GETTING CLOSER TO GOD

[gregoryfl]

A heart does not beat in an effort to get closer to the body, lungs do not take in and filter oxygen in an effort to get closer to the body. No, they do what they do because they are IN the body.

I want to encourage any who are wondering 'How can I get closer to God?', to instead pause and take in the wonder of just how close he already is.

You are IN him. There can be no closer relationship...there can only be an every increasing awareness of it.

Ronen

[donken]

Yes Ronen.   Every increasing awareness is "awakening out of sleep"

1Th_5:10  Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

2Th_1:10  When he shall come to be glorified ***in*** his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

It is the "saints" that will be glorified or have Jesus Christ and God revealed TO THEM from within them.  The physical eyes will never be able to see who He is or see Him because who he is is spiritually EXPERIENCED, not seen with natural eyes.

The saints will also still look normal in outer appearance.

donken

[Lazarus Short]

It just is.  :2c:

[lastpost]

The Saviour met the needs of each one according the degree the sleeping spirit within was released:

Some needed dense earth and bathing...

After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. John 9:6

Some needed but a word spoken...

Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would." Matthew 8:13

Each one had the ability to realise what He said, if not straight away.

Man sees.
Only Love perceives.
Christ Jesus was Love Incarnate, the Living Word made flesh.

Christ, the Great Healer, the Royal Restorer, saw the substance of spirit in man, applying the exact need.

Christ, as man, always loved perfectly with all His Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength - to Him nothing was impossible.

If man loved like Christ, he could become whole - it not a mystery.
If man manifests the spiritual body of his new man, he can reject the body of the man of sense.
The Christ within can rule the new man with the devil of the old man subdued beneath His feet.

The spiritual body is of perfect Spirit - Real.
The material body can surrender to the Real.

God works amongst man daily to fill his temple with an positive environment of spiritual health, purity, faith and truth.

Growth into Divine Goodness made simple and easy by Christ.

All glory to He who is beyond understanding yet makes Himself known in the Christ of Nazareth.

[sheila]

   timely post for me..this last week I've been reading up on the spittle miracles.

[eaglesway]

The Saviour met the needs of each one according the degree the sleeping spirit within was released:

Some needed dense earth and bathing...

After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. John 9:6

Some needed but a word spoken...

Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would." Matthew 8:13

Each one had the ability to realise what He said, if not straight away.

Man sees.
Only Love perceives.
Christ Jesus was Love Incarnate, the Living Word made flesh.

Christ, the Great Healer, the Royal Restorer, saw the substance of spirit in man, applying the exact need.

Christ, as man, always loved perfectly with all His Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength - to Him nothing was impossible.

If man loved like Christ, he could become whole - it not a mystery.
If man manifests the spiritual body of his new man, he can reject the body of the man of sense.
The Christ within can rule the new man with the devil of the old man subdued beneath His feet.

The spiritual body is of perfect Spirit - Real.
The material body can surrender to the Real.

God works amongst man daily to fill his temple with an positive environment of spiritual health, purity, faith and truth.

Growth into Divine Goodness made simple and easy by Christ.

All glory to He who is beyond understanding yet makes Himself known in the Christ of Nazareth.

Beautiful :o)

[rosered]

  Good  Word all around  :thumbsup:

   great song or poem Lastpost !! :icon_flower:

[lomarah]

Truth.  :HeartThrob:

I've been meditating on the mud/spit/pool miracle as well in the past little while.

[CHB]

A heart does not beat in an effort to get closer to the body, lungs do not take in and filter oxygen in an effort to get closer to the body. No, they do what they do because they are IN the body.

I want to encourage any who are wondering 'How can I get closer to God?', to instead pause and take in the wonder of just how close he already is.

You are IN him. There can be no closer relationship...there can only be an every increasing awareness of it.

Ronen

This might not be the right place to put this but since gregory mentioned about being IN him this thought came to mind. I don't know if anyone has thought about this or not but it seems there is a difference of "being in him" and "him being in us". Before the cross Jesus mentiones about being in him. Paul referes to him being in us. My thought was, Israel was in him and he is in the Gentiles. Or, circumcision/uncircumcision, law/grace. a seperation of in him and he in us.

I wondered if anyone else had thought of this, hope I made some sense here?

CHB

[Tom]

I think it's both. God's spirit within gives us life, and we are in the body of Christ. We are all one in spirit with Christ and the Father. The spirit of God is everywhere, and I don't think there is really a boundary between inside and outside.

