What is Real

 

What is Real

I am looking for tethers whose ties are not there

And in the process tethers come that tie me down

I am praying for chains to be broken that do not exist

And in the process I become even further bound

I am looking outside for God when He lives within

And in the process He becomes so much harder to see

I am praying for things He has already done

I am enslaving myself when I’m already free

I look to a world of illusion and shame to find what I think is real

All the while I turn off that which is true by ignoring the Truth that I feel

Is there an answer to this circumstance?  Is there ever a bird that can fly?

The answer is to sit at the feet of the Truth, and there is where you can let out your sigh

For where the sigh is released in spirit and truth, it is there that the true God we meet

It is there where we love, it is there where we live; we are changed as we sit at His feet

K, Duane Carter   5-27-10

I don’t normally explain my poems, but I feel like this one is something from the heart of God and I want to make sure people get it.  I am learning that most of the heartache and hurt and disappointment I have had with God in my life is because of the lies I believed about Him in my head.  For years I have attempted to grasp God with purely my rational mind, and that will only lead to heartache and disappointment and hurt because one ends up with a god no bigger than his/her brain when one tries to comprehend Him that way.  As I go even deeper with Him I have begun to realize that this world I see with my two natural eyes is not the greatest reality in the universe.  The spiritual reality where He dwells, what we would call “heaven”, is the greatest reality and it isn’t the place that defines that, it is the God Who dwells there that defines it.  Heaven is heaven because God dwells there.  Wherever He dwells is heaven.  Now all of a sudden verses like what one reads in Ephesians of how we dwell RIGHT NOW in heavenly places are becoming alive to me because He dwells within me.  Even our little children can understand that He lives within us, but why can’t we understand that we carry heaven with us wherever we go?  When we fail to understand such a truth, we become bound to a lesser reality.  Why can’t we understand that because we dwell with God that we live ABOVE our circumstances, and therefore the enemy CANNOT touch us?  In fact it implies (and there are verses that state it more plainly) that God puts us where we are seen by the enemy but not touched, and this is a torment to our enemy because he sees us receiving the very thing he wants:  authority from our Father.  We are here to PUNISH our enemy by living out a loving relationship with our Father and with our King and our Husband.  “But Duane, what about illness and poverty and disease and death?”  Yeah, what about them?  Jesus kicked their butt on the cross, and took back all the authority over them, and in the resurrection showed us the true power of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us and then He gave all that authority back to us with the understanding that this world was created for human beings to co-labor with God and take back what was stolen, but we believe we can’t do it so we chain ourselves right back up again.  Can you see this??  Do we really believe what we say we believe??  NO, we don’t and that is why people stand around asking questions and moaning and complaining instead of delivering the Answer.  That’s why we stand around wondering about all the problems and we don’t deliver the Answer.  It’s time to believe and exercise real faith.  It’s time to simply sit at His feet and release these sighs, and then let Him release those awesome words that He sends to heal us, free us, and empower us.  I am sick of powerlessness.  The greatest power in the universe, and the greatest reality is Love.  It is time to release that.  I’m not kidding.  It is time RIGHT NOW to release it.

Greatness from the Mist

Greatness from the Mist

There is a greatness coming out of the mist

From the unseen realm is coming an ocean

An ocean of Goodness, Love, and Strength

Such as the world has not seen

But it will want to see it again and again

It will suddenly appear

A rumbling roar will pierce the air

And no darkness will ever stand it there

It will be heard before it is seen

It will turn the desert into green

And make rivers out of dry land

It will restore the salt to the people of earth

It will bring new life and bring new birth

And nothing and no one will be able to stop it

It will be deep, deep, and deeper

And the climb to the mountaintop will not be steeper

For the way will be smooth and flat

Wine in the skins, oil in the vats

It is coming, I tell you it is coming

I tell you it is here

He is here

K, Duane Carter 5-3-10

The Ocean Often Speaks

The ocean often speaks

But are we still enough to listen?

So also speak the moon and stars

And the morning dew that glistens

Deep within God speaks His sound

In mystery not contained in books or shelves

And what determines if we hear or not

Is our focus on our selves

A mind that dwells on self alone

Will not see Light nor hear it speak

A life that dwells on God and love

Will rise up to the highest peak

The ocean often speaks…

Are we still enough to listen

And allow God’s tender early morning dew

On our hearts to gently glisten?

K, Duane Carter 5-2-10