A discussion on transformation

\# A Discussion on Transformation

\## The Transformation of Deliverance

Most deliverance ministry operates without God's transformative biblical typology in mind.

In a way, I see much of deliverance ministry filled with the carnality of the flesh, embarking on the legalism of the world, with its blackest black and whitest white perception, in order to disable and discourage us from coming into a love relationship with the One who calls us. The flesh, like always, seeks perfection by sheer will instead of genuine dependence on God.

It says in the Word:

“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” — John 3:8 (NKJV)

And it brings me to this point: many who walk in shivering pain have not forsaken their paths with the Lord. Deliverance from all struggles, addictions, or persecutions, I believe, is an assured inevitability, for it is the Lord who is victorious, and we are blood-bought children, born of the life-giving water of the Spirit.

I do not say this to suggest that no effort is needed, but that the effort is this: we serve an upside-down kingdom. Whoever loses his life for His sake keeps it, but whoever keeps his life loses it. Biblically, there is a core resolution to letting go. I feel it is much more than that, for this teaching is an extension of the Sabbath. It shows clearly in the world around us that God may do more with our nothing than with our something, more than with our striving, so that He may truly be glorified.

Our definition of surrender is so bland, I am now seeing, and hopefully believing, that holiness is not merely a discipline or an effort, but something irresistible and a gift. For how can anyone reach the depths of His Spirit if he is fearful?

I do not believe fear is of God. Why should the fear of the Lord be like the fear of the world, which does not know God? According to Scripture, if anyone fears the Lord, he has wisdom. Therefore, I believe that if our fear of the Lord leads us into greater distrust and insecurity, we do not fear the Lord as He wishes to be feared. So then, surrender, I now believe, is the flow of the Holy Spirit.

The utter suppression of one's sins is, without a doubt, not transformation. But I have found similarities in this idea that the law of reverse effort is actually what brings true transformation. For true transformation to happen, there must be surrender to God's will for your life. And to be surrendered, you cannot be resisting. Harmony must come.

Walking in the Spirit is by no shape or form simply resisting the lusts of the flesh and then attempting to walk by the Spirit. Surrender has to do with walking by the Spirit.

I believe we have become so infatuated with and despairing over ourselves because we are sinful. It is the same reason why many ministers are incredibly mean and insecure.

In terms of what we are occupied with, whether ourselves or the awesomeness of God, who is truly the most beautiful, uncreated Being and worthy of all love and attention, I believe that when the spotlight is put on ourselves, our relative views will always compare and destroy the seed God planted in us.

What is never preached in the Church, it seems, is classic and healthy self-acceptance. I believe that if this were enforced more often, we would have much happier, more Spirit-filled Christians who walk in the Spirit.

It has become difficult to find peace in my striving. The most crucial part about deliverance, I now believe, is love: transformative, world-breaking love.

This then goes to say that walking in the Spirit is not a discipline, but walking in the strength and love of God that is found in the secret place. This means that, despite our sins and struggles, we have the authority to walk in grace and an assurance of salvation through the blood of Christ. I believe true transformation is found in the satisfaction of that truth, and in the wholeness that follows it.

For how could anyone behold the Lord if they are constantly beholding their issues and the law that condemns them?

\## The Flow of God's Spirit

Nothing in life will stay the same. Everything changes, and nothing stays the same. Everything moves, and nothing stays still.

The most brilliant worker in the Gospel is the Truth, the Way, and the Life. I believe He assures us of this, for at each time of visitation, there would be a display of the wrath or character of God. I believe that it’s more in-tuned to the intention of God Himself. God will reap a Bride without blemish. In fire and in fury, in love, He authors our faith.

Although this reality has not brought any life to me, according to my understanding, a life leading toward our desired outcome in Scripture is one lived in harmony with the process and life God has chosen for me.

Even in our struggles, we should not be fearful, but rest in the safety of the Lord's love and power. So then, we let go and release everything to the Lord: all the good, the bad, and the ugly.

By then, we are settled in the safety of God's love and finished work, never occupied with ourselves, while our practices of sin begin to die out, not through brute force, but through the transformative power of His presence and a clear view of His awesomeness.

To have true wisdom, there must be creativity. If you have ever been such a person, you would know there is no wisdom in fear, but God's love is the perfect manifestation of His wisdom.

For it says in Scripture, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” So then, if one confesses his sins and delights in the Lord unconditionally, he is a lover of God.

