What does it mean to be a church? For Willard, it begins with Christ, and our fixing our thoughts, our minds on him. Willard uses the Lord's prayer, especially, "hallowed by thy name" to keep Christ's identity front and center in his thoughts throughout the day. Below are some more thoughts from this talk of Willard, delivered at the Tree of Life Community in Orange, CA. This is part 1 of 3 parts of the teaching.Part one of the video follows the notes.
Ephesians 1:15-23
Do we make the mistake of thinking that because Paul prays for us in his letter to the Ephesians that it means there is nothing for us to do?
Question: What do we do to live in the reality of the scriptures?
Psalm 1 as our scripture reading earlier was very good. It helps us see the active side of our lives. It invites us to meditate continually on God's law-day and night. And as Christians, we have something even better to meditate on-Jesus Himself. It's easier to delight in Jesus all the time than it is to meditate on the law (which reminds us of God's ways, but often makes us realize how far short we fall)
Have your mind always fixed on Christ. Always! This will take care of 99% of your troubles.
Do you want to trust in God? Then keep Him always before your eyes. Seeing Him in His goodness, His beauty and His love will enable you to trust Him more.
We live by grace. But we are not waiting on grace. Grace is waiting on us. God is there ready and waiting to be gracious to us.
What is the church? It consists of people living with Jesus under God's kingdom reign. This is His body. It is a body of redeemed people who are caught up in the life of God.
How do we fix our hearts and minds on Jesus? Use a simple phrase from the Lord's prayer. Let it renew your mind. Remember Romans 12:2 - Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. God is ready to go, ready to enable and empower us.
Mind is key. What you think of is the first level of your freedom. Set your mind on God first and always. Ps 16:8 - I have set the lord always before me.
You can constantly invoke the presence of Christ. But this requires that he would always be before you.http://unhurriedtime.com/2011/08/15/dallas-willard-being-church-part-1/
