Also, Inventory pt5.5
Friends, I’m still amazed about what was written down in the previous post, and I wanted to hold on to this and honor what we realized here, just by sharing what came into mind as posted, and as I consulted ClaudeAI about all of it. Yes, I’m being honest, I’m a big fan of AI, and of ClaudeAI in particular, to help me consolidate all that I write. The AI does add value of its own as well – of course, I don’t add it all automatically; I usually don’t share what it came up with if it didn’t match the mindset I had.
With that being said, I did realize along the way, since a good chunk of what was discovered was out of a couple of chunks of my notes from October, what declarations can we go ahead and formulate, which are appropriate for this season – MY season?
We’ll go through that eventually, but I do want to go ahead and add a couple of things.
Before anything else, here’s a bit of history, or a snippet from the previous post:
I’m sick of the overthinking. I’m so sick of being out of timing. I’m sick and tired of being anxious, then frustrated. I’m sick of planning, only to find out I’m preparing to be disappointed.
I want to flow, and stay in this flow. Forever.
The way I understand what I’m calling this ‘flow’ is that it delivers us from overthinking. I feel as if we’re brought to realize, live and move according to rhythms beyond our understanding; Much so that, whether things happen according to the timing we set or expect, they don’t happen at all and/or things deviate or totally descend into chaos beyond expectations, we are at peace knowing that the One behind all that goes on, the One who causes things to happen according to His perfect time table, is ultimately on our side – for us, and not against us.
I feel as if we will still be feeling anxious, and we will still be frustrated. We will still be planning according to our limited minds, and we may think we have all bases covered, up until the point that we are absolutely disappointed. But this flow I talk about is something that… what, transcends all this?
To sort of clarify, I consulted with Claude about follow-up thoughts regarding what we have here, and I was reminded of Philippians 3:8, which more or less articulated what I wanted to say.
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.Philippians 3:7-11
I went ahead and just copied what I think covers the entire context, just so I’m sure I cover all bases… and, wow. Paul doesn’t even start with anxiety, overthinking, the feeling of not being in good timing, frustration, and disappointment; No, he starts with GAIN – essentially whatever makes us feel the opposite of what I just mentioned there – and he drops that even these GOOD things are counted as loss for the sake of Christ…
And then, just so he’s clear he just says in the next verse that EVERYTHING we’re calling good results or bad outcomes, EVERYTHING is counted as loss compared to the ‘surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus‘!
He goes on to say that he may have lost everything, but it’s all worth it, so that he may ‘gain Christ and be found in him’… and, as in the book of Romans, he speaks of not having righteousness that comes from the law, but righteousness that comes through faith in Christ (which is also a righteousness ‘from God that depends on faith‘).
This flow is our realizing that our knowing Christ and our being known by Christ is infinitely superior to anything we can have and everything that we don’t have in this world. We have Christ – far greater than anything we could ever appreciate with our limited senses, in this fallen world!
Claude and I continued to explore this, and as I shared that this isn’t a mere feeling that I’m appreciating right now, he affirmed this by citing Christ’s promise following His great commission in the last verse of the book of Matthew:
“…And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”Matthew 28:20b
It isn’t a feeling we strive or work to earn – This flow is literally Christ Himself, who is always with us, and who has always been with us all this time!
This ‘flow’ we feel isn’t something ‘new’ that we find or work for or attain – it’s more of an awakening to what – or in this case, WHO is already here with us, for us and not against us… and Claude said it beautifully, it’s ‘like opening your eyes to realize you’ve been standing in a stream all along.’
He also shares: No longer do we strive for peace when Christ is our peace. No longer do we work for God to accept us, when, through Christ, we’ve already been accepted in the beloved!
But here’s another thing: No longer should we chase after purpose, when we are already complete in Him – well, about this, I’m still under the understanding that it’s good to have a goal and a vision and a consequent purpose, BUT he does have an excellent point, which I’ll just ‘fix’ a little: BECAUSE we are complete in Him, we are able to establish goals, cast visions, and serve a purpose!
This flow is not a serendipitous feeling of ‘everything falling into place’ – It’s something we had all along, just like we’ve had Christ all along!
Claude helped me even more here by sharing from its perspective… and I think his words are pretty spot on:
It’s not escapism or denial. It’s not a euphoric high. It’s not the absence of problems.
It’s being anchored in reality – fully present to both joys and challenges – yet experiencing a deep, steady peace that doesn’t depend on circumstances. Like being in the eye of a storm – the winds are still howling, but there’s a profound stillness at your core.
This flow? It’s a manifestation, a demonstration, or just really a direct perspective of the peace that surpasses all understanding which we speak of a lot! We realize it as more than a mere feeling that fades, but this Peace is a Person that is alive and active in us!
