Originally Blessed

Posted on September 2, 2021 by billtonnis

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“God is the good and all things which proceed from God are good.” – Hildegard of Bingen

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Luke 5:8

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

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This is the famous story of Jesus advising Peter, a seasoned-fishermen, to cast his nets one more time into deep water after he caught nothing all night.

Peter begrudgingly does so, more or less out of respect for Jesus.

The nets end up filled with so many fish they are in danger of tearing.

That’s when Peter makes the comment in today’s scripture verse.

Peter feels he doesn’t deserve such gratuitous favor.

Not only that, he feels he is so sinful that Jesus is much too good to be in his lowly presence as well.

I don’t think things have changed much since that time.

Many still believe that we are wretched, low-life sinners.

Yes, we have our struggles. Our souls are encased in bodies that assail us with needs and wants. This is the evolving human condition.

But we have somehow lost the awareness that we are good at the core.

We decided to dwell on the second creation story in the third chapter of Genesis, and ignore the first creation story in the first chapter.

That’s the story where God calls everything, including human beings, very good (Genesis 1:31).

This was our “Original Blessing” that we forgot.

Jesus showed us the heart of God.

He healed many and never seemed to care if they deserved it.

He told the story of the landowner who hired workers at various times throughout the day for his vineyard, and then paid them all the same amount (Matthew 20:1-16).

When the workers who toiled the longest complained about the later workers getting the same amount, the landowner replies: “Are you envious because I’m generous?”

The landowner is the God figure.

Jesus is telling us that God is generous to all.

Jesus also said that God makes the sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45).

God is good!

God loves you and me and all of creation unconditionally.

Live in that awareness…and share it!

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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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Good News

Posted on September 1, 2021 by billtonnis

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“Believe in a love that is being stored up for you like an inheritance, and have faith that in this love there is strength and blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it.” – Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

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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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Luke 4:42-43

At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place. The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him, they tried to prevent him from leaving them. But he said to them, “To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent.”

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Jesus was healing people right and left in the town of Capernaum and everyone was fawning over him.

So why would he leave?

Would you?

Jesus left because he had a mission.

It wasn’t about his ego’s comforts and pleasures.

Earlier in this chapter, Jesus had read 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 recovering of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free” (Luke 4:18).

He declared that this was his mission.

So in today’s scripture, Jesus shows us the proper balance of action and contemplation.

After much ministering to many in need and freeing them from afflictions, he went off to a deserted place to silently commune with God.

From this place of solitude, Jesus hears in his heart the confirmation that he must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to other towns as well.

This good news is that all are loved unconditionally by God who is love itself (1 John 4:8).

That there is no need to fear anything because Love is leading the way.

All who are marginalized are included in this loving realm of spacious freedom.

You don’t have to go anywhere to find it because it is right inside of you (Luke 17:20-21).

This gospel message is still being proclaimed today.

Will you accept it?

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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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Trust in Love

Posted on August 31, 2021 by billtonnis

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“Wherever you are afraid, try to explore, and you will find death hiding somewhere behind. All fear is of death. Death is the only fear source.” – Osho

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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 27:1

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear?

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If you are aware of what’s happening in the world, you may find it hard not to fear:

Senseless violence; people treating other people, creatures, and creation with cruelty; earthquakes; hurricanes; a lack of decency and compassion in politics; climate change.

But amidst all of this is a thread-of-Goodness.

There are people giving their lives for others.

There are people putting aside their ego-pursuits in favor of compassionate work on behalf of the common good.

There is a bigger picture.

What’s happening today is such a tiny, infinitesimal blip in time that it would seem totally insignificant.

In a hundred years, all of today’s concerns will be dissolved.

What truly matters…is love; the compassion that is sparked in the hearts of those who are moved to take action on behalf of the common good.

God, who is love itself (1 John 4:8), is holding and animating the entire universe, moving it forward in a Creative-Flow-of-Goodness.

It cannot be defeated.

As St. Paul put it: “Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:8).

When a violent storm assailed the boat that Jesus and his followers were aboard, the fearful followers woke Jesus from his sleep.

Then Jesus said: “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” (Mark 4:40)

Ah, that is the question!

Do you not know that you are a wondrous spiritual being, loved thoroughly and unconditionally by God?

Do you not know that as we live-from-this-place-of-Eternal-Love that physical death will just be a portal to a new and transformed life?

While material things will pass away, faith, hope and love will remain; “but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).

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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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Death to Life

Posted on August 30, 2021 by billtonnis

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“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 “Make Your Way” 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 Thessalonians 4:14

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

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Jesus is the blueprint for life.

He showed us how to live and how to die.

He demonstrated how to be present to life as it unfolds and to do it with compassion and justice.

As Jesus stated in today’s gospel reading as he quoted 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, to let the oppressed go free” (Luke 4:18).