[sheila]

 Hi Lo....what I have read of the pool Siloam[sent] is it represents Christ.......the messenger/angel of the covenant[sent to lost sheep

of the house of Israel] to heal[fountain of life bubbling up and disturbing  the still waters in the pool/waters of life bubbling up out of His belly]

   what I found regarding the spittle miracles is...that the religious leaders had just referred to Jesus being illigitimate..but there was

   a jewish tradition that a firstborn son could heal..even with his saliva... spit was generally considered an insult and to make

one unclean[Miriam leprosy] But Jesus come to save/bless and curse not.

[sheila]

Jesus prayed before He suffered for the oneness of those believing in Him,that he come from God. that they enjoy the oneness that

  he had with His Father. The giving of the Kingdom..of the love of the son..was Father granting that prayer.  That they may be

  with Him..where he is and 'see' His glory[the glory he had with the Father before the founding of the world]

   have no fear little flock..the Father has consented to give you the kingdom.

[sheila]

 how may we be closer/draw near? follow His footsteps closely..do only what you behold Him doing..walk in His footsteps..do

only that which pleases Him..just like He did with His Father as his head.in time He will turn toward you and speak to you face to face

[lomarah]

Very cool, thanks Sheila.

[lastpost]

I believe:

This human race is yet very young, the Holy Spirit is at work in many ways on baby humanity.

Verities of Spirit cannot relate their fullness in earthly words, and heaven should not be framed on outer symbols of a Seer's vision.

Man knows very little of GOD, groping in dim, murky fogs of shadow...

"For at present we are observing by means of a mirror, in an enigma" 1 Corinthians 13:12

So He gave HIMSELF in Jesus Christ in answer to the world's cries from its manger, and according to baby humanity's need...

"God no one has ever seen. The only-begotten God, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He unfolds Him" John 1:18

Jesus comes as the life-giving Spring, perpetually overflowing without ceasing or ending, in such abundance that blessing is found in the flesh.

Man develops and knows GOD more than the last generational era as He reveals HIMSELF.

The vision becomes clearer, the mists dissipate, GOD becomes ever more beautiful to the perceiver who is eager to climb higher...

"Now we all, with uncovered face, mirroring the Lord's glory, are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the spirit" 2 Corinthians 3:18

GOD is endless and so is the progression into the rich and richer, full and fuller meanings of HIM as He unfolds HIMSELF to His child.

GOD is so great that He takes the lowest thing and keeps it safe in His Great Heart, for this HE is adored and loved truly...

"...not one of them will be falling on the earth without your Father"

"GOD is the great King over all the elohim"

Man gets closer to GOD by sitting at the feet of the Master Christ, then by following Him.

Jesus Himself knew that He was the CHRIST of GOD - Jesus did not need Life from a God who was away and outside - GOD is forever fulfilling HIMSELF.

Christ cannot die and His life is the fullest most sublime LIFE which ought to be pulsating through each and every vein of the body Real - because CHRIST IS LIFE. 

[eaglesway]

I believe:

This human race is yet very young, the Holy Spirit is at work in many ways on baby humanity.

Verities of Spirit cannot relate their fullness in earthly words, and heaven should not be framed on outer symbols of a Seer's vision.

Man knows very little of GOD, groping in dim, murky fogs of shadow...

"For at present we are observing by means of a mirror, in an enigma" 1 Corinthians 13:12

So He gave HIMSELF in Jesus Christ in answer to the world's cries from its manger, and according to baby humanity's need...

"God no one has ever seen. The only-begotten God, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He unfolds Him" John 1:18

Jesus comes as the life-giving Spring, perpetually overflowing without ceasing or ending, in such abundance that blessing is found in the flesh.

Man develops and knows GOD more than the last generational era as He reveals HIMSELF.

The vision becomes clearer, the mists dissipate, GOD becomes ever more beautiful to the perceiver who is eager to climb higher...

"Now we all, with uncovered face, mirroring the Lord's glory, are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the spirit" 2 Corinthians 3:18

GOD is endless and so is the progression into the rich and richer, full and fuller meanings of HIM as He unfolds HIMSELF to His child.

GOD is so great that He takes the lowest thing and keeps it safe in His Great Heart, for this HE is adored and loved truly...

"...not one of them will be falling on the earth without your Father"

"GOD is the great King over all the elohim"

Man gets closer to GOD by sitting at the feet of the Master Christ, then by following Him.

Jesus Himself knew that He was the CHRIST of GOD - Jesus did not need Life from a God who was away and outside - GOD is forever fulfilling HIMSELF.

