Serve

Posted on November 16, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay

“Intense love does not measure, it just gives.” – Mother Teresa

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Listen to my song “May I Be Light” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

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Luke 18:35-38

As Jesus approached Jericho a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging, and hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what was happening. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” He shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!”

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When this occurred, the people walking with Jesus told the blind man to be quiet.

Who did he think he was, a blind beggar interrupting this important man of God?

That is the way the “world” thinks.

Why would such a renowned preacher want to be interrupted by such an insignificant low-life?

Jesus immediately stops and orders that the beggar be brought to him.

Not only does Jesus have time for the beggar, but he also has respect for him.

He asks the blind man what he would like him to do for him.

Jesus doesn’t just take the superior position of assuming what the man wants, but gives him the dignity of making his request known.

Then Jesus restores the man’s sight and all the people praise God.

Jesus did not ask if the man deserved to be healed.

He didn’t inquire what the man’s sins were.

He didn’t lecture him or guilt him in any way.

This is the reflection of the face and character of God.

We are called to be the same reflection in our lives.

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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.

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!

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Who Are You?

Posted on November 13, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

“Every one of us is shadowed by an illusory person: a false self. This is the man I want myself to be but who cannot exist, because God does not know anything about him.” – Thomas Merton

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

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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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Jesus gives us another key to life.

Trying to hold-on to some concept of what my ego has concocted about who I am prevents me from being my true self.

I have to be willing to let God name me, to let God give me my identity.

That means letting go of preconceived notions and always being open to something new.

You can’t grow if you are closed to change.

I think one major obstacle is fear.

People are obsessed with security which is an illusion.

The only way to grow is to step out of your secure comfort zone and into the unknown.

When you are under the control of your ego you are creating a fictional character that is only concerned about maintaining that character.

I remember coming to this realization myself years ago when I knew that my persona of “radio news anchor” was not me.

It was a job that had become a large part of my identity. I tried to do this job to the best of my ability, but it was not reflecting my true self.

I knew I had to leave that life to find the life I was yearning for.

It was my soul yearning to express itself.

It was the Spirit calling me into the unknown.

I am so thankful that my ego finally relented due to the misery it had created.

Today, while I still have the same struggles as all humanity, I live in the light of the freedom of simply being a beloved child of God.

That’s all I need.

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Listen to the song of the day “Listen to Your Heart” 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!

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Main Message

Posted on November 12, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Ri Butov from Pixabay

“The kingdom of God is available to you in the here and the now. But the question is whether you are available to the kingdom.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

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Listen to my song “Mercy Reigns” on YouTube.

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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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According to the Gospel of Mark, the very first thing Jesus said as he started his ministry was: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15).

A foundational message in Jesus’ ministry was the coming of the kingdom of God.

But it wasn’t something to wait for.

It was something to become aware of and partake in.

It was already here but somehow missed my many.

The word “kingdom” doesn’t translate well in today’s world.

Kings and the way that they reigned are concepts from the time of Jesus.

He equated God to a loving ruler concerned with the needs of all people, especially the poor and the oppressed.

This was definitely not the way of most kings in his day.

In the current time, some translate this idea of “kingdom of God” as the “kin-dom of God.”

Trying to put into English what Jesus was saying in either Aramaic or Greek is not so simple.

Social psychologist and priest Diarmuid O’Murchu translates “kingdom of God” as the “Companionship of Empowerment” in which communities are empowered to work together for justice and wholeness – not revenge.

It was a counter-cultural movement that O’Murchu describes as a “radical alternative characterized by empowerment from the bottom up rather than power from the top down” (Christian Life – Essay 2).

This Spirit of unconditional love, compassion and wholeness is already secretly at work like leaven in dough.

It is foundational.

When we awaken to this reality and agree to cooperate in the process, the kingdom of God comes alive to us.

This is the work we are all called to take part in as Christians.

But many, I’m afraid, have made their Christianity only about beliefs, something Jesus spoke little about.

Many have missed his radical message of God’s unconditional love for all and what it calls each of us to do.

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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.

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!

