Inspired by James 1: 20
My anger and stirred-up emotions do not fulfill the righteousness of God nor His purpose.
My stirred-up emotion is a compelling motivator for sustained and unswerving action towards achieving my desired goals. However, to be guided by The Unseen Hand requires much faith but produces holistic results unimagined.
Dwane Fritz Gerald. GOD&I: Longing After God. Kindle Edition.
Romans 10: 17
Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word/utterance of God.
We live in a time when men and women of faith are increasingly succumbing to the pressures of the world to renege on their beliefs. We are told not to take the scriptures literally, and even to question its relevance in this new fast-changing and technologically advanced world.
But we find that as we give in to this subtle spiritual craftiness, we are rapidly losing our voice, our ability to speak authoritatively to the advancing evils of this current age.
If the word of God is not the ultimate and indisputable standard of our faith, then our beliefs are as baseless as a lunatic’s machinations.
As believers, when we speak, we should speak only of that which we have heard from the mouth of God (His Word), speaking not by man’s authority, which is worthless, but speaking the word of God in the power and might of its author. All other wisdom leads to darkness; only God’s word has life in itself and is light.
Believers, once again, restore the pride of place for the word of God in the temples of your hearts and on your lips, for it is the source of our salvation and that of the world.
Inspired by Romans 8: 28 & 1 Thessalonians 5: 18
I know that everything works together, as if one whole, for the benefit of those appointed for God’s purpose because of His love for them. I am grateful for everything, for this is the desire of God through Christ Jesus for me.
When I label outcomes as good or bad, I limit my available options to those that are within my cognition and under my sphere of influence. In judging life’s events, I become my source instead of being one with The-Source.
Dwane Fritz Gerald. GOD&I: Longing After God . Kindle Edition.
Inspired by Jeremiah 17: 9
My heart (feelings) is deceitful about everything, and incurably so: who can know it?
I derived my self-worth from who I am and not how I am feeling about myself or my current circumstances. My feelings and emotions are fleeting and cannot be relied on to determine my self-worth. My actions should be reasonable and not based solely on emotional impulses.
Dwane Fritz Gerald. GOD&I: Longing After God . Kindle Edition.
John 3: 1 – 21
Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again if he desired to enter the Kingdom of God. At the very start of Jesus’ ministry, he declared that the kingdom of God was at hand.
Jesus taught us that when we pray, we should assert that God’s kingdom has come, acknowledging that as believers, the fulfillment of his will is our charge.
All have access to the kingdom of God by way of Jesus, and faith in him and his finished work of atonement on the cross.
By faith in Christ, we are spiritually reborn as citizens of the eternal kingdom of God.
As citizens, let us not only enjoy the liberty we have in the Spirit but likewise, let us also fulfill our responsibility to love as Christ loves.
Inspired by Philippians 4: 8 I choose to meditate on things that are true, honorable, equitable, pure, acceptable, reputable, anything of good virtue and courage, and anything praiseworthy.
I choose the good and the nobler virtues because I become that which I do.
My choices determine my destination. Life is a series of decision points, of which destiny awaits on the other side. NOW choose wisely!
Excerpts from – GOD&I: Longing After God by Dwane Fritz Gerald
1 Corinthians 6: 19 – 20 (also reference 1 Corinthians 3: 16 – 17)
Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in us, whom we have received from God? We are not our own; God bought us at a price. Therefore honor God with our bodies.
Do not defile the body with carnal and otherwise worldly thoughts but instead set your heart, mind and soul on the things of the Spirit. Remember that only those things which come from within defile the body and not those which are external.
Our heavenly Father desires fellowship with us, so keep the body holy, set apart for honoring Him. Reverence it as a place of worship to God. A meeting place where God and man commune as one.
Psalm 94: 11 (also reference Psalm 139)
The Lord knows the thoughts of man that they are vanity.
Imagine that those around you knew your every thought, would you expect unconditional love or condemnation.
Our God knows us better than we know ourselves. Even our hidden thoughts are plain to him. He knows if they are benevolent and empathetic or malevolent and self-serving, yet His love for us is boundless and unchanging.
Blessed is the person who is willing to submit their every thought to Him; peace-of-mind and contentment will be their reward.
I must learn to conquer this illusion of time with purposeful action or inaction; else, time will be my master.
I can live only in the present moment; The-NOW; The-Moment. Every reflection of the past and every projection into the future occurs in the present moment. My present connects my past and my future. More profoundly, time seems illusionary, a mere figment of one’s imagination. As I engage in an instant of thought, what was only a moment ago the present, is already the past while the future merges into the present, becoming the past.
To achieve my best results, I focus on the actions in which I am engaged to the point where I am one with the Holy Spirit (the Universal-Energy, the Original-Mind), the Ancient-of-Days, even the Source-of-Everything.
The past and the present exist in the perpetual moment of the NOW.
Inspired by: Matthew 6: 34
Be not anxious for tomorrow: for tomorrow shall be apprehensive for the things of itself. There is enough to be concerned about today.
Dwane Fritz Gerald. GOD&I: Longing After God . Kindle Edition
St. John 2: 1 – 12 (Jesus turned water into wine)
Mary informed Jesus of the shortage of wine; then, she told the servants to do whatever he said to do. Although Mary instructed the servants beforehand, they must have questioned the sanity of Jesus’ instructions to fill the six jars, the type used for ceremonial washing, with water. To their credit, they obeyed, and through their obedience, were partakers of a great miracle.
Follow the spirit of God and Him to obey, even when His leading takes you along a road of doubts and fear. Be willing to ignore the signposts of conventional wisdom for the higher calling of God. Be prepared to trod this path without the company of family or friends, being satisfied with the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Rest assured that in so doing, His handiwork will be made manifest in you, being an instrument set apart for His glory here on earth.
God&i 