"Benefits......................"

"We are filled unto the fullness of God; but, of course, we cannot contain all of God because God contains us. We can, however, have all of God that we can contain. Oh, that we could enlarge our vessel, the vessel getting bigger as we go on with God."...A.W.Tozer, "Life in the Spirit"

I'll be seventy-two this October. The 27th of this month marks my forty-first birthday in Christ. For thirty years within that latter segment I taught Sunday school, advancing along the way from children to adult classes, no seminary training, merely me and Him on a journey, the sermons and books by others consumed, contemplated, and sorted out along the way. You learn as you go; and, in truth, never is there a place where God is fully and correctly contained within your understanding of the matter. My initiation into old-time holiness was met with an adamant insistence from those already within its ranks that my "born-again" experience merely instituted a "re-connection". I was once again "hooked-up" with the Creator, but there was a deeper merger waiting to be acquired, one that would somehow "endue me with power" and "supply me with the gifts". When, several months down the road, such a union came to me one evening while lying flat on my back in bed and talking to Him, it would indeed prove to be a vital milepost in this relationship now held for over four decades. Was it, though, some sort of "level" secured, a permanent elevation into superior ranks where only those similarly baptized can operate? I would label it a "door-opener", a witness to the reality of the Holy Ghost "in" me, or at least available "unto" me. Life would prove me still the same fellow with a stagger in his walk. The difference was an inner oasis that now provided me with an anchor-line for the stumble and a well to which I can return again and again. It is an altar before which I worship, an inner-sanctum where sometimes He takes me "through the veil", the mystery yet being if there is really "more" of Him at such times, or just "less" of me. The only thing I am sure of is: He is! Some seem able to claim Him in all that they do, hearing His voice with a frequency unknown to me, casting out devils and healing the sick in the name of "authority". My own faith is grounded, not just in the words of a Book, but in He who indwells me, confirming the relationship with His rod and staff as we go. If the above quote seems a little confusing, a bit oxymoronic, perhaps that's because our vocabulary can't contain Him any more than our "temple" can. Nonetheless, we can, through Christ, not just approach the throne, but touch the hem of His garment, know Him, however briefly, in all that He is......