Blogging and the Kingdom of God

P - Hey Papa.

L - Good morning Son. I am so glad you are here.

P - I am glad You are here. I would say you have no idea, but since you invented ideas, I guess you do.

L - Haha. But I like to see you get them. I like to see you run down a rabbit on its trail, you have no idea.

P - Funny, Lord. Lord, how can I come up with more ideas to write about on my blog? Here is the problem: I have called it The Better Good News. I can talk about how going to heaven when you die is not the real gospel, and that the real gospel is knowing you and being a part of the kingdom, which looks more like heaven on earth, etc. But it seems like a limited topic. How can I get ideas to keep writing about it?

L - Talking to me is a good place to start. This blog idea you had is a good one. Following other blogs on the same topic is good as well. You will find ways to create your blog, don’t worry. Patrick, you are exercising creativity, which is the most important part of the process. If you think the end of all this is to have things written which you can point at when someone asks you what you have done with your life, that is the wrong motivation. What you want to point at when you are asked the question is at the lives of people you have affected with the creative love inside of you. That is the real goal. Besides, what better way to get to know the kingdom than to raise questions and let me talk them through with you and/or write through them. Writing, for you, is a learning process, you know that. You are a writer because it is your process.

P - God, I love you. I am so peaceful right now, so happy, so in awe of how good you are to me, and despite all my circumstance, I am at ease. Thank you for bringing me here, and getting me through so much difficulty.

L - I love you, Patrick. It is My pleasure.

P - What about scripture? I haven’t really been reading it much lately, and I feel bad about that. How should I study it or read it so that I can get to know it better?

L - Do you want to get to know it, or get to know the Author?

P - Well, both really. I know the goal of scripture is to reveal You. But I would like to know scripture better.

L - Patrick, do not feel compelled by some religious idea that you must read it every day. However, it is important to know Me, and when you speak with me, scripture will confirm my words. That is one reason it is important to know it. Another reason is that it will give you understanding of who I AM and the kingdom, a path on which you are already walking. As you need, search the scriptures to ponder them and to have knowledge. I will reveal things to you in scripture, and you will have more wisdom and understanding. But this isn’t a race, and you have time. Continue coming to Me. I wrote the book, and if I want you to read something specifically, I will tell you. I am not discouraging you from reading it, but you are putting a religious pressure on yourself. It is good to read the scripture and think on it. Just do it when you can or want. It does not have to be every day if you cannot afford the time. There will come a time when you will read it every day for different reasons, but now is not that time yet. Just do what you can when you feel like I want you to, or when you want to. It’s ok.

P - Lord, lately I have been thinking about the parables and about Your words on earth about the Kingdom. You always talked about the kingdom to your followers. Your words were that the kingdom was at hand, the kingdom is near, the kingdom is like this. Then you said “Those who have ears to hear...” as if the message were lost on some people, and not on others. I feel like the truth has been lost on people. But When I really look at everything, I am afraid I don’t understand what the kingdom really is.

L - What is a kingdom in general? It is the dominion of a king. That’s all. When I spoke this way to My people, I was calling to something in them that has always looked for their King. They misidentified that desire, and asked me for a man to rule them. During my time on earth, they were ruled by Herod and by the Romans, and they wanted to see a powerful king. But they always looked for the political king to make their lives better and more prosperous. They were not looking for prosperous hearts, because they had become so blind to who I AM. By saying the kingdom of God was near, I was calling to that desire in their hearts, essentially a good desire. They just had no idea what to look for in their King. They were looking for power and might on the earth, and I showed them humility and meekness. They could not fathom this.

It will do you good to keep working on the parables. You can write on your blog about them as well, because they really contain the power of the better good news of who I AM. You are dooing really well, my Son. Keep going. I AM with you.

P - Thanks, Lord. I love you. Thank you so much for filling my heart up with all this stuff to say and do. It feels so much better than beating my head against the wall trying to figure out what I want from life and who I am trying to become. It is so much easier just to talk to you and be full of life, and have stuff come out of me naturally.

Eternal love

P - Good morning Lord.

L - Good morning Son.

P - What would you like to tell me this morning?

L - I am in the mood to hear what you have to say to me.

P - Ok, Mr. Contrary. I enjoy You so much. Your love is the best thing I have ever experienced. It is the most refreshing drink I have ever had, and it is interesting how happy I am now, compared to where I was not too long ago. I remember laying in my bed several nights crying in agony, feeling as if you were such a far off idea, and now, You are here, you are now. I talk to you, I listen to You, you teach me things I never imagined and I am peaceful.

