The ancient art of calligraphy is a beautiful art form, and in most Asian cultures it is the illustrated bridge between the hand written letter and the "grace" of fighting! The graceful lines in writing your name in the sand and/or parchment paper, ques your teacher and your enemy, the gracefulness in your fighting technique! In Asian culture, the sword and the calligraphy pen are one, both mediums expressing the lucid control of the militant soldier! This morning I take my electronic pen, and ask God to move in the lines and show the "Grace" in this militant soldier so that the art form of this process may move in a continuous flow! There is an art form to this war...did you know that! There is an Art to Being Still.
One of my favorite Ang Lee movies is Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon! In the film the fighting style and moral code of the fighters where beautifully illustrated as you watched them fly from one roof top to the next, or fight with the sword that had only "One Master"! The fighting Style of Wuxia, in the film mesmerised me because the idea of fighting while flying suggested much grace and controlled power! Wuxia is a compound word that in English breaks down as follows: "Wu" means - millitary, "Xia" - follower. In some translated works of Wuxia, the word as a whole is sometimes termed as a "swordsman" although the warrior may not necessarily wield a sword. We as "followers" are also known as being apart of the Holy military and fighting the daily fight for righteousness and holiness! Even though we do not wield a sword, we hold steadfast to the WORD, which is our sword. Ephesians 6:17...Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Continuing in my argument, it also says that: the Wuxia hero(soldier) fights for righteousness and seeks to remove an oppressor, redress wrongs, or to bring retribution for past misdeeds.
I started this journey over twenty days ago, surrendering to the process of my healing. I knew there were layers that had to be destroyed and self-esteem that had to be rebuilt. I knew that I would be walking a very specific path until the walls blocking me from my promise land would fall!
Led to the Book of Joshua, I began to chew on the obedience of the military leader and assistant to Moses, who CHOSE to obey another strategic attack! It didn't make sense to me at first because when he saw the land from the opening of the wilderness they didn't just assemble thier army and move in a strategic fight to conquer the city, (They did, if you remember, fight wars along the way. One famously based on how long Moses hands would be lifted up) but God orchestrated an entirely different process. This one required patience, no talking, and less fighting.
Chewing on this, I imagined myself walking around my own wall of Jericho. Laid out before my path was a Red Carpet of course! A pathway drenched in the sacrificial BLOOD of the Lamb that was slain for my sins, covering every step with GRACE and mercy. Because it is a Red Carpet, the path I was told to walk on during this season would be public. People would be onlookers as I walked, snapshots of my steps would be available, and transparency would be on a headline. So here I am...walking, trying not to count the steps, tryn not to count how many times I've walked around this wall, tryn not to care who is watching and just walk.
The militant follower,Wuxia, that I am becoming...struggles with the process! Mainly because I want to get to the promise land so bad! I want to fix what I did wrong and move at my on pace! Even though I know the destruction of that decision, there is still this rebellious nature in me that rises up and encourages me to just pick up the phone, to just yell out in defiance, and to just take a shortcut. It's funny...well not really,because God knew I was having these schizophrenic moments when I'd be cool, then something would distract me and a seed would be planted, and there I go watering it, and allowing the idea to become a forest in my mind! Last night I was studying for this morning post and ran across a scripture that answered the question I had just asked in my head. It was like I had put a status update with a "subtext" onto my tweeter page and then God answered back...
slataillade: Ever wonder if the promise you've been waiting for is gonna actually come? If you're not just walking this thing alone and being embarrassed just so that you can watch others get blessed?
slataillade: I just want so much...whatever let me keep walking. I'm just tired of being lonely
IAMTHATIAM: @slataillade when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you, Shamael, in your blood, ‘Live!’
IAMTHATIAM: @slataillade I made you thrive like a plant in the field; and you grew, matured, and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and bare.
IAMTHATIAM: @slataillade When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love; so I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness.
IAMTHATIAM: @slatailladeYes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine,” says the Lord GOD.
slataillade: @IAMTHATIAM this is heavy...
IAMTHATIAM: @slataillade I need you to trust me...truly let go and surrender! Walk the path I've placed you on and like Joshua I will tell you when to SHOUT! For the walls blocking you from your promise land WILL FALL. Be obedient! I got you Sham...always have!
slataillade: @IAMTHATIAM ok so what do I do? I'm still tryn to get to the promise! I want to get there so badly. What specifically do I need to do?
IAMTHATIAM: @slataillade Shama El...you make this so much more difficult than I want this to be for you because you take this process like its a calculated step to be conquered
slataillade: @IAMTHATIAM I want to understand this GOD. I want to know I didn't ruin everything that was planned for me!!!...I want to pass the test..
