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Posted on July 12, 2012 by billtonnis

Matthew 10:8
“Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”

We have received so much from God. Our Maker has lavished us with gifts beyond measure…all the beauty of creation…all the wonderful sensations we experience by way of touch, sight, hearing and smell. Life itself and eternal life…have been granted to us by our Loving Source Who has given freely without any conditions! Jesus spent the last three years of His life showing us the face of God. He lavishly restored people to wholeness. He healed without conditions. It had nothing to do with a person’s beliefs. It had nothing to do with a person earning it. Jesus’ only requirement seemed to be faith. Do you have faith in Christ’s ability to heal you in the way that God wills it? How can each of us be a channel of God’s healing to the world?

Suggested song of the day—“Make Me a Channel” on the Listen to Your Heart album.
All songs available on iTunes. Click on the link under blogroll to the right.
CDs available by clicking on “home” and then the “store” tab.
Have a blessed day!

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Thy Kingdom Come

Posted on July 11, 2012 by billtonnis

Matthew 10:7
“As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”

Jesus was clearly not preaching a message of how to safely be evacuated to a future heaven. It is not about a “personal salvation project” as Thomas Merton would have called it. That would make it all about me somehow earning a future reward by what I do…and not about any transformational journey with Christ. It would miss my responsibility for caring for my neighbor in the here and now. Jesus told his followers to preach that ‘the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Is “at hand”…not “will be some day if you’re good!” How have we missed this for so long? Each of us is called to use our gifts and talents to make the here and now a more loving, merciful, forgiving and compassionate place. When we love God and our neighbor with all our hearts…the kingdom of heaven is at hand! How are you being called to use your gifts and talents so that God’s kingdom can truly come?

Suggested song of the day—“Shall We Sing” on the Listen to Your Heart album.
All songs available on iTunes. Click on the link under blogroll to the right.
CDs available by clicking on “home” and then the “store” tab.
Have a blessed day!

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Who Is Your Shepherd?

Posted on July 10, 2012 by billtonnis

Matthew 9:36
At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.

It takes being at the bottom before you realize how much you need a Higher Power. When you are at the top it is difficult to be aware that you truly need God. It would seem that people who are wealthy, healthy and powerful would think that they are just fine and need no one’s help (remember Jesus saying how hard it was for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God?). They many times become attached to their power, possessions and prestige. But the crowds who were following Jesus knew they needed help. They were not blinded by their attachments. Many were sick and in need of healing. They were “troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.” Who is your shepherd? Who is leading you in your life’s journey? Is it you…your own ego? Is it your motivation to climb up the career or societal ladder? Or is your shepherd Jesus? Sometimes it takes being “troubled and abandoned” before we will let go of our attachments to things that won’t last or save us (make us whole)…and turn to the Shepherd who will rescue us every time.

Suggested song of the day—“I Will Give You Rest” on the Live to Love album.
All songs available on iTunes. Click on the link under blogroll to the right.
CDs available by clicking on “home” and then the “store” tab.
Have a blessed day!

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The Desert Experience

Posted on July 9, 2012 by billtonnis

Hosea 2:16
So, I will allure her, I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart.

Did you ever feel like nothing is making sense any more…like all the things that at one time you were so sure of or were your foundations of support have crumbled? Welcome to the desert. There will come times in all our spiritual journeys when we must move to a deeper level of faith or be forever stuck in a spiritual dead-end. As Jesus said, “No one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins” (Mark 2:22). Sometimes we need to take time in the desert to let go of the old wineskins…to let go of old attachments or boundaries that no longer work…so that we can move to a deeper level of spiritual development. The desert may be the only place where we can hear God’s gentle, loving whisper in our hearts…a whisper that will always lead us to healing, wholeness and peace.

Suggested song of the day—“Listen to Your Heart” on the Listen to Your Heart album.
All songs available on iTunes. Click on the link under blogroll to the right.
CDs available by clicking on “home” and then the “store” tab.
Have a blessed day!

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Joining the Excluded

Posted on July 6, 2012 by billtonnis

Matthew 9:10-12
While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples. The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” He heard this and said, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.”

Life is not a contest to achieve worthiness of being loved by God. If that were the case…we would all fail. We are all sinners. At times we all choose our own selfish interests over God’s interests for us. Jesus was quite comfortable sitting with all the sinners at table…which would have been quite scandalous! The religious leaders took issue with Jesus sharing a meal with such people. But the only people Jesus seemed to take issue with were the religious leaders who wanted to separate themselves from those they deemed unworthy. Jesus showed quite clearly that God wants to be with sinners. How else will each of us truly experience the unconditional, transforming love of God? Jesus wants to sit at table with you. Who is in need of experiencing God’s unconditional, transforming love…through you?

Suggested song of the day—“Make Me a Channel” on the Listen to Your Heart album.
All songs available on iTunes. Click on the link under blogroll to the right.
CDs available by clicking on “home” and then the “store” tab.
Have a blessed day!