L - Is that it?

P - What do you mean is that it? I think that is a lot, considering where I have been. Isn’t it all about enjoying You anyway?

L - Yes, that’s what it is about, and My enjoyment of you. Consider your dog, and stay with me, here, because I don’t think of you like a dog. But why do you have a pet?

P - Because pets are funny, they can be good company, they can be good companions, things like that.

L - So are people. Why an animal?

P - I am not sure, really. Probably because they can’t talk back.

L - Ha! Well, I created you for the same reasons you gave, but I enjoy talking to you. Do you want to have children?

P - Of course. You know I do, I have always loved kids, and always wanted them.

L - Children are different though, aren’t they?

P - Yes, they are. I think kids have more to do with passing on a legacy, loving them and seeing them become unique expressions of yourself and seeing their identities take on their own uniqueness and that identity becoming a part of who you are as a parent.

L - Ah, that’s it right there. And you don’t even have children yet. Pets are mere companions. You contribute to the world with your children and they contribute to your world, your life is in them, and they in yours. That is the real deal.

P - Yes, I see the difference. But why?

L - Patrick, if love is creative, it must always be fresh and new. How else could this happen without engendering new expressions of itself? Children are that expression. That is why it is important that children grow well and into the image of the love that their parents have for one another and for their children, so that they can produce likewise. Go read Genesis about how I created all things again...I will wait for you.

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P - What is all the “after its kind” business?

L - I am just reiterating to you the nature of creative love. I created things to reproduce and fill the earth, fill the waters. They reproduced things like themselves, in their own nature, they did not stray from their nature. Likewise, I made you in my image, in my nature. What you reproduce will be like me also, because that is the way I create and express my love, time upon time again, until I fill the earth.

P - Why are you telling me this? I understand this.

L - How does this apply to what you do with your time? Listen, time is not the important question, because I don’t have a deadline. But what about you and your expression? What story are you writing with your life and what is the expression that you are reproducing? That is the important question.

P - Well, I think I am doing what you are talking about. But it isn’t always easy.

L - Easy? That isn’t the question either. Why is this important?

P - I think, because it is not just my own expression, but Yours, or at least it should be.

L - Of course, but why is that important?

P - I would have to say, although I may be wrong, that because of the joy it brings to you, to me and to anyone who has an encounter with my life’s expression.

L - That is good. That is true. That is what life is about. Abounding joy, but eternally exponential love is the road to that. You have successfully described paradise.

P - That is cool. Now, how does that apply to me today. I mean, not to belittle what you have just shown me, but why are you showing me this?

L - Patrick, what you do with your writing is not just for you to make money, it isn’t just something for you to do. It is a brick in the pavement of the road to paradise. No brick is enough by itself, but all are essential. What you do with your time is not pointless, nor is it useless. It is essential for you, for Me, for anyone who reads your words. Do you think that your life is just for you and Me? No, son. Your work is important, and I am not just building you up to encourage you to keep going. I am giving you a key insight into your life. You are a builder, an architect, to express the love I AM to the world with your words, your life and your children’s children’s lives. This is what I came to do on the earth.

P - This all seems a little weighty to absorb right now, Lord. I feel like I understand it with my head, but I don’t feel it bursting in my heart yet.

L - Patrick, because you are still doubting that this applies to your writing. Whether or not you become a well known author, you will pave the way for many to come behind you, until the earth is filled with My glory. I need for you to do this, I have chosen you to do this, it is who you are, because it is who I AM. Do not get frustrated or put pressure on yourself to do something that is not after your kind. If you do, you will fail, because it is not how I have made you. You cannot give away what you do not have, and you can not create what is not inside you.

Patrick, you are doing well. Take these words as encouragement and confirmation of what you know. That you are my son, my pride and glory. Live like it, and stop doubting your creativity.

P - OK, Lord.

Praying for Cancer

Me - Good morning Lord. Do you care if I get a cup of coffee while we talk?

JC - Not at all. It will taste wonderful this morning.

Me - Lord, what can you tell me about cancer?

JC - Patrick, cancer is indeed ugly. It is just like any disease, the flesh succumbs to the attack of the enemy on the world. The world is full of evil agents warring against man, and eventually man begins to erode. You have authority over these agents, and you can battle them.

