Jesus is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and Omega of All things. For the purpose of our quest to understand Freedom, we must see that Jesus is the beginning and end of It, as well.
We’ve explored the common barriers and hindrances to realizing Freedom, and that they all boil down to having other “things” in the place of the One Thing, Christ – and our Union with Him.
We’ve detailed that the essence of Freedom is an abiding in and living from Freedom Himself, The Vine, on a continual basis. This is the walk along The Path. To receive the increase of The Vine, all else, including and especially the false self, must decrease – we must agree with what has long ago been put to death – and not resurrect a lie.
We’ve seen that all of the above is triggered by a faith, a trust, that it is True – Living and acting like it is, because it is.
Practically, day-to-day, minute-to-minute – this looks like turning to the Lord. Repentance doesn’t just imply “turning away” from sin; it embodies a turning away from all other things, to turn toward Christ – within you, and within all.
“Call upon the (name of the) Lord.”
Go check out how many times this is done, or instructed to be done in Scripture, Old and New Testaments.
“I called upon the Lord in distress; the Lord answered me, and set me in a large place.”
“Whoseover shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered.”
“Call unto Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things.”
“Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”
Calling upon the Lord attunes our senses to the innate Divine Fellowship within:
“God is faithful, by whom you were called into the Fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
“Our Fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.”
Turning to the Lord, calling on His name, and receiving His Fellowship are windows toward beholding the Lord and His Glory, and your Oneness in Him.
“But we all, with open (unveiled) face beholding as in a mirror the Glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from Glory to Glory, (even) as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
“Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they would behold My Glory, which Thou hast given Me.”
“For God, who commanded the Light to shine out of darkness, hath shined into our hearts, the (give) the Light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His Glory, the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of Grace and Truth.”
“Now when they saw the boldness (Freedom) of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men (not Free), they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.”
“Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith…”
When we “see” Him, our vision, outlook, perspective, belief, and actions change. They can’t not. Again, Freedom is in “Seeing.” He is who we must “see.” Once we truly catch a glimpse of His Glory, everything else is exposed for the counterfeit it is. He is Light, and Light illuminates what is Real, and what is false. Freedom “Sees” the Real, and chooses It in Its Glory, to the exclusion of all else that is false.
Jesus has Authored our faith. It is in the “looking unto Him” where He does the Finishing. Freedom is in the Finishing.
Finishing and Transforming are closely related. These happen in the mind. So much of anti-Freedom is wrapped up in the mind and mindsets – wrong beliefs. The Lord is after Transforming our mind, redirecting our Belief back unto Him, His finished work, and our Oneness in Him.
“Be not conformed to this world; but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
“Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.”
“And you have put on the new man, which is renewed in the knowledge after the image of God that created him.”
“Though the outward man may perish, the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
Freedom is a Spiritual Reality. Spiritual things are not “seen” with natural eyes. They are unseen in the temporal. But Spiritual things are “seen” eternally, with eyes of faith. Freedom is “seeing” things that are invisible; but that are, at the same time, more real than what your physical eyes do see. In His Light, the more we “see,” the more we “see.” How do we open these eyes to “See?” By the renewing of the mind.
By beholding (looking upon) the Freedom (Christ) within.
A Renewed mind is a Free mind. A Free mind manifests a Free Life.
What do you “see?” What do you “think?”
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