Solidarity

Posted on November 18, 2021 by billtonnis

“In compassion, when we feel with the other, we dethrone ourselves from the center of our world and we put another person there.” – Karen Armstrong

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As part of this reflection, listen to my song “Take the Road Less Traveled” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart). Thank you!

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Luke 19:41-42

As Jesus drew near Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.”

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One thing that immediately struck me in today’s scripture verse is that Jesus wept.

He was moved to tears.

Our culture frowns on people crying but especially men.

How many times have you heard someone apologize for crying?

Or maybe you have found yourself saying, “I’m sorry I’m crying.”

I believe tears are sacred.

They spring from our deepest core when we are moved with compassion.

It’s when we connect with someone else and realize our oneness.

Their pain is our pain.

Jesus knew that love is what it takes to make peace.

He said the most important commandments were to love God and your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:36-40).

He said that the whole law depends on this.

Just so we knew that Love leaves no one out, he ordered us to love our enemies as well (Matthew 5:44).

But as Jesus looked out at Jerusalem, he realized the people there were blinded to the truth.

Perhaps he saw the writing on the wall at this point, that his mission to free all from oppression and to restore our oneness in God would lead to his demise.

Perhaps if Mary Magdalene had received her due, we would have developed a more compassionate tradition to follow.

Just look at her unwavering faithful commitment to Jesus as he went to the cross, as his body was taken down from that cross, and as it was buried.

She was always there.

Mary Magdalene persevered through her grief as she then returned to the tomb.

Her tears were an outpouring of her solidarity with Jesus.

Her faith carried her through her anguish to the experience of the resurrection.

She intimately knew the truth: Love never dies, but leads to new life and peace after-lasting.

May you know this truth as well.

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Listen to the song of the day “Take the Road Less Traveled” on the Live to Love album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Remember: God loves you!

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Have Faith

Posted on November 17, 2021 by billtonnis
Photo by Darkmoon_Art on Pixabay

“The love by which we love God is the very same love with which God has first loved us.” – Meister Eckhart

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Listen to my song “The Way You Are” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart). Thank you!

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Psalm 17:7-8

Show your wonderful mercy, you who deliver with your right arm those who seek refuge from their foes. Keep me as the apple of your eye.

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We all want mercy.

We’ve all experienced times when we felt oppressed or wronged.

We’ve all had times when we felt like the whole world was against us.

It’s then that we often turn to a Higher Power.

We cry out to God for help.

It’s a wonderful thought to believe that we are the apple of God’s eye; that God cherishes us.

Do you believe that?

I think many people don’t.

They struggle with their short-comings and faults.

I know I have!

If you’ve always been modeled a conditional love, it’s hard to believe in one that’s unconditional.

But I have come to know God’s deepest love when I least deserved it.

God is love (1 John 4:8).

So turn to this Love which will always accept you as is.

St. Paul put it this way: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

Nothing!

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Listen to the song of the day “The Way You Are” on the Mercy Reigns album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Remember: God loves you!

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Love Is the Process

Posted on November 16, 2021 by billtonnis
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“Beautiful are those whose brokenness gives birth to transformation and wisdom.” – John Mark Green

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As part of today’s reflection, listen to my song “Love Will Always Lead You Home” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart). Thank you!

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Psalm 3:6-7

I lie down and I fall asleep, and I will wake up, for God sustains me. I do not fear, then, thousands of people arrayed against me on every side.

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(Trigger warning: I’m going to mention suicide in this reflection. If you are thinking about suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255.)

Life can hand us lots of troubles.

Sometimes they can seem unsurmountable.

I quite unexpectedly had a phone conversation this morning with a suicidal man.

He said there were so many different problems that he just couldn’t cope anymore.

He said he was done.

Take a moment for a deep breath.

Yes, right now.

Take a deep breath.

Inhale….and exhale.

Do you feel that?

God is sustaining you, is saying yes to you and your existence in this earthly realm.

God, who is love (1 John 4:8), is loving you in each moment.

Allow your life situation to fade for just this moment.