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Become the True You

Posted on July 5, 2012 by billtonnis

Amos 7:14-15
Amos answered Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor have I belonged to a company of prophets; I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores. The Lord took me from following the flock, and said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israel.”

God is calling each of us. No one is exempt. No one is left out. We are all called in some way to use our gifts and talents to build the kingdom of God…or in other words…to make the world a more loving, merciful, forgiving and compassionate place. The sooner you “tap into” your inner source…God’s voice within you…the sooner you will be on the path to becoming who you are called to be…in other words…your “true self.” Many people need to become something else first…something that is usually the product of their egos. This could be called the “false self.” It’s not a “bad” self…just not the “true” self. Jesus calls each of us to “repent” or to change the direction in which we are seeking happiness. That will lead you to a road less traveled. Nothing is more insecure but at the same time totally fulfilling as being on that road where you will not only discover God but yourself in the process.

Suggested song of the day—“Take the Road Less Traveled” on the Live to Love album.
All songs available on iTunes. Click on the link under blogroll to the right.
CDs available by clicking on “home” and then the “store” tab.
Have a blessed day!

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Peace Giver

Posted on July 3, 2012 by billtonnis

John 20:26
Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”

Jesus did not come back ready to wreak havoc. He did not come back looking for vengeance or even issuing harsh reprimands. Thomas had refused to believe in the resurrection even after Jesus had appeared to the others. But Jesus did not scold him either. Jesus instead spoke the comforting words, “Peace be with you.” If we do not let our pain transform us…we will surely transmit it to others. Jesus had been transformed. We, too, are sometimes wrongly accused, persecuted or feel like we have been treated unfairly. How do we respond? Can we not respond by both seeking justice and by promoting peace and understanding? This will require dying to our ego’s endless obsession with needing to be right.

Suggested song of the day—“Make Me a Channel” on the Listen to Your Heart album.
All songs available on iTunes. Click on the link under blogroll to the right.
CDs available by clicking on “home” and then the “store” tab.
Have a blessed day!

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Will You Follow?

Posted on July 2, 2012 by billtonnis

Matthew 8:19-20
A scribe approached and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”

With each passing year I see the folly in following the ways of the world and the fulfillment of following Jesus. The pursuit of prestige, power and possessions leads to a dead end. The three “P”s will disappear when we make the great transition at the end of our earthly lives. But the fulfillment of following Jesus will never end. The key is to start dying to those dead end trappings now. Following Jesus now requires detaching ourselves from prestige, power and possessions…as well as a place to “rest our heads.” Following Jesus will lead you out of your comfort zone and to letting go of things that don’t matter. It may feel like “dying”…but it will paradoxically lead you to a place of joy, fulfillment, wholeness and new life.

Suggested song of the day—“I Want to Follow You” on the Listen to Your Heart album.
All songs available on iTunes. Click on the link under blogroll to the right.
CDs available by clicking on “home” and then the “store” tab.
Have a blessed day!

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Power of Prayer

Posted on June 29, 2012 by billtonnis

Acts 12:5
Peter thus was being kept in prison, but prayer by the church was fervently being made to God on his behalf.

Sometimes we go through trials and painful struggles…like Peter did when he was imprisoned. Sometimes painful things happen to us and there seems to be no answer. We feel like we are imprisoned. But how many times has prayer made a difference? A community (such as the church) gathers…is paradoxically pulled together by the struggle…and wondrous manifestations of God’s love pour forth. While God didn’t cause the struggle…God struggled with us…was in pain with us…mourned with us…cried with us…and loved with us. “I sought the Lord, who answered me, delivered me from all my fears” (Psalm 34:5). We somehow emerge from the struggle wounded…but strengthened and more compassionate because of the experience and more willing to help others in their struggles. As St. Paul said, “The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and will bring me safe to his heavenly kingdom. To God be glory forever and ever. Amen” (2 Timothy 4:18).

Suggested song of the day–“Heal Me” on the Live to Love album.
All songs available on iTunes. Click on the link under blogroll to the right.
CDs available by clicking on “home” and then the “store” tab.
Have a blessed day!

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Faith & Action

Posted on June 28, 2012 by billtonnis

Matthew 7:21
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”

Jesus would alternately use the phrases ‘kingdom of heaven‘ and ‘kingdom of God.’ He would sometimes say that the kingdom of God “is at hand.” He also said to someone else who understood that the greatest Commandment was to love both God and neighbor that he was “not far from the kingdom of God.” The kingdom of God could break into the present moment whenever someone loved God and neighbor…whenever someone did the will of God. A person can go to church, do rituals, say prayers and utter words like ‘Lord, Lord’ all they want…but if that person isn’t also living the gospel…being Jesus hands and feet in the world…doing the will of God…then he or she is not entering…or experiencing…the kingdom. This requires both faith and action…which many times will only happen by way of a transformed heart. And that may only happen through a painful struggle…when you can truly experience God’s unconditional love.

Suggested song of the day—“I Want to Follow You” on the Listen to Your Heart album.
All songs available on iTunes. Click on the link under blogroll to the right.
CDs available by clicking on “home” and then the “store” tab.
Have a blessed day!

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