Fullness of Christ

 

Hearing The Voice of God - Rob Rufus

The reason why most Christians can't hear the voice of God is because they still think of themselves as Christians and not as sons. So when they hear the Father speak, they don't believe it's the Father because they think He couldn't be speaking such good things to me! Christians think of the Father as a Judge - they think of Him as schizophrenic, one day He is Father when I am behaving well and the next He is Judge when I am not behaving well. So they don't know the Father's voice because they don't know the love of the Father.

Rob Rufus

God Whispers

Photo - HisGracePlace

On Nights Like This

On nights like this, I remember

What my old boss used to say,

“Do it right the first time!”

And to encourage me along

He would always add

“Only try to touch a piece of paper once”

And now my desk is full of paper

I listened to every word

I remember the sound advice

I only wish I could put it into practice.

Every Word

You could listen

To the most beautiful words in the world

You could find them everywhere

Before they innocently disappear

Into the chamber of each imagination

Every word of love

Every touch of grace

A discreet ghost to embrace

Written in the sand of redemption.

On A Day Like Today

On a day like today

Bells ripple in the summer air

We could wander quietly away

To golden fields of ages fair

Or we could just stay

Touch the dapple sky above

And find a way

To soak in the endless love

On a day like today

Forgetting memories of strife

Listening to children play

Entering into the joy of life

Let us just stay

Enjoy the slumbering calm

And find a way

To rest in salvation’s balm

Conversations - Sedoka

Old conversations

Greetings and salutations

Common words that we all know

I hear the well-worn

Wonder what is not spoken

Emotions glowing inside.

Reach - Sedoka

The wind seems obsessed

Roulette's spin free in the breeze

As cold rain weeps endless tears

I hear the stone night

Forgotten shapes transfix me

Reach for fresh life in your words.

Church Bells - Sedoka

Church bells distant cry

As timeless streams bleed freedom

Hearts that yearn for compassion.

Every faint whisper

Plagues my mind to remember

That you were nailed to a tree.

Vial Of Divine Grace

Vial of divine grace

In lemon, russet and wine

Your tapestry of autumn

Tokens of pure love

Words spoken from creation

Your gift of sacred treasure.

Echoes

Echoes of thunder

Dance with destructive frenzy.

Praise Ignites where great stones speak

Your anthem of life

A song in my beating heart.

You are the resurrection..

Soft

Filled with compassion

The balm of encouragement

Within the eternal agenda.

In your still small voice

Quiet words in the time of need

Allows my heart to remain soft.

(but exhort one another daily – Hebrews 3:13)

Quiet

In the unnatural quiet

Something as cold as compassion

For eyes coloured and distant

A face lined with sadness

Where tales of guilt

Rest on what I am supposed to think

And myths of deceit

Hide in the chambers of voices

And return to the listened plight

Twilight Falls

Twilight falls

Owls cry out

From silent valleys

There steals a slice of ancient fear

Rushing sounds

Through the night

The cold breeze presses

As ancient wings kiss the night

Misty silences

In search of power

The fire through ages leaps

Listen for the calm ancient embers

Another autumn

Drawn from day

As footsteps die away

Across ancient roads heralding the dawn.

Whisper Winter’s Secret.

Purple mist

Veils the lonely forest

Shades of bronze

Scattered forlorn leaves

Whisper winter’s secret.

Glowing golden love

Taste the scent of crimson

The silence of trust

For all is laid bare

Whisper winter’s secret.

Amber Ocean

Dancing beads of forgiveness

Curtain lonely fields

As psalms of desire

Whisper winter’s secret

Beautiful Wonder

Feel the world

The anthem of creation

A chasm breached with love

United in one man

Extend your hands

The canvas framed from dust

Each ecstasy of rhythm

Captured In this living moment

Listen to the desire of dance

The divine heart beat

Thundering for the first time

Resonating in freedoms quiet

Hear the life grow louder

A crescendo of the familiar

Gradually heavens glory sings

With each beat of beautiful wonder

The First Heart Beat - Genesis 1:26

Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth,and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” – Genesis 1:26

The heart of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit was to share and enjoy the dance of eternal glory. To reflect the overflowing, wonderful love of the triune Godhead with perfect creation. It was the God head  “Us” that created man in their own image and all the glory of heaven was shared with man.