This was Jesus’ mission statement, and I would suggest to you, it is also ours.

In order to serve, our egos must get out of the way. In a sense, they must die.

When we pour ourselves out in the service of others, using our gifts and talents in a co-creative way with the Love (God) that is still creating, we are living as our true selves.

Jesus demonstrated in the way he died, that even then, love is the path to life.

He stood up to those unjustly persecuting him but he did it non-violently!

That is the key that leads to transformation.

Jesus showed us that Love will carry us through physical-death’s threshold to new life.

Death and life are two sides to the same coin.

You can’t have one without the other.

Near Death Experiencers are giving their witness to the truth that life goes on transformed.

If you are well-practiced in letting go and you have experienced how letting go has always led to greater life, you will be ready for this epic transformation.

Re-read today’s scripture verse, and know that there is nothing, absolutely nothing to fear!

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Listen to the song of the day “Make Your Way” 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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Shine

Posted on August 27, 2021 by billtonnis

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“Life is not a matter of creating a special name for ourselves, but of uncovering the name we have always had.” – Richard Rohr, Immortal Diamond

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Listen to my song “May I Be Light” 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 Thessalonians 4:7-8

For God did not call us to impurity but to holiness. Therefore, whoever disregards this, disregards not a human being but God, who also gives his holy Spirit to you.

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It would be helpful to translate holiness as wholeness.

I believe this is the idea that St. Paul was trying to get across.

Unfortunately, we turned holiness into some pious and devout image of perfection.

We turned sin into every-little-infraction-of-immorality and envisioned that they stuck to us like a lesion.

This sank us into a state of wretchedness deserving of punishment.

What if we instead saw sin as missing the mark?

What if we saw it as leading us away from the wholeness of who God made us to be?

That wholeness is always there inside you.

It’s the you that God made and unconditionally loves.

It’s the light inside you.

We often remember that Jesus said, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12), but we often forget that he also said to all of us, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14).

Impurity, or doing things that disregard your inner wholeness, is like disregarding God.

It is like covering your light.

It is disregarding Love itself since God is love (1 John 4:8).

When we turn from Love we create disharmony not only in ourselves but in the world.

We are called to live from this inner Love, our true selves, so as to co-create harmony with the Love that is in the DNA of all that exists.

How else can God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10)?

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Listen to the song of the day “May I Be Light” 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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This Is It

Posted on August 26, 2021 by billtonnis

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“Our appointment with life is in the present moment.” – Thich Naht Hanh

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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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Matthew 24:42-44

“Stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

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Jesus used parables to jolt people into a deeper awareness.

Unfortunately, due to a long history of people warping Christianity into a theology of meriting heaven or being damned to hell, many still view Jesus’ teachings as imposing fear.

That’s despite hundreds of messages throughout the bible urging us to not be afraid.

Jesus spent his time healing and calming fears.

When his followers were caught in a violent storm, he told them to not be afraid.

Jesus also preached not to worry because of God’s deep care for all of creation (Matthew 6:25-34).

When the woman was caught in adultery, Jesus did not threaten her with any sort of punishment (John 8:1-11).

He told her to change her ways, but he did not condemn her.

(If she was on the brink of hell, don’t you think Jesus would have at least mentioned it?!)

Then there’s Jesus’ famous parable of the Prodigal Son in which the God figure, the father, welcomes his wayward son home with open arms and no chastisement at all.

And yet so many people choose to look for reasons why they should be afraid of God.

The point Jesus is making in today’s scripture verses is to stay awake.

Be present, as if keenly listening in the middle of the night for the sounds of a thief trying to secretly break into your home.

The Divine Presence is always here. It is we who are not!

We are many times lost in our thoughts, worries, judgements, and ego trips.

Many are missing the wondrous and amazing Sacred Presence in each moment.

Physical death will also happen when it happens in the present moment.

But there is nothing to fear if you are well practiced in being present to the Love that created you and is always here.

Stay awake!

Life will be transformed!

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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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Immersed in Sacredness

Posted on August 25, 2021 by billtonnis

Image by Аркадий Макаров from Pixabay

“We cannot attain the presence of God because we’re already totally in the presence of God. What’s absent is awareness.” – Richard Rohr

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Listen to my song “Slow Me Down” 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 139:7-8

Where can I go from your spirit? From your presence, where can I flee? If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I lie down in Sheol, there you are.

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When I say the word God, there are probably as many meanings attached to it as there are people hearing me.

Perhaps this is why religious Jews did not say the name.

To think that a three-letter word could capture the meaning of the ineffable is absurd.

The mystics throughout history comprehended God as being outside space and time but also in it.

God is indeed everywhere.

Ignatian spirituality stemming from St. Ignatius finds God in all things.

God is described as Love itself in Christian scripture (1 John 4:8).

