Love opens every gate to every depth and supreme height of life! The love that never demands, but instantly finds fulfillment in giving! God holds all universes and infinite creations with the magic of love! In your heart is hidden that secret key of unconditional love with which you can unlock the doors of heaven!
~~Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari
1 Like
“The assertion of God’s universal mercy is more powerful to affect the hearts of the most harden’d than the terrifying pictures of the rigorous judgments of God.” –Pierre Cuppe-
"Let no man take offense at the opening of this mystery as though it brought anything new into religion, for it has nothing new in it; it alters no point of Gospel doctrine, but only sets each article of the old Christian faith upon its true ground. Every number of destroyed sinners must, through the all-working, all-redeeming love of God, which never ceaseth, come at last to know that they had lost and have again such a God of love as this. –William Law (Way to Divine Knowledge)-
How do you know you are in love with God? Love with your Master? When you find joy only in talking and hearing about your Beloved. When all the worldly passions have transformed into divine yearning and maddening love. When nothing bothers you anymore for they are passing clouds of life. You become like that crane who aims at the fish in water while the hunter is aiming at the crane but the crane never looks back. You know now that the only way to be happy is to reunite with your Beloved, your Lord.
~~Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari
1 Like
“Not all souls are the same. Some rivers flow quietly between their banks; others overflow. There exist choice souls, whose love of God cannot be confined to the narrow limits of what is considered a normal faith. Their cup runs over. Their love of God burns. Solomon’s Song answers to the desires of such hearts.” - Richard Wurmbrand (The Midnight Bride)
“There was once a fiddler who played so beautifully that everybody danced. A deaf man who could not hear the music considered them all insane. Those who are with Jesus in suffering hear this music to which other men are deaf. They dance and do not care if they are considered insane.” - Richard Wurmbrand (Victorious Faith)-
Holiness, as then I wrote down some of my contemplations on it, appeared to me of a sweet, pleasant, charming, serene, calm nature which brought an inexpressible purity, brightness, peacefulness. In other words…it made the soul like a field or garden of God, with all manner of pleasant flowers, all pleasant, delightful, enjoying a sweet calm.
The soul of a true Christian, as I then wrote in my meditations, appeared like such a little white flower as we see in the spring of the years; low and humble on the ground, opening it’s bosom to receive the pleasant beams of the sun’s glory, rejoicing in calm rapture; diffusing around a sweet fragrance; standing peacefully and lovingly, in the midst of other flowers round about
Jonathan Edwards
"Outside of Christ, I am only a sinner, but in Christ, I am saved. Outside of Christ, I am empty; in Christ, I am full. Outside of Christ, I am weak; in Christ, I am strong. Outside of Christ, I cannot; in Christ, I am more than able. Outside of Christ, I have been defeated; in Christ, I am already victorious. How meaningful are the words, “in Christ.” -Watchman Nee-
“Sight is not faith, and hearing is not faith, neither is feeling faith; but believing when we neither see, hear, nor feel is faith; and everywhere the Bible tells us our salvation is to be by faith. Therefore we must believe before we feel, and often against our feelings, if we would honor faith.” -Hannah Whitall Smith-
God’s Love Letter to You
“Lose yourself to find yourself”. What does this phrase really mean?
The self that is being lost is the self-image your mind has made. Any false identification with thoughts, emotions, forms, or anything you can perceive. This is often referred to as “ego”.
The self that is being gained is the deeper awareness that can perceive the self image. The true self beneath the illusions of the mind. Pure consciousness, free from false identity.
Lose yourself to find yourself means to let go of what is not real about you, so only the real can remain.
You Don’t Have To Be Anybody
We are brought up to believe that we have to “be someone”, that life will be far better and more satisfying if we have a strong personality, can influence others and “make a difference” in the world. This is a lot of effort, and in my own experience can create unnecessary pressure to be “something” or “someone” when it is not necessary.
Whatever work you do or contributions you make to the world, you do not have to identify with. You actually serve and act more effectively when you are no longer acting to strengthen or maintain a false self-image. What you do then becomes selfless and takes on a far greater power. Then if you go through a period of inactivity, you are not dependent on activity for your sense of self anymore, so you will still be at peace and happy.
Interacting With Others
The same goes for interactions with other people. When you drop or at least begin to transcend your self-image, everything becomes easier. You are not struggling to defend your self-image or who you think you are. Instead you are simply there, fully present, from which any useful action, if required, arises.
Of course the ego in most of us often measures who we are or how good we are by judging the reactions of other people to us. Most of us unconsciously believe that if we are more liked by people or people give us more positive feedback about ourselves, then this must mean we are better as people, or this gives us a right to be happy or satisfied.