This flow is not a mere escape from this finite reality, but it is our existing in this wretched world while at the same time being grounded in the deeper, eternal and infinite reality we’ve been brought into, through Christ!
This flow is not dependent on our problems disappearing, but it keeps us anchored while we take on them, head-on!
This flow, this peace – it’s what we have, it’s who we have, it’s Christ; Yes, the same Christ who was sleeping in the boat during the storm, as recounted in Mark 4:35-41. It wasn’t that He was ignoring the storm – Good LUCK trying to ignore the winds and the waves! He certainly wasn’t unaware of the storm, but He was at peace in the midst of it! It wasn’t that the problems weren’t real… His flow, His peace which He gives to us, the peace that this world does not understand – It’s a whole lot more real than the realest storm!
Look, I’ll be honest – I don’t know if I’m actually helping in sustaining and clarifying this mind-blowing revelation through talking about all of this and putting it all together and writing about it, but, well, it does help to clarify that this peace, this flow isn’t something ‘special’, it’s not only attainable at a certain ‘level’, and, God forbid, it’s not something I’m saying we should work for, and God forbid as well that I dangle this over the rest of the body of Christ saying I have it and they don’t:
Are WE sick of the overthinking? Are WE so sick of being out of timing? Are we sick and tired of being anxious, then frustrated. Are we sick of planning, only to find out we’re preparing to be disappointed?
Do we want to flow, and stay in this flow, forever?
Friends we ALL have Christ! We ALL have peace! We ALL flow!
Let us run to HIM in our time of need. Let those of us who seek wisdom ASK, and believe and receive. Let us continue to trust in Him, for those who place their trust in Him… oh, boy – I’ve never been put to shame.
I’ve been saying that I’ve been writing and only now realized this flow, and I intend to keep on writing and flowing, indeed – BUT I would be remiss if I fail to mention that, on top of my writing more, I’ve been praying more, and I’ve been reading the Word out loud, also a whole lot more. Again, I’m not saying we all ought to do stuff like this to get that ‘feeling’;
It just so happened that it was something that popped out as I continued to allow the water to flow. I found a gold nugget, but that doesn’t mean that the water is turned off – the flow goes on! If anything, I’m just thankful that in all that I’m doing, I’m reminded of being on the right track!
So, yeah, before I go ahead and post this, and before I go sleep, I just want to say that God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is trustworthy, faithful and true, just such a Great Father, a Loving Savior, and a Good Shepherd to me.
I don’t know what’s going to follow, how this will progress. You can be sure that I will keep doing what I’m doing, with a broader and more pronounced awareness of His presence in me, and my being alive in Him – sleeping in the boat with Him in the storm.
I’ve been listening to a lot of Incognito lately, been catching up on their latest releases… and I never thought I’d be able to connect recent works of this wonderful, life-changing music family to whatever I’m having in my mind right now… but just look at a part of these lyrics from ‘Reconcile The Pieces’, from their 2023 Album, ‘Into You’:
To the imagination
Let’s leave it incomplete
Common attraction
Should take us where we needed to be
With all the right intentions
We played it on repeat
Mutual affection
Got in the way and made it too hard to see
See horizons on the rolling sea
A vision of what could be
Flowing endlessly
Try forgetting what could have been
There’s light above the cloud you’re in
Let the dance begin
Reconcile the pieces
Of the life that I once had
Reconcile the pieces
Of a dream that I once lived
Oh reconcile the pieces
Reconcile the pieces
I don’t want to leave this to flawed interpretation, but I could resist pointing at least one thing out: It’s not about our having everything figured out.
‘Let’s leave it incomplete.’ Let’s not sabotage the natural flow by trying to put the pieces back together exclusively according to our perceptions and efforts.
Let the dance begin, and what follows? We reconcile the pieces, of the life we once had, of the dream that we once had.
…and that’s enough for me, for today. My hope and trust is in the Lord, Creator of Heaven and earth.
Let me declare:
We flow in a living peace, in a peace beyond understanding, a peace that is more than a feeling of serendipitous harmony, a peace that is more than the shallow absence of problems, more than the denial of issues;
This peace that we have, this peace in which we live, and move, and have our being, is FAR more than escapism, FAR more than a ‘high’ to feel.
It’s not something we earn, nor is it something we work for or pay for.
It’s a living peace that we have; More than a concept, it’s something – SOMEONE we’ve had all along – Jesus Christ.
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him, all creatures here, below.
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host.
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!
Amen.
Until the next post, may our God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) sustain us and cause us to thrive in His everlasting love, and His mercies that are new every morning. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.
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