IAMTHATIAM: @slataillade That famous promise I gave Abraham—that he and his children would possess the earth—was not given because of something Abraham did or would do. It was based on MY decision to put everything together for him
IAMTHATIAM: @slataillade which Abraham then entered when he believed. If those who get what I give them only get it by doing everything they are told to do and filling out all the right forms properly signed, that eliminates personal trust completely and turns the PROMISE into an ironclad contract!
IAMTHATIAM:@slataillade That's not a holy promise; that's a business deal! A contract drawn up by a hard-nosed lawyer and with plenty of fine print only makes sure that you will never be able to collect.
IAMTHATIAM: @slataillade But if there is no contract in the first place, simply a promise—and MY promise at that—you can't break it. Romans 4:13themessage
IAMTHATIAM: @slataillade Be still and that I am GOD!
slataillade: @IAMTHATIAM Praise you Father God for the patience you have with me. The redesigning of the path through your love in my free will. Thank you! I'm gona get in my word some more and seek your face
The process really isn't that DEEP. Walking the path laid out before us is just a simple act of TURST! It defies our gravity because we deal with a GOD who works outside of our realm of understanding and time, but because of his love...he works "in it" with our limitations and stretches us! I have a saying that I should really try to apply more and it simply says:
It's not that deep. Stop drowning in the shallow end of the pool! Stand up and Relax! Realize that the water barely comes to your ankles!
So if it's not that deep...then it must be because I'm "walking on water"...not drowning in it...flow with me for a second, I'm walking somewhere :-)
John 6 starts off with a crowd of people chasing after Jesus hungry for miricles and expectations of being healed. Resting aside a montain, Jesus settles his entourage of disciples and watches the small crown turn into 5,000...this is where the lesson begins
5When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"
Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?"
As I continue to read, I see that Christ BLESSED the food that was passed out FIRST, then he gave the "leftovers" to his disciples, and in the HANDS of the Disciples...the "millitary followers", fed those who had NOT eaten on the first round! It multiplied in the hands of the diciples...leftovers multiplied! Is that not AMAZING to anyone else? So my first lesson in this is that as we pass around the "leftover" word of God...the passed down message of God if you will, to his people...it will multiply!
It's like looking on the side of a video game that list the players and reads: Wuxia Warrior aka Millitant Follower. Warrior Name: Shamael Lataillade. Spiritual Power: authority through Jesus Christ to multiply the "leftover"...passed down Word of God to those who have not yet eaten!
Warrior cry "LET NOTHING BE WASTED!
So what is the Bread that we pass along as we walk on the path to those who have not eaten?:
Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."...Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever."
So now that I have the mission planted in my heart. I read and see the reponse that we all have when a deeper level of teaching that is requierd of us all. Most of us signed up for Chrisianity not wanting to give "Truth" back. We want to be saved from Hell after this life, but we dont want to be saved from the Hell here on earth! Like I've been expressing, we enjoy the saftey of our tombs too much! So it comes to know suprise that we loose disciples when they get that "Dying Dailey" is difficult! But we fail to realize that we have people attached to our obedience, attached to us walking in a disciplined lifestyle, and attached to path..."Red Carpet" that God has been tryn to have us walk on.
60On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"
Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you?What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."
The problem was that many of the people who where following Christ where only doing it based off of the "last emotion". They were searching for the last meal the got. Kinda like what we do from one sunday service to the next. We go the entire week without getting into our word. Sometimes it's not even a consistant Sunday routine, its speratic routine, and it's based on holidays and a craving for answers and encouragement. Then when we get there, we our still starving. The meals doesn't sustain you because your addicted to the miracle! Addicted to the last sermon your pastor spoke that left you "feeling" good inside. Saints we have confused the purpose of our Pastors. It's so much BIGGER than that! That Sunday word should be CONFIRMATION on what God has been telling you! Or it should ADD to the revelation that has been desposited into your heart. That's why I'm so over false phrophets coming up to me telling me my husband is on the way! They tell you stuff that you "want" to hear! So when you go to astrology readings, and/or seek out someone whose Godly prophetic word hit you a certain way, you become addicted to the feeling of understanding. Closing the gap between you and God is when you lean NOT unot your own understanding, but in ALL your WAYS acknowledge him. He doesn't need someone else to tell you what he could've told you first. The problem is, you've become so SEPERATED what you're really hearing the ECHO from the mouth of God! That person isnt the source! They are not the originator! But the person God places there to speak to you is placed there is like the game "telephone"...please dont be confused! True phrophets are used for God's glory, but they aren't "the glory".Don't be addicted to the miracles...thrist and hunger after the one who IS the bread of life!
