week 5

So about a week ago, I had been asking myself some hard questions.  What was holding me back?  What lies was I believing?  I prayed for lies to be revealed and truth to be uncovered.  Somehow I knew there was still an issue that I needed to address between my faith and prosperity.  Logically it didn’t make sense but I believed I was in need of some new thinking on the subject of prosperity.

Well, during that week, I attended a meeting where the speaker mentioned this very issue.  She wasn’t sure if it was something she was taught or just caught.  Sometimes our roles models teach us without ever opening their mouths.  I knew what she would share would be important to my journey.  You can imagine that as I heard her verbalize my very issue that I had been wrestling with that she got my attention!  I had gone to the meeting expecting and I wasn’t disappointed.

After the meeting was over, I approached her.  I asked her what caused her shift.  I could relate to the issue/inner conflict within her but wanted to know how she resolved it to move forward.  She said she had gone to hear Zig Ziglar.  He said something like this… if we are going to live in mansions in heaven, I don’t believe God wants us to live in chicken shacks here.    WOW!

So more questions arose.  Do I believe God just wants me to skim by month after month?  Is that somehow holier?  Is poverty more spiritual than prosperity?   These are the questions I asked.  If I really believe in the goodness of God was my beliefs on money lining up with that. I don’t see God as a divine vending machine (and I don’t want to be just a ATM for my kids).  I do see his desire to bless and prosper.  I do see him as a good loving father.  What father doesn’t want to see his children succeed and prosper?  To see his children happy and healthy?

I realized that I have no issue praying for physical healing for people.  I know it is God’s will for us to walk in health.  If sickness was good, there would be sickness in heaven… and there isn’t.  Sickness and disease is evil.  God can’t partner with evil.  So I confidently pray on earth as it is in heaven.  What if I take this same belief and apply it to finances?  Does it work the same way?  I know are unlimited resources in heaven.  I don’t have the answers yet, but I am confident that will come.  Right now, I am allowing myself to be challenged.  I am listening to a great audio book called Dynamic Laws of Prosperity.  As a result, I am allowing my beliefs to be stretched and changed.

Moment of Triumph – Week 4

I had a great experience on Sunday.  My friend called with a preview of this week’s reading.  She summarized this statement from this week for me.  

12. Unless you do this, you had better not start at all, because modern psychology
tells us that when we start something and do not complete it, or make a resolution
and do not keep it, we are forming the habit of failure; absolute, ignominious
failure. If you do not intend to do a thing, do not start; if you do start, see it
through even if the heavens fall; if you make up your mind to do something, do it;
let nothing, no one, interfere; the “I” in you has determined, the thing is settled;
the die is cast, there is no longer any argument.

Well, it was Sunday morning.  I had a busy day ahead.  We would be off to church shortly after running some early morning errands, picking up a child from a sleepover, stopping to pick someone else up who needed a ride to church.  Then once we went to church we would go directly to a friend’s house and not be home before the call.  Since it was a crazy morning, it was easy for me to try to justify it was no big deal to get my chore done after the Sunday call.

But my friend’s call was a divine interruption in my morning.  I hadn’t yet accomplished my chore.  I was slipping into “well I can do it later” even though I had committed to do it before the week 4 phone call.  So I choose to be late for church and do the chore which was clean out the refrigerator.  It wasn’t in bad shape so really only took 5-10 minutes.  Because of past experiences, I was dreading and avoiding it.  Clearly need new wiring in my brain. You can imagine how pleasantly surprised I was by the ease of the task.  

At church, the guest pastor went on to say, if you are asking for breakthrough but not willing to follow thru, you will be worse off.  Same message, different words!  I am listening!!  When I experience the same thing in a short period of time, I see that as God trying to get my attention.  

This idea mention by both Haanel and the preacher reminds me of this scripture.  Don’t be too literal when you read it, just go for the spirit of it.   Matthew 12:43-45   “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first…”  

I see the key word in here as unoccupied.  The root of that word can also mean idle.  The dictionary says idle is without purpose, pointless, not in use.  This scripture sounds so much like Haanel. If we plan to oust negative and unproductive thoughts in our lives, we must be willing to replace them with positive, productive ones like our DMPs.  This will occupy the space cleaned out.  We need the cleaned out space to be linked/wired to something positive.  

 

Ok so I still haven’t shared my moment of triumph.  The real fruit came as I was in my car later.  Somehow by keeping my promise (cleaning my refrigerator), I had become strengthened not just in that area but in another area.  As we were driving to our friend’s house, we were snacking on crackers and dip.  I had a thought.  I don’t need to eat anymore even though it tasted good.  I had had plenty.  That was the last one I ate!  No struggle.  No guilt.  I can’t even say I made a decision.  It wasn’t that complicated.  I just stopped!  There was a new link overwriting the old one.  I couldn’t access the old programming that would have said just have one more… and one more… and one more.  The strength of accomplishing one chore, of keeping my promise gave me strength to stop without effort.  Wow!  

 

 

Bruce Lipton … who are the cells in our brain? (my words!)

Thought this was SO interesting. It hurt my brain a bit to think about it. Hurting my brain is often how my thinking gets changed. It means I am challenged by what I am learning. It means I currently don’t have a place in my brain for this new way of thinking. Maybe hurt isn’t the best word. But hope you get what I am trying to say 😉

Week 3 – Vulnerability

I just found this picture.  I love it!!  We all have to be reminded of this at times.  We are strong enough.

I have found myself thinking about what is holding me back.  I know there is greatness within me wanting to get out.  It has been held prisoner for too long.  The worries of life, day to day routines, etc. have tried to suck me dry.  Day by day I have taken less risk and gotten more comfortable with the way things are.  But there is something stirring inside me demanding attention, demanding to come forth.

This week I have been asking myself some tough questions.  What is holding me back?  What are the lies I have been believing that have kept me tied to my current circumstances?  Where do I need new vision?  new perspective?  Or where do I need to be reminded of old visions that somehow got misplaced along the way?

As I reflect, I have come to believe that my fear isn’t of failure, but of fully opening up, of taking risks, of the unknown, of being out of control.  I have become strangely comfortable with difficulty.  Somewhere along the lines, I have allowed the enemy into my camp.  I have compromised with the enemy.  I made friends with the enemy instead of allowing that enemy to spur me on, to propel me forward to true freedom.

As I write this, I am reminded that I feel most alive when I am bold and doing things that scare me.  How ironic!  For a season, my senses have been dulled.  But hope is rising up.  My eyes have been opened.  The enemy has been exposed.  His days are numbered.

So who will I need to become to step into all that is before me, to step into my destiny?  I will be bold, courageous, vulnerable, and fearless.  I will be a risk taker and an overcomer. I will be a hope bearer, hope carrier, hope restorer.

Now to end with this picture.  This is a surfer jumping off a cliff.   I love the freedom and fearlessness captured by this picture.  Totally abandoned to his passion.  Fully committed to pursuing life even with all the risks.  I am joining him and taking the leap.  What about you?