If people do not like us or react negatively to us, there is often something inside that does not like it, that seems to take the opinions or responses of others as direct measurements of our sense of selves.
See what happens, if even for a moment, you can completely give up trying to be anything or anyone. What happens when you can accept being nobody? Being “nobody” is not a bad or a weak thing. It is liberating. It is just giving up your false sense of self.
It would be more accurate to say to “stop being anything” rather than “accept being nobody”.
When interacting with others, have no expectations of yourself. You do not have to prove anything or do anything to make the other person happy or more comfortable. Experiment with this.
You may well find, that then you behave in a totally natural and useful way. When you give up your need to be someone or act a certain way to uphold an illusory self concept, or to gain any external (or internal) approval, suddenly you are freed from all anxiety or fear. You become completely real and authentic.
From this place your natural state of peace and relaxed joy flows into your interaction, so you benefit the situation without even trying. A greater power begins to work through you, but can only do this once you let down all of your walls and attempts to be someone.
The Real Beneath The Unreal
When you are comfortable with being “no one”, what is left is your true nature - awareness, from which all “good” things come. This is what is meant by “lose yourself to find yourself”. There is no longer any fake ego covering up who you actually are. Then you are far less likely to be disturbed by external factors, since they do not effect your sense of self - which is now pure awareness.
Do not identify with any self-image that your mind has created. You are the awareness of the self image, unattached.
All actions that your body takes and all thoughts your mind produces occur within your own eternal awareness, the untouched presence.
Losing your false sense of self can seem scary, but it is only scary to the ego. You can only lose what is not real about you. The thing that does not want to disappear is the ego itself.
If you are identified with ego, you may believe you are afraid to let go of a part of your self image, or any thoughts or emotions you previously identified with. The fear is of the ego, not of yourself. All it does is cover the truth and temporarily prevent you from realising it.
When you stop identifying with thoughts, emotions and self-image, you remain as awareness. Lose yourself to find yourself.
“Kindness is one of the greatest gifts you can bestow upon another. If someone is in need, lend them a helping hand. Do not wait for a thank you. True kindness lies within the act of giving without the expectation of something in return.”-- Katharine Hepburn
1 Like
“It is not necessary to maintain a conversation when we are in the presence of God. We come into His presence and rest our weary souls in quiet contemplation of Him. Our groanings which cannot be uttered, rise to Him and tell Him better than words how dependent we are upon Him.” -O. Hallesby-
“Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere.”-- Erma Bombeck
1 Like
“[Christians], at their best know, that often they don’t know. They don’t have all the answers. They do not have God in their pocket. We cannot answer every question that any bright boy in the back row might ask. We only have enough light to walk by.” -Howard A. Johnson-
“Am I then to believe that the same God Who expends millions of years in slowly fitting this earth for man’s habitation, will only allow to man himself a few fleeting years, or months, or hours, as it may be, as his sole preparation time for eternity? To settle questions so unspeakably great in their issue -questions stretching away to a horizon so far distant that no power of thought can follow them-in such hot haste, does seem quite at variance with our heavenly Father’s ways.
Is God’s action outside man so slow, and within man so hurried? Is the husk of far more value than the seed? Are millions of years allotted to fashioning man’s earthly home, while for man’s spiritual training for eternity, but a few brief years are given, and these so largely broken up by sleep, by work, by disease, by ignorance? What should we say -to take a homely illustration -of an arrangement allotting 10,000 years to fashioning a man’s coat, or building his house, while assigning to his whole education but a few hours?” ― Thomas Allin (Christ Triumphant)
"Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth for the other. Now there is no more loneliness, for each of you will be companion for the other. Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before you. Go now to your dwelling place to begin the days of your life together. May your days together be good and long upon the earth." – Apache Blessing
1 Like
“But all the while, there was one thing we most needed even from the start, and certainly will need from here on out into the New Jerusalem: the ability to take our freedom seriously and act on it, to live not in fear of mistakes but in the knowledge that no mistake can hold a candle to the love that draws us home. My repentance, accordingly, is not so much for my failings but for the two-bit attitude toward them by which I made them more sovereign than grace. Grace - the imperative to hear the music, not just listen for errors - makes all infirmities occasions of glory.” - Robert Farrar Capon-
“Most of us were taught that God would love us if and when we change. In fact, God loves you so that you can change. What empowers change, what makes you desirous of change is the experience of love. It is that inherent experience of love that becomes the engine of change.” - Richard Rohr-
“In order to keep a true perspective of one’s importance, everyone should have a dog that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him.”-- Derek Bruce
1 Like