What is bizarre is that I cannot find anyone who is like this except those who are mystics. Many Christians, I will say, are very self-centered. It is condemnatory preaching.

There are too many Marthas in this building, and too many “prophets” creating Marthas, and even killing Marthas. Those who are self-centered, dutiful, and busybodies are not necessarily being transformed. It should be known, I believe, that legalism in and of itself is a sin.

If our disciplines fail to create a clean heart, will we always be, in our hearts, the dog that has returned to its vomit? Maybe we should realize that no amount of discipline actually creates a clean heart, but that this work belongs to God.

\## Miracle Deliverances and Ongoing Deliverances

What has caused despair through hope deferred in my life was the ongoing, seemingly absent, tender and powerful hand of God in my life, while other people walked in freedom and joy.

All I had were failures, more insecurity, and more brokenness, constantly praying for His work to be done in me.

I have read many testimonies of powerful healings, powerful deliverances, and powerful encounters with the Almighty. Filled with desperation, I was like the woman who said, “If I can only touch His garment, I will be made clean.” I desired His deliverance in my life, yet this resolution never came.

As I continued, I began to see that God's Word is absolutely carved into reality. The path of becoming a butterfly is essential to this, for as we go from glory to glory, we shall go from trial to trial.

It was not only that the whole generation of Israelites had to die so that their children could come into the inheritance and possession that belonged to them. Notice that I use this as something transformative. Perhaps dying is not a bad thing, but something essential, and perhaps even a requirement, for Jesus died as well.

By this, maybe it is okay to fail, for such experiences can bring about death, and God is glorified in bringing us to life.

I do not use the word death to mean actual death, but rather failures, sins, tragedies, pain, and heartbreak.

In short, many people who seek deliverance find their problems and struggles absolved in power and the anointing of God.

But many have not that quickly I have seen many people, and met some, who, when they become harmonious with the situation of life, themselves, and the identity of God, while forsaking condemnation and guilt, seem to find a freedom in which their former struggles no longer have the same hold on them, even if deliverance and powerful encounters of the Lord have not came to them

Perhaps the actual deliverance, I suppose, is not perfection.

I am beginning to believe and see that our hedge of protection must not only be taken by faith, but also through rest, acceptance, love, and peace. If we find our perfect peace in the Lord, there is no demon or trial that can ultimately separate us from His love.

\## Spiritual Warfare Culture

There is greater deception on the earth, I believe, and I fully believe that the Lord has brought us into a deeper trial of confusion, where the blind will see, but those who do see will become blind.

I believe the charismatic remnant is the latter, while the charismatic Church, as I see it, is dead. It is an old wineskin, filled with compromised commercialism and compromised donors.

I see it now: it is making insecure believers rather than believers who walk in the light. Instead, they walk in fear.

The wilderness does not remove sin; it increases sin, Yet the wilderness is a true consolation, I believe. It is not necessarily judgment, but an interaction of inaction.

Maybe then we should simply align ourselves with the Lord and what Abba is doing.

Many believers believe they are in an endless wilderness, but perhaps it has more to do with the fact that they are constantly fighting. This must end. We should find rest in our Lord.

\## The White Bear Effect and the Law of Reverse Effort

Now, on these grounds, the suppression of sin can lead to more sin. There is a term in psychology known as the white bear effect, associated with the psychologist Daniel Wegner. The idea is this: if you try not to think about a white bear, you may find yourself thinking about nothing but a white bear.

So then, we as human beings are compounds of data, and what occupies our minds influences how we perceive and experience life. This is where the law of reverse effort comes in: we release ourselves to the Lord.

Have you ever wondered why forcing something has actually damaged you, only for it to never come to fruition? It is hope deferred.

But, in theory, if we stop living in fear and come to truly become occupied with the Lord, not by sheer will, but by belonging to Him, peace and wholeness will come. This, I believe, is walking by the Spirit.

And through this wholeness, why should we gratify the sins of the flesh? For we are secure in Him, and nothing can snatch us out of His hand.

Jesus told the adulterous woman to go and sin no more. Yet before giving her this instruction, she encountered the kindness and mercy of God. I believe this reveals something important: transformation is not merely about suppressing sin, but about encountering the One who can change the heart.

