Praise Be

Posted on August 24, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Lisa Gielis from Pixabay

“Any moment of genuine happiness we’ve ever had was a moment of self-forgetfulness.” – (from Unbinding by Kathleen Dowling Singh)

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

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Psalm 145:10

All your works give you thanks, O LORD.

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When you are truly be-ing, you are totally present to what is.

You are truly alive.

You are experiencing what Jesus said about when you lose your life, you will find your life (Matthew 10:39).

In other words, when you lose your ego-generated life of constructs and labels that are illusions, you are awakened to your true self beyond attachments.

That true self is the beloved of God.

That is who you and I are.

When we live from this presence to the Divine Presence, we experience the joy of aliveness.

Our senses experience the flood of gifts that surround us.

We let go of all attachments to thoughts and our egos’ grasping, and gently fall into an ocean of Grace.

We join all of creation in the joy of being, and in doing so give thanks to God.

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

Remember: God loves you!

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Freedom

Posted on August 17, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay

“What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” – Jesus

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

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Matthew 19:21-22

Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

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This passage is titled: The Rich Young Man.

He begins his exchange with Jesus by asking, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life? (Matthew 19:16)”

This young man is already indoctrinated in the system of achieving status.

Rich in possessions, he is fully invested in the worthiness game.

He wants to know what amount of “good” he must accomplish to merit “eternal life.”

This is quite the opposite of what Jesus teaches about eternal life.

For Jesus, the kingdom of heaven begins now for those who love God and their neighbor as themselves.

To love another requires letting go of your egocentric desires that only want to satisfy self.

This pathway into heaven is offered free of charge!

It is God’s gift of grace to everyone.

You can’t merit such a profound gift.

Jesus, knowing full well that this young man is attached to his many possessions, tells him he must give them away and then follow him.

The man is unable to do this and so goes away sad.

The gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell this story, but I especially like Mark’s rendition.

In that version, before Jesus tells the man how he must give away his possessions, it says Jesus looked at him and loved him.

Jesus identified the one thing standing in the way of this man truly having eternal life now.

This is not condemnation but loving advice on how the young man can free himself of that which is preventing him from being his true self.

This is also not the end of the story for this man as he may have eventually let go of his attachment to wealth and may have even done so without selling his possessions!

Jesus’s message is specifically for this young man, not necessarily for you.

But it could be for you.

Each of us must ask ourselves: What is the one or more things preventing me from being free to be my true self and to live the gospel?

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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.

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

Remember: God loves you!

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Grace Abounds

Posted on August 14, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by David Mark from Pixabay

Radical Love is animating all of creation, but many humans are unaware.

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

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Ezekiel 16:60, 63

Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were a girl, and I will set up an everlasting covenant with you, that you may remember and be covered with confusion, and that you may be utterly silenced for shame when I pardon you for all you have done, says the Lord GOD.

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The prophet Ezekiel speaks here of an unconditionally loving God who forgives the people who have turned away and broken their promises.

Is this your image of God?

Or is your image the toxic one of a punishing tyrant who is watching your every move, ready to pounce in retribution?

Ezekiel was speaking God’s words of forgiveness when the people had not even repented!

They had not said they were sorry nor had they made amends.

This, my friend, is Grace personified!

I believe this is the God we will face after our physical death.

It is a God described by many Near Death Experiencers who have described facing a life review, reliving all the good and the bad that they had done in life – but all in the light of God’s unconditional love.

They described how they did feel shame and how they were covered in confusion as they received compassion and forgiveness when they did not deserve it.

Their hearts were transformed!

So when they returned to their bodies (as it was not yet their time to die), they completely changed the direction of their lives (which is the meaning of “repenting”).

They realized that they had been living their lives under the delusional control of their egos.

Hundreds of years after Ezekiel, Jesus would mirror this same amazing compassion to the people who had just crucified him when from the cross he would make this request to God: “Forgive them, they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

May we wake up from the delusion that our lives are about power, prestige and possessions.

And may we receive God’s free forgiveness and allow it to utterly transform us.

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

Remember: God loves you!

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Unchained

Posted on August 13, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Elias Sch. from Pixabay

“Without forgiveness, there is no future.” Desmond Tutu

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

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Matthew 18:21-22

Then Peter approaching asked Jesus, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.”

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Jesus basically tells Peter that the number of times that he must forgive is infinite.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that you must like the person who wronged you or even stay associated with them if they were abusive.

