I want to thank so many for their kind words of encouragement, sent by one means or another. I had hoped that some would feel free to comment on the blog post itself, because I was and remain hopeful about the possibility of elaborating on some of the thoughts shared in my last post
This morning as I reflected on what I already wrote on the passage from the Song of Songs, I was rather overwhelmed with some of the things that might need to be added or clarified. This afternoon, after a heavenly conversation, the following struck me:
Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” Genesis 17:17
There are many other thoughts that struck me over the past several days, but I think this last should have priority!Without any intent of disrespect, what came clearer than ever is that Abraham is the father of our faith. For the moment I need to take the focus off of his position as a father, and look at Abraham as a kind of Biblical poster person for what it takes to receive God’s promised children. As that poster person he is an example for, not only fathers, in the faith, but mothers in the faith, as well as sisters and brothers – even children in the faith, all of these relationships of the faith are of the faith of Abraham.
The thing that qualified Abraham to be a “Father of the Faith,” or anything else “in the faith,” for that matter, is that his body was past dead. Figuratively speaking, the day before God made His promise of the “stars of the sky” to Abraham, Abraham’s confidence or lack of confidence as the case may be was based on the circumstances of his flesh.
As New Covenant people – as citizens of the New Jerusalem that comes down from Heaven, we are children of the free woman, as Paul points out in Galatians 4:22-31. The primary thing we are free of is the flesh. “Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God,” 1 Corinthians 15:50.
If we are still walking in confusion where this matter of flesh and relationship is concerned, we are relational disasters looking for a place to happen. In the moment I have particularly in mind moral failure.
We have to come to a place where we are already dead to our own flesh and its claims. That was Abraham, when God promised Him the “Stars of the sky,” Hebrews 11:11-13. My focus for present purpose is not about timing or race or so many of the other issues about which we tend to miss the point, but about spiritual relationships, their source, safety and keeping. The Kingdom of God is in the Holy Spirit!
It is past time for our eyes to be open to what God is doing relationally, and cease and desist from what we have been doing relationally! We are drowning in relational isolation, imitation, and moral failure, depending on how our thinking continues to be oriented in the flesh.
God help us to see the unspeakable gift of You in one another, and in a way that impacts the world around us to the praise of Your Glory.
Love!*
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Loving Like God 
Jay,
Yes, the time is now, even today, that we see relationships as Spirit, and in Spirit, as completely other than flesh, other than the relationships that the world sees and lives, where the flesh has its own image, its own desire, its own self-interest as the worldly kingdom’s exchange of currency. In the Kingdom of the Heavens this currency of the flesh has no place. You are right that the flesh must already be dead in order to enter into the relationships of the Kingdom of the Heavens, because the currency of God’s Kingdom is Spirit and is Love, The Love that surpasses all knowledge!
Jay my friend and brother. Your post got me thinking and that’s probably dangerous…so you need not post this but i wanted to share my thoughts (as disjointed as they may be) with you. may the Lord bless you. You are in our thoughts and prayers and in my heart.
With our minds we touch/embrace the world of thoughts and ideas. with our ears we perceive certain waves known as sound although there are waves beyond our human comprehension. With our eyes we can behold light within the visible spectrum although there is IR and other wavelengths that our human eyes cannot receive or perceive. With our sense of smell we can perceive odors and fragrances even the fragrance of incense but not heavenly savior.. With our emotions we can “feel” happiness, sadness, compassion, fear, etc… Yet joy, peace, and love and only be produced by the Holy Spirit much as a tree produces fruit. It is an absolute truth that God is not to be comprehended by those corrupted/fallen human senses. God IS love and God IS Spirit. It is only with out spirit by the holy Spirit that we touch the realm of God and experience Him as he is. The experience or “knowing God” is a gift that is beyond human understanding and human capacity or innate ability. It is a gift!
The love of God, the love of the brethren is a fruit of His indwelling Spirit…for the fruit of the Spirit is ______…………………………not any kind of human response or human emoting..