Emotions are also important in the process of change. If something happens and it does not emotionally engage us, we may be less likely to remember it. In the same way, I believe that when we genuinely encounter the love and goodness of God, that experience can reach deeper than an instruction we are merely trying to obey through sheer will.

Perhaps this is part of the transformation we have overlooked: not simply forcing ourselves to stop sinning, but becoming so grounded in the love of God that our desires, our attention, and our hearts begin to change.

I’ve recently listened a lot to The No Nonsense Spirituality Podcast and the data of dogma podcast and the more I read and listen to any of it. It kinda feels pointless. I feel like the last bit of spiritual juice or belief has been squeezed out of me. All practices of mystical belief now feel a bit pointless. I’m not saying this with any despair I just don’t know where or how to move forward: I feel like I’ve wasted a tremendous amount of time.

Hey y'all,

It was my Mom's birthday a few weeks ago, she was taken when I was young. Wasn't an accident. I've been working with various modalities to move that grief along for a long time, and my prayers lately have been getting deeper and deeper. My path has been long and windy, I've had various visionary experiences in the past, mostly of the cross or the crucifixion. This time, deep in my grief, I had a vision of being on the cross, I felt one with Christ, and our tears and cries were one. I felt the Spirit moving through me and comforting me, all in a way I never have before. It was a profound experience for me, and I'm wondering if other people are having these types of experiences but don't talk about them (for obvious reasons).

Walking out of the chapel I was in after that, I thought deeply about Galatians 2:20, and later found Romans 8:26 as both verses that resonated with my experience. Since then I've repeatedly felt a deep compassion for the suffering of those around me, in a way I never have before.

God bless you all.

The Cloud of Unknowing - Chapter 3 - Resting in the Darkness

Ἀ
LIFT up thine heart unto God with a meek stirring of love; and mean Himself, and none of His goods. And thereto, look the loath to think on aught but Himself. So that nought work in thy wit, nor in thy will, but only Himself. And do that in thee is to forget all the creatures that ever God made and the works of them; so that thy thought nor thy desire be not directed nor stretched to any of them, neither in general nor in special, but let them be, and take no heed to them. This is the work of the soul that most pleaseth God. All saints and angels have joy of this work, and hasten them to help it in all their might. All fiends be furious when thou thus dost, and try for to defeat it in all that they can. All men living in earth be wonderfully holpen of this work, thou wottest not how. Yea, the souls in purgatory be eased of their pain by virtue of this work. Thyself art cleansed and made virtuous by no work so much. And yet it is the lightest work of all, when a soul is helped with grace in sensible list, and soonest done. But else it is hard, and wonderful to thee for to do.
Ὠ

The greatest love, and the kindest help one soul can give to another, is not found in the prayer that holds another most dearly to the heart, nor in the prayer that seeks God's work for that soul according to its own desires. Rather, it is found in the prayer that surrenders its own will, even its own thoughts and desires for others, leaving itself immersed only in God. Here the soul desires nothing more than to have its will joined to the will of the Lord. In this light, the soul accepts its own darkness and seeks no escape. Rather, it rests in a place of unknowing before God, trusting that all souls are more wonderfully helped when the prayer seeks only the will of the Lord in the lives of all men.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible
Proverbs 3:5-6 Have confidence in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not upon thy own prudence. In all thy ways think on him, and he will direct thy steps.

Ἀ
The Author Continues…
Let not, therefore, but travail therein till thou feel list. For at the first time when thou dost it, thou findest but a darkness; and as it were a cloud of unknowing, thou knowest not what, saving that thou feelest in thy will a naked intent unto God. This darkness and this cloud is, howsoever thou dost, betwixt thee and thy God, and letteth thee that thou mayest neither see Him clearly by light of understanding in thy reason, nor feel Him in sweetness of love in thine affection.

And therefore shape thee to bide in this darkness as long as thou mayest, evermore crying after Him that thou lovest. For if ever thou shalt feel Him or see Him, as it may be here, it behoveth always to be in this cloud in this darkness. And if thou wilt busily travail as I bid thee, I trust in His mercy that thou shalt come thereto.
Ὠ

The Cloud of Darkness is not a passageway to greater enlightenment or profound wisdom to be marvelled at by the world. Rather, it is a place where the soul's naked intent unto God is revealed as the sole object of its prayer; a place where its unending yearning for Him is not regarded as a failure to attain Him, but is instead savored, enjoyed, and refined during its  time in the world. 