Listen to the words of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

Know that you are a deeply loved spiritual being having a human experience.

Love is carrying you back to Love.

So let go of fear.

Let go of your repetitive thoughts that are telling you a story that is only a story.

Though it may appear that thousands of people are arrayed against you on every side, that appearance fizzles in the face of Love.

It’s an illusion.

Yes, there are problems in your life experience now, but those problems are life’s way of steering you to a deeper experience of love.

In my life, some of the worst struggles have turned into my sacred scars.

They have become blessings through which I can help others on their human journeys.

Trust.

Have faith.

There is a Love beyond all understanding leading you to a glorious wholeness.

Grace is beginning.

It’s happening now.

Breathe deeply.

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Listen to the song of the day “Love Will Always Lead You Home” on the Mercy Reigns album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Remember: God loves you!

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Wholeness

Posted on November 15, 2021 by billtonnis

“One of the greatest regrets in life is being what others would want you to be, rather than being yourself.” – Shannon L. Alder

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Listen to my song “Show Me, Me” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart). Thank you!

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Luke 18:41-43

(Jesus asked the blind man,) “What do you want me to do for you?” He replied, “Lord, please let me see.” Jesus told him, “Have sight; your faith has saved you.” He immediately received his sight and followed him, giving glory to God.”

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Jesus gives us a beautiful example of the love and mercy of God.

First, he shows great respect to the blind man in asking him what he could do for him since the man would have been an outcast in that society.

The man would have been excluded from his community as it would have been believed that some sort of sin was responsible for his blindness.

Of course, that is not true.

When he asks to see, Jesus restores his sight and says, “Your faith has saved you.”

When I see the words “saved” and “salvation” in the scriptures, I feel that a better translation would be “made whole” and “wholeness.”

Due to the blind man’s faith, he was restored to wholeness; not just in his ability to see but also in his re-inclusion into the community.

This man’s life was totally and drastically changed.

And what was his response?

He followed Jesus and gave glory to God.

He was finally free to be himself.

What do you want God to do for you?

Would you be ready to make a radical change in your life to actually follow Jesus in his ways?

That would mean letting go of an egocentric life and instead being a vessel of love, compassion, forgiveness, and service, especially to the oppressed and marginalized.

This is freedom.

Of course, this is the only way to actually live as your true self.

Isn’t that the whole point of us being here?

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Listen to the song of the day “Show Me, Me” on the Listen to Your Heart album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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True Self

Posted on November 12, 2021 by billtonnis

“Attachment to things drops away by itself when you no longer seek to find yourself in them.” – Eckhart Tolle

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Listen to my song “Pour Me Out” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart). Thank you!

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Luke 17:33

“Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it.”

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Ah, another of Jesus’ Zen-like sayings that gives us a key to abundant life.

But many simply let this go in one ear and out the other without effect.

That’s probably because those who taught us these scriptures didn’t understand them either!

I have found today’s scripture verse to be profoundly true in my life.

We start out in life trying to “be somebody” in the eyes of our parents, friends, and culture.

At that point, we are trying to form an ego.

It’s my identity in the world.

But, alas, it’s a false self.

It’s not a bad self, just not my true self.

My true identity is a beloved child of God.

But that won’t get much cred or honor from this culture.

It takes letting go of identifying with power, possessions, and prestige.

It takes a lot of letting go of the things that don’t matter to find the things that do.

It takes dying to self, as in your ego self, to find your true self.

This is the path of self-emptying that Jesus demonstrated with his entire life.

The paradox is this: When my false self dies, my true self rises.

St. Paul put it this way: “I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:19-20).

And he also put it this way: “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:3-4).

When I eventually let go of all the masks I had put on, all the adornments of my false self, lo and behold, I found more life than I could ever have imagined, whether it was youth ministry, or chaplaincy, or jail ministry, or music ministry.

And it was all due to Grace as well as my slow cooperation.

What is God calling you to let go of so that you can experience abundant life?

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Listen to the song of the day “Pour Me Out” on the Give Praise and Thanks album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Remember: God loves you!

