Discipleship is not about:
Though they all help!
It is about submitting every thought — and emotion! — to Christ, so we more consistently manifest the Fruit of the Spirit.
[By denying our Self so we can follow Jesus all the way to the Cross]
Which is how others learn to enjoy Him.
#AmygdalaGospel #TheTransition #FruitOfTheCross
I know that I should
Strive to be good
And not just obsess
Over my own distress
For Jonah
We all have appointments with worms
(Though the thought still makes us squirm)
All that brings us bliss
We know we will miss
Despite the hard ground we thought firm
We all think we have a good reason
To judge whether God is in season
If this run of race
Is worthy of grace
Or needs to be called out as treason
What is one change we can make
That will cause all our hearts to un-break?
The smallest bit flip, like a lever
That makes “certain” what once was “never?”
In order to become repentant
I must become fully dependent
On identity
Of Jesus in me
And not all the things I think He meant!
God sometimes seems under-handed
Our suffering, as if He has planned it
It feels like our pain
Is just for His gain
And we must give what He demanded
We all need to feel in control
To handle the storms of this life
My eyes must be fixed on a goal
So I overcome every strife
For Jonah
It feels like we’re under a sentence
So we must flee from God’s presence
We may think it sin
But ‘tis within
Ourselves that we struggle with absence
As I came down the mountain Man said:
Do you not know God is dead?
Our prophets are liars
So our own desires
Are the only way we can be led!
A hard truth for your consideration:
Peace always brings separation
We must face the part
Of our wounded heart
That won’t join us in celebration
Christ came to re-story
What sin has de-stroyed
By sharing His glory
Union unalloyed
We’re made for each other
A narrative team
Yet loving my brother
Seems too hard a dream
As children, we need to be Comfort-Accepted
Where every cry of our heart is protected
We have to feel we’re the star of our story
So that we learn we are worthy of glory
But Challenge-Accepted is for the mature
Once that identity has been made sure
Losing our life by taking on risk
Is how we raise our own true obelisk
If we want Christ to ReNewAll
We must have grace to go through all
The cross and the grave
More sinners to save
Our share in heaven’s accrual
Matthew 23:24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
This may sound bizarre, but see if you can follow my logic:
Continue readingIf we are to step out with God
We must be out of step with this world
For the only way to pierce the dark
Is being a spear He has hurled
To bring forth the change that we seek
We must become powerfully weak
For when we are empty
God gives us His plenty
Thus by our redemption Christ speaks
Christ did not just come
To up-end
Corrupt human authority
The world takes it toll
On the road of our soul
It oft hurts like hell
When we hear that toll bell
Concluding the story from Sex 206. Loving Father
I am trapped in the Bar of Hell.
Watching my Father guzzle
All the shame, suffering and sin
Of the whole world
With such agonizing joy
That my soul yearns
To join Him
I grab my tiny Cup, full of ruby liquid, and slam it down my throat.
I have tasted all the pleasures of this world, from the sublime heights of philosophy to the sordid depths of passion.
All start out sweet as honey to my mouth, but end up bitter as gall in my stomach.
This… is the reverse.
When it hits my tongue, my whole body convulses with a gag reflex.
It is as if the liquid instantly infected every cell of my body with mortal loathing, such that I want to vomit my very self away.
It is the worst sensation I have ever experienced.
It is also the very sensation I have wasted most of my life trying to avoid, through addictive pleasures, hollow achievements, and manipulative relationships.
“The very sensation I have wasted most of my life trying to avoid, through addictive pleasures, hollow achievements, and manipulative relationships.”
It’s sole virtue is that it is mercifully brief.
I gaze in renewed awe at my Father, who continues to chug what I now realize is a never-ending stream of the world’s pain.
And that’s when I realize…
I am free.
The subconscious pain — that crippled my soul and my flesh, tainting even my most cherished friendships — is gone.
I had ascribed the flashes of discomfort I felt to evil in the world (or other people). But now I realize it was all due to my war with myself: the valiant but futile battle my ego fought to avoid being consumed by awareness of my own corruption.
“I had ascribed the flashes of discomfort I felt to evil in the world (or other people). But now I realize it was all due to my war with myself…”
The corruption that has just been burned away by the liquid in that Cup.
To be replaced by awe.
Awe is what I felt
When I looked at my Father
Awe is what I feel
When I look at my self
And because of that completeness
Contentment
Communion
Connection…
Awe is what I feel
When I gaze upon
What used to be
The demons of my desire
Lecher
Titania
Yolanda
Julia
Elsabeth
Aphrodite
They no longer
Have power over me
I no longer need
Power over them
I can regard them
With pure awe
At the amazing creations they are
Even as I am
I see their flaws and follies
As I now see my own
With compassion
Rather than fear
Or contempt
My hunger now
Is not to use them
To chase away my darkness
But simply to honor them
In light of who they are
And all they have endured
Trusting
That if they see me
Seeing them
Like this
And see my Father
Seeing them
Through me
They too
Might take the Cup
And join us
Forever
And happily ever after.
Amen.
Hebrews 12:2
Radically Happy 
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