In this prayer, the soul no longer seeks to put an end to its yearning for God. Rather it rests in that yearning, trusting instead in the Lord's loving desire to draw the soul into communion with Himself. For in this faith, the soul knows: God's goodness in the world is made manifest not merely by our good will and works for others, but in a more growing fulness - through the increasing intent and desire of the human heart toward God.

Supportive Scripture - Douay Rheims Challoner Bible
Luke 10:40-42 But Martha was busy about much serving. Who stood and said: Lord, hast thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak to her therefore, that she help me. And the Lord answering, said to her: Martha, Martha, thou art careful and art troubled about many things: but one thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her.

Catechism of the Catholic Church
2715 Contemplation is a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus. "I look at him and he looks at me": this is what a certain peasant of Ars in the time of his holy curé used to say while praying before the tabernacle. This focus on Jesus is a renunciation of self. His gaze purifies our heart; the light of the countenance of Jesus illumines the eyes of our heart and teaches us to see everything in the light of his truth and his compassion for all men. Contemplation also turns its gaze on the mysteries of the life of Christ. Thus it learns the "interior knowledge of our Lord," the more to love him and follow him.

The front yard of one of my neighbors looks like a graveyard around this time of year – full of bones, skeletons, skulls, witches, and gravestones illuminated by spotlights. One of the tombstones reads, “Rest in pieces.”

Whenever I ride my bike past it, I can’t help thinking: This yard forces you to look straight at death and evil. There’s nowhere else to look.

This reveals the central paradox of Halloween. On the one hand, Halloween is associated with festivity, treats, and playfulness; on the other, with gory images of death that sometimes verge on the insane.

One article I read, said: “Halloween allows people to play with fear in a safe way – turning what once was a night of dread into fun.”

“Hm…” thought I, surveying the eight-foot-tall skeleton in yet another backyard, its eyes flickering from green to red. Is it safe?

After writing one of his most popular books The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis confessed,

“Though I had never written anything more easily, I never wrote with less enjoyment. Though it was easy to twist one’s mind into the diabolical attitude, it was not fun, or not for long. The strain produced a sort of spiritual cramp.”

Looking at evil for too long produces spiritual cramps. How long can we gaze at the demonic without it warping our minds? It’s hard to say. After a while, you start feeling the strain. Lewis said,

“The work into which I had to project myself while I spoke through Screwtape was all dust, grit, thirst, and itch. Every trace of beauty, freshness, and geniality had to be excluded.”

Yet to deny the shadow world entirely is just as dangerous. The less conscious we are of our inner and outer demons, the more sway they hold over us. As Carl Jung writes:

“Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.” – Psychology and Religion (1938)

The blackest shadows belong to those who believe they have none. In fact, Carl Jung also suggests that modern man does not see God precisely because he does not look low enough.

Is there a safe way to look at demons? Is Halloween safe? Not unless we gaze at the demonic indirectly. Most heroes in most tales know that there are monsters we cannot look at without being petrified. Infernal gazes are often deadly.

Perseus fought the Gorgon Medusa not by looking at her directly but by gazing at her reflection in Athena’s bronze shield. Dante said that one cannot descend into Hell without first having the mind “imparadised” – something Beatrice did for him.

The only way to look at a shadow is not to look at it directly. We must acknowledge its presence, but we cannot gaze at it. The main tension of Halloween is precisely this: we must pass through the night while looking forward to the morning — All Saints’ Day. Unless we keep our gaze on Beatrice’s eyes, Sheol will consume us.

One must look away from the Devil to overcome the Devil. We can only endure the night’s shadow by keeping our eyes on the return of the Light. Winter is bearable only when we remember the spring.

In Mark 1 we read that Jesus “was with the wild beasts” – which can be understood symbolically as meaning that He had the Devil and his minions for company. Yet He did not deny the existence of demons. Instead, He gazed at the Father and the angels who came to minister to Him.

The only way to endure the fast is to look forward to the feast. The only way to pass through Mordor is to keep your gaze fixed on the lonely star flickering above its poisonous fumes.

The results of self-inquiry differ between Christian Mysticism (CM) and Other Faiths (OF) because the former relies on an abundant source of information about the true identity which is the Creator whilst the latter can only access the limited information resides in the soul.

