us similar things or similar angles from life experience or different verses) we kind of fire off each other! Now the effect on me as I reread these ideas this morning was this. And I think this is a cracker! Because of the wheels within wheels thing which I mention in Inrtroduction to the third level....this means that God is not only getting our "seeing right" in an arc which involves our lifetime, but the same but tighter circle is going on in every Spirit-filled meeting, in every genuine encounter individually with God or be it in every genuine praise encounter. Now only God can do this say with a meeting. Take a disparate group of individuals of all ages,coming fresh out of a weekful of activities and in the course of one meeting, and with His Presence falling, catch everyone up in One Flow,to one particular end for that one meeting with Him. And I just love that He does this for someone who is one day old just as one 60 years in the faith. How can He do that. Somehow we just get "caught up" in that realm which is the Eternal Now, which is always vibrant,active,doing something,to a purpose, all in an atmosphere of faith, of saying the Word actually in the throne room....which ofcourse must come to pass, cos it's Him. In one session , 29 years ago for example after the serial killer Yorkshire Ripper had scoffed at the police with tape messages of his exploits for two years or more, we were led to declare him caught. Within hours it was so!Totally amazing. But
ofcourse, we never know what God will catch us up in Himself to do. Now every meeting should be like this....and will be, as we learn that our daily walk does not have to be different either. At the moment in the charismatic level, as I was,I'd be leading in a meeting, prophesying, singing a new song, whatever....go out of the meeting and not knowing about the "independent self" switch, click right over into extremes I don't want to mention. I was desperate. But as soon as we "get" this He as us thing, we see Him in everything...or start to....and if we don't as Rich just wrote we have this confidence that God Himself will make it clear to us...not some rulebook. In practice though....get a Body of people walking as Him...we'll soon gently get nudging one another for things we're not seeing straight. I experienced the very first shoots of this (kind of a firstfruits move) from 1978-1984 living in Spirit filled community. A hothouse if there ever was one...except without the fine 3rd level scalpels we tended to bludgeon each other to death with the gift of suspicion.

A VERY INTERESTING CONVERSATION through Andre Oosthuizen

An Atheist Professor of Philosophy was speaking to his Class on the Problem Science has

with GOD, the ALMIGHTY. He asked one of his New Christian Students to stand and . . .

Professor : You are a Christian, aren't you, son?

Student : Yes, sir.

Professor : So, you Believe in GOD ?

Student : Absolutely, sir.

Professor : Is GOD Good ?

Student : Sure.

Professor : Is GOD ALL - POWERFUL ?

Student : Yes.

Professor : My Brother died of Cancer even though he Prayed to GOD to Heal him.

Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill.

But GOD didn't. How is this GOD good then? Hmm?


(Student was silent)


Professor : You can't answer, can you ? Let's start again, Young Fella.

Is GOD Good?

Student : Yes.

Professor : Is Satan good ?

Student : No.

Professor : Where does Satan come from ?

Student : From . . . GOD . . .

Professor : That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this World?

Student : Yes.

Professor : Evil is everywhere, isn't it ? And GOD did make everything. Correct?

Student : Yes.

Professor : So who created evil ?


(Student did not answer)


Professor : Is there Sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness?

All these terrible things exist in the World, don't they?

Student : Yes, sir.

Professor : So, who Created them ?


(Student had no answer)


Professor : Science says you have 5 Senses you use to Identify and Observe the World around you.

Tell me, son . . . Have you ever Seen GOD?

Student : No, sir.

Professor : Tell us if you have ever Heard your GOD?

Student : No , sir.

Professor : Have you ever Felt your GOD, Tasted your GOD, Smelt your GOD?

Have you ever had any Sensory Perception of GOD for that matter?

Student : No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.

Professor : Yet you still Believe in HIM?

Student : Yes.

Professor : According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable Protocol,

Science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?

Student : Nothing. I only have my Faith.

Professor : Yes, Faith. And that is the Problem Science has.

Student : Professor, is there such a thing as Heat?

Professor : Yes.

Student : And is there such a thing as Cold?

Professor : Yes.

Student : No, sir. There isn't.


(The Lecture Theatre became very quiet with this turn of events)


Student : Sir, you can have Lots of Heat, even More Heat, Superheat, Mega Heat, White Heat, a Little Heat or No Heat.

But we don't have anything called Cold.

We can hit 458 Degrees below Zero which is No Heat, but we can't go any further after that.

There is no such thing as Cold. Cold is only a Word we use to describe the Absence of Heat.

