8.3 Form and Flow

The words “form” and “flow” could refer to God by Himself or to us by ourselves. Our ultimate relationship with God then requires a togetherness. Thus form becomes symmorphy, sharing the same form, and flow becomes synergeia, sharing the same flow of energeia together.

Yet we still benefit from the simple terms of form and flow, because in these are the two parts of everything that lives, the two parts of Life. In this relationship, we have the form that, shared with God, makes God’s form visible. And God has the energeia, shared with us, that enables our energeia to bless others.

Perfect Compatibility. Our compatibility with God could not be more perfect. God designed us to be exactly what He needs, in fitting Himself, in order to be seen and known by all, to touch and bless everything in creation, heaven and earth.

At the same time, all differences that do exist between God and us, two entities that are very much not the same, are resolved fully by Christ Jesus, whose connection with both the Father and us makes our weak humanity and God’s divine power to fit and to flow seamlessly. This ability of Jesus is especially miraculous and displayed at its greatest achievement inside the joining of Will with will, of Choice with choice, of Desire with desire, that is, peace. Through Christ Jesus, the Father and we are one.

The Outward Flow. In the last lesson, “Source and Likeness,” we looked at the movement taking place inside our own beings, from Father arising in our hearts, through our soul shared with Jesus, to the Kindness and Compassion of God on our face and through our touch. In this lesson, we want to know the Father inside the outward flow, every next step shared with God, that is, the Kingdom.

In short, we know someone else best when we do many things together over the years, which is actually the story of our lives. Every moment since we asked Jesus into our hearts, we have shared all with God and God with us. It took the skill of the greatest Craftsman to bring us to know what has always been True, to know that our Father has always shared all with us.

The Ark of the Covenant. The single most important metaphor in the Bible of this relationship each one of us shares with God our Father is the Ark of the Covenant with the Mercy Seat upon it. And the single most important picture of God as He is with us as we are, in the Old Testament prior to the Lord Jesus in the New, was the Ark of the Covenant resting on the shoulders of four men standing at the bottom of the Jordan, the lowest place on earth, holding back the waters of death until every little one who belonged to God had passed through death into the Promised Land.

You see, God first shares our own interests and doings with us that we might reciprocate, as we desire, in sharing God’s interests with Him.

“This Is Me.” And God has one overwhelming interest, which is to place Himself beneath of all, to hold back all that destroys, to seek and to save what is lost, and to endure until every little one who belongs to Jesus has entered into all the life of Christ.

This same God turns to us and says, “I love sharing all things with you that you enjoy. In like manner, you love sharing all things with Me that I enjoy. This is Me, this Ark of the Covenant making the way open for all, enduring until all are safely through, this is Me.” And He says to us, “Know Me as I am; share all the doings of My own Heart together with Me. You walk with Me and I with you, inside of and as one another. Our knowing and our doing are always shared together.”

Life-Unfolding. We know the Father, and He knows us, inside the action of every next step we take together, in every ongoing moment. We know the Father inside of and as Life, age-unfolding.

~ Living inside of Jesus is my Way to connect with the Father sharing my life with me. Jesus living inside of me is the Father’s Way to connect with me sharing His life with Him, that God might enter creation through me. Life itself is my Way, moment by moment and step by step, not ‘to’ something, but rather life-unfolding, the living and dynamic expression of God-with-me unveiled new every morning forever. ~

This is the context. And now we want to explore the wondrous reality of knowing our Father as we have come to know Him inside all Completion, and as the unfolding of the Kingdom.

The Circle of Grace. Again, our interest here is not the practicality of every next step we take with God, but rather the knowing of one another that occurs in and because of that next step shared together.

Let’s bring in a ruling verse that shows us what we want. – Good grace and thanks be to God, who always leads us in the triumphal procession inside of Christ, with the aroma of His knowledge being made visible through us in every place. For of Christ we are a fragrance to God – inside the saved. – One word describes the totality of knowing the Father inside every next step He and each one of us take together; that word is Grace. Notice the complete circle, from our Grace to God, through God’s Grace with us, to Grace being known everywhere, back to our Grace to God through others.

What Is Grace? Covenant is God towards us, Jesus having come into union with us first to enable us then to be in union with Him. We are speaking here of Kingdom, not Covenant, though it always comes out from Covenant. But we see that every next step begins, not with God to us, but with us to God. The Greek reads thus – Eucharist be to God. Every next step begins as you and me giving good Grace and Favor to God.

