Change of Heart

Posted on June 15, 2021 by billtonnis

(Image by Kranich17 from Pixabay)

“…love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

+++

Listen to my song “Make Me a Channel” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books at the links following the scripture reflection below. Thank you!

+++

Matthew 5:43-45

Jesus said to his disciples, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust.”

+++

How does a person love their enemies?

This is a very direct teaching by Jesus and yet it is roundly ignored.

I can’t remember if I have ever actually heard someone preach on this scripture.

To love the person who may be seeking to do you harm, or who may have done you harm, is seemingly impossible.

And yet, that is exactly what Jesus commands his followers to do.

It seems to me that the only way to be able to love your enemies, is to first realize that God loves you when you are at your worst.

You must experience that God looks upon you as the beloved, when you least deserve it.

I have had that experience.

When I least merited love, I have received it.

I could take no credit for it.

It was pure Grace.

This kind of love is transforming.

It’s when I knew that I knew that I knew that I was unconditionally loved by a Higher Power.

It was then that I realized that this same Source of Love also looks upon even my worst enemy as the beloved.

Jesus gave us the ultimate example of loving our enemies when he forgave his killers from the cross, when they had not even asked for forgiveness.

If the brutal persecutor of Christians named Saul had been killed, we would never have known his powerful writings after he became known as Paul.

Compassion and forgiveness transformed him.

So, first of all, know that in your weakness and failings, you are loved infinitely by God.

Ruminate on this.

Allow it to warm your heart.

God wants this for all people.

Be this same love to others – especially those who least deserve it.

That doesn’t mean that you should submit yourself to abuse.

No! Stand for truth and justice.

But allow your zeal to be tempered and filtered through a loving heart.

This is the only way that God’s kingdom can come about in this place and time.

+++

Listen to the song of the day “Make Me a Channel” on the Listen to Your Heart album by clicking HERE.

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

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

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

Remember: God loves you!

Posted in inspiration, spirituality, Today's Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Live

Posted on June 14, 2021 by billtonnis

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life.” – Eckhart Tolle

+++

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

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books at the links following the scripture reflection below. Thank you!

+++

2 Corinthians 6:2

Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

+++

This is another profound statement by St. Paul.

Salvation doesn’t come on one distant day.

It comes now.

This moment.

Salvation is the deep realization that you are infinitely loved by God – Love itself (“God is love” 1 John 4:8)!

This Love comes regardless of your worthiness.

It connects to your beautiful soul and declares that you are enough!

It makes you whole and complete right now (salvation).

You don’t have to achieve this wholeness.

It’s always there like a perfect diamond at your core.

Sure, you can improve your behaviors in this physical life and achieve accomplishments on a worldly level.

That’s a part of participating in the coming of the kingdom of God, the manifestation of the beloved community right here.

But on a spiritual level – you are already the beloved of God.

You can’t improve on that.

This is so hard for us to grasp!

You came from Love and will return to Love.

When you realize this now…right now…your salvation has come!

St. Paul understood by Grace that as he died to himself (his ego-concocted false self), that he found life to the full (his true self).

He calls on all who wish to share God’s love to pour yourself out, to serve.

What feels like dying will actually be living.

As Paul put it, you will experience being “poor yet enriching many; as having nothing and yet possessing all things” (2 Corinthians 6:10).

Grace is being extended to you right now.

As Paul stated: “We appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain” (2 Corinthians 6:1).

Receive it and pass it on!

+++

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.

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

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

Remember: God loves you!

Posted in inspiration, spirituality, Today's Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Grace Transforms

Posted on June 11, 2021 by billtonnis

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

“God loved us before he made us; and his love has never diminished and never shall.” – Julian of Norwich

+++

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

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books at the links following the scripture reflection below. Thank you!

+++

Ephesians 3:17-19

That you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

+++

St. Paul was truly a transformed person.

And the beautiful and radical fact of the matter is – he had nothing to do with it.