Me - How do I war against what I don’t know, and what I don’t see? I can see cancer taking its toll on (name omitted), but I can’t see the enemy behind it.

JC - Can you see me?

Me - Only in my mind’s eye. I want to see you differently sometimes.

JC - Just as you see me, you can see the enemy. Most people fear the enemy and refuse to look. Do not fear, only I have overcome him.

Me - Yeah, Lord, it scares me a little bit. Like Fear, the first time I saw him, he was so frightening, and he turned out to be so small.

JC - The enemy is a deceiver, and will do everything he can to keep you from stepping into the role of sonship I have given you. But you are my son, my friend, and my ambassador on earth. Use your authority. Demand righteousness in the earth, and you will see it.

Me - How do I do that?

JC - Love.

Me - Can you please explain that, Lord?

JC - You are already understanding it in your mind. Yes, you have two different examples of me in the earth demanding righteousness. Once in the temple, and once on the cross.

Me - Lord, what enraged you so much in the temple?

JC - It had become a center of greed and corruption. The Father’s heart for His people has never been legalism, but He gave them the law to set a standard of what righteousness looks like, and not only had they rejected the law with their deeds, they had completely rebelled against righteousness, and turned the center of their worship into a den of thieves, which was completely contrary to who I AM.

On the cross, you see a different picture. I learned in the temple, that no matter how much I fought the unrighteousness in the earth, there was only one way to defeat it. The Father had planned it from the beginning. Righteousness only comes from the creative act of love. There is nothing else that can spread it. Compassion in my heart drove me to the cross, compassion for the very ones that killed me. That kind of love changes hearts.

Me - I understand that Lord. But how does this apply to warring against sickness and disease and the enemy?

JC - Patrick, what I did, is done. The enemy of this world is defeated, and in confidence you must demand his total surrender. Any emissary that goes rogue from his king eventually loses authority, once the world knows that he is not representing the word of his king. But, if he aligns himself with his king wholeheartedly, nobody questions his authority. Are you wholeheartedly aligned with Me?

Me - Lord, you know my heart better than I. You answer.

JC - Patrick, I know of few people who can boast of a heart more desirous than yours to know Me and love Me. But you are thinking in the wrong terms. If I tell you that you have authority, if I tell you that you are a writer, if I tell you that you will have a book by fall, when you stop typing my words, what happens in your mind?

Me - I doubt most of it.

JC - “Most of it” is a little harsh. But, yes, you doubt. You have been trained to doubt. You have had to live from doubt, so it is the only way you know. Now, I tell you, stop doubting and take command of the authority I have given you. Align your being with my heart, and live from that. Do as I do, go where I go, and say as I say.

Confront your enemy, and prevail in the power of my blood and in the authority given you by my Name. David did not see a “giant” to fight. He saw an unrighteous philistine taunting, cursing and demoralizing the people of God, who were supposed to be the authority and representative of the prevailing righteousness in the earth. David was the only one who saw this, and he took his tools and it only took one shot.

Me - Please help me to see with your eyes, Lord, to see the spiritual things that I cannot understand right now. Give me strategy and wisdom to walk in the power of Your might. I want to be able look at cancer and act as David, confidently confronting it like he did Goliath. Not just cancer, but anything.

JC - Patrick, but cancer is just another malady, no malady is any different. It doesn’t matter if it is a headache or tuberculosis or cancer. It is the same enemy taunting the people of God.

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Me - Lord, I need help with creativity. I know this and spiritual battle are related, but I am having a hard time with finding creative and original ideas about writing.

JC - That is good Patrick. Don’t give up. You are not flowing, however. Try an exercise. I want you to free-write about the characters in what you are writing, and look back over it. DO NOT use the delete button for anything. Just write and write and write and do just as you do with me. Write with your minds eye focused on the one about whom you are writing. Try it. You will be amazed.

Me - OK. I can do that. That should be interesting. Lord, I want the story to accurately reflect You. And although I can see the principle of repentance in the story, I “feel” something deeper in it, but I can’t put my finger on it.

JC - Ah, I love you Patrick. You are so much more spiritually attuned than you know. Yes, of course there is more to it. And I know you see the Father’s heart to “forgive and forget.” But I really like your title for the book, “A Kingdom like this.” I could not have said it better myself. My bride is the prodigal. You are the prodigal, the kingdom is the father’s house, and the celebration is eternity. Who is the fattened calf?

Me - Are you the fattened calf, really? That doesn’t seem right.