We cannot Measure Cold. Heat is Energy.

Cold is Not the Opposite of Heat, sir, just the Absence of it.


(There was Pin-Drop Silence in the Lecture Theatre)


Student : What about Darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as Darkness?

Professor : Yes. What is Night if there isn't Darkness?

Student : You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the Absence of Something; you can have Low Light, Normal Light, Bright Light, and Flashing

Light . . . But if you have No Light constantly, you have nothing and its called Darkness, isn't it?

In reality, Darkness isn't. If it is, were you would be able to make Darkness Darker, wouldn't you?

Professor : So what is the point you are making, Young Man ?

Student : Sir, my point is your Philosophical Premise is flawed.

Professor : Flawed ? Can you explain how?

Student : Sir, you are working on the Premise of Duality.

You argue there is Life and then there is Death, a Good GOD and a Bad GOD.

You are viewing the Concept of GOD as something finite, something we can measure.

Sir, Science can't even explain a Thought.

It uses Electricity and Magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one.

To view Death as the Opposite of

Life is to be ignorant of the fact that Death cannot exist as a Substantive Thing.

Death is Not the Opposite of Life: just the

Absence of it.

Now tell me, Professor, do you teach your Students that they evolved from a Monkey?

Professor : If you are referring to the Natural Evolutionary Process, yes, of course, I do.

Student : Have you ever observed Evolution with your own eyes, sir?


(The Professor shook his head with a Smile, beginning to realize where the Argument was going)


Student : Since no one has ever observed the Process of Evolution at work and cannot even prove that this Process is an On-Going Endeavor, are you not teaching your Opinion, sir? Are you not a Scientist but a Preacher?


(The Class was in Uproar)


Student : Is there anyone in the Class who has ever seen the Professor's Brain?


(The Class broke out into Laughter)


Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's Brain, Felt it, touched or Smelt it? . . .

No one appears to have done so.

So, according to the Established Rules of Empirical, Stable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says that you have No Brain, sir.

With all due respect, sir, how do we then Trust you’re Lectures, sir?


(The Room was Silent. The Professor stared at the Student, his face unfathomable)


Professor : I guess you'll have to take them on Faith, son.

Student : That is it sir . . . Exactly!

The Link between Man & GOD is FAITH. That is all that Keeps Things Alive and Moving.

NB:

I believe you have enjoyed the Conversation . . . and if so . . .

You'll probably want your Friends / Colleagues to enjoy the same . . . won't you?

Forward them to Increase their Knowledge . . . or FAITH.

That student was Albert Einstein

Releasing the LIMITATIONS! - Rich Novak

Rich Novak on Facebook
Today at 21:57
Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother named him Jabez saying, "Because I bore him with pain."

Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that You would bless me indeed and ENLARGE MY BORDER, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!" And God granted him what he requested. (I Chronicles 4:9-10)

Bruce Wilkinson made this passage in I Chronicles popular a few years ago with his best selling book, Jabez. In the book he pointed out how this man Jabez asked God for three things. He then takes us through the details which resulted in God granting Jabez what He requested of Him.

God has been speaking to me lately about the natural “bent” I have in limiting Him. I don’t want to, but I do it anyway! And I don’t think I am alone either.

“And going a little farther, He threw Himself upon the ground on His face and prayed saying, “My Father, if it is possible, LET THIS CUP PASS AWAY from Me; nevertheless, not what I will [not what I desire], but as You will and desire.” (Mathew 26:39 AMP)

These two passages are very similar because, in each instance, the request is being made to see the UNLIMITED GOD EXPAND their borders, and move beyond the limitations of what they could both see!

In the case of Jabez, whose name means “sorrowful.” How would you like to go through life with a name like Sorrowful? No thank you. In a teaching I heard by Chuck Swindoll in the late 80’s, he expounded on the meaning of Jabez. He said Jabez meant “born with pain”, which is different than “born in pain.” With pain has to do with the circumstances he was born into, while “in pain” would seem to be more of an indication of what was happening during the actual birth of Jabez, such as the pain his mother endured during childbirth.

Based on the boldness of his prayer, and the ensuing result, I think we have to assume the first line of thought was true! Jabez was indeed thrust into a life of painful circumstances! Not only did he experience “pain” at a young age, but we also have to believe painful circumstances were a regular part of his life, especially for him to be at the maturity level he was in having not only prayed, but had awswered, that powerful prayer! And in examining his prayer, the one thing that “reaches in and grabs me”, was his desire to see God expand his borders (limitations).

“Oh that you would bless me, not just bless me, but bless me INDEED! That you would keep me from ALL evil! That you would expand the borders (of all of my earthly limitations)!”

In the Garden of Gesthemane, Jesus prayed in the same way! “If it is possible, let this CUP (of limitations) PASS AWAY! (Mathew 26:39)

Father, let me be as you are, without borders or limits………..SO THAT………they (us) can ALL be filled to the fullness as well, and our John 17 prayer can be fulfilled! Let me be as I have been since the beginning, with you Father, in the UNLIMITED EXPANSE OF THE UNLIMITED UNIVERSE!

“Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” (John 17:5)

“THAT ALL OF THEM MAY BE ONE, Father, JUST AS (present tense) YOU ARE IN ME and I AM IN YOU. MAY THEY ALSO BE IN US……SO THAT……..the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:21)
“AS HE IS (without limitations), SO ARE WE (without limitations) IN THIS WORLD! (I John 4:17)

I am convinced God is grieved by our unwillingness, or perhapswe could even call it ignorance or indifference, of seeing Him as the UNLIMITED ONE! We have the entire expanse of the universe at our disposal IN US, and yet many of us haven’t moved beyond Christianity 101, Jesus FOR ME! God is the EVER EXPANDING God, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way! You don’t put NEW WINE (The Unlimited Revelation of Christ in US) into old wine skins (the life bound by earthly limitations). New Wine is EVER EXPANDING, and the old wine skins (still steeped in the elementary school of God) have to burst! There has to be an EVER EXPANDING Christ in Us because He is the God of No limitations!

In the garden Jesus sweat great drops of blood!

“Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his SWEAT WAS AS IT WERE, GREAT DROPS OF BLOOD!” (Luke 22:42-44)

Let’s look closely at this series of events. He had just come from being with HIS disciples in the upper room where He also just finished initiating the NEW COVENANT IN HIS BLOOD! And now we see Him in the Garden of Gethsemane asking His Father to “let this Cup Pass Away?"

We have been taught this passage is in reference to the cup of suffering he was about to endure through the cross, and I am not disputing that at all! But is it also possible there was a dual purpose in His Gethsemane experience? Is it possible that in this passage He is asking the Father to remove (pass away) HIS CUP of Earthly LIMITATIONS? After having been clothed in flesh for 33 years, is it possible He is longing to shed the limitations (The Cup) of being human? Is it possible the great drops of blood he shed were a picture of the parable of the New WINE (The New Covenant IN HIS BLOOD) bursting forth from the OLD Wineskin of His flesh? Could the reference to “THIS CUP” be a reference to Himself as being THE CONTAINER of His Father? Could this experience in the garden be the result of His Covenant prayer to His Father in John 17?

Why would He be longing for this shedding of HIS CUP, and what’s more, why was HIS SOUL be grieved to the point of death?

There can only be ONE ANSWER!

It was ALL FOR US! It was His prayer that our ONENESS with Him and His Father would vex (Him) His soul to the point of knowing as long as He was clothed in Flesh, the Spirit was LIMITED in the scope of His work!

Nevertheless I tell you the truth; IT IS EXPEDIENT FOR YOU THAT I GO AWAY: for IF I NOT GO AWAY, the COMFORTER WILL NOT COME UNTO YOU; BUT IF I DEPART, I WILL SEND HIM UNTO YOU. And when HE IS COME, He will reprove the world of sin (separation), and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin (separation), because they BELIEVE NOT ON ME; Of righteousness, BECAUSE I GO TO MY FATHER, and ye see Me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world IS JUDGED. I have yet many things to say unto you, but YE CANNOT BEAR THEM NOW. Howbeit when HE, THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH, IS COME, HE WILL GUIDE YOU INTO ALL TRUTH: for HE SHALL NOT SPEAK OF HIMSELF; BUT……..WHATSOEVER HE SHALL HEAR, THAT SHALL HE SPEAK: and HE WILL SHOW YOU THINGS TO COME. HE SHALL GLORIFY ME: FOR HE SHALL RECEIVE OF MINE, AND SHALL SHOW IT UNTO YOU. ALL THINGS that the Father hath ARE MINE: therefore said I, that He shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you. (Luke 16:7-15)

"All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained." (Philippians 3:15-16)

Do you see the urgency in this passage in LUKE, because He knew the ONLY way “we could see as He sees” is to be filled with the Same Spirit, The UNLIMITED SPIRIT OF POWER, the SPIRIT that raised Christ from the DEAD!