He knew that he had been saved by Grace.

And I don’t mean “saved” from some divine punishment.

Paul was saved from the punishment he was doing to his own soul and to the souls of others.

When he was known as Saul, he was brutally persecuting Christians.

That’s when he encountered Grace on the road to Damascus.

He was confronted with the truth, but was not threatened with punishment.

Instead, he received forgiveness and compassion.

He experienced the beginning of restorative justice.

He was overwhelmed by an Ocean of Love beyond all comprehension.

God, who is Love (1 John 4:8), filled him.

We need to keep this in mind before we throw anyone under the proverbial bus.

Yes, we must follow our conscience in standing up to anyone who we believe is causing harm; but we must always do so in the knowledge that that person is also a child of God.

We must always do so in the spirit of non-violence.

All people are redeemable.

This is the work that Jesus started and is continued today through the Spirit of Christ (or love, compassion, Spirit, or whatever name you wish to label it).

Do you know that you are infinitely loved by Love itself?

Ground yourself in that Love, and then share it in your words and actions.

+++

Listen to the song of the day “Radically Okay” on the Mercy Reigns album by clicking HERE.

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

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

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

Remember: God loves you!

Posted in inspiration, spirituality, Today's Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Empty Yet Full

Posted on June 10, 2021 by billtonnis

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

“Our greatest fulfillment lies in giving ourselves to others.” Henri Nouwen

+++

As part of this reflection, listen to my song “Changed” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books at the links following the scripture reflection below. Thank you!

+++

2 Corinthians 3:17-18

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit.

+++

St. Paul very rarely spoke of Jesus.

He most often spoke of Christ.

His idea of “Christ” was far beyond Jesus of Nazareth.

Paul mystically met Christ in a supernatural encounter while traveling to Damascus.

This spiritual experience began to change him.

At the time he was known as Saul, a brutal persecutor of the followers of Jesus following his crucifixion.

Saul never met Jesus in his human life.

On the road to Damascus to persecute more Christians, instead of being hit by a bolt of lightning, Saul received Grace.

He received the truth that he was persecuting Jesus by persecuting his followers.

The message was delivered with compassion and forgiveness even when he did not deserve it.

Such is Grace.

As he learned more about Christ and started following his way, Saul was set free.

As a follower of Christ, he became known as Paul.

Slowly he was being transformed into the image of Christ.

This is the path of transformation that Christ invites each of us to walk.

It takes the willingness to let go, to die to self.

This self-emptying process paradoxically leads to discovering your true self and having life to the full.

+++

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.

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

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

Remember: God loves you!

Posted in inspiration, spirituality, Today's Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Have Faith

Posted on June 9, 2021 by billtonnis

Image by Jose Antonio Alba from Pixabay

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” – Lao Tzu

+++

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

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books at the links following the scripture reflection below. Thank you!

+++

2 Corinthians 3:5-6

Not that of ourselves we are qualified to take credit for anything as coming from us; rather, our qualification comes from God, who has indeed qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

+++

As the saying goes: “God doesn’t call the qualified; he qualifies the called.”

In today’s scripture, St. Paul is saying that he can’t take credit for the ministry he is carrying out.

He knows it was given to him by a Higher Power.

What he’s sharing is a new covenant in which God pledges total acceptance and unconditional love to all.

You and all people, all creatures, all plants, trees, planets, galaxies, etc., are loved by God infinitely and unconditionally.

If all you do is preach laws without the spirit of love and compassion, you are a noisy gong.

Laying down the law to people will never inspire or give life.

Turn yourself over to the Spirit.

Practice letting go of your ego through some form of meditation such as Centering Prayer.

Allow the Spirit to inspire you to channel the Love that is energizing the universe through you.

You will have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10)!

+++

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

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

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

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

Remember: God loves you!

