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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EVidence LOCKER 