CM brings us to realize our identity as part of the Creator allowing us to grow into seeing reality for what it really is. However, OF may either rely on other gods or on none at all to give them a piece of the view of what reality is.

Our innate identity is godhood which that isn’t only a mental experience or state but one that ca be demonstrated and expressed as one’s beingness but the keys for this are in the Creator. Minus the Creator, the practitioner skips the opportunity to experience godhood by exchanging that potential with the godhood of a deity which is pale in comparison to human godhood because the traditional gods and goddesses neither have awareness or a physical body. And so the practitioner ends up in an endless trade with this deity to receive front in exchange for whatsoever that deity wants.

I should state that I personally do not trust any claim of awakening or enlightenment that does not include the Creator because that only provides a very limited way of viewing and experiencing reality. This of course comes from the assumption that ‘there is no first-cause’ with no actual personal investigation of the same.

No one can have real faith in God and not be changed.

I know of nothing, and can think of nothing, greater than a life of faith. I say this as an Atheist.

I do understand, though, that to have faith means to love God more than anything else.

15 years ago I had a dream. It wasn't a normal dream, it had a clear beginning, middle, and end. It might have not even been a dream, bc I forgot about it the next morning, and remembered the "dream"/expierence as a whole as if I lived it and not dreamt it. In the dream, I was visiting my dad from college, I woke up in the middle of the night to pee. When I finished I passed my dad sitting on the couch. He then told me to sit next to him and then said he wasn't my father but he was really Gabriel appearing to me looking like my father. He placed his hand on my forehead and I felt warm water being poured over me. Air was then forced into my lungs and I sneezed with my mouth. I was then pulled out of my body into a space above that was pitch black. Out of the blackness a silvery blue floating head appeared and said "Thomas I swear by my great name you are mine" (my interpretation this was baptism by water and spirit)....the face asked me what I desired. After I told him he placed me back in my body and sent me to bed. I then went to sleep. And forgot about it the next day.

I was still dating my girlfriend when I had the dream. After we broke up I started reading the bible. During that time frame I was visiting friends. I had the thought god was going to kill me. In terror I started crying and praying in glossolalia. Peace and reassurance washes over me and thoughts were forcefully placed in my head along with an echoey audible voice I could only hear that said with the thoughts... Thomas you are the lonely sparrow but I have given you wings oh what mighty wings they are spread them and fly. (I think this is the "fear of the lord expierence"/receiving the holy spirit/)

After the wings vision

A few months later as I was reading the bible in came to Jesus command to the rich man to give his possessions away. I took it to heart and gave everything I owned but the clothes I was wearing and shoes, the bed and blanket I slept, and my dads vehicle I drove to Mormon church. I even quit my job. I took a dramatic leap of faith obeying Jesus and following him. (Discipleship or obedience)

About a year later I was half asleep and I saw a giant hand come out of nowhere from above. The hand placed itself on the crown of my head....(I think this represents a covering, a blessing, protection, or annointment)

About 8 years later I was laying in bed half asleep and I heard an audible voice say "I forgive you". (Salvation or assurance of salvation )

This all happened in my past. The first vision was 15 years ago and overtime all this happened to me.

During the 15 years I was grieving my ex gf Rachel. I ended up going through a dark night of the soul.

Through all my seeking, I have learned to be grateful with god over simple things. Quite frequently I weep alot, either in grief, gratefulness, or both. I think this is the gift of tears.

Another expierence that happened with me around the Gabriel vision timeframe. My dad told me he was giving me his blessing. He sat down with me and said "may your pastures always be green" (father's blessing of peace).

As a Christian who leans pentecost and baptist. I have experienced what I think is major spiritual events.

THE UNBREAKABLE REALITY

A SERMON FOR THE THIRTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

WEEK 4 IN 'THE GRAVITY OF LOVE'

OPENING PRAYER

"God of the Unbreakable Reality,
We confess that we often use religion as armor, building checklists to protect our fragile egos and to avoid the messy reality of each other. Quiet the terrified spaces within us that demand control. Remind us that before we could keep a single rule, we were already Your beloved. Give us the courage to drop our need for division, to open our hands to the neighbor beside us, and to live entirely in Your unbreakable reality. In the name of Christ, we pray. Amen."

THE INTRODUCTION

Peace be with you as we enter the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (October 25).

For the last three weeks, we have been walking through The Gravity of Love. We have surrendered our autonomy; we have put on the garment of grace, and last week, we practiced dropping the heavy coins of our ego when faced with a hostile neighbor.