Posted in inspiration, spirituality, Today's Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Silence Speaks

Posted on June 8, 2021 by billtonnis

Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay

“Awareness of the sacred in life is what holds our world together, and the lack of awareness of the sacred is what is tearing it apart.” – Joan Chittister

+++

Listen to my song “I Stand in the Light” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books at the links following the scripture reflection below. Thank you!

+++

Psalm 119:130

The revelation of your words sheds light, gives understanding to the simple.

+++

Everything is sacred.

All of creation is imprinted with God’s DNA.

We can only speak of these things metaphorically because they are so deep into Mystery.

God’s incarnation into our material world began, at least as far as we can ascertain, at the “Big Bang” – when the universe began an estimated 13.8 billion years ago.

We’ve been given senses to experience the sacredness of God.

The Sacred comes into our awareness through sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch (and maybe other senses we have yet to utilize).

I think God’s words are revealed to us through all these senses.

If we are awake, if we are aware, we begin to connect to the Sacred all around us.

Scripture is also part of God’s communication.

When we practice Lectio Divina, we read scripture with the ear of our hearts.

We listen for a word of phrase that moves us, draws us, repels us, causes some reaction inside us, and then we sit and mull it over in silence.

Read the scripture again and repeat the process, but this time ask God if you are being drawn to a particular word or phrase due to something going on in your life?

Then read it a third time, this time asking if God is calling you to do something, to take some sort of action?

We must approach this like a wide-eyed child, simple, open to the awe and wonder of the Divine.

The Holy One is communicating in a myriad of ways, shedding light on our path forward.

Amen and alleluia!

+++

Listen to the song of the day “I Stand in the Light” on the Mercy Reigns album by clicking HERE.

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

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

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

Remember: God loves you!

Posted in inspiration, spirituality, Today's Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Evolve

Posted on June 7, 2021 by billtonnis

“Transformed people transform people.” – Richard Rohr

+++

Listen to my song “Take the Road Less Traveled” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books at the links following the scripture reflection below. Thank you!

+++

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement, who encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God.

+++

I used to think that my little (and not so little) sufferings of life were a curse.

I would cry out inside, “Why me, God?”

As if God didn’t care or as if God wouldn’t have compassion for my affliction.

Thank God I have by Grace been led to greater understanding.

I look back to a time between 1997 and 1999 with great gratitude now.

Not so much then.

Over that time period I dealt with a ruptured appendix and gall bladder disease as well as a real crisis over my path in life.

I now see that time as a time of great blessing.

It was a time when at my lowest moments of pain and suffering, I discovered a Great Love that was holding me, carrying me, showing me compassion.

This came in various ways: through new people in my life; through songs and books that seemed to show up right when I needed them most. Through mystical experiences of a Loving Mystery beyond what words could explain.

At that time in my life, I wanted to be as far away from hospitals or any form of human suffering as possible.

But in going through these experiences, little did I know that a transformation was happening.

It felt like dying, yet it was actually new life in the making.

Something old needed to go in order that something new could come.

In the process that began during that time, four albums of songs were birthed as well as two devotional books.

I now visit those who are ill as well as those who are incarcerated.

I bring them the Good News of God’s unconditional and transforming love.

Blessed be the God of my Lord Jesus Christ, the God of all encouragement.

If you are hurting, turn to the Great Compassion in whom we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).

+++

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.

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

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

Remember: God loves you!

Posted in inspiration, spirituality, Today's Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Serve

Posted on June 4, 2021 by billtonnis
Image by Mar Dais from Pixabay

“We know only too well that what we are doing is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. But if the drop were not there, the ocean would be missing something.” – Mother Teresa

+++

Listen to my song “Glorify You with Me” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books at the links following the scripture reflection below. Thank you!

+++

Psalm 146:2

Praise the LORD, my soul; I will praise the LORD all my life, sing praise to my God while I live.

+++

How do we praise God?

We do it with words and songs for sure.