God is Grieved in His heart when His Unlimited Spirit is limited by us not seeing as He does. He is grieved because He knows that the Unlimited Life we all desire is only obtained by seeing God in ALL things, people, places, circumstances, situations, attitudes, etc. It is agreeing with Him as seeing our old wineskins of human limitations as Passing Away!

“Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and LIMITED THE HOLY ONE of ISRAEL. They remembered NOT HIS HAND, NOR THE DAY when He delivered them from the enemy.” (Psalm 78:41-42)

“But my righteous ONE shall live by faith, AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.” (Hebrews 10:38)

The Spirit is the Ultimate DOER, THE WORKER, THE ONE who brings substance to the Spoken Word! When we hold onto the things of this life He is limited in the willing and doing of His good pleasure IN US!
Suffering is the vehicle God uses to bring us beyond ourselves! Painful circumstances are meant to cause us to look to Him as the God of The Impossible! To live is Christ, and to die is gain! Death is God’s chosen method of bringing TRUE LIFE! But what is death from God’s perspective? Death is nothing more than believing the illusion that we can be separated from God!

“I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains [just one grain; IT NEVER BECOMES MORE but lives] by itself alone. But if it dies, it produces MANY OTHERS and yields a rich harvest.” (John 12:24 AMP)

God will roll in death on everything we continue to hold onto and call life! DEATH MUST HAVE IT’S FULL WORK IN US……so that….we can move beyond the earthly limitations that keep us grounded in fear, and like Jabez, see God as a God without borders or limitations……IN US!

The reason everything concerning us has to die is the same reason Christ died, FOR OTHERS! All of Life comes out of death, and we can have death come to us in its many forms and expressions, but its one purpose is always the same, to cause us to see HIS UNLIMITED LIFE IN US IS ALWAYS FOR OTHERS!

In 1983, a dear brother in Christ prescribed a prayer for me. He said to me Rich, if you want EVERYTHING God has for you in this life, than pray this prayer; “Lord, bring me to the end of myself, and give me a revelation of WHO I AM IN CHRIST, and WHO CHRIST IS IN ME!” I prayed that prayer for three years, God answered it for the next 20! And no matter what the trial or how hard the circumstance, I would continue to pray. I prayed it until my wife and kids hated it, because they lived in the answer of it every day! And why am I saying this. What does this have to do with RELEASING THE LIMITATIONS? In order for us to walk in that place of seeing HIM as the Unlimited God, God will ask every one us for one thing and only one thing…………EVERY-THING!

“And I sought a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the Land (of no limitations), that I should not destroy it, BUT I HAVE FOUND NONE. Therefore have I poured out My indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; THEIR OWN WAY HAVE I REPAID [by bringing it] UPON THEIR OWN HEADS, SAYS THE LORD GOD.” (Ezekiel 22;30)

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "WHOM SHALL I SEND (into this unlimited land)? AND WHO WILL GO FOR US?"

AND I SAID, HERE I AM SEND ME!”

He said, "Go and tell this people: " 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving. Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed." (Isaiah 6:8-10)

God MUST have someone that sees as He sees, He must have someone who goes beyond the status quo of what we call normal Christianity. If He truly was crying out in the garden to be released from His Cup of human limitations, is it possible He is still crying out to be released In US in that exact same way!
If we willingly give up our lives, if we begin to see the POWER that lives in us in our weakness, and if we say with Isaiah, “here I am send me”, than we will see Him as we have never seen Him before.

Let me close with something that happened to me this past week.

I was introduced to a phenomenal business in January, and was so excited about implementing it into my existing business platform. But at the same time God has been requiring of me a deeper faith and trust in him as my Life! In all of His willing and doing over the past three months, He rolled in death on that business! I had no desire for it, and in fact even commented to my business partner and brother in Christ, “I am dead to this business.” And I was.

The night I made that comment I went to a business meeting and while there I received a text message. To make a long story short, it was a call I had been waiting on for weeks, and as it turns out, it could end up being the biggest deal of my career! I did nothing, I had no emotional investment, I completely died to it………..SO THAT……….The UNLIMITED GOD could breathe His New Life into it and resurrect it for His own Glory! And to prove to me once again, the power in RELEASING THE LIMITATIONS!

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "WHOM SHALL I SEND (into this unlimited land)? AND WHO WILL GO FOR US?"