Christ cannot die and His life is the fullest most sublime LIFE which ought to be pulsating through each and every vein of the body Real - because CHRIST IS LIFE.

:HeartThrob:

[lastpost]

May I give a further opinion on this subject?

To get closer to GOD, the personal must become universal.

Please note that greater individuality and spiritual identity is gained by losing the earthly personal in the universal.

The earthly personal has many limitations and needs transforming by the Christ-Spirit.

The Nazarene man, Jesus, could not be kept by those who loved Him, because the Christ of GOD, the Spirit of GOD in Christ, would be lost to them...

"Yet now I am going away to Him Who sends Me, and not one of you is asking Me, 'Whither art Thou going?' But, seeing that I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I am telling you the truth. It is expedient for you that I may be coming away, for if I should not be coming away, the consoler will not be coming to you" John 16:5-7

Jesus, the man in the flesh, whom the disciples loved like no other has ever been loved, knew that He, as a physical human, was not the highest gift for their greatest good that could benefit His disciples and He resisted the temptation to linger...

"Thenceforth begins Jesus to show His disciples that He must be coming away into Jerusalem and to be suffering much from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and to be killed, and the third day to be roused. And, taking Him to him, Peter begins to rebuke Him, saying, "Propitious be it to Thee, Lord! By no means shall this be for Thee!" Now, being turned, He said to Peter, "Go away behind Me, satan! A snare are you to Me, for you are not disposed to that which is of God, but that which is of men" Matthew 16:21-23

The Spiritual Christ of GOD - through whom all creation was made - incarnated Himself as the man Jesus, in order to reveal the Father GOD...

"If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. And henceforth you know Him and have seen Him. Philip is saying to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficing us." Jesus is saying to him, "So much time I am with you, and you do not know Me, Philip! He who has seen Me has seen the Father, and how are you saying, 'Show us the Father'? Are you not believing that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The declarations which I am speaking to you I am not speaking from Myself. Now the Father, remaining in Me, He is doing His works" John 14:7-11

As all flesh must die, Jesus the human man of flesh, would make a better solution possible so that He, as His own Holy Spirit, could be with His disciples (and just as powerfully with later followers) even though physical death must occur...

"And I shall be asking the Father, and He will be giving you another consoler, that it, indeed, may be with you for the eon" John 14:16

Jesus was to withdraw Himself from His disciples, and His removal demonstrated that in omnipotent form He might not only be with them but indeed with all humanity.

The Spirit of GOD, through Christ, manifests in diverse manners and expressions, yet is the pure and primary cause of Life and is One.

Man thinks he knows his GOD yet limits the unlimited wisdom of GOD, when man does not even know himself. From the Spirit only should man think, speak and live in all things...

"Yet to us God reveals them through His spirit, for the spirit is searching all, even the depths of God" 1 Corinthians 2:10

Man must only breathe in the Spirit, then that which covers the spirit which needs restoring can be nourished [as a consequence the body external is also blessed]...

"Shuddering is my spirit--mine, Daniel's--in the midst of its sheath" Daniel 7:15

Disciples must conquer now with no excuse for delay, bringing spiritually harmonious order into life.

Earthly personality of the body must submit itself to transformation by the Holy Spirit, blend and become one with the universality of the Christ-Spirit of GOD, so that the All-in-all is not hindered.

"For it is God Who is operating in you to will as well as to work for the sake of His delight" Philippians 2:13

This will bring one closer to GOD - in my opinion (an opinion which has been formed for me in faith by the living).

This should be glad tidings to all men, and one future time sleeping humanity must awaken to it from its slumber.

[rosered]

                 

   Just awesome Lastpost!! :icon_flower:

[marie glen]

  Amen! this reminds me of John chapter 15, "Abide in me and I in you.." .."if you abide in me and my words abide in you.." Also, "Thy Word is truth, sanctify them" (us!) "in Thy truth"

He abides in us, and we abide in Him, and His Word sanctifies us - sets us straight - 

"by the washing of the Word" ..all else is babylon and babble, which is the world (man's world not His glorious creation :laughing7: )

His Word, Truth is practical, down to earth, and also logical, and (imo) simplicity! able to be easily understood by all.. but man has made it complicated.. for (but) man loves the sound of his own words..
...complicated for now, that is! But one day "knowledge of the LORD will cover the Earth like waters cover the seas"!
   :dsunny: :banana:
"closer to God" -  the answer to every thing, is more of Him.. :smile:

[lastpost]

No human teacher can provide the greatness of the work which is to be done within.

Prepare with prayer for GOD to speak, then wait. When GOD speaks, there should always be silence...

