Lifted Up By the Spirit

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Communion Meditation

Recently my youngest daughter brought me a pocket sized New Testament and asked me to read her a Bible story. Her favorite Bible story is Jesus walking on the water and when I flipped open the Bible it fell to that story. In the story it says Jesus was going to keep walking past the disciples in the boat until they called out to him. A similar thing happened on the road to Emmaus when the disciples turned to go into a house and it says Jesus was going to keep walking until they invited him in. Jesus will often wait until we call out to him and reach out to him. When he was walking on the water Peter called out to him and asked to come out to him. Peter started walking on the water, but then he got his eyes on the wind and the waves and started to sink. When he called out for Jesus to save him, the Bible says Jesus stretched out his hand to caught him. Jesus lifted Peter up out of the water and brought him safely back to the boat. 

We have been talking lately about God's covenant of love, his steadfast unfailing love. God is love and it is love that lifts us. As our love grows more and more it lifts us up. We have a covenant of love with God. He has promised and obligated himself to steadfast love for us. He has promised that if we are sinking we can call out to him. If we want him to go with us we can ask. We must receive his love and then let his love flow through us to others. Our role in the covenant is also love. To love God and others. Are we growing in our covenant of love? 

If you want a definition of love you can go to 1 Corinthians 13 and study the chapter on love. You could also study what God is like because God is love. 

Meditating on God's steadfast unfailing love can help us bridge the gap and see the fruit of God's promises and love flowing within us. To meditate is to mutter, rehearse, rehear, growl, and another Hebrew translation is to go for a walk. Think of going for a walk with God and repeating or rehearsing God's promises about his steadfast love. When we do this consistently it stores up in our hearts so that when issues come up in life we growl at the problem about God's covenant of love with us. 

When we take the cup in communion it is a reminder that Jesus poured out his life for us. Love gives and pours out. The way we expand our capacity to love more is to pour out. It is counterintuitive but the way to expand is to continually pour out. 

Yearly Cycle Updates

Yesterday was Pentecost, which is the midpoint of the year on God's calendar. It is the bridge to the other side of the year. We are making a transition from playing offense to playing defense. In the Spring we plant seeds but in the summer the seeds must be watered and protected. It is time to keep the weeds and pests out. Pentecost is a reminder that God has given us his Holy Spirit to guide and navigate our lives, and to teach us the path of love. There are often 3 paths we can take when faced with decisions. 

Path 1 = We can retaliate, quit, give up, leave, etc. 

Path 2 = Withdraw our presence, go silent, do nothing, and get frustrated and bitter.

Path 3 = The path of love. Keep growing in your love and doing good. 

God chose the path of love. We have all missed it and God could have retaliated at us or given up on us. Or he could have withdrawn his presence and left us alone. But he chose the path of love. He chose to do good for us and give us everything he had. 

Lifted Up By the Spirit

Recently I had a feeling of heaviness in my spirit or emotions, which is very rare for me. I was feeling down emotionally for no apparent reason and I was doing everything I knew to reverse it...casting down thoughts, focusing on my imagination, taking communion, studying and meditating on God's word, etc but nothing seemed to be working. As I started seeking God about what was going on the answer that came was a visual of my grandpa's orange tree. His orange tree would often be overloaded with fruit which would weigh the branches down to the point where they were almost on the ground. 

What I feel God was showing me is that high levels of fruit in our lives at times can begin to weigh you down. Fruit can be heavy. In John 15 Jesus said that if we remain in him our lives will produce much fruit. But then he also says that every branch that produces fruit will be pruned. The Greek word used for pruned can also be translated as lifted up. As I researched online I found people arguing back and forth on whether the word means pruned or lifted up so I began to look at how people who grow grapes take care of the branches. It turns out that they do both. Pruning grape vines does make them more fruitful. But, when a branch has a lot of fruit it can be weighed down so that it is resting on the ground, which causes the fruit to rot. The solution for this is to lift up the branch and support it which also allows it to receive more sunlight. So I believe the answer is both. God prunes and lifts us up. In our live discussion after this training one of our partners mentioned a lesson he learned about pruning from a person who specialized in these things. 

There was a tree that had large branches hanging down and they were getting ready to trim them off because they were getting in the way. The specialist said there was a better way. On the branches that were hanging down he trimmed off the smaller branches that were protruding out. As he did this it removed some of the weight on the branch and the branch began to lift higher without having to cut the whole thing off. So it was both pruned and lifted up at the same time. I believe this is what God does for us. Pruning removes the things that are weighing us down and draining our energy and when these are removed it lifts us up. 

If we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God he will exalt us or lift us up in due time. When we are lifted up we have a change of position, and whenever positioning is improved the flow of grace is improved. 

Here are some scriptures on being lifted up. 

Ezekial 43

Then the man brought me to the gate facing east, ² and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory. ³ The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when he came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown. ⁴ The glory of the Lord entered the temple through the gate facing east. ⁵ Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

In John 12:32 Jesus said...

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

In John 3:14 Jesus said...

"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,"

Jesus was referring to this story from Numbers 21.

The Bronze Snake
4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”

6 Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

8 The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.