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Be Here Now

Posted on November 11, 2021 by billtonnis

“The presence of God penetrates us, is all around us, is always embracing us.” – Thomas Keating

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Listen to my song “There Is Three” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart). Thank you!

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Luke 17:20-21

Asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he said in reply, “The coming of the kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the kingdom of God is among you.”

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This is one of Jesus’ key messages.

But somehow it was never conveyed to me in all of my religious education growing up.

We seemed to simply overlook or ignore Jesus’ statements about the kingdom of God.

Our religion ended up being about trying to make it safely through life on Earth as some sort of test that would be rewarded with a trip to heaven if you were good enough, or punished with a one-way ticket to hell to burn for eternity if you weren’t.

What a horrible scenario and what a horrible idea about God and creation!

Jesus often spoke about the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven, and he almost always was talking about the present – not some distant future reward.

When a scribe asked Jesus to tell him the most important commandment, Jesus told him the top two: First to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; and second, to love your neighbor as yourself.

When the scribe expressed understanding, Jesus told him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 12:34).

That’s because when you are loving God and your neighbor (meaning everyone) as yourself (meaning everyone loves everyone as if they were you), you are experiencing the emergence of the kingdom of God in the present.

This experience is always available at your deepest core when you are present to the Divine Presence.

It’s available ‘among you’ as Jesus stated in today’s scripture.

And among you is also translated as ‘within you.’

When you live from this experience of the Divine Presence, you will begin to radiate this Presence in your words and actions.

The kingdom of God will truly be at hand!

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Listen to the song of the day “There Is Three” on the Mercy Reigns album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Service Required

Posted on November 10, 2021 by billtonnis
Image by Here and now, unfortunately, ends my journey on Pixabay from Pixabay

“God tells you where to look; love tells you what to see.” – Matshona Dhliwayo

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Listen to my song “I Want to Follow You” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart). Thank you!

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Psalm 82:3-4

“Defend the lowly and fatherless; render justice to the afflicted and needy. Rescue the lowly and poor; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

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The context in today’s scripture verse is that God is speaking through the writer of this psalm.

Jesus fleshes this verse out in the Christian tradition as he actually lives these directives.

You may recall that Jesus stated his mission clearly when he stood up in the synagogue in Nazareth and quoted from the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind” (Luke 4:18).

If you claim to be a Christian, then it would follow that you are also supposed to have his mission – at least to some degree.

Each of us needs to examine our own heart as to whether we are doing this.

But as I look at today’s social media as well as politics and the way people treat each other in general, it seems few have the Christian mission at heart.

Jesus pointedly stated that whatever we do to the least of these that you do to him (Matthew 25:40).

Note that Jesus never talks about whether people deserve help or not.

I know that I have my hands full just discerning my own words and actions in regard to these teachings without judging others.

I know I need to remove the wooden beam from my own eye before removing the splinter from another’s (Matthew 7:5).

So, let us each re-read today’s scripture verse: Defend the lowly and fatherless; render justice to the afflicted and needy. Rescue the lowly and poor; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

Now, may we honestly ask ourselves how we are doing with that.

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Listen to the song of the day “I Want to Follow You” on the Listen to Your Heart album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Sacred Core

Posted on November 9, 2021 by billtonnis
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“There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.” – Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander

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Listen to my song “God Is” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart). Thank you!

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1 Corinthians 3:16

Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

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Mystics from across the ages have all intuited what St. Paul says in today’s scripture.

However, I think many who believe in God think that God is out there somewhere in some distant heaven.

But God is not just there but everywhere.

As I wrote yesterday, God is in whom we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).

The Spirit of God is at our deepest core.

Since God is love (1 John 4:8), then Love is at our deepest core as well.

Take time each day to practice some form of meditation such as Centering Prayer.

Let go of all the noise outside and inside your head.

Simply be with the Divine Presence.

Know that Love itself is communing with you.

Live from that place of love and your inner Light will burst forth.

You will shine like the sun!

