When two tuning forks are tuned to the same frequency, they harmonize with each other. More than that, when one is vibrating, the other will begin to vibrate. This phenomenon is called “sympathetic vibration”. 

This is the phenomenon to which Ted Dekker alludes in this short passage from The Forgotten Way:

“When you have two tuning forks in a room and one begins to vibrate the other will also begin to vibrate if it’s tuned to the same frequency. They resonate. They abide in each other’s frequency.” 

Even if the two tuning forks are at the same frequency, however, sympathetic resonance does not happen unless two additional factors are present: the tuning forks are close to each other, and one of the tuning forks is quiet (not already vibrating).

The tuning fork illustration is very apt for understanding our relationship to God. If we are tuned to God’s frequency, we will resonate with Him and abide in Him. When we are tuned to God’s frequency, “the Spirit Himself bears witness[1] with our spirit that we are children of God.”[2]

God’s Spirit and our spirit are like the tuning forks. When we are on the same frequency with God, we resonate with God, but only if we are close enough to Him, and only of we have quieted ourselves. (“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10))

Such a simple truth, but we struggle so mightily with tuning to God’s frequency, getting close enough to be affected by Him and quieting ourselves.

There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.[3]  If we are feeling condemned, we are not tuned in to God’s frequency. We are not abiding in Christ. This is a sign that we need to realign ourselves with God and tune in to His frequency.

We can do that by remembering that we are set free in Christ from the law of sin and death.[4] God sent His Son, Jesus, to do what we couldn’t do. He became like us, taking on the flesh with which we struggle so mightily, and he took upon Himself the condemnation of our sin in His flesh.[5] He fulfilled all the requirements of the law in Himself so that, if we abide in Him, the law is fulfilled in us.[6]

We abide in Him by tuning in to His frequency – by walking not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit of God who did these things for us, by setting our minds on “things of the Spirit” rather than “things of the flesh”.[7]

The flesh is that which is of merely human origin. It is the motivations and desires of the self, apart from God, not focusing on God, but on ourselves.[8] Anything that originates from the self, and not from God, is not tuned in to the frequency of God.

The flesh is not, of itself, evil or bad, but the flesh acting of its own accord, without reference to or in harmony with God, is out of tune with God. Jesus took on the same flesh we have, and He lived sinlessly in harmony with the Father, and he offers us the Spirit so that we can resonate with God ourselves, freed from the condemnation of sin.

The flesh, without God, is dead. It will die and pass away. We must be tuned into God’s frequency and be abiding in God to experience the life, the love, the grace and the power that God has for us as His children.

If we set our minds on the flesh and things of flesh, we are not tuned to God’s frequency. If we are absorbed by the world and the things of this life, we will not experience the life and the peace that is ours in Christ.[9]

In fact, when we are not tuned in to God’s frequency, we are at odds with God. If we are not aligning ourselves with God, or willing to align ourselves with Him, we are out of tune and will not resonate with God. If we don’t experience the life and peace of God, we are not aligned with Him.[10]

Though we live in these earthen vessels, we can align ourselves with God; His Spirit can dwell in us; we can be tuned in to God’s frequency and resonate in harmony with God.[11] We are tuned to God’s frequency if we are led by God, not by our own desires and whims.[12] When we are tuned to His frequency and are aligned with Him, we see Him as our Father (Abba!), and we gladly receive the “spirit of adoption” as His children.[13]

When we are humming at the same frequency as God, when His Spirit is testifying with our spirit, we enter into relationship with God as our Father and become His children. There is no more condemnation. There is no more fear. We are abiding in God, and He is abiding in us.

This is how we know that we are in Him and He is in us: that we have in us the spirit of adoption and see ourselves as and experience being God’s children. When this is our experience, we are free of condemnation and free from fear.

If that is not your experience today, right now, you can change, and realign yourself with God. You have gotten out of tune. Perhaps, you have never been in tune.

Maybe you have drifted away from God. Maybe you are no longer close enough to God to resonate with Him. Move towards Him, and keep moving towards Him until things change.

Maybe you are not quiet. Maybe you are preoccupied with you own activities, your own thoughts, following your own dreams and desires. Even if you are tuned to God’s frequency, and even if you are seeking God, drawing near to Him, you will not resonate with God until you have quieted yourself.

God is waiting. As long as it is called today (as long as we live in these bodies, in space time), God is waiting for you to turn from governing your self and directing your self, to turn from self absorption, and to let God be the Lord of your life. God is waiting for you to let Him be the Savior of your soul – to become your Father.

He has already done all that is necessary for you to be aligned with Him. He has already made the way. He has done what you could never do, and He is waiting for you to embrace it – to embrace Him.

God is waiting for you to change your frequency to His frequency and become who He always intended you to be – a child of the heavenly Father, made in His image, uniquely reflecting the aspects of His character that He has purposed for you from before the beginning of the universe. You only need let go of yourself, let go of all that you have known in yourself (your flesh), and tune in to His frequency.

All you need to do is turn from whatever direction or directions you have been wandering, turn toward God and ask Him to take over, ask Him to direct you going forward, ask Him to save you from yourself, ask Him to tune you in to His frequency, and the rest of the work is His. You only need to allow Him to do the work. You only need to be willing. In fact, you only need to be willing to be willing.[14]

Then draw near, and be quiet. Let God be God in your life.

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[1] Also translated “testifies”

[2] Romans 8:16

[3] Romans 8:1

[4] Romans 8:2

[5] Romans 8:3

[6] Romans 8:4

[7] Romans 8:4-5

[8] The Greek word that is translated “flesh” is sárks and literally means “flesh” (“carnal”), “merely of human origin or empowerment”. Sarks generally is negatively used of decisions (actions) done according to self, i.e. apart from faith (not of God’s inworking and empowerment); it generally relates to unaided human effort, i.e. decisions (actions) that originate from self or are empowered by self.

[9] Romans 8:5-6

[10] Romans 8:6-8

[11] Romans 8:9-10

[12] Romans 8:14

[13] Romans 8:15, 17

[14] Be Willing to Know God, https://navigatingbyfaith.com/2015/05/12/be-willing-to-know-god/

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If you want ready understanding of the original Greek, the original word emphasis and Greek tenses that do not exist in English to make your reading of the New Testament deeper and richer, check out the The Discovery Bible. The Discovery Bible opens up knowledge of the original New Testament text in Greek to you in your everyday Bible reading. It shows the words emphasized in the Greek text, the tenses and the meanings that do not always translate well into English or English sentence structure.