St. Paul says that in God “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

So, today’s scripture speaks a mysterious truth.

Where can I go to escape the presence of the Divine Presence?

If I am catapulted in a space ship to distant galaxies or if I descend to the netherworld, Sheol in ancient times, the Divine Presence is there.

And so all things are sacred, and all things obviously include you and me.

When I am present to the Divine Presence, I am in the flow of the Love that is animating all things in this Eternal Now.

A meditation practice such as Centering Prayer is a great exercise in immersing yourself in this All-Encompassing Sacredness.

When we live from this Presence, we experience and help create what Jesus called the kingdom of heaven in the here and now.

Peace and joy will bloom

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Listen to the song of the day “Slow Me Down” 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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Be the Change

Posted on August 24, 2021 by billtonnis

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“We can’t heal the world today but we can begin with a voice of compassion, a heart of love, and an act of kindness.” – Mary Davis

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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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Psalm 145:18

God is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth.

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As we witness the gut-wrenching images of desperate Afghans trying to escape the turmoil in their country, our hearts are moved.

As we witness the other gut-wrenching images of people affected by earthquakes, hurricanes and flooding around the world, our hearts are moved.

I do believe that God is near to those who call out, as God is in whom “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

God, who is love (1 John 4:8), is with us.

This Love isn’t the romantic, mushy kind of love we see in romance novels and movies.

It’s the pour-yourself-out-for-the-other-to-death-kind-of-love that we see in Jesus.

It’s the Love that animates all life.

It’s a Love that is the very air we breathe.

I’m sure if you are open to receiving the peace beyond understanding (Philippians 4:7) that this Love can bring, you can experience it in the depths of despair.

I have.

But through Jesus’ example we see that we are called to more than simply “thoughts and prayers.”

Not that I don’t believe thoughts and prayers can help, because I do believe there is something mystically healing about that.

But Jesus calls us to non-violent action.

We’re not just called to be people of peace but to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9).

We’re called to reach out to those who are suffering.

“Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40).

When our hearts are moved, it is Love moving them, urging them to spark action.

Sadly, it seems it takes hardships to make compassion come to 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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Heaven on Earth

Posted on August 23, 2021 by billtonnis

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“When you act out of present-moment awareness, whatever you do becomes imbued with a sense of quality, care, and love – even the most simple action.” – Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

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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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Matthew 23:13

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the kingdom of heaven before human beings. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You traverse sea and land to make one convert, and when that happens you make him a child of Gehenna twice as much as yourselves.”

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Here we see how Jesus obviously had contempt for the scribes and Pharisees, the scholars of the law and religion.

Jesus seemed to be quite content to hang out with the so-called sinners, but not-so-much the scribes and Pharisees.

This is because they were fixated on the law without regard to compassion.

What we have translated as “kingdom of heaven” would today be more likely translated “loving realm of spaciousness and peace.”

This state-of-being is readily available to anyone who accepts this free gift of God.

It’s within you and among you (Luke 17:20-21).

When you are present to this gift, it changes you.

It pervades you and then can be shared with others through your own presence.

But Jesus says the Pharisees lock out others as well as themselves through their own hardness of heart.

He goes on to say that in their zeal to convert one person to Judaism, their fixation on rules also hardened the heart of the convert such as to make him a child of Gehenna.

Gehenna was a dump outside Jerusalem where at one time children were sacrificed and then bodies of criminals and animals were discarded.

There were fires constantly burning there.

Jesus said the Pharisees’ actions were so detrimental that it was as if they and the person they converted were tossed into this worthless and pitiable dump!

The moral of the story is this: Allow the unconditional love of God to lead you into the loving realm of spaciousness and peace.

When you are present to this Loving Presence, as Jesus put it, “You are not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 12:34).

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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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Top Priority

Posted on August 20, 2021 by billtonnis

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“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.” Dalai Lama

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Listen to my song “Mercy Reigns” 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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Matthew 22:35-40

One of them [a scholar of the law] tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

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The religious leaders really did not like the way Jesus leveled the playing field to include all the outcasts.

Jesus reached out to those whom the law deemed unclean.

The religious leaders in today’s passage are more concerned with keeping the letter of the law than they are about compassion.

As a matter of fact, observing the letter of the law has no concern with compassion.

It’s very black and white and either – or.

That’s not a good way to live your life since life will lead you into all kinds of gray areas.

Jesus tells the scholar of the law that love is the greatest commandment: Love God and your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus says the whole law and the prophets depend on this.

Love must be a Christian’s very foundation.

This is where our actions should be rooted.

They should be spawned out of love.

Love is hardly love without actions to demonstrate it.

Each of us needs to ask ourselves: Is love the main motivation for my words, actions, politics – everything?

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Listen to the song of the day “Mercy Reigns” 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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