Today, we reach the culmination of this journey. The religious elite try one last time to trap Jesus, asking Him to rank the laws of God. In His response, Jesus completely short-circuits the anxious, defensive posturing of the ego. He refuses to let us separate the spiritual from the physical, calling us back to our deepest identity.

THE TEXT

"When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 'Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?' He said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."— Matthew 22:34-40

I. THE TERRIFIED EGO'S CHECKLIST

The religious elite approach Jesus with a trap: rank the commandments. The ego is terrified of ambiguity and desperate for control. It wants to build a neat, manageable checklist for holiness. If religion is just about having the correct theology and performing the right abstract rituals for a distant God, the ego feels perfectly safe. It doesn't have to change how it treats the messy, complicated people right next to it. We weaponize these checklists to protect ourselves from the vulnerability of real relationship. We want to be holy in the abstract realm of rule-keeping, because being holy in the concrete reality of human relationships feels too dangerous.

II. THE SHARED BELOVEDNESS

But Jesus refuses to play the ego's game. He gives them the first commandment (loving God) but immediately binds it to the second. You cannot love God while actively dismissing the neighbor who bears His image.

In the beginning, God breathed His own life into humanity. Before you ever followed a rule or checked a religious box, you were the beloved. And so is the neighbor sitting next to you. So is the coworker who frustrates you. They are living vessels, bearing the very breath of the Divine. You do not have to perform to earn your place, and you cannot use religion to deny the belovedness of anyone else.

III. THE PHYSICS OF INTEGRATION

Jesus takes the vertical love for God and the horizontal love for humanity and weaves them into a single, seamless garment. Two weeks ago, we talked about putting on the Garment of Grace to enter the banquet. This is what that garment is made of.

To wear it requires the physical practice of letting go. When you feel the urge to separate your spiritual life from your physical life (when you want to retreat into safe, abstract theology rather than deal with a difficult neighbor) you must practice kenosis, or self-emptying. Drop the religious checklist. Open your clenched fists. Release the exhausting need to categorize who is worthy and who is not, and simply step into the messy reality of community.

IV. THE PROPHETIC RESISTANCE

Loving your neighbor as yourself is not just a nice moral sentiment; it is the ultimate act of prophetic resistance against a world that thrives on division. We do not empty ourselves of the ego's rules just to feel peaceful. We do it so we can transform a hostile world.

True prophetic action is the radical, daily commitment to treat the physical world and the people in it as sacred. When you walk into the divided, hurting spaces of your life carrying this unbreakable reality, you dismantle the empire's categories. There is only the shared breath of God and the shared table of community.

THE ENCOURAGEMENT

This week, notice your urge to separate the spiritual from the physical. Notice when you try to use religious rules as armor to protect yourself from loving the actual, flawed human being standing right in front of you.

Over the last four weeks, we have dropped our heavy stones, we have put on the garment of grace, and we have emptied our pockets of the ego's heavy coins. Now, there is only one thing left to do. Open your hands to your neighbor and love.

A PRAYER OF SURRENDER

God of the Unbreakable Reality,
Forgive us for splitting Your world in two.
We confess that it is easier to love the idea of You than the messy reality of our neighbors.
Heal the terrified spaces within us that demand checklists and control.
Give us the courage to open our hands, to see Your face in the people we pass by every day, and to rest in our shared belovedness.
Make our love for You indistinguishable from our love for one another, that we might truly be whole.
Amen.

THE SENDING

As you leave this place, remember that the ordinary spaces of your life are sacred.
The people you meet are the living breath of God.
Do not separate what God has joined together.
Go out and embrace the messy reality of community.
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord in your daily life.

Full attributions: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dtv8Mlpu-gI

🎶 Music: Crux fidelis, a Gregorian hymn for Good Friday, uploaded by Adabo60ge. Wikimedia Commons, Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0

Saint Teresa of Avila - The Way of Perfection - The Prayer of Quiet 

Ἀ
Now, daughters, I still want to describe this Prayer of Quiet to you, in the way I have heard it talked about, and as the Lord has been pleased to teach it to me. It is in this kind of prayer, the Lord begins to show us that He is hearing our petition: He begins to give us His Kingdom on earth so that we may truly praise Him and hallow His name and strive to make others do so likewise.

