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  This knowledge and common experience in turn helps us to be more like He originally made us to be.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.

An Example Of What God Has Done In My Life

I am petrified of selling (when I think about it) but that fear melts away as I actually take action and work at it.  I dreaded to contact my friends about a MLM "business opportunity" that I was involved in during the 1990's, but when I actually got on the phone and started talking to people, I found that the connection was enjoyable and the sale didn’t matter.  I flopped in that business but grew exponentially as a person and made some of the best choices in my life since that experience.

This emotion of fear (that I associate with selling) I believe, has its origins in my youth and the feeling of rejection I experienced when I would show interest in girls who were (or at least I imagined they were) "out of my league" and they responded with a clear lack of interest.  Obsessing about this (a condition fueled by a society that glorifies people who have success with dating), I developed an inferiority complex that crippled my social development and showed up in the symptoms of alcohol and drug abuse as well as an extensive quest for sexual satisfaction that resulted in depression and thoughts of suicide.

It wasn't until I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior did my life start to turn around.  I began to understand that what I really wanted was to love and be loved and that it didn’t matter if the love I gave was directly returned by the object of my affection.  I’ve grown more and more confident (not especially in me, but in Christ) and those symptoms have been eroding over the past 14 years as I live my life for him, using the bible as my guide.  I have found that I can share the unconditional love he has for me with others.

I've been clean and sober for over 12 years and am married to a beautiful woman who is very my best friend.  It's not like everything is rosy and every moment is happy.  I still occasionally think about drinking and using drugs, but I really don’t entertain those thoughts for very long.  I've had bouts with looking at pornography and depression over the years, but overall I've got a really good attitude and the length of time since my last descent into total self-obsession and debauchery has been growing.

I think that I might be able to use these life experiences to reach out and help others who are suffering with similar struggles.

Created In The Image Of God, But Not Always Looking Like It

Who we are supposed to be is directly related to who created us.  The truth is: we were made in the image of God and when we do things that are contrary to his will, problems arise in our lives.

To understand who I should be I look at the Word of God and study who He is, what He did and what other people who served him well did.  The characteristics that I find there are the ones that I strive to develop in my own life.  However, I often fall short of that ideal.

The difficulties I’ve known and the trials that I’ve been working through are what I call my “struggles in life”.  These experiences are part of what has molded me into who I am.  Throughout my life I’ve been imperfect and humbled, and by exposing my vulnerability it makes me approachable and therefore useful.  I can be of help to others because I can relate to people who have been in similar situations and they can relate to me.  By sharing our struggles with each other, we can see that we are not alone or weird or outcasts but instead we are part of a community because of the troubles we are going through.

Help Someone And Be Blessed

In defining my Unique Core Ministry I am seeking how my life experience can be of value to others.  In this quest one thing that comes to the surface is my focus on individuals and using my trials and suffering for their benefit.  At first blush this may seem to be a contradiction, I’m in trouble with something and needing help, and somehow this is supposed to help someone else?  Well it does, when you understand that by focusing on others, our own problems dissolve.

It has been my experience that by giving we always receive back more than we gave.   I have seen this work over and over again as long as the spirit of the giving is unselfish.  It’s not like an investment done for profit, but a gift given in love.  I don’t expect that spending time with a lonely, elderly person is going to compensate me financially, however, somehow I am richer for the experience.  I’ve heard stories of people inheriting great fortunes because of their generosity, but I don’t believe that type of outcome can be consciously engineered, it’s God’s way of administering justice and his bookkeeping is perfect.

Even though caring for another hurting person can be frustrating and seem unrewarding, it’s always going to bless you for being a blessing.  And at the end of the day, it just feels right to do the right thing even if you didn’t directly earn any money for your efforts.

How Can My Experience Be Of Value To You?

It’s pretty clear to me how my experience in video production is of value to someone who is interested in making a motion picture (that also includes sound recording).  I’ve spent years perfecting techniques and studying what works and doesn’t work (frame by frame) in making a high quality movie.  I own a plethora of high quality production equipment and know how to use (most of it) efficiently.  But, how does my life experience help others to have a better relationship with our creator?

I’ve made some major mistakes and paid a price for my foolishness.  For example, I spent way too much time “experimenting” with mind-altering substances before I started to act on what my heart was telling me all along: I am higher and happier when not under the influence of drugs and alcohol - plus I never have to buy more (because I never run out of) sobriety.  Now, how do I teach that to someone else?  Also, I have learned that my personal worries dissolve when I give my full attention to the needs of another person, now, how do I employ that truth into my daily walk so that (by living it) others can learn from my experiences?

I’m open to suggestions and willing to learn new techniques of using what is unique about my life (both the good and the bad) to benefit others.  My struggles and difficulties (both past and present) are opportunities to communicate with people who may be open now (or will be open in the future) to avoid similar pitfalls or to offer an encouraging hand up out of the pit they may feel trapped in now.