Showing posts with label The 10 Promises. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The 10 Promises. Show all posts

Sunday, December 28, 2008

The Lord's Prayer & The 10 Promises (Part 3)

"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil"
And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.


"Thou shalt not kill."
"Thou shalt not commit adultery."


This verse of our Lord's Prayer seems especially relevant to these two commandments - or promises - about our relationship with God, and therefore with each other.


God never tempts us to "kill" the pure - unadulterated - sense of ourselves or of others any more than He would tempt us to literally kill ourselves or someone else.

God is Life. His assurance to us is: "I am come that [you] might have life, and that [you] might have it more abundantly." And this abundant Life includes no adulteration and no murder.

Why? because God is Life itself - and you are God's image and likeness.

Think of it:

* God made you inately and completely pure, like Him. God never leads you to be tempted into adulterating that purity.

* And God made you to live and live abundantly, like Him. You are not made to be tempted into murdering that joyous Life, whether with harsh words or a bullet - either yours or anyone else's.

God feeds your famished affections - not your famished lusts - and He feeds you with grace, abundant grace, for today.

God forgives your debts, your mistakes, your willfulness, as you live your practice, as you live His Love and share it with others.

God leads you into "paths of righteousness for His name's sake" and delivers you from sin, disease, and death - because God is love. And "when we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we're free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ's."

God leads you - not into trials - but delivers you from the trial of sin, the trial of sickness, the trial of death - and even from the temptation to believe those "trials" are any part of His will or His reality for you. Because they aren't.

Jesus knew this. And Jesus repeatedly proved that God doesn't send us evil by healing everyone he encountered of sin, disease, or even death! And his prayer affirms this: God never leads you into trials and tempations, but always delivers you from every belief of evil, every tempting sense of separation from your true authentic healthy whole and holy being.

Every time you pray the Lord's Prayer, you are praying the spiritual Truth that Jesus actually thought and understood. You are dwelling with the Mind of Christ. You are living at the point of Truth, Life, and Love. You are experiencing God's reality: home & heaven. Here. Now.

And as Jesus' Prayer shows you, you are already purely whole, holy, and safe.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

The Lord's Prayer & The 10 Promises (Part 2)

You looked at how the first 5 Commandments - or Promises - are affirmed in the first 4 verses of the Lord's Prayer. Look now at how the last 5 Commandments are affirmed in the next 3 verses of the Lord's Prayer. Think about them together. See how Jesus' prayer awakens you to their promise for you.

6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness...
10. Thou shalt not covet...

"Give us this day our daily bread."
Give us grace for today; feed the famished affections.
"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."
And Love is reflected in love.
"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.

In the next several posts, let's dive into this together.

Monday, January 7, 2008

The 10 Promises

When Moses climbed Mount Sinai to receive the 10 Commandments, the Bible says that "...the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaks unto his friend..." (Ex 33:11). Imagine hearing God so clearly! Moses just lit up so powerfully brilliant and beautiful were his conversations with God.

In this gloriously inspired light Moses heard the 10 Commandments as God's own Word. And it is in this same gloriously inspired light that you should read and understand them.

If you do, you'll see that the 10 Commandments actually do more than tell you what to do - or not to do. They define your actual identity, your actual nature as God's image and likeness. The 10 Commandments are the original definition of the man and woman of God's creating. They don't require you to do anything but to live in complete alignment with your real being as God's perfect child. They are God's promises to you about who you really are.

Think about what it says in Genesis 1:27. God says "Let us make man after our image, after our likeness."

What does that mean? What would it be like, to “look” like God, infinite Spirit? What do you think you would be like if you lived and moved and breathed and acted like the actual mirror-image of Divine Love? – like the God Jesus' life defined as completely Good, as Truth and Life, as Love itself?

Does God kill? Does God steal? Does God covet? Does God commit adultery? If you're not sure, look at the life of Jesus for your answer, and that answer is No. So neither can you – when you honestly accept that you are His reflection and act accordingly. Then you’re obeying – living – your true nature as God made you. Then you are living – obeying – the Commandments. God's promise to you is "thou shalt not..." ever be anything unlike Him, because He made you in His wonderful beautiful likeness.

Sure it takes practice - a lifetime of practice - but that doesn't change the fact that the 10 Commandments are the only accurate definition of who you really are. They are God's promises to you about your true spiritual nature as His reflection, as His child. You are their meaning. Your life is their fulfilment.

Since the 10 Commandments are God's promises to you, it's natural for you to love them. It's natural for you to live them. They are your authentic God-like nature. They are your core being. And you can trust God to help you learn and live them authentically and completely.

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

"Hallowed be Thy name" - Thy nature - in me, as me.

Adorable One.