Brash Relationship

WED., APR. 20, 1988, 5:39 AM
FARM, BRKFT TABLE

The place in which you write is different, and the hour is earlier than usual. Yet you assume that with this pen and this pad of paper you shall transcribe some words of direction, knowledge, even wisdom from the Holy Spirit of the Lord God. Now that’s a brash relationship!

You assume that the words you “hear” in this mode of being are from Me. Could you prove this claim to any brash skeptic? Of course not. With all of the truly dedicated Christians, including learned and committed ministers, seeking My help and counsel… and not being at all sure they’re receiving it… why should I select you and actually call you to this relationship? Why would I manipulate circumstances so that you commit yourself to a task you have put off while I want it done?

See and appreciate the brashness on both sides. I am brash in doing with you what I do with relatively few others – a direct, personal, helping relationship. You are brash in responding with this writing mode, and, particularly, in making this relationship known through your class and your Ruminations. I like this sort of mutual brashness, even as it is not My normal style.

You are comfortable in calling yourself a “born again” Christian. Yet you are not charismatic, and you do not exhibits “gifts of the spirit” that most who enjoy this label do. Mark that as another example of brashness. You claim that I work directly through you, in a unique and unconventional way. By direction you remain a Presbyterian, among folks most of whom do not want to hear about or consider this claimed relationship. You resist being a spiritual leader other than through these two recommended means.

I am supposed to call you to be a narrow, “one way” evangel. Instead I offer you Teachings centered in both/and. I am not limited to one interpretation. I am All in All. I, the Spirit, am thus, because I, the Father, am thus. Just as I am called by different names in different languages, so I come in different forms to different cultural groups. This is being brashly liberal… or just Me.

I have given you Christians a magnificent book of Holy Scripture and have called you to see it as ultimate Truth. Then I offer you Teachings which seem to go beyond these Scriptures. And then I tell you that even as they seem not to agree, both are My Truth. That’s brash.

I also tell you that you are not wholly accurate in writing down what I teach, and still I urge you to come and write, to retain, in some organized form, every page you write, and to see these pages as another form of Scripture. At the same time I do not tell you that these Scriptures should be widely distributed and known. This is brash humility, but I do see farther ahead than you do. I do want these maintained, in some order. You shall just have to rearrange that file.

I select you from a culture that emphasizes free will and responsibility for self, and then I tell you I am providing materially for you and I shall determine how long you live and in what condition. I tell you not to be concerned about money, property, or things… nor about length and quality of life. Instead I brashly confide that as you stay in this relationship with Me I shall provide, quite sufficiently, whatever the apparent situation and circumstances. I have not called on you to witness to this promise, but I may. And thus you would be comparably brash in affirming this complete and trusting a relationship.