JC - A feast is impossible without food. Just as eternity is impossible without eating My broken flesh. The Father saw YOU, so long ago, and He ordered that I be slaughtered for your homecoming, because you are so dear to Him. Is it starting to make sense?

Me - Wow. yes, but I have never heard that little snippet. OK, I will freewrite today, and I will look harder at the story. Please help me out. Jesus, I am so in love with You. You truly are such a wonderful friend. Thank you Papa. I am so overcome by Your love for me, that I cannot stand up under its weight. Holy Spirit, you are beautiful. Please break off the crust in my heart that is holding You inside of me, and flow freely into me and from me. God, you are wonderful.

Rewriting parables/Worship

P: Lord, where are you?

L: Here, as always.

P: Talk to me, please.

L: Hey buddy. I have been waiting for you to come to me. I miss these talks when we do not have them.

P: Well, I feel like I run out of questions to ask you, as absurd as that sounds.

L: That’s ok. But you need to learn to ask them, that is where the creativity you are wanting will flow. I know you hate asking questions over and over again, and if you don’t understand, you feel like you are just getting more confused, or less clarity. But, don’t lose heart. The trick is, that you must ask. How will you understand with no questions to clarify? How will you stretch and grow with no thinking about My words? My words will work your brain out. You need to practice questioning me. Some answers I will give you straight out, some I will prompt you to answer yourself.

P: Lord, how am I supposed to have a book by fall, or before Christmas? What should I write about?

L: We have hit this topic already, and I want you to understand, that I AM more than enough to fill a book within a very short time. You have started writing about your complications with christianity, and how you worked out your own relationship with Me. That has been good, for you. What is the passion in your writing, working out your own good? Or working out the common good? I have been written about by so many people, but few have the advantage of being able to interview me as you do. I know you think of writing fictional books. Look into my parables. Do you think you could help those parables become more real to people today? In them are the keys of life, and they often are passed over as stories that point to a principle. But they are complete aspects of the kingdom of the Father. They are applicable right now. You can modernize them and create new insights that have not been seen or heard yet.

P: Lord, that is a really cool idea. Turn the parables into stories of modern day living. Is this what you want me to do for a book?

L: Patrick, it is a book you can write. But I want you to do what you want. I am giving you an example of something that you could write, should write. Two things will happen, you will be plunged into scripture, and you will be plunged into the understanding of the kingdom that you never had before. Try it out. Start with the prodigal son.

P: OK Lord. Lord, why is worship difficult for me?

L: What do you mean?

P: I don’t engage in it very often, and I don’t always feel as if it were very heartfelt when I do.

L: Patrick, do you love Me?

P: Of course I do.

L: Why?

P: Oh, boy. I set myself up, didn’t I?

L: Yes, but is this a hard question for you to answer?

P: Lord, I look around this earth, and I see the depths of your creativity in everything, the trees, the grasses, the insects, and of course, people. I cannot fathom it. I cannot imagine your thoughts, and I cannot even begin to understand how magnificent You must be, if this earth is your invention. An artist can paint a wonder, or an architect like Gaudi can create amazing and beautiful buildings, but the way everything in this earth functions in unison and unity, though sometimes tearing at itself, it is absolutely a mind-blow to think that you thought all of this up, just as an artist does a work of art.

L: Now, examine your heart. Is it full?

P: Fuller than before I started writing.

L: Then you have worshipped Me well. That is your barometer, when you think of me and your heart fills, when you think of my creation, and you wonder and awe, tell me. That is worship. It is not that I want you to worship me because I Am worthy of it. It is because when your heart is full of awe and wonder at this beautiful creation or the ability of a song to bring tears to your eyes, or at the person who gave themselves in love to another, when these things are on your heart, and fill it, my heart is filled with your enjoyment of my gift to you. I am fulfilled when you worship in truth, and when your spirit leaps out to thank Me or tell Me how wonderful it all is. And you haven’t seen much, yet.

P: Thank you Lord. Thank you for helping me. Thank you for stretching and building me. Thank you so much for loving me.

L: Ah, my son, I do love you. And it really is My good pleasure to do so.

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P: Lord, do you have a word for anyone in the chat room tonight that I could share?

L: Yes.

P: Who? and what shall I tell them?

L: You will know. You have a gift of praying and counseling. Use them. As for who, “Cracken St.”

P: What does that mean?

L: Overcoming superstitions. There are some barriers that are merely in our minds because we allow superstitions to give us fear.