Tag Archives: evlocker

May 30, 2012 · 4:14 am

Evidence that Surpasses Understanding

At the evidence locker we are encouraging each other to gather and present spiritual evidence of the Kingdom of God. Evidence can be anything that helps establish the fact of the Kingdom. The key is that the spiritual kingdom is within us and therefore our evidence will most likely come from within us.

I am often reminded of a testimony by author C.S. Lewis who tells of a story about his brother who took a cigar can and built a little garden in it. He said when he looked at it was like a magical little world, totally different from the one he lived in. He would sneak and open the lid and peer into this world of wonder. Mr. Lewis recalls how the memory of the garden in the can inspired him and as an author and he tries to describe the feelings of people who have a life changed by spiritual experience but have no material evidence.  In the Chronicles of Narnia the main characters enter the kingdom of Narnia but when they return to the material world they are forever changed because of that experience.

Philippians 4:7 and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard you hearts and mind through Christ Jesus.

We also, who have seen into the Kingdom of God (KoG) have this quiet assurance and confidence of life in this spiritual world. Once you have experienced the kingdom and the presence of God within your being, you begin to live in a peace that does not have its source in this material world. It is this experience that marks the difference between the spiritual realm and the material realm. The feelings that accompany these experiences can be evidence and we must learn to present this evidence of the reality of Gods spiritual Kingdom.

 A lot of believers in Christ read scripture and it is nothing more than a recorded testimony of someone else’s experience. This is quite alright for new believers but this should not be the status of mature. Until the spiritual kingdom becomes real and personal to us the words of Christ remain as hearsay testimony which is inadmissible as evidence. In order for evidence to become real it must be experience by one’s spirit, soul and physical body.

 John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

 John 16:33 This things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.

  Like the garden in the tin can in order for that reality to remain we must continually peer in to the spiritual realm to keep the experience fresh and forefront in our minds and heart. If we forget allowing the memories of spiritual experience to fade, we drift back into the material world losing sight of spiritual truth. Even though our understanding may fail to grasp spiritual truth, nevertheless that truth will yet remain.

 Living spiritually is a choice we must consciously make every minute of our life. The material things of this world in and of themselves do not speak of the spiritual realm. If fact, spiritual things are considered foolish by the material world and this is the reason for a spiritual transformation.

 Once you have become spiritually awaken everything in the material realm can reveal truths of processes that are unseen by the natural eye. This awakening comes with a peace that is grounded in the Christ who first awakened us to these truths. After our awakening Christ’s mission then becomes our mission, and the awakening of others to the spiritual truth we now experience become top priority in our lives.

 1 Corinthians 1:25-26 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.

 Many believers in Christ proclaim spiritual reality, yet they never truly experience it. Their proclamations are simply statements of their faith. Their faith is reasonable and scripturally based.  They hold beliefs that they are new spiritual creatures and one day they will enter into a place of spiritual eternity in the presence of God. And that is all good.

 But if they could truly experience today the reality of God’s Kingdom they too could embrace the spiritual Kingdom of God. As ambassadors we enter and exit the spiritual realm proclaiming freedom to captives of the material realm. We proclaim that this is now the acceptable year of the Lord and we help reconcile people of the material realm with their spiritual Father the living God. So we are one with God, sent to aid in the same mission as Christ.

 Luke 4:18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” 

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May 21, 2012 · 10:11 pm

Seeing Christ in the Mirror Pt. 3

 This is the 4th step in what I have termed the Theology of the Mirror.  In this step we allow ourselves to be changed by the image of the mirror. Now that you have developed the technique to see more spiritually, by seeing Christ in the mirror you can now see the two images that are trying to become one. This is the point where you must commit to becoming changed into the image of Christ and let go of the old material sensing person.

 Luke 4:4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”

Luke 6:40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.

 We must become individual manifestations of Christ that Father has sent. We are not to become mass-produced into the image put forth by the religious of the material world. Each person has a special call and all things work together for good.

 There are many techniques to help us find out what our spiritual call is. The study of God’s word is the foundation for getting the general vision of what is spiritually available. Contemplative prayer is a technique of focusing and chewing on portions of that spiritual vision. By turning over and over theses portions of scriptures in our heart and mind we can discover by God’s Spirit many nuggets of revelation that will help us become more like Christ.

 There is also the technique of being still or “taking no thought” that places us in total receiving mode. The moment we say to our heavenly Father within “I am here, your child is listening” we have moved into a conscious awareness of God’s presence. We are all called to be still and know that—the image in the mirror of the great—I am is God. This behavior of being still is a learned technique that is counter to the ways of the material world. It is true that this skill called meditation has been co-opted my many religions and groups in the material world, but that does not make this spiritual technique any less true.

 For us to change from a purely material conscience to a spiritual one we must get into a place where we can communicate with our Father’s spiritual voice. So I encourage you to take at a minimum 2 periods each day to be still. I suggest taking one of those periods right after you awake in the morning and take the other period right before you go to bed at night.

 Begin each period by reading a portion of biblical scripture or some part of a spiritual teaching. Then take 5 minutes to contemplate on what you have just read. After that still your mind, taking hold of no thought that comes by but listen for His still small voice on the inside of you. At first you may only be able to still your mind for less than a minute but with practice the time of stillness will increase. God’s words are Spirit and His Spirit within us will make contact in a way that we will gain a spiritual understanding.

