SHULAMITE PODCAST

The Cross is there to set us free and that happens through pain. Yet what we suffer through and die to, what we experience in life, is all HIS story. . . His purpose. "I" am not the subject of my own history. We do not really know the meaning of our own existence with God. That which we need the most and want the most, is intimacy with Him and that is what comes on the other side of dying. For every Cross there is always a resurrection life that makes it all worth the process and the pain.

The work of the Cross is extreme and excruciating. There are many who don't believe that kind of dying is of God. Experiencing your heart opposition to Him, your disappointment in Him! We only die to our opposition to Him by FEELING our opposition. Gunter says: "That pain is where many say NO to the Cross but you become a stone without feelings and you can't relate to people any more." John: "God's knowledge of us is so intimate and He goes for what will make us whole." I Cor. 8:3

God presents us with the great unfathomable gift of free will. That is wonderful because it means we CAN choose to repent and change direction. The Cross brings our choice to the front, and it is painful to the core, a real death to our dreams and hopes - for God's sake. The choice must come from a heart of yearning for God, choosing Him against Self. Carole says, "Until that REAL choice takes place there is no death to self."

To know that Christ has actually given us a new nature within an entirely new human race, is so amazing and difficult to grasp. But the present reality is that we ever have the choice between the old sinful life and the new Life in Christ. There is no relationship with God on the ground of the flesh or old man. That we need the Lord perpetually is a comfort and safety.

Jennifer has a personal and practical revelation of the old versus the new creation. John sees that the struggle between the old and new nature is valid as the force that continually sends us back to relationship with God. The false gospel refutes this struggle because it says you are only new. Scripture is clear that we are faced with the ever present choice between the old man and the new creation. Ephesians 4:22-24

Don says, "If you can't understand and bow to authority there is no way you can be responsible." John sees that our training, work and responsibility become a love tryst. When you pick up your responsibility and then let Christ perform it, you experience union and that becomes bliss. Carole encountered the delight of the Lord as He was performing her service for house-guests.

The degree of Light we possess is according to how much we are surrendered to the Holy Spirit for His training. Each person has the responsibility to seek the fullness of the Spirit alone. We have the conflict of living life in the world but walking in the Spirit. John sees that responsibility IS the Lord. "In the will of God there is God."

From Canada, John, Martha, Don and Carole fellowship in Zechariah 3 with the Spirit as they travel. We cannot give away the Oil of the Spirit which comes from our relationship with the Lord. That union is precious and private; it must not be invaded, distracted, or demanded by others. We are merely to burn with the Oil of the Spirit so there is light for others.

The Obstacle Course . . . weeds out those who "refuse to be trained." Ones who are not receptive to training are not fit for serious combat situations. Don affirms from his military experience that the way of wisdom is not helping those who must go through their ordeal alone. Those who will not be trained are a danger to those who will. The only help for others is to give knowledge. Each person is responsible to follow their own course and that solitary work is where the uncommitted are exposed.

Love is to gain control but instead it is the loss of all control to be captured in love. The torrent of God's love wants to consume. Don says, "Love is unpredictable yet peaceful. Love comes in many forms." The purpose of the Niagara is meant to display God's greatness of love. John again prays that we will all be absorbed by the force of Love and display that Torrent as His vessels of Love. Martha says you can perish in the force of Love if you get in its way. We don't see His love as that powerful!

Still at Niagara Falls, Carole reads Song of Solomon 8:7 "Many waters cannot quench love." Love is a force that is not stoppable and God's love is not manageable! John prays for all who hear this podcast, to be caught in the 'love flow.' The woman at the well! What are we thirsty for . . . love. Christ's Love is to be like a ceaseless river flowing out from us by the Spirit. We are meant to be vessels of violent love. Torrents of Love, because that is Who He is.

Don, Carole, John and Martha were at Niagara Falls in November of 2012. They were impacted by the roar and force of this immense waterfall . . . beautiful, magnificent and violent! On the very day of arrival, the ReadMK.com devotional mentions a "Niagara of Love." Love is the only power, the only truth, the only authority." So the four were relating to the wonder of God's POWER of love as they experience the Falls.

Upon what issue does the entire human condition pivot? John and Martha share from Romans 1 the amazing secret, the pivot of life. "All of life is actually a response to God whether you realize it or not, rather than to life or circumstance." Our response to God brings a result that goes on and on. The right answer is so simple we miss it yet we live the pivot, daily and perpetually.

Don Nelson went to eternty, peacefully, painlessly. Martha delivered the eulogy for Don at his funeral and it became a legacy to everyone, an inheritance, a wonderful example of living life without regret. The life of Don is viewed through three essential life issues, and is the inheritance we can receive and follow to prepare for our REAL LIFE. "Don did it, where most of us only think about it." Carole's post on GetAlongWithGod.com entitled "Just As I Am" has the account of the day.

Forgiveness is the center of the cross of Jesus. He was the great sacrifice that God gave in His passionate love for us. Gunter sees that if you refuse to forgive, you are setting yourself up as God. If God forgives, dare we think we can refuse to forgive? God is relentless to bring us to forgiveness. Maybe the absence of love for God is actually the presence of grave unforgiveness.