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Grace

Posted on November 11, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by truthseeker08 from Pixabay

“When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” – Lao Tzu

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Listen to my song “Changed” on YouTube.

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Titus 3:3-5

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deluded, slaves to various desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful ourselves and hating one another. But when the kindness and generous love of God our savior appeared, not because of any righteous deeds we had done but because of his mercy, he saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the holy Spirit.

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I’m sure each of us can read this writing of St. Paul and be convicted of all the failings that he lists.

I know I can.

But I can also attest to the generous love of God renewing me even though I had done nothing to merit that love.

It is exactly this experience of being loved and forgiven when we don’t deserve it that transforms hearts.

All the lectures in the world will not do it.

What will change a life is grace.

You can’t buy it.

You can’t earn it.

It’s free and frees you!

Open yourself to God’s mercy and unconditional love.

Meditate upon it.

Allow it to warm your heart.

Then share it in how you interact with everyone and everything.

Live in the joy of God’s grace.

Then you will truly be able to say: “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack” (Psalm 23:1).

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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.

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!

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Higher Power

Posted on November 10, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Peter H from Pixabay

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Listen to my song “You’ll Lead Me” on YouTube.

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Psalm 37:3

Trust in the LORD and do good.

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This is such good advice for each of us.

But it’s not such an easy proposition.

If I trust in God I must actually have a good connection with God.

This is all very personal stuff and certainly not something to judge in others.

I have to wrestle with whether I am putting trust in God, myself or someone else.

Am I so headstrong about beliefs that I am not listening to others?

Am I open to hearing God speak to me?

Am I setting aside time to listen?

Or, am I simply listening to the same old recordings playing over and over in my mind?

Times of meditation or Centering Prayer would be very helpful in allowing those mind addictions to cease.

Doing what is good is also not so easy to figure out.

Sure, basic “good” seems easy.

But I wonder why there seems to be such horrible, angry vitriol these days if doing “good” is so easy?

Most of the people who do horrible things think what they are doing is for the good.

Before Saul became known as St. Paul, he thought it was really good to round up Christians and send them to their deaths!

I think that a basic test of doing good would be whether an action is based on loving God and our neighbor as ourselves.

Reviewing our old habitual patterns and discerning God’s voice is something that takes time and humility.

It may require that I forgive others and myself for past actions and statements.

May I never lose sight of this, and may I always be willing to extend forgiveness.

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Listen to the song of the day “You’ll Lead 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!

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Unity

Posted on November 9, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Anja🤗#helpinghands #solidarity#stays healthy🙏 from Pixabay

“The knower and the known are one.” – Meister Eckhart

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Listen to my song “How Wonderful to Me” on YouTube.

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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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St. Paul somehow knew the mystical truth that God lives inside us.

God also lives in all things.

This is not pantheism which says that all is God.

It is panentheism which says all is in God.

As Paul also stated, In God we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).

Or as Jesus told his followers: “I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you” (John 14:20).

I’m thinking many people who believe in the concept of God think this God is only out there, somewhere off in a distant heaven.

But that is not what scripture tells us.

If we truly believed that God was in all people and all things, then how could we possibly physically, mentally, or emotionally harm anyone or anything?

How could we harm or belittle ourselves?

If we truly believed this, I’m thinking we would be quite peaceful and loving.

Believe it!

Rest in the grace of it all!

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Listen to the song of the day “How Wonderful to Me” 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!

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Sacred Unity

Posted on November 6, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Franz Roos from Pixabay

“Union with God is not withdrawal or separation from the activity of the world but a dedicated, integrated, and sublimated absorption into it.” – Ilia Delio

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Listen to my song “How Magnificent, Wondrous and Glorious” on YouTube

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Philippians 3:19-20

Their minds are occupied with earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven.

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St. Paul knew that our human lives have eternal significance.

As Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said, “We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

And we are here for a reason.

For Jesus, our purpose seemed to hinge on our cooperation in the bringing about of the kingdom of God on Earth.

You can’t make your life just about you, or make it some “personal salvation project” as Thomas Merton put it.