Instead of using the term love (which is such a loaded word) I prefer “the kind of love which comes from God.” Instead of the term “relationships” which smacks of modern psychobabble I prefer the distinction “the relationships which come from God” or divine connections.
We cannot love one another by or through any fallen human sensory or “extra sensory” capability…we cannot and are not related according to the flesh…not according to human DNA. It is only In and By the Spirit that we live and move and have our being. Either we are one “in the Spirit” have been recreated by and in the Spirit through Christ Jesus our Lord, or we are not related at all (spiritually speaking). We are all in the sense of fallen man “humanely related” sharing a common ancestor and if we had kept accurate lineage records we could all trace our human ancestry back to Adam. But that is NOT the relationship of which we speak. That is simply stated our human relationship
When we speak of relationship (in the Spirit) we are speaking of divine or spiritual relationship. luckily, spiritually speaking, if we are in Him and His spirit dwells in us we all can trace our family tree back to the “second man Adam”…who became a life giving Spirit. Our oneness is as a family is from the new birth – a spiritual birth in which we become spiritual beings and our relationship is “in Him” Although we can as human beings “relate” to one another as Human beings”…we as new creation man can only relate to and know each other in and by the Spirit: as Spiritual beings. The only relationship that we recognize are in the Spirit and these relationships are a gift from above. If we share the same Spirit we share the same life. Our relationship as a family, as brothers and sisters, Mothers and Sons – Fathers and daughters is one that comes as a gift from above.
I cannot know you after the flesh because if you have received the life of God…the Holy Spirit…the ‘new” you is also the real you.
So let us seek to know one another as we truly are!
I have been really struggling with some things. I am just learning some things you are writing. Last night, out of the blue a sister friend of mine showed up at my door whom I had not seen in so very long. We then called another friend. We stayed up all night talking, encouraging, giving insight, sharing, confessing, wisdom and loving each other. We let each other into our hearts and lives that few know. It was like we were all in the Spirit and the Spirit was being our counselor and comforter through each other. We talked til the next day afternoon and sleeping only a few hours. We felt the Lord pouring Himself through us we said. I felt like we were communing with God through each other. Like this was a gift to me from the Spirit. He met my need. Could this be anything like you are speaking? We parted loving and strengthen. Ready to go our separate ways. I maybe way off base.
It sounds just wonderful.
It really was Frances. TY for reading and replying.
Amen. So true. Lord, lead us into this reality more and more.
“God help us to see the unspeakable gift of You in one another, and in a way that impacts the world around us to the praise of Your Glory.” Yes, Papa, give us YOUR eyes to see one another. Not only as brothers and sisters…family…but as one Body…a healthy Body that moves and acts as one, even as Jesus and the Father are one. Health to you, Jay!
Yes Lord! Help us to see that being one in You as gifts from You, is not some undefined gaggle of emotional cliche’s, but rather living stones fitly joint together with clarity, definition and purpose in You!
Love!
It can only be expressed in and through the ‘Living Dead’ this Live that is more pure than refined gold.
“It is past time for our eyes to be open to what God is doing relationally, and cease and desist from what we have been doing relationally! We are drowning in relational isolation, imitation, and moral failure, depending on how our thinking continues to be oriented in the flesh.
God help us to see the unspeakable gift of You in one another, and in a way that impacts the world around us to the praise of Your Glory.” Jay Ferris
we live/exist is a world filled with relational activity (human contact, church, community, family, work etc) and at the same time experience ‘dryness’ in the relational aspects of our hearts. this can only be remedied by Jesus Christ, and the condition of the heart as expressed here as “past dead”. when we are no longer ‘in’ it’ for ourselves, we can truly find that we are ‘in it’ for Love, and for Loves sake. here and only here do we experience, and express the beauty of relational living.
may we with His grace press into this final frontier, the place where no man (mankind) can go…life in the Spirit, for the Spirit is Life.