God stooped down, he put his life, his essence, his creativity, his majesty, his glory into the dust he had made and with all the joyous delight of the triune God he formed man. God immersed the dust into the eternal dance of love and this would not be the only time that God would stoop and kiss our world. He would bring himself down to us by lying in a manger,  work in a carpentry shop, sleep on a mountain side, eat with the forsaken and despised, be spat upon, lied about, be beaten, ridiculed, humiliated, nailed and cut open. 

And there in that moment of creation, as man was formed and God’s life was breathed into his body. For the first time in eternity, for the first moment in the joyous dance, God and man waited and listened as the first heart beat sounded on earth, the first heart beat sounded in eternity, and the first heart beat sounded in the frame of man.

Never before had a heart been formed and never before had a heart beat been heard. Creation listened to the life of God flowing through man’s frame of dust, united with glory, perfect, whole, good and heaven had entered into earth.

Stop. Breathe and listen to your heart beat, listen to your breathing, it is the wonder of life, the joy of the creator manifest in dust and alive in your heart.

Listen And Trust - Proverbs 16:20

Seek God And Listen by Charles R. Swindoll

Sometimes in the busy activity of life it is good just to stop, be quite and listen to the voice that wants to speak to us. A voice of reassurance, a voice of total commitment, speaking words of forgiveness, words of love, words of grace.

As Charles R. Swindoll encourages us, spend the day in quietness, even in the constant noise of life and listen.

Lamentations 3:25 - "Lord, I'm back and I diligently seek you."

How many times have we said this? This time stop talking and sit silently. Wait patiently, seek diligently, sit silently. That means you need to pour out your heart and then deliberately be quiet. Spend a full day in quietness.

Meditation is a lost art in this modern, hurry-up world. I suggest you revive it. Not by endlessly repeating some mantra to get into some other frame of mind. Not that. Simply and silently wait before your faithful God. Read a passage of Scripture, perhaps a psalm, and let it speak. Say nothing. Just sit silently. Let Him talk. Let Him reassure you that you are fully and completely forgiven and that your shame is gone. Feel His arms around you. Understand the cleansing that He's bringing. Feel again the freshness and relief of His presence.

God will give you a fresh start if you'll stop fighting. It works. I know. I've been there. Just submit to Him and accept His grace.

God will keep His promise to forgive and welcome you home.

His mercies are new every morning.

Charles R. Swindoll

Sit And Listen To The Rain - Whiskeytown

I love this Whiskeytown song 

There is a real feeling of forlorn regret in it, and every time I listen to it conjures images of lost hope,

faded dreams and far horizons.

The magic of the lostness is captured in a few simply lines: -

"i'll never understand this emptiness

i'll never really try to understand i guess"

Sometimes just sitting and listening to the rain is the best feeling in the world.

Sit around dream away the place i'm from
used to feel so much, now i just feel numb
could go out tonight but i ain't sure what for
call a friend or two i don't know anymore

sit and listen to the rain
sit and listen to the rain

gonna ride down to the river where it runs
gonna watch tv and pray for decent reruns
sit around and dream away what i've become (dream away what i've become)
used to feel so much now i just feel dumb

sit and listen to the rain
sit and listen to the rain

i'll never understand this emptiness
i'll never really try to understand i guess
i'll never understand this emptiness
i'll never really try and understand
try and understand, i guess

sit around, dream away the place i'm from
used to feel so much, now i just feel dumb
could go out tonight, but i ain't sure what for
call a friend or two i don't know anymore

sit and listen to the rain
sit and listen to the rain