It also doesn’t mean that the guilty person shouldn’t be held accountable if you’ve been harmed.

But you must forgive that person from your heart.

I’m thinking this means that you must genuinely not hold any grievance or grudge against the person who wronged you.

This can take time.

I think it requires grace.

Since Jesus said that if you knew him then you also would know God (John 14:7), it follows that God also forgives an infinite number of times.

That means each of us receives this forgiveness an infinite number of times from God.

The hard part is passing that on to those who hurt us.

It’s a good idea to realize that just as you and I have been scarred by wrongs done to us, so has the person who wrongs us.

God sees beneath these scars and looks upon each of us as a precious son or daughter.

We are all part of God’s one family, no matter our national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences.

When we live from that place of oneness with all, we can’t help but be transformed.

Allow the unconditional love of God to melt your heart.

Forgive, unlock the chain that binds you, and be free.

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

Remember: God loves you!

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Come Together

Posted on August 12, 2020 by billtonnis
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“What we have to recover is our original unity.” – Thomas Merton

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

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Matthew 18:20

“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

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For Jesus, it was all about relationship and oneness.

And, yes, you might remember him saying that he actually came to bring division (Luke 12:51-53).

But we know by the entirety of the gospel that Jesus wanted unity through love.

As for the division he spoke of, Jesus knew that when he preached that all people should be treated equally and that all must care for the poor – basically that all should be one – that those holding the power and the money would not react kindly.

People want to have their enemies.

Sometimes it seems that people only know who they are – by knowing who they are against!

But Jesus wanted us to get past the illusion of separation that human-constructs create.

He prayed to God that all may be one as God is in him and that all people “also may be in us” (John 17:21).

St. Paul understood that statement when he said, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

Which brings me back to today’s scripture verse.

There is a mystical-oneness when two or three or more of us recognize it.

All of creation is being drawn to this oneness in God as if in labor pains (Romans 8:22).

And as St. Paul went on to say that nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:39).

May we all be living signs of this message.

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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.

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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Beloved Outcast

Posted on August 11, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by reetdachfan from Pixabay

Grace throws all the rules out the window.

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

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Matthew 18:12-13

Jesus said, “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray.”

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Again, Jesus turns our culture’s ways upside down.

He said the shepherd rejoices more over the found lost sheep than all those who didn’t stray.

I can hear all the self-righteous people listening to Jesus as he told this parable saying, “What! What about us?”

Such people so often have a problem with grace being given to the stray; you know, the person who has made mistakes and is now down and out.

Jesus seems to be purposely pressing their buttons knowing full well how the human ego likes to get credit for simply doing the right thing.

Why are those people not thrilled that the person who screwed-up is being brought back to the fold with no questions asked?

“What about us?” they seem to be shouting.

“Where is our reward?”

I think Jesus would say, “Your reward is in the doing of good. Why are you not happy for your wayward brother or sister?”

And as for the stray, we also might ask ourselves: Who are today’s “strays” due to being rejected?

Who are the ones shunned in today’s society?

Who are the ones not being treated with equality?

Jesus would also be out searching for them, hoping to return them to the fold.

Each of us is called to do the same.

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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.

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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Empty Yet Full

Posted on August 10, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by pasja1000 from Pixabay

Surrendering to the call of Love leads us to abundant life.

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

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John 12:24

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.”

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This is one of my favorite teachings of Jesus, although I must say, it never used to be.

It seems an odd thing to say.

It doesn’t compute to the rational mind.

So, most people dismiss it.

In reality, I think this scripture is Jesus’ key teaching on living.

Each of our lives is meant to be transformed by the love of God.

That’s why our immortal spirits are here in these mortal bodies, so we can experience the transforming love of God and so that we might then channel that love to others.

This process seems to be the main pathway in transforming this existence into what has been translated as the “kingdom of God.”

Others say a better translation would be the “peaceable kin-dom” or what I like even better, the “Companionship of Empowerment” (Diarmuid O’Murchu).

For this life to be transformed into a loving existence where each of us is empowered to be who we are meant to be, we have to first let go of all that we aren’t meant to be.

We have to let go of our attachments.

We have to let go of our egocentric ways.

To do that, we have to die to self, as in the ego-generated false self.

We have to be like the grain that falls to the ground.

Then, as we allow God’s unconditional love to change us, we will be transformed just like the grain in the soil.

