{"id":4278,"date":"2012-08-19T20:13:32","date_gmt":"2012-08-20T00:13:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newagedevelopments.org\/blog\/?p=4278"},"modified":"2012-08-19T20:13:32","modified_gmt":"2012-08-20T00:13:32","slug":"in-the-words-of-jesus-part-416","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newagedevelopments.org\/blog\/2012\/08\/19\/in-the-words-of-jesus-part-416\/","title":{"rendered":"IN THE WORDS OF JESUS\u2013Part 416"},"content":{"rendered":"

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law<\/span><\/h2>\n

ON LOVE; PART IX<\/span><\/h2>\n
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GoodWill\u00a0IS Love in Action<\/span><\/h2>\n
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In the last post we discussed a variety of things that may seem to be apart from the general theme of faith<\/em> and believing<\/em> but, as we have tried to show, these things are ALL connected. From our discussion we came upon what we believe is the essence of True faith<\/em> and believing<\/em> which is KNOWING and we have postulated in past essays that this is a state of being that one must grow into as did the Apostles Peter and Paul. We have used Peter as our example several times because it is he that is highlighted in the gospels above the others and it is his Life in form that we get a glimpse of. We know that he struggled at times and we know that he was a disciple throughout his time with the Master; we also KNOW that he did come into the required state of KNOWING. In this state the apostle was able to heal by His mere proximity and was operating in the fullness of the Christ Within, the God Within or, in more practical terms, his Soul. He became, by his ability, the leader of the flock and this is as the Master instructed him in His commands to “Feed my sheep”. We should remember here two things:<\/span><\/p>\n

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  • First that there was a three part conversation between Peter and the Master where the more important part is not in the feeding but in the fact that Peter Loved the Master more than he Loved his brethren or more than his brethren Loved the Master as some doctrines hold. For our purposes here this does not matter and we do discuss this in more detain in In the Words of Jesus part 395. What matters here is that the Master’s inquiry is about Peter’s Love for Christ as being above ALL; the dialogue goes thus: “So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep<\/em>” (John 21:15-17). We should see here that the question is much more the message than is the commandment and the reality of the commandment is intertwined with the Master’s prior teaching regarding Love.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • And this is the second point; that if one says that He Loves the Master, he is saying much more than he realizes and, when we place the understanding of the Christ Within, the Soul, into this equation we can begin to grasp the progression of Peter’s Life as a disciple of the Master. In ALL points the Master is speaking to the consciousness that is Peter and which is of his Soul. We have seen from the struggles that Peter encountered that he was at times focused<\/em> upon the things of the world in the Master’s eyes and, while we may see Peter as having done little or nothing wrong, this is by our standards. The idea to be taken here is that as one progresses and comes to understand, the focus\u00a0<\/em>of the Life is EXPECTED to be on the things of God. In one exchange we have the Master speaking to Peter in the same tone and words in which he spoke to satan in yesterday’s post, in the same tone that he spoke to Himself as a man in form tempted by the ways of the world which is for us satan.<\/span>\n
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    • Of Jesus\u00a0temptations\u00a0in the wilderness we read “And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan<\/strong>: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve<\/em>” (Luke 4:5-8).<\/span><\/li>\n
    • As Peter was ‘rebuking<\/em>‘ the Master as regards His suffering and death we read: “From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan<\/strong>: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men<\/em>” (Matthew 1+6:21-23).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      We see here Peter’s error and in this we should know that this\u00a0‘rebuking<\/em>‘\u00a0follows soon after, according to the chronology, the Master’s praise of the apostle saying “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven<\/em>” (Matthew 16:17). Remembering that Peter is a disciple should enable us to better understand the duality in which we live as aspirants; we should understand that until that time of perfection<\/em> of which the Master speaks, that time of KNOWING, we live per force in two worlds and it is only by our continued focus<\/em> upon the things of God that we are better able to overcome the illusion<\/strong> and the glamour<\/strong> which at times beset us. Getting to our point which is the Love that the Master inquired about, we should see that the Master understands these issues of discipleship and the difficulty of giving up even worldly attitudes of protection for the Life of the Christ and so He asks His question in a way that will evoke the memory of Peter and of us to His words that say: “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me<\/em>” (John 14:23-24). This saying is a\u00a0repetition\u00a0of a prior like saying which again should attest to the importance of this Love; the Master says: “If ye love me, keep my commandments…….He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him<\/em>” (John 14:15, 21)<\/span><\/p>\n

      In the reality of the Master’s inquiry above we should see how these sayings above and the whole of the Master’s relationship with Peter are embedded. There is a clarity to the Master’s words which is ever so difficult to confuse with anything else except when one is enthralled by the world and the illusion<\/strong> and the glamour<\/strong> of it ALL or, as Paul tells us the vanity<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

      In the last post we premised that it was at the time of the Master’s baptism by John that He came into the reality of Paul’s saying that\u00a0“For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily<\/em>” (Colossians 2:9) and we can say that by degree Peter had this same experience and one could argue that Peter would be among those very few who could move the mountain. The Master tells us that this ability is to those who “have faith as a grain of mustard seed<\/em>” (Matthew 17:20) in which we see the degree of faith<\/em> and He tells us elsewhere “If ye have faith, and doubt not<\/em>” (Matthew 21:21) and in this we see the link between faith<\/em> and believing<\/em> which is further stated in a clearer way as one who “shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass<\/em>” (Mark 11:23). This is likely what Peter had achieved and we should remember that like ALL else, this state of being happens by degree.<\/span><\/p>\n

      Now what we have been discussing is the faith<\/em> that can move the mountain and the faith<\/em> in which one “shall have whatsoever he saith<\/em>”\u00a0(Mark 11:23) and we should be able to imagine the danger in this ability if it were to be available to a man who is not a True disciple and we should take comfort in the understanding that as a man progresses on the Path to God and toward the expression of His fullness through the Life in the world, that these abilities increase in direct proportion to that expression. It is only in living a Christlike Life that a man can have Christlike Powers and the same would be True of a Peter-like Life or a Paul-like Life producing Peter-like or Paul-like Powers. We should also remember that while we consider such things as supernatural, they are in reality the normal and the natural Powers of the Soul who has dominion over the things of the Earth.<\/span><\/p>\n

      We listed yesterday some additional sayings from the Master regarding believing<\/em> and faith<\/em> so that we can get a better understanding of His use of these words and their relationship to each other, especially as they are effected by one’s\u00a0ability\u00a0to “doubt not<\/em>“. Let us begin our look at these:<\/span><\/p>\n