Sunday, October 25, 2009

The concept is NOT new

First of all we have to understand that God is IT. The buck stops here sort of thing. There is no one above or below if you want to deal with God. That is where problems begin because established religion has its own things in place to help get the word out. To Christians it is Jesus, Muslims have Mohammed and the – well the list goes on and on. The first thing to understand is that there is nothing wrong with this. That is by design. Where the system falls apart is where we decide that “our” prophet/belief system is the only way. Therefore we strive to make sure the world conforms. In some cases we want it to conform or else. Be it jihad or crusades all have tried it and failed.

Later we will be talking about how God deals with us as individuals. Stages if you will – in our spiritual growth. That has nothing to do with who God is. Often we mistake God in those he chooses as emissary. We often mistake the prophet as the sole representation and mediator with God.

That practice is acceptable to God. Based upon on your ability to interact with God directly is how God will respond to you. That does not diminish the importance of understanding the prophets, the writings, the miracles and the messages God has left us. What does change is who takes responsibility for understanding. The relationship God wants is that YOU are the one taking responsibility.

It is a spiritual world where you know your relationship with God without anyone else outside you or God defining that it. There is no preacher to blame, no translation of the bible, no prophet who said. It is simply hearing and knowing the word of God in your own heart.

There are times when we are told or we believe things that when we really pray about them, we really listen to God – they just flat do not make sense. These things can be translations that seem to exclude some people, or seers who seem to say it is okay to kill the heathens. It is God who will impose some label that makes a group of people the enemy. Not worthy of the compassion, love, and consideration that we believe God both gives to us and preaches to us.

The real question is this: Why would God create anything on this earth that did not have a part in the design of things and thereby God’s blessing. Why would God make a person one color, one faith, one race, or to live in one geographical location and then label them as evil.

The truth is that God is one of inclusion not exclusion. God created the entire world not just one part of it. God made the human race every single branch of the tree is part of the grand design. There is not one human that is the child of God but all are.

What a person, who seeks a relationship with God, will discover in dialogue with God is that there is so much hate in the world. God is not the cause of nor is God part of it. The hate stems from the choices we the people make. Who we choose to put faith in, what written word we choose to follow, which prophet we think will get us closer to God.

The world God seeks for you is much different. You hear, see, speak, touch, feel and experience the world. Inside your heart is the truth and when it rings true you know. When God rules your heart, then hate is gone, labels are unimportant, there is love for all. Most of all the words you now hear are those that God speaks. Not the filtered words of the world.

The message here is that God wants us to know all things. The star student knows all the religions of the world. Their history and their purpose. The good pupil understands the message that each brings to the people who need it. The prize student knows that the major prophet of any religion is not the only one to listen to.

What is truth is what plays out in our own heart. When the chord of truth is struck we know that God has may ways of choosing to speak. Sometimes we only hear the prophet and that is okay. The day that marks our salvation. The one that God awaits is when we no longer have to be told what God has said, but know it.

Monday, October 12, 2009

How do we do this?

When you first see this blog, something in its title intrigued you. Some around you may try to convince you it was marketing, the colors, perhaps the title, or any number of things. I know there is only one reason you picked up this book and that is because you heard God say you should. You are intrigued that God would want to talk to you and want to know more.

The great mystery of religion is that God does want to talk to each and every person on this planet. In the past the things used are wide and diverse. One format that works is the old standby - the preacher (priest, shaman, Allah, Buddha, monk) who is a man ordained by God to speak. This works to a point but God and the individual have a mediator. Someone or something saying the words. The problem with conversations with God is that we frequently have filters that get in our way. We fail to recognize that human flaws are very common in most every method God uses to talk to us. That is why God wants to talk directly to you. No filters, no translations, no questioning the miracle - none of this.

To get any farther than this you have to be willing to embrace some changes in the way you think about God. Many have been raised to believe that God only talks to the anointed or through prophets and clergy. As of this moment you know better. Something outside yourself made you curious enough to look into this. What makes you continue this adventure over time is the more powerful force that you have opened yourself up to.

Next, you have to trust yourself. That includes giving yourself permission to listen to the voice inside your soul. Empowering yourself to understand what God writes in your heart and then the willingness to find the answer to those lessons is the path God wants you to follow. This means you will read, study, and listen more than you ever have. You will read, study, and listen to things you never considered important before. Who wrote translated or published what you read is no longer important.

As your relationship with God grows you will learn that prayer is always answered. If you believe it is not, then more likely the problem is that you were not listening. This happens because we fail to realize that what is important to God is not those things that seem important in this world. This revelation runs the gambit from politics, society, and even to religion itself. From personal experience I can tell you that I have been angry with God for refusing to answer my prayer only to learn it had been answered all along - just not the way I expected or wanted to be answered.

The job given to me in putting this blog together has not been to tell you what is right or wrong. What decisions you should make. Not even to tell you how to do it. My job is to sow the seed and show you the basic phases of a relationship with God. This will help you establish goals of where you want to be, recognize what level others around you are and know God deals with each man, woman, and child in a unique and personal way.