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Listen to the song of the day “God Is” on the Give Praise and Thanks album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Good News

Posted on November 8, 2021 by billtonnis
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“Grace is everywhere as an active orientation of all created reality toward God.” – Karl Rahner

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Listen to my song “Changed” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart). Thank you!

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Wisdom 1:7

For the spirit of the LORD fills the world, is all-embracing, and knows whatever is said.

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When God self-identifies as “I AM” to Moses (Exodus 3:14), it speaks volumes.

How do we define the undefinable, the ineffable?

In the biblical account, God’s identity seems to be Beingness itself.

St. Paul seemed to grasp this when he stated that in God “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

As such, we cannot escape God because God is everywhere.

In other words, the Spirit fills the world, is all-embracing, and knows whatever is said. God knows our hearts.

And as Jesus said, God knows what you need before you ask (Matthew 6:8).

The point is, we can’t fool God.

So for each of us, it would be good to stop fooling ourselves.

Each of us needs to be honest about our true motives.

Over time, I have realized all the masks that I have worn in order to feel worthy or important, to feel in control; to be right, etc.

I’ve had to come to terms with many things that I had been blind to for years out of ignorance, such as the effects racism still has on this country and the world, such as the effects of greed and consumption have had on the Earth.

I’ve had to confront my basic motives and ask: Do they align with what Jesus taught?

Do I love my enemies (Matthew 5:44)?

Do I serve the poor and the least of these (Matthew 25:44-45)?

Am I a peacemaker (Matthew 5:9)?

Is love my top priority (Matthew 22:36-40)?

Thankfully, I have discovered I am loved by Love itself in my imperfection.

By grace, I have been changed and set free.

However, it is a daily process of re-discerning my motives as I live in and through this imperfect vessel.

Thank God for grace!

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Listen to the song of the day “Changed” on the Give Praise and Thanks album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Remember: God loves you!

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Original Blessing

Posted on November 5, 2021 by billtonnis
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“We carry inside us the wonders we seek outside us.” – Rumi

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Listen to my song “The Way You Are” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books (Mercy Reigns & Listen to Your Heart). Thank you!

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Romans 15:14

I myself am convinced about you, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness.

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St. Paul intuits a sacred truth: At our core, we are good.

Unfortunately, a large portion of the Christian tradition has seemed to embrace the opposite, teaching that we are basically rotten.

This has been like a poison sabotaging many lives.

Religious leaders seemed to have decided to focus on the second creation story in the bible found in Genesis chapters two and three, instead of focusing on the first creation story found in the first chapter of Genesis.

In the first story, God pauses throughout the creation process to say that it is good.

In the final verse, God looks at all of creation and finds it very good.

Do you know that at your spiritual-soul-core, you are very good?

What a difference this would make if we embraced this story!

Not that there isn’t a moral to the second story of creation as there certainly is.

We do have free will which can result in evil choices.

We are all here to learn about love and learn how to love.

But our original blessing cannot be overlooked.

This is why Jesus told the parable of the prodigal son.

The father in the story, the God figure, shows his wayward son total and complete unconditional love as he returns because God only sees our inner core of goodness.

We certainly learn from our sinful choices that they hurt us and hurt others.

The repercussions from these choices are real and of deep significance for our learning.

They also, many times, become the very things that transform us for the better as we encounter God’s mercy and grace.

As Jesus stated at the start of his ministry in the Gospel of Mark, “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

Repent means to turn around, change your direction, change your selfish ways.

Turn towards God who is love itself (1 John 4:8).

Jesus was only able to make this statement after first hearing that he was God’s beloved (Mark 1:11).

You, also, need to hear God’s voice telling you, “You are my beloved.”

At your core, you are connected to the Divine.

Believe in the gospel!

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Listen to the song of the day “The Way You Are” on the Mercy Reigns album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my new book “Listen to Your Heart: A Daily Devotional of Calling, Purpose and New Life” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Purchase my book “Mercy Reigns: A Daily Devotional of Compassion, Comfort and Healing” on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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Remember: God loves you!

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