Ok, so I’ve had it for a bit, but finally started reading Gazing into Glory by Bruce Allen. I knew of Bruce from the Lancaster prophetic conferences that he did with Sadhu Sundar Selvaraj and Neville Johnson for years, but never really listened much to him. So I went back to look at the intro and realized this book was very relevant for my quest, so I started working through it slowly. And slowly it was. Like most good books, I could only go for about 10-15 minutes at a time before I had to stop and chew on things a while. I actually haven’t finished, but I think I’m past the relevant parts for this post.
Guess what most of the book was about. Seeing God, moving into the Spirit, working with God. You know, all the stuff I’ve been pursuing. Here’s some basic notes I took along the way.
- First key – Passion. Search with all your heart
- Second key – Pure in heart shall see God
- Third key – Obedience
- A lot of talk about sanctifying our imagination. Watch what you put into your mind, focus on Jesus. ( Take every thought captive )
- “Imagination is reality according to God”
- “You’re as close to God as you want to be”
- “Jesus is no respecter of persons”
- Begin to practice His presence, focusing upon an image of Jesus in your imagination. When you read the Bible, picture it. When you’re longing for something from God, imagine it occurring.
- Passion, passion, passion.
So if you’ve read much of my stuff, basically all the same stuff I’ve been taking from others. Same things I’ve been trying to work toward. This was a nice affirmation that I’m on the right track. Almost everything he was saying, I could “nod” my head at as something I knew that I should be doing. Sometimes it’s just nice to get another person’s input and realize you aren’t so far off.
The other encouraging thing was his story. He worked his way into this. He didn’t start with some big supernatural encounter as many others I’ve read. He didn’t have a voice speak out to start talking. No, he heard some of these truths and began to apply them in his life until he broke through.
It was a bit different than Neville or Sadhu, so that was good. Followed more along the lines of Neville. Use your imagination, sanctify it, focus it upon God. If you’re passionate enough and stick with it, God will use that.
For me what I’ve taken is I’m falling short on two things here. First the passion. I get it for a couple weeks here or there, but don’t keep it strong like I should until I break through. Second, focusing upon Jesus. I’ll do it for a couple days, but it’s tough. It’s tough to leave so much else out of your mind and focus to keep it upon the Lord. Strange thing is when I do it, it continues to be more and more real. Often I’ll stop and focus upon the Lord for a couple minutes and having this wave of love and peace flow through me, as if He’s right there ( which of course He is ). It’s like each time I come back to these things, they’re a little more real. If I can just hold firm this time.