For the Love that is weaved through everything that exists will empower us to produce much fruit in the service of others.

As we give all, we will paradoxically gain all.

And we will know that it has all been accomplished through grace.

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Listen to the song of the day “Pour Me Out” on the Mercy Reigns album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music 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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Be You

Posted on August 7, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Daniel Reche from Pixabay

“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 “Let It Be Done to Me” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

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Matthew 16:25

“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

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In today’s scripture verse, Jesus is talking primarily about the now – everyday life.

The lesson he was trying to impart was that we must let go of all of our attachments, all the ways our senses have been trained by our egos to lure us to satisfy their every craving.

We must awaken to the ways our egos and minds have identified with those attachments.

Note how your ego has taken control of your actions, luring you by concocting images of so-called “success” that are built on amassing more power, prestige and possessions.

All these things lead us to creating a false self.

As Thomas Merton put it, “My false and private self is the one who wants to exist outside the reach of God’s will and God’s love – outside of reality and outside of life. And such a self cannot help but be an illusion” (New Seeds of Contemplation).

People who spend their time creating this false self are forging masks and facades that will one day crumble.

But for those who let go of all the trappings of their egos, who do not identify with them, they will paradoxically discover their true selves and live the lives meant for them.

First off, we must awaken to all these attachments that will never truly satisfy.

Then, we must have a way to practice letting go of ego.

A meditation practice such as Centering Prayer will be very beneficial.

Now, allow your senses to indulge in each new moment asking for nothing in return.

Enjoy the pure bliss of the experience!

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Listen to the song of the day “Let It Be Done to Me” on the Mercy Reigns album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music 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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Good News

Posted on August 6, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by Siamlian Ngaihte from Pixabay

Part of the Gospel message is that death leads to new life.

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Listen to my song “Going Over There” on YouTube by clicking HERE.

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Matthew 17:4

Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

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In what is known as the Transfiguration, Jesus takes Peter, James and John up on a mountain.

That’s where Jesus is transfigured and “his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light” (Matthew 17:2).

Then Moses and Elijah appear, conversing with Jesus.

The two prophets lived in different time periods, hundreds of years before Jesus.

Here, in this vision, the prophets from different times in the past are present in the same time as Jesus.

There is no time, only the eternal now.

The prophets who were long dead were alive again.

In this we see that there is no death.

Peter wants to preserve this magical moment by making three tents for Jesus, Moses and Elijah.

But you can’t put the eternal in a box.

In this world, you can’t cling to anything.

The past is not real, only the present is.

You must be willing to go with the flow.

You must be willing to let go and change.

That is part of living in this creation.

Death-and-resurrection is happening all around us.

We are part of this Creative Flow of dying-and-rising.

The good news is that no one truly dies.

They are transformed.

Live in the freedom of this belief.

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Listen to the song of the day “Going Over There” on the Listen to Your Heart album by clicking HERE.

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music 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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Creation Continues

Posted on August 5, 2020 by billtonnis
Image by AxxLC from Pixabay

“To follow Jesus is to be a wholemaker, essentially to love the world into new being and life.” – Ilia Delio

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

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Jeremiah 31:3-4

With age-old love I have loved you; so I have kept my mercy toward you. Again I will restore you, and you shall be rebuilt.

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What a different view of God this scripture verse gives us than the punishing, retribution-seeking God that we often see portrayed in the Old Testament.

That is the god many people seem to believe in.

But it doesn’t jive with the God who is love (1 John 4:8).

In my opinion, the tyrant god was created by people projecting their own desires for retribution onto God.

Jesus gave us the definitive reflection of God.

He is quoted as saying that if you know him, then you would know God (John 14:7).

Jesus believed in a justice that didn’t punish nor seek retribution – but restored.

No matter how many times people turned from God throughout the Old Testament, God never abandoned them.

This is what they eventually realized.

Jesus preached that you must forgive an infinite number of times (Matthew 18:21-22).

He also commanded us to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44).

This is who God is: the ultimate Forgiver and Lover.

Restoration is what is happening throughout all of creation.

But it doesn’t happen without deterioration.

All things die – then there is rebirth.

It is the cycle of God’s creative process.

We have to let go of one thing so another can begin.

Though our bodies will eventually die, our souls will go on.

So, do not fear!

All things are being made new (Isaiah 65:17; Revelation 21:5) – including you!

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

Stream and/or purchase my songs on Amazon Music 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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