If there is one place in general where the religions of this world can miss the mark it is making spiritual contact. Religion in my opinion becomes too easily invested in maintaining a material hierarchy of organizational relationships. For example as we learn to see and communicate spiritually with our Father you become a conscious carrier of God’s presence within. As Disciples of Christ (ones who are being transformed) we begin to help others achieve what we have learned. The common religious error is not humbling ourselves to the point where we can be changed by the Christ that has become awakened in these newly formed disciples. The religious organization is so invested in the organizational hierarchy that it ignores and even rejects the Spirit of God by not being able to receive form the image of Christ in the new mirrors.

 This lack of equality causes many to stumble and become prideful and perverted in their relationship with God’s Kingdom. In the Old Testament each household had a member that wore a prayer garment with tassels on each corner where the tassels had a single blue thread in each tassel. The dye of this thread was the same that colored the high priest garments when he entered the presence of God in the Holy of Holies each year. Our heavenly Father always wanted all of His children be in His presence. Today instead of a material thread for each household Father has placed His spiritual kingdom within us and He is continually making us aware of His spiritual presence within.

John 20:21-23  So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

In the beginning God breathed His Spirit into man and he became a living soul but his consciousness became separated from God. The entire ministry of Christ, the last Adam, was to awaken the spiritual nature of who we are as children of God and members of the Kingdom. Jesus presented plenty of spiritual evidence and He left a written record of that evidence He presented. Today we are able to read this testimony and inspect the chain of custody of this spiritual evidence. But all the evidence has a purpose. This evidence awakens our spiritual conscious and when we become awake we awaken others and the reality of our spiritual unity with our Father becomes the true reality. In our Master’s final prayers to our Father He sums up this ministry of transformation and reconciliation clearly.

John 17:22-23  And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

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April 30, 2012 · 8:56 pm

We Are Also Presenters of Real Evidence

 In my last posting I showed an example of how Jesus presented real (physical) evidence of spiritual truth. As we understand that we are like Christ in many ways including spiritually I want to show that we also can provide real (physical) evidence of a spiritual reality, mainly the Kingdom of God (KoG). If spiritual truth is to become a common reality, we who are awake to that truth must take the responsibility to present evidence of our understanding concerning spiritual truth.

Remember that the definition of real (physical) evidence is a type of evidence that is a material object presented to prove a fact. As citizens and family members of the Kingdom, we have been empowered with the authority to reveal spiritual truth for the purpose of winning over those that are blind or are against the reality of the KoG. The Kingdom and it King are spiritual and to be able to provide physical evidence of spirit is a really cool thing. It requires and understanding of both physical spiritual laws.

Matthew 5:46-48  For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

 The absolute easiest evidence we can show is love. Not the love that this world gives but the love that comes from the heavenly Kingdom. Returning love that someone gives you is easy because they gave it to you first. God first loved us so we can have a capacity to love Him. Those that are blind to God have a difficulty expressing true love. When mankind became consciously separated from our Father we only had the capacity to express love for self.  We did not have the understanding that one could choose to love others before themselves until Jesus presented evidence of that possibility.

 Matthew 5:43-45  “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven;  for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

 True love as depicted in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 can only come from the Kingdom of God. Love is that quality to not only think about others over self but it also includes the empowerment to act for others above self. But as we see from scripture there is little or no reward for loving someone who loves you. This is the common love we see all around us. It is also this lack of common love that creates the difficult situations in the earth realm. However, even this level of love shows forth some of the presence and understanding of God existence, though its expression is often perverted.

 But what we need is real (physical) evidence that is able to reveal the spiritual truth of Gods Kingdom in order to change the judgment of a jury of our peers. We need overwhelming real (physical) evidence in order to have an impact on the people we meet in our daily lives. This is why the head of our Kingdom commands us to love our enemies. On this one point the KoG separates itself fundamentally from the world’s kingdoms. Loving our enemies is so uncommon that many religious organizations including some Christian organizations miss this important aspect of the Kingdom.

 Essentially Jesus is acknowledging that there will always people including ourselves at times when we think and act contrary (or anti) to the will of Christ. But from God’s point of view He is willing to extend grace equally to all. We must understand that God is, to all. Like the light of the sun or rain it impacts all equally within the same environment.

 So as children of God we need to act like the one who sent us by extending grace and love to all and that includes enemies of our Father. If we judge by the sight of our eyes and hearing of our ears we are not acting spiritually. When we choose to love those who are acting anti-Christ we are presenting spiritual evidence that can be physically observed.

 When Jesus offered His physical body for our spiritual redemption and consumption it resulted in real (physical) evidence that produced healing in our bodies, freedom from sin and the capacity to love others as ourselves. Now we can, in the image of Christ, present real (physical) evidence of spiritual truth by using our freedom of choice to love. As people observe this evidence of truth they can make a choice about the KoG.

 We who live in the KoG have been made aware of a set of spiritual laws which seem foreign to the earthly kingdom. As children of God we have been given authority to exercise these spiritual laws for the purpose of winning others to God’s point of view. We are turning the enemies of God into our brothers and sisters through love. Each convert must choose of their own free will to receive the grace and forgiveness to become reconciled to our heavenly Father. This can only be done by a right understanding of the works of Christ. By grace through Christ we enter the Kingdom of God. From here we present spiritual truth through an uncommon type love.

Matthew 5:39-42 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. 41 And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.

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