The famous monk thought he could leave the world behind when he became a Trappist monk at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky.

But from his life of silent contemplation, the Spirit led him to be an impactful voice for social justice through his writings and correspondence with people all over the world.

From our spiritual depths we are inspired to become the hands and feet of Christ in the world.

God is not just in some far off heaven but is intimately present in the here and now.

As Franciscan sister and scientist Ilia Delio said, “We are not only to recognize evolution but to make it continue in ourselves. We are to “christify” the world by immersing ourselves in it, plunging our hands in to the soil of the earth and touching the roots of life.”

We all have sacred work to do in our everyday, ordinary lives.

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Listen to the song of the day “How Magnificent, Wondrous and Glorious” 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!

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Grateful

Posted on November 5, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Terri Sharp from Pixabay

“For we are so preciously loved by God that we cannot even comprehend it.” – Julian of Norwich

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Listen to my song “Give Praise and Thanks” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

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Psalm 105:2-3

Sing praise to him, play music; proclaim all his wondrous deeds! Glory in his holy name; let hearts that seek the LORD rejoice!

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Each of us has a choice.

Either look for things to gripe about or look for things to be grateful for.

We have many reasons to be thankful.

Sure, there are troubles such as COVID-19 and other diseases.

There are vindictive political divisions which need to be transformed into civil and spirited debates over ideas.

Many people are struggling in life as they deal with circumstances beyond their control.

But God is here and with us – always!

As St. Paul put it: In God “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

The Zen master Rinzai instructed his student: “What, in this moment, is lacking?”

The answer is: nothing!

In this moment, we have everything.

There is an Infinite Love that holds us and all things.

May we awaken to this reality.

May we be present to this Love and allow it to energize us.

And then may we channel it to everyone and everything.

Be a living song of praise to God!

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Listen to the song of the day “Give Praise and Thanks” 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!

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True Disciple

Posted on November 4, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

“Our prime purpose in this life is to help others.” – Dalai Lama

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

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Luke 14:26

Jesus said, “If any one comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”

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Once again Jesus is exaggerating to make a jolting point.

He obviously would not endorse hating your father and mother, or anyone else for that matter!

This is especially difficult for the fundamentalist who likes to take Jesus at the literal meaning of his words.

When Jesus said this, I’m sure it grabbed people’s attention.

The point is: Jesus wants dedicated followers.

He’s not interested in fans.

Jesus wants us to make following his ways our highest priority, ahead of family and our egos’ desires.

He also knows that that will cause us to do and say things that will bring us into conflict with our parents, family, and friends.

It will cause us to re-examine everything: our jobs, how we vote, how we shop, and how we speak.

To follow Jesus, we would have to reflect his main teachings in how we live our lives.

“’For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me’” (Matthew 25:35-36).

Look at the Beatitudes which among other things state: “Blessed are the merciful” and “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5:3-12).

Obviously, being a disciple of Jesus takes much courage and determination.

May we all accept the call!

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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.

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!

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All Are Welcome

Posted on November 3, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay

“The kingdom of God is not a matter of getting individuals to heaven, but of transforming the life on earth into the harmony of heaven.” – Walter Rauschenbusch

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Listen to my song “All Are Welcome” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

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Luke 14:21-22

Then the master of the house in a rage commanded his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ The servant reported, ‘Sir, your orders have been carried out and still there is room.’

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Jesus told a story to those at table with him about the master of a house who wanted to share a free banquet with many, but all the ones his servants were sent to invite had excuses not to come.

One had purchased a field and another some oxen.

Both said they needed to evaluate their purchases.

Another’s excuse was that he had just gotten married.

Jesus often equated the kingdom of God to a lavish banquet.

How often we put business and other personal pleasures before the free banquet God is inviting us to share with others!

What are we making a higher priority than joining all people, including the crippled, the blind and the lame, at the banquet table of God?

The invitation is being extended now.

The only conditions are: No one is excluded; and the time to accept is now.

As God’s servants, we are being sent to all the people on the fringes of society to let them know that they are included!

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Listen to the song of the day “All Are Welcome” 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!

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