Fourthstream

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Satisfaction in life can be fleeting. Even major markers or phases can be achieved and still leave us feeling unsatisfied. Anyone who trains for a race or a competition will tell you that after all the hard work reward is incredibly key. This is how Paul taught us about our lives of faith.

“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”  – 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Paul includes two other metaphors: that of a soldier and also a farmer. Cultivating is a big part of a farmer’s success. While farming can be ever-present and isolating, soldiers must rely upon one another for safety and success of objectives. An athlete competes against himself or herself in their chosen field. They must train and run with discipline and self-motivation.

Each of these three examples gives us insight into our faith. This is why success to Paul meant to hear the words well done. He had fought the good fight, finished the course, and kept the faith. He was counting on his victor’s crown at the end of  his journey. As are we!

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God IS family. As the Father of all living things He calls the shots, sets boundaries, and establishes any assignment of value. Consider this:

“The God who made the world and everything in it, this Master of sky and land, doesn’t live in custom-made shrines or need the human race to run errands for him, as if he couldn’t take care of himself. He makes the creatures; the creatures don’t make him.

Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him. He doesn’t play hide-and-seek with us. He’s not remote; he’s near. We live and move in him, can’t get away from him! One of your poets said it well: ‘We’re the God-created.’ Well, if we are the God-created, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to think we could hire a sculptor to chisel a god out of stone for us, does it?” – Acts 17:24-29

God is our Father and He wants to mentor us through the work of His Son Jesus. Lady Wisdom was with them when the world was created (Proverbs 8). Imagine what “before earth” was like!? His Spirit/His Wisdom was moving over the face of the deep when the world was formed. And that same Spirit and Bride (continued family) are inviting Jesus to return a second time. “…in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.” (Hebrews 1:2)

This video investigates the nature of this family, and how the interplay between each family member shapes all we know in this life as well as the one to come!

“The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.” – Revelation 22:17

We are God’s friends! (John 15:14)

Spirit and Bride Song
More about Water
Lady Wisdom audio: Dave & Burnadette

 

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We live in a world that is asleep spiritually. One of the things I love about faith philosopher CS Lewis’ stories is that he often recognizes and paints pictures of our sleepy dream state. If you have ever read or seen Prince Caspian you know what I mean. People can be asleep even though we appear awake.

This is the nature of both deception and the Deceiver. If he can paint a false picture that mirrors truly being awake, then he is close to engineering slumber which can last a life-time…and even an eternity. Kind of like our own matrix of reality (last movie/book metaphor I will use this post).

In this podcast we address the nature of the sleepy dream, how being engaged in greater dreams can be massively helpful to us, and how disarming the opiates which are swirling around us can be incredibly liberating!

The sleepy dream
Slumber is a great word for this. This is where we live between being awake and being asleep. Sometimes we become so adept at this we cannot tell when we pass from one to the other. Some of this occurs because we are avoiding pain – at all costs, but it mostly happens because we are disengaged from things which keep us awake – things which are greater than the mundane.

Being engaged
Engagement can be tricky when we are slumbering or when our senses are dulled. It is the other half of the sleepy dream – if we can be decoupled from being engaged we can be more easily manipulated, and I am not merely speaking of people-manipulation here – I am talking about spiritual deception which occurs at the core of minds and hearts. If our God dreams can be diffused, then we cease to become true dreamers, and settle for living in tepid mediocrity. This in- turn chokes off bigger, God-sized dreams and casts them as lesser or inferior.

The challenges (opiates)
These are all too familiar, and I spend some time on this listing in the video. The awake or awakening person will resonate with these opiate challenges – each is very real and very powerful.

For this reason it says, “Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Or as Peterson says in the Message: “Wake up from your sleep, climb out of your coffins; Christ will show you the light!” – Ephesians 5:14

Here’s to living awake and alive!

Pray For Rain Song
Additional teaching from Dave & Burnadette

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In my years of searching the God Story for deeper understanding I have been touched by so many things. I consider what I call the woven threads of the Bible to get a clearer picture of Who God Is, who I am, and why things are unfolding the way they have.

Jesus is obviously the point of the God Story. The Law and the prophets told us He was coming. The Psalms are filled with words about the Son. And then at just the right time Jesus showed up in a pretty ordinary way for very remarkable purposes. He launched His message of freedom to every human to come.

Everything came together and was amplified in Jesus. A major Jesus teaching life-pattern can be ascertained. Humility is the door to the Kingdom. This is what is meant by a pure heart (Matthew 5). Once we have this trajectory, our ability to perceive and know God opens dramatically. This leads to living a life of true kindness – carrying God’s goodness into our own part of the world (only God is good, right?). This results in allowing us to engage in growing God-life in and around our own lives. Our choices become those which place God’s priorities first and allow us to fill second place to the directed preferences of our King.

This is a life circle of which can flow again and again, and result in our own experience of personal peace – or what I like to call – a satisfied mind.

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might…”                – Ephesians 1:18,19

The Heart
A God-Heart Song

 

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God is a builder. He delights in fulfilling what He conceives in His Mind. He creates containers and fills them with beautiful, creative, complex, and purposeful things. He is the greatest intellect. He is the greatest heart. He is unlimited both in imagination and the power to bring things into being. He is over all, above all, through all, and in all. Wow. And His Son is all these things as well.

“We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created.For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels – everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment.

And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body. ¶ He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the Cross.”        – Colossians 1:15-20

There are two liquids to consider when we ponder the nature of God – as well as the purposes for mankind. Humans are the ultimate God containers. We were literally created to hold the image of God – vessels to carry the life of God to everyone around us. The first liquid is water. Water is necessary for all life. God is the author of all things living. He sustains us by the word of His power. This is why Jesus came to bring living water to us. The other liquid is the oil of the Holy Spirit. It is supernatural and useful for all things God. Together the oil and the water provide everything we need to fulfill our original purpose. Fully and completely.

You and I were re-birthed to once again engage in God’s intended purpose for us. Cool!

Dave & Burnadette

The Oil
The Water
A Spirit Song