That’s all well and good, and it can make us feel really good to do so.

But if that’s the end result, it seems a bit empty.

If you read today’s psalm further, you would begin to grasp a more meaningful kind of praise.

“Blessed is the one whose help is the God of Jacob” (Psalm 146:5), who secures justice for the oppressed, gives bread to the hungry, sets prisoners free, gives sight to the blind, raises up those who are bowed down, protects the stranger, and comes to the aid of the orphan and widow (Psalm 146:7-9).

When we take part in these acts of mercy, we are giving praise to God.

We praise God by taking part in the building of what Jesus called the kingdom of God, the place where all people experience belonging to a “beloved community”, a term popularized by Martin Luther King Jr.

God carries out these good works through us.

When we let go of our self-centered desires, and allow the Great Goodness of the Universe to be channeled through us, we become living vessels of praise to God.

+++

Listen to the song of the day “Glorify You with Me” on the Give Praise and Thanks album by clicking HERE.

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

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

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

Remember: God loves you!

Posted in inspiration, spirituality, Today's Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Life Changer

Posted on June 3, 2021 by billtonnis
Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

“Lord, grant that I might not so much seek to be loved as to love.” – St. Francis of Assisi

+++

Listen to my song “Make Me a Channel” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books at the links following the scripture reflection below. Thank you!

+++

Mark 12:30-31

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”

+++

When a scribe asked Jesus to determine which was the greatest commandment, Jesus’ reply was today’s scripture verse.

As you can see, Love was the bottom line for Jesus.

The kind of love he was talking about was not the sentimental, mushy love of romance novels and movies.

It was the “agape” kind of love.

This love is beyond emotions.

It’s a choice.

And most importantly, it’s unconditional.

It’s a Love that is infinite.

It is poured upon us from an unending reservoir.

This is the love God has for us.

This is the Love that God is.

Remember: “God is love” (1 John 4:8).

Jesus demonstrated this love when he continued to respond in truth and non-violence to those who maliciously and unjustly tortured and killed him.

He gave us the ultimate example when he forgave his killers from the cross when they had not even asked for forgiveness (Luke 23:34)!

When the scribe responded that he understood and agreed with what Jesus had said, Jesus told him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 12:34).

Jesus’ mission was to ignite this agape love in the hearts of all so that the “kingdom of God” would manifest in this time and place.

Many have complicated this simple (yet difficult) foundation of Christianity through myriads of rules and fundamentalism.

It’s time to get back to the basics.

+++

Listen to the song of the day “Make Me a Channel” on the Listen to Your Heart album by clicking HERE.

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

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

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

Remember: God loves you!

Posted in inspiration, spirituality, Today's Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Great Compassion

Posted on June 2, 2021 by billtonnis
Image by Pexels from Pixabay

“Real change will come when it is brought about, not by your ego, but by reality. Awareness releases reality to change you.” – Anthony de Mello

+++

Listen to my song “Breathe On Me” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Support my ministry by purchasing my songs and books at the links following the scripture reflection below. Thank you!

+++

Psalm 25:4

Make known to me your ways, LORD; teach me your paths.

+++

Today’s scripture verse is a great prayer to offer each morning.

Oh loving God, Creator of the universe, awaken me to your abiding Presence.

Help me to die to myself, to let go of my ego’s desires so that Your desires might rise in me.

Open my eyes that I might see You in all people and all things.

Open my ears that I might hear Your gentle whisper.

Awaken my soul to Your nudges to guide me.

May we all set aside ten to twenty minutes to simply rest in You, to let go of everything.

(Some form of meditation such as Centering Prayer is essential.)

Let us breathe in and breathe out the Grace that You are.

May we all reflect You to the world in each little thing we do and say.

May we be inspired to use our talents to reflect the Unconditional Love that You are.

Amen.

+++

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

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

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

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

Remember: God loves you!

Posted in inspiration, spirituality, Today's Contemplation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment