Fear Is A Tool Of The Enemy

One emotion that prevents us from achieving the best life we can live is - fear.  It robs us of our joy and creativity; it separates us from the success we can enjoy when we overcome it.  It is such an influential force in the world that lives are destroyed by its overwhelming power to defeat us.  The curious thing about fear is that - it is optional and voluntary.  We chose (subconsciously for the most part) to be afraid and by making that choice we create most of our own misery.  The good news is that we can chose to face our fears and in doing so disintegrate them.

I am daily working on this truth and adding it into my personal arsenal of mental habits.  It’s still a challenge for me and may take the rest of my life to completely install it (in my personality), but the results I’ve gotten so far convince me that it is one significant key to achieving every goal I’ve ever set and living as the relaxed and confident person I believe I can be.  Best of all I know that it is God’s will because He says, “Do not be afraid.”

Freedom From “The Blame Game”

Taking responsibility for what you say and do is powerful and liberating.  This is true especially when you realize that your situation is (for the most part) your own doing and your reaction to your circumstances is 100% up to you.  I know this is something that has been said a million times in a million ways, but I believe that it can’t be said enough or in too many different ways.

Let me be transparent with you and admit that I’m far from having it all figured out.  I’ve got my share of personal issues to work on, but I do walk this talk and you won’t find me being a victim of circumstances or saying that I think someone else is the cause of my troubles.  I have made a point of reinforcing this belief system with a set of habits and disciplines that are transforming the way I think and the actions I take. Key to this is recognizing what I can’t do anything about and making a conscious decision to gratefully leave that stuff up to God because He is able to handle it all.  I trust that He is dealing with it perfectly and I refuse to worry about it.

If you are in the habit of and continue to blame everyone and everything for what is going on in your life then I suspect that things will probably go from bad to worse for you and you’ll continue to complain about it for the rest of your life.  However, when you accept responsibility for what seems to be happening to you (your finances, your relationships, your health etc…) then you can make a change for the better.  You can make a difference in they way the world treats you by adjusting the things you do and how you respond to what happens around you.  In my opinion, this is a wonderful way to view the world and can radically affect the way you live and the results you get in your life.

Finding Your Path To The Way, The Truth And The Life

No other mortal can tell you exactly what you need to do to find the answers to life’s questions.  We are all unique individuals who are looking through a complicated filter of emotional experiences and it takes the infinite wisdom of God to sort it all out.  Humans are not capable of fully doing that for each other.  We can help by sharing our discoveries and teaching what we’ve learned through our struggles, but ultimately it’s up to us to seek out the truth that can lead each of us to our best spiritual destination.

An atheist mother and an agnostic father raised me, so religion and spirituality were ideas that I had to learn about on my own when I came of age.  There were things I missed out on and things I may never have be able to fully understand had I been brought up differently.  There were times when I wished I had been shown the truth of the Gospel earlier in my life and had read the bible before I was in my mid 30’s, but all in all I’m glad I chose to seek God without having been told that I had to do so.  I might have resented it or been indoctrinated into some false teachings that could have stunted my spiritual growth and even lulled me into a false sense of religious righteousness.  Because I actively sought out God and the truth I found it has a deep and lasting effect on my ability to show others that they do not have to answer to anyone except the LORD and his grace and love are revealed to everyone who seeks them, regardless of their upbringing.

By doing the work of discerning what seeds to plant and harvest you learn the lesson of diligence and those crops are not easily uprooted by the wind of discouragement or by passing fads.  Although I suggest that you dig deeply into the Word of God and test to see that His Way is The Way, I can only suggest (because it is your choice) to do so and I know that your life will reveal the fruit of your choices.

The Truth Of God Is In His Word

We have the choice of life or death and we make that choice with the words we read and speak.  Every word is a supernatural seed containing the pattern and life that will grow into the fruit we will experience in our lives.  Good fruit has good results and bad fruit, bad results.  The Word of God is the good and perfect truth made available for us to read and learn exactly what is right to do.  With this knowledge we are equipped to act in obedience to the LORD and enjoy a richly fulfilling relationship with Him.  By planting the Word of God in our hearts (through reading, studying and meditating on it) we can be permanently changed for the better.  This transformation will allow us to desire and experience the eternal blessings of righteousness (the kingdom of heaven) instead of being deceived and disappointed by the temporary things of this world.

The Spiritual and Material Worlds

The "unseen", spiritual world is more real than the tangible world we experience with our 5 senses.  This is because the reality of the spirit is permanent, eternal and infinite; it transcends time and space.  The material, sensory, obvious world is temporary and consists of ever changing facts.  It is bound by both time and space.  The spirit world is made up of truths that do not change.

When a person accepts Jesus Christ as their personal savior and is born again, they receive the Holy Spirit of God.  This Spirit of the living God then dwells within them and is a permanent connection to the infinite, all powerful and all knowing creator of the universe.  It is when this Spirit saturates that person’s soul and is released into their physical body that true healing occurs.  This saturation displaces doubt and allows the supernatural power of God to be active in them.  This is the state in which faith is active and miracles are normal.

I am learning that to have this spiritual experience I, personally, must concentrate my thoughts on God and pay less attention to the material world.  I believe that this transformation (of soul saturation) can and will happen instantaneously.  However, my own doubt has been preventing me from being completely in touch with the divine.

We Only See A Small Part

One thing that God offers is feedback from an all-inclusive point of view without prejudice.  We only see a small part of other people and overlook what others see in us.  We filter what we do through our whole experience and we use that same filter when we look at what other people do.  Other people use a different “life experience” filter than we do so they see things that we do not.

By building relationships with others we can begin to learn how they see us and we see them with more understanding because our filters begin to have shared points of reference.  I think that God wants us to get to know people deeply because by seeing each other clearer we can help one another better.  This knowledge and common experience in turn helps us to be more like He originally made us to be.

My Purpose Is Now Clear To Me

Today it is clear to me that my purpose in life is to obey God and to help others to obey God.  He is able to meet all of our needs.  He is kind and loving.  He is God Almighty.  He is the LORD our Healer and I love Him with all my heart.  All the fruit of the Spirit are from God (love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control).  These characteristics are found in those who obey Him and by obeying him we love our neighbors as ourselves.