Invitation to Zoe Life

3/17/1997

Some thoughts, expanded, from a person in Oregon...

“DEEP RICH LIFE, Life in Jesus that is REAL is available to all of us—the wonder of which far surpasses anything our imaginations can conceive. It is where all real discoveries, true excitement, and genuine fun begin. It is the gateway to an amazing new world. It is the shelter and abode of ZOE Life, and it can be entered into right now.

....... Every moment of every day we make a choice to live and experience life from within one of two different worlds. We can choose to dwell in the safety of the present moment of ZOE Life; OR we can remain in the weariness of the common life.

...... IN THE COMMON LIFE, people constantly think about themselves and how every event relates to them. Thus, a person’s life becomes a continuous, small, enclosed circle of self-thought.

....... In ZOE Life, a person uses everything that happens as an opportunity to learn something about Jesus and him or herself, and the surrounding world. These individuals gladly yield themselves to living fully in the present, and do not waste energy dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. Because they are not always busy thinking about themselves, they are acutely aware of everything around them, and are able to delight in the small pleasures of the moment: the dancing of dust particles on the sun’s rays, or the fluffy white trail left by a passing airplane across a clear blue sky, or the sparkle of dew drops on pine needles.

....... IN THE COMMON LIFE, we always actively pursue our next want—what we think we need to make ourselves happy. “More!” is our motto, as we knock down whatever (or whomever!) gets in our way.

When we remember to choose ZOE Life however, we quietly wait for the treasures life brings, having no expectations or plans except where they are practical for our everyday needs. The motto of that Higher Life is “Thy will be done.”

....... IN THE COMMON LIFE, our reference point always revolves around what we expect from life. We are constantly searching for ways to avoid pain or make ourselves happy. We search our memory banks or our imaginations for a new position or action that makes the most sense to us and enables us to have what WE want. Once we’ve found a way that we think protects us, we close our ears to any further information that is contrary to this new balance we’ve managed to establish (albeit temporarily).

In the ZOE Life—the Eternal Life—a person knows he or she is not God, and is willing to admit they haven’t ANY clue as to what is REALLY best. They relax and leave it to God’s Choice, and live today in joy and self-abandonment.

........ IN THE COMMON LIFE, we always resist what is happening to us. Whenever we find ourselves in a new situation, or are asked to do something that isn’t in the immediate realm of our understanding, up shoots a giant wall of resistance. This describes how we keep ourselves imprisoned by resisting change.

In ZOE Life—the “Open Heaven” Life—a person knows there is always something that God has for us which does NOT fit into our agenda or logic—which means there are infinite possibilities. Because we KNOW this is true, since GOD is God, no one need ever be limited to his or her small scope of understanding. To experience ZOE Life, we must stay postured as humble LISTENERS, not “decision-makers.” Zoe Life and Doulos Life (the life that ACTS and THINKS like a life-contract slave/ bondservant to Jesus Christ)—these two lives are inseparable!!

....... THOSE TRAPPED IN THE TIGHT PRISON of the common life don’t understand that a Heaven-born Life exists. That is why they think it is necessary to defend themselves, resist life with its changes, accumulate for security, hide their shortcomings from themselves, seek approval, and try to get more.

But ZOE Life does exist. If you’ve ever had a moment when you perceive that life is greater than you are—perhaps when seeing a breathtaking rainbow, or the big open sky, or the golden grain blowing in the field—you know there is SomeOne Higher than you. If ever you softened your spirit, just for a moment to behold Him, hear His Word with your HEART, and LET GO to His Will—you KNOW there is SomeOne that would love to inhabit and direct and protect your life’s investment and future.

One life is centered around you; the other is centered totally around HIM. God can be found. There is a last rock for your souls, a resting place of absolute peace and joy and power and radiance and security. There is a Divine Center into which your life can slip, a new and absolute orientation in God, a Center where you live with Him and out of which you see all of life, through new and radiant vision, tinged with new sorrows and pangs, new joys unspeakable and full of glory.

“In HIM was Zoe, and that Zoe was the light of men.”

“Jesus said to her, ‘I Am the resurrection, and the Zoe.’”

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, the Zoe.’”

“The Zoe was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal Zoe.”

“If Christ is in you, though the body dead because of sin, yet the spirit is Zoe because of righteousness.”

“Ye search the scriptures, for ye think that in them ye have life eternal, and they it is which bear witness concerning me; and ye will not come to me that ye might have ZOE!”

“Work not for the food which perishes, but for the food which abides unto ZOE eternal, which the Son of man shall give to you; for him has the Father sealed, even God.”

“For the bread of God is He who comes down out of heaven and gives ZOE to the world. They said therefore to him, ‘Lord, ever give to us this bread.’ And Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of ZOE: he that comes to Me shall never hunger, and he that believes on Me shall never thirst at any time. But I have said to you, that ye have also seen me and do not believe.’”

“For this is the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son, and believes on him, should have ZOE!”

“Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world; he that follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of ZOE.’”

“I give them ZOE eternal; and they shall never perish, and no one shall seize them out of my hand.”

“And this is the eternal ZOE, that they should [now] know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.”

“But an angel of the Lord during the night opened the doors of the prison, and leading them out, said, ‘Go ye and stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this ZOE!’”

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