“If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them. . . . They are a great fountain of energy and beauty spurting up at the very centre of reality. . . . Now the whole offer which Christianity makes is this: that we can, if we let God have HIs way, come to share in the life of Christ. . . . We shall love the Father as He does and the Holy Ghost will arise in us.”- C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Bill Gaultiere concludes Chapter 7 of Journey of the Soul as he talks about what it means to know the Lord deeply. As Bill stresses, this means to discover that the eternal Creator who calls each star by name, the Ruler of the universe, the sovereign Lawgiver, and the Holy Judge of all is your Abba. Therefore, He’s your dear Papa.
Furthermore, writing in Abba’s Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging, Brennan Manning testifies:
“The greatest gift I have ever received from Jesus Christ is the Abba experience. . . . My dignity as Abba’s child is my most coherent sense of self.”
Above all, Bill underscores, God’s fatherly love for you is more than just a theological principle. In addition, it can function as your operating reality. No matter what the world throws at us, it’s possible to find security and strength as we dwell in our Father’s world. That’s our true spiritual reality.
In conclusion, Kristi suggests a different term to use for the word consolation. Because therapists like to call this kind of felt blessing a corrective emotional experience. Here, you share your emotions with a support person, internalize compassion, and deeply bond. As a result, that process reformats your soul’s hard drive in divine health.
Finally, in 2002 Henri Nouwen wrote in Life of the Beloved:
“Every time you listen with great attentiveness to this voice that calls you the Beloved, you will discover within yourself a desire to hear that voice longer and more deeply. It is like discovering a well in the desert. Once you have touched wet ground, you want to dig deeper.”
Today’s question: What Bible verses help you tap into that great fountain of energy and beauty? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Catching the wind of the Spirit”