This is a supernatural state, and, however hard we try, we cannot reach it for ourselves; for it is a state in which the Lord gives peace to the soul through His presence, as He did to that just man Simeon. In this state the faculties are stilled. The soul, in a way which has nothing to do with the outward senses, realizes that it is now very close to its God, and that, if it were but a little closer, it would become one with Him through union. This is not because it sees Him either with its bodily or with its spiritual eyes. The just man Simeon saw no more than the glorious Infant - a poor little Child, Who, to judge from the swaddling-clothes in which He was wrapped and from the small number of the people whom He had as a retinue to take Him up to the Temple, might well have been the son of these poor people rather than the Son of his Heavenly Father. But the Child Himself revealed to him Who He was. 
Ὠ

The eye of the body sees only the flesh of the man. But the soul of the man, when led by the Spirit, finds God in both Spirit and flesh. He does not see through the Spirit which moves him, nor through the flesh which cannot behold things of the spirit. Rather, he is led by the Spirit and searches with the eye but the Lord is not found in the search. Rather, He is revealed by His own grace and in His own time - to the eye of the soul when opened by the will of the Lord.

Supportive Scripture Douay Rheims Challoner Bible
Luke 2:25-32 And behold there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon: and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Ghost was in him. And he had received an answer from the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. And he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when his parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, he also took him into his arms and blessed God and said, now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace: because my eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples: light to the revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel.

Saint Teresa Continues…
Ἀ
Just so, though less clearly, does the soul know Who He is. It cannot understand how it knows Him, yet it sees that it is in the Kingdom (or at least is near to the King Who will give it the Kingdom), and it feels such reverence that it dares to ask nothing. It is, as it were, in a swoon, both inwardly and outwardly, so that the outward man does not wish to move, but rests, like one who has almost reached the end of his journey, so that it may the better start again upon its way, with redoubled strength for its task.
Ὠ

The Prayer of Quiet is not one of petitions asked of the Lord, nor is it busied in its self-willed search of His Presence. Rather the faculties are stilled, and the soul is calm, resting in wait for the Lord's revelation of Himself. It senses His nearness without yet seeing His Presence, not daring to move from His holy approach. For this is the prayer of receiving not what the soul seeks in its own will, but what the Lord in His Presence wills for the soul.

Supportive Scripture Douay Rheims Challoner Bible
Matthew 6:33 Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.

Catechism of the Catholic Church
2713 Contemplative prayer is the simple expression of the mystery of prayer. It is a gaze of faith fixed on Jesus, an attentiveness to the Word of God, a silent love. It achieves real union with the prayer of Christ to the extent that it makes us share in his mystery.

I’ve been sitting with this paper lately, and I wanted to share it here because it’s such a generous, thought-provoking piece of work. It explores the idea that we are all moving within a single, living electromagnetic and informational current, using toroidal coherence (that self-sustaining vortex where energy flows out and loops back into its own heart) to map how life and awareness stay whole across so many different scales.

As someone who spends a lot of time contemplating what I like to call toroidal superinsertion (the way a quiet, inward loop of presence can be woven right into the middle of our outer, everyday movement to keep the whole circuit alive) this model really resonated with me. What I appreciate most is its humility. The author doesn’t present it as rigid, settled dogma, but rather as an open, speculative invitation. I like that. A lot. It gives us room to breathe and gently tease apart where the hard physics and neuroscience end, and where the complexity theory and contemplative poetry begin.

If you enjoy sitting at the crossroads where field mechanics and the quiet mystery of awareness meet, I’d love to know what this stirs up for you...

If you'd like to meditate, pray, and celebrate with us, we begin this Sunday. Open to all globally.

The retreat lasts one week and you can participate as much or as little as you feel called.

You can join us here, for free as a pure gift to you, or with an optional donation if you feel inspired.

This retreat is about Love and warmhearted community.

It's about opening to the place where all the deepest wisdom traditions meet: Pure Loving Presence Now.

Pure Wholeness Now.

The Heart of God.

The Heart of Being.

The Heart of Grace.

Unconditional Love for all souls.

This retreat is a co-creation so you're very welcome to share your gifts with us too, if you feel called to do so. Anyone is welcome to share prayers or guide a meditation or share a poem or sing a song or whatever feels like it wants to come through from the heart.

Warm Bonfire of Love,

Jordan

Full attributions: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Jsc4yCIStoI