Are you folowing me? Walk with me a bit longer...
So also in this chapter Christ reveals his power of "walking on water", but we find a more detailed desciption of that night in Matthew 14:22-32the message...side note I'm really inlove with the word of God
As soon as the meal was finished, he insisted that the disciples get in the boat and go on ahead to the other side while he dismissed the people. With the crowd dispersed, he climbed the mountain so he could be by himself and pray. He stayed there alone, late into the night. Meanwhile, the boat was far out to sea when the wind came up against them and they were battered by the waves. At about four o'clock in the morning, Jesus came toward them walking on the water. They were scared out of their wits. "A ghost!" they said, crying out in terror.
But Jesus was quick to comfort them. "Courage, it's me. Don't be afraid."
Peter, suddenly bold, said, "Master, if it's really you, call me to come to you on the water."
He said, "Come ahead."
Jumping out of the boat, Peter walked on the water to Jesus. But when he looked down at the waves churning beneath his feet, he lost his nerve and started to sink. He cried, "Master, save me!" Jesus didn't hesitate. He reached down and grabbed his hand.
Then he said, "Faint-heart, what got into you?"
I started this journey acknowledging that I was in a tomb, and because I HEARD Jesus call me out...I made the steps to move! It's like as we finished chewing on the word above in John 6, God says, "Now that you have made the decision to follow me, get in the boat! Let's put into spiritual practice what this trust level I'm tryn to elevate you too is all about! Because I've already weeded out those who wont walk any further, but YOU who have made a decision to follow me, my millitant followers...Wuxia worrior, let's work on your TRUST ISSUES!!!
I got Trust issues ya'll, but my excitment of what I see God doing, makes me want to leap out there and "try", but I get out there and I get distracted! I notice a tweet, a photo, walking down a street that hints to memory, I look at my bank account, I'm budgeting pennies...I GET DISTRACTED. So now my innocent effort to join Christ looks like a failed, distracted, blowing this way and that vessel, because I'm DROWNING in the shollow end of the pool INSTEAD of me STANDING UP in th WORD of God...STANDING on the SOLID ROCK...STANDING and noticing that the water...when your "walking on water" barely comes to your ankles!!! You are SO WORTHY GOD!!!
"Faint of Hearted" what got into you? Did you forget "WHO's you are...Did you forget where to keep you eyes? Did you forget to walk with tunnel vision on Christ? I have man...I HAVE! And not because I wanted to :-(...my heart was in the right place, the goal of "jumping out on faith" was there...implanted in my heart! I want to do right! I want to walk on this Red Carpet laid before me and get to the Promise Land!
So how do I TRUST? Well let's look at Simon, whose name was changed to Peter, whose NEW NAME means Rock...Strength. Let's see how he got there!
2 Peter 1:3-10
3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
Imgine at the bottom of the ocean ROCKS being layed as we build upun this...ok. Our solid BASE...FOUNDATION is Faith! Even if it's the size of a Mustard seed, no worries, that's enough :-)
5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your
Rock 1-FAITH Rock 2-GOODNESS; and to Rock 2- GOODNESS, Rock 3-KNOWLEDGE; 6and to Rock 3-KNOWLEDGE, Rock 4-SELF-CONTROL; and to Rock 4-SELF-CONTROL, Rock 5-PERSEVERANCE; and to Rock 5-PERSERVERANCE, Rock 6-GODLINESS; 7and to Rock 6-GODLINESS, Rock 7-BROTHERLY KINDNESS; and to Rock 7-BROTHERLY KINDNESS, ROCK 8 -LOVE. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
10Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, YOU WILL NEVER FALL, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I am humbled beyond measure this morning! I'm crying in the spirit, overwhelmed by what I'm writing, because last night I wanted to write this so badly, but I keep hearing God say no in the morning, be patient. I knew I couldn't write this without him. I hadn't even thought of the martial arts until this morning when I woke up! I woke up sing "Daily I will worship thee"! I could barely remember the words, but from that worship I got on my computer. I remebered the scripture from last night Romans 4:13,and then with that studying begot more revalation...DO YOU SEE that they that wait upon the Lord...! I keep stopping and have the urge to run around this little apartment! I can barely see through my glasses what I'm typing, but let me tell you that this process is ABUNDENTLY ABOVE ALL I COULD EVER ask,think,calculate or IMAGINE! Most of what I'm writing is straight from the word, just different translations to fit what needs to pour out! the words are not even mine!
The urge to praise has come upon me
I'll follow up with Part 2 tomorrow....
