Awakening
The journey back into the mind of Christ could best be described as an awakening.
The Prodigal Son “came to himself” the Bible says.
He was already a son of his father. His father was already out looking for him though he was still in the pigsty. The prodigal son was always the son of the father. No matter where he went, no matter what he had done, no matter what he ‘felt’ about his relationship with his father – this didn’t change the fact the father still saw him as son. His ‘feelings’ couldn’t change the truth. However the truth can change his feelings.
How did this happen?
The Bible describes the process as the prodigal ‘coming to himself.’
In other words, something in his inner world awakened to a truth that had always been true, but he hadn’t been unable to see and fully own in his inner world.
The first awakening was only a partial insight – be a servant in my father’s home. It was enough to get him up and out of the pigsty and moving towards his father – even though servanthood was not the picture the father had of their relationship. He was partially awake – the awakening was taking place – but his eyes were not fully open.
Isn’t this like our life with God?
The Bible says in Psalm 139 that God has so many thoughts that are streaming towards us, they are more numerable than sands on the seashore – even when we are not conscious of them (the Bible says ‘asleep’) – we are still ‘with’ Him.
So many things try to keep us preoccupied and unaware of these thoughts. We are manufacturing our own seashore of thoughts that often keep us thinking and feeling like pigsty dwellers or servants – but not sons and daughters.
It’s time to wake up.
What is true is not what our feelings affirm – but what God is actually saying. The Holy Spirit is constantly working to wake us up. Romans 8 shows us that He is perpetuating the cry of Abba (daddy) and Father (Source and Creator). WE need to seek the revelation of the Spirit, to make a place for this to happen. The Spirit does the ‘revealing’ but we create the solitude, silence and surrender that allows the noise of our seashore of thoughts and imaginings to fade – and awakens our inner understanding.
King David is saying in Psalm 139, that whether you are awake or asleep, physically or spiritually, it doesn’t change the reality of Gods thoughts. Our awakening doesn’t change God’s intention towards us or our standing before Him. It only affects our capacity to daily enter into this standing and ‘live out of’ the higher transforming reality of Gods thought life. Our awakening is our soul coming alive to the truths of the realm of the Spirit. Our awakening means we will live with greater intentionality and power in the Kingdom of God.