"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him" Psalms 37

Within you is Christ and HE is unchanging...

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" Hebrews 13:8

Allow Christ to speak. Let the Christ of GOD be the only reality, let the 'you' part become the Mind of Christ, His thoughts, His plans, His purpose...

"For, let this mind be in you that also in Christ Jesus" Philippians 2:5

Allow the Word to speak again, feel the exhilaration, the freshness, the newness, the rising of the crystal spring within you - and know the Son of God who is everlasting from age to age...

"Whoever may drink of the water that I give him, may not thirst to the age; and the water that I give him becomes in him a well of water, springing up to life age-lasting" John 4:14

Peace

[lastpost]

Now that one experiences a tender union with Christ...

"He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" John 7:38

...one must not be hampered by that which opposes Divine Goodness, cleansing is needed, the putting off the mortal mind...

"Do not ye lie, or gab, to one another, discarding the old man with his deeds" Colossians 3:9

Sin belongs to chaos and disunity and is connected with the old man of the senses, and would set itself up in ones midst.

But He who is greater than any being has known, and who has become real to one as a conscious indwelling fact, conquers all sin...

"For He will reign until He has put all enemies under His feet" 1 Corinthians 15:25

One feels His very life recreating within, filling Himself, making new, knowing the soul is in perfect unity with God...

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be reformed in newness of your mind, that you prove which is the will of God, good, and well pleasing, and perfect" Romans 12:2

Christ takes His own right of possession of His Father's temple and drives out all robbers and thieves...

"And when he had made, as it were, a scourge of small cords, he drove out all of the temple, and oxen, and sheep; and he shedded out the money of changers, and turned upside-down the boards" John 2:15

One has sent out a cry of want, a great need, an outstretching to the Author of ones spirit...   

O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever?
How long will you look the other way?

How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul,
with sorrow in my heart every day?
How long will my enemy have the upper hand? Psalm 13

The great Heart of Love is infinite and all-sufficient, from which streams the healing of compassionate forgiveness with a love so great that all are cast out now that the Conqueror of sin and death dwells within...

"...having blotted out the handwriting in the ordinances that is against us, that was contrary to us, and he hath taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross"  Colossians 2

Peace ✞

[lomarah]

Oh, yes.

:HeartThrob:

[lastpost]

Within are spiritual riches which the non-believer does not grasp... 

"...which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" Colossians 1:27

Sin forgiven means the sin is ended, yet the results are not ended...

"Be not deceived, God is not to be sneered at, for whatsoever a man may be sowing, this shall he be reaping also" Gal. 6:7

Sin forgiven kills the root yet on flows the river of life...

"And he showed me a river of water of life, resplendent as crystal, issuing out of the throne of God and the Lamb. In the centre of its square, and on either side of the river, is the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, rendering its fruit in accord with each month. And the leaves of the tree are for the cure of the multitude living together"  Rev.22:1-2

Sin is chaos yet its results can be transformed into good...

"And the Elohim said, 'Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky' " Gen.1:20

Life's compensations and the perfect ways of God are seen from the Spirit side...

"As for God, his way is perfect:
The Lord's word is flawless;
he shields all who take refuge in him" 2 Samuel 22:31

The Living Christ is within, and when the soul becomes conscious of this, it is raised up with the Father in unity, becoming one with the task of redemption which raises the whole race...

"I have given them the glory which Thou has given Me, that they may be one, as as We are One, I in them and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in one, and that the world may know that Thou dost commission Me and dost love them as Thou dost love Me" John 17:22-23

From the centre of Purity of the highest Heaven, Love presses in and through every atmosphere round about all beings. Love calls to one to do its bidding and one ought to be ready and obedient...

"If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the good things of the land" Isa.1:19

One should be willing to go to death on the cross which is the place of sacrifice for all who become one with the Father through Christ...

"Rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross" Phil.2:7-8

...as this is the atmosphere of Love in which all that is uppermost is sustained and nourished. There is no higher love...

"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends" John 15:13

Love, as Christ, dwells within even the human life, and there must be much love given out, so that Christ can perform His work through one...

"And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us" 1 John 4:16-19

Christ loves the world and He will not stop so that it is transformed into the kingdom of Heaven...

"Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, on earth also" Matt.6:10

Peace in action
Rest in Peace

[rosered]

 :Pray:  Yes Lord come  :HeartThrob:

  20He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming quickly." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 21The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

[eaglesway]

Thank u Lastpost for your contributions to this thred- they have been wonderful.