Covenant, then, is God liking to be with us, Himself gifted utterly, and Kingdom is us liking to be with God, gifted utterly in return. The Eucharist, speaking good Grace, is our response to God out from the life we share together. What is Grace?

A Living Grace. Grace is life shared together with God. Grace is a living interaction with the Father through Jesus inside our human form. Grace is a living flow, a reciprocating current of Life between God and ourselves inside the boundary of freedom. Grace is then the Life of God, now shared with us, passing through us into our world. Grace is our response to God, blessing God with the gift of ourselves, for the sake of others.

Inside this living Grace, this reciprocating Favor, is found the deepest meaning of Friendship. God our Father is the dearest and closest Friend to each one of us and we are each the dearest and closest Friend to Him, inside our souls. Grace is the Father and I sharing Friendship through each next step together.

The Aroma of Grace. There is an aroma to Grace, a life-giving essence like the essential oils of plants imparting their life-giving frequencies to uplift and make alive. Grace “smells” wholesome and alive, and that wholesomeness fills the air around us everywhere we go, causing everyone to recognize the presence and goodness of God.

Even more than that, this living Grace, this shared life with the Father, makes the believer in Jesus to be the sweet fragrance of Christ to God. Yet because this Grace envelops every passing person, it returns as the fragrance of Life to the Father through each, inspiring the knowledge of God whether as life to Life or to those living in ruin, the open door of the death of Christ.

The Celebration of Grace. We know the Father most inside our shared celebration of the Victory that is the Resurrected Life of Jesus inside of which we live entirely through faith. Though we see nothing outwardly, yet our confidence, in God sharing all with us as life and love outpoured, is so certain and True that we KNOW nothing else. Jesus joined us with God inside His Soul before Resurrection swallowed Him up into Life. We join others with our Father inside our souls INSIDE that Resurrection already all.

It is shocking to know the Father in this way, in this celebration of Victory already won before anyone else knows. The celebration of Grace is the confidence in Jesus that we share with the Father.

The Favor and Generosity of Grace. The generosity of grace is as the beating heart, sending forth the abundance of life to fill all need inside the body of Christ. Each of us knows the Father by the reciprocal flow of favor and generosity between Him and us. In the same way, each of us knows the Father by that same reciprocal flow of favor and generosity among all the members of the local Church. The first flow always becomes the second.

This living Grace creates a harmony of all the frequencies of God with and inside of His Church. This harmony results in a continuous flow of abundance of favor and all reciprocity of generous giving. This reciprocity of abundant favor and generous grace is how the Church LIVES and how God sets creation free inside of her glory.

The Devotion of Grace. We are devoted to God because God is first devoted to us. This shared devotion is the deepest essence of Grace, of sharing life with the Father. It is how we know Him most closely. Devotion is the meaning of our bond with God, from our innermost center to our outermost boundary.

On the deepest inside, we know the Father belonging to us first. As we cast ourselves upon the Father inside the loss of all things, so we know that the Grace we share with Him arises out from all death and into all Life, carrying all whom we love inside of it. And on our furthest outside, Devotion moves as Grace with the firm protection of the Cross, allowing our interaction with the world around us to be the blessing and goodness of God.

The Offering of Grace. Grace as life shared with God is also Grace as life shared with one another. Together, we are the Body of God, His dwelling place inside creation. We know the Father even more as we know one another inside of this living Grace. We together present our bodies to God as a living offering, that the same patterns of expression that are Jesus might be our life together inside this world.

It is the Father who proves His desire to be known by all, then, through our offering. As we cast all that we are upon His Devotion to us, we are well-pleasing to Him, and through us, God makes all things good. Grace is Resurrection Life, knowing God together, Life-forevermore. The offering of Grace is the blessing of God.

The Capstone of Grace. It is upon our knowing of one another, the dwelling place of God, that we SHOUT – “Grace – Grace,” Grace upon each one who belongs to Jesus and Grace upon each local gathering together. As we care for all the churches with GRACE, so Jesus places the finishing capstone upon God’s Home, our harmony together inside of life shared with God.

As you give your expression of Grace to me, to meet my need, I LIKE you and God together. And as I give my expression of Grace to you, to meet your need, so you LIKE God and me together. As we enjoy God in knowing one another, through good times and difficult, through abilities and inabilities, so a wondrous harmony comes upon the dwelling place of God made ready for Him. That harmony is God at HOME among us, the singing of our Father in joy and peace.