Faith

I truly believe that to have faith is an art that must be practiced. Faith is a complete knowing that God is in control and has our best interest at heart, even through times of suffering. Hebrews 11:6 says

"It's impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him."

Do I really have faith? Do I really believe that God cares enough to respond to me as I seek him? When I say this it means that I must take whatever circumstance that comes my way and know that the is God working at God's pleasure. Even if it is something horrific, God sees the bigger picture and is working something out that I could never understand. I think that most times we believe that God only cares for us if things in life happen in the way that we think that they should. If we do not get blessed in exactly the way we think we ought to, or something does not come into our life when it should, then God must not be loving us and responding. This is not faith.

Faith is knowing that things are as they should be, even when we do not understand. Faith is accepting that we do not have to understand. Faith is knowing that God is working things to perfection no matter what is happening. We cannot dictate this and when we try we only find disappointment, anger, depression, and pain. When we accept that God is truly in control, even through the worst of circumstances, we find that “peace that passes all understanding.” We do not necessary find happiness or good feelings; we find the condition of peace. This is an art that must be drawn and redrawn moment by moment. It is the giving away of our lives to the Creator who does all things with perfection and living in complete abandon to that knowing. It is being like a child who believes that all things are possible.

Faith is a state of being at peace. Faith is not really a state of being happy or understanding everything or never feeling pain. Faith is a state of being at peace. Faith is not believing until you get what you want in the way that you want it. Faith is a state of being at peace no matter what comes your way because you understand that God really does have your back, the Creator will respond!

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. Romans 8:28

See each moment today not as coincidence, but rather as things that coincide. We tend to view things as random chance or coincidences. However, that word is actually used in geometry to describe two lines that coincide or "fit together perfectly" to form an angle. Remember that things do not just happen to you, but are perfectly fit together by a loving Creator. Rather than being upset that it has not fit together just as you would like it to, practice faith and allow God to fit it together perfectly.

Namaste'

Practice

We have all heard the saying "practice makes perfect." While none of us could ever really reach perfection, we sure can find peace and happiness while we give it a shot. Practice is not a word that we hear often when it comes to spirituality, especially if you have grown up Christian. We hear words like backslide, succes, failure and measure ourselves by these words to find out if we have "made it" to the level of Christian. We have lost much of the idea that our Christianity, our spirituality, is actually a practice. It is much like when I played college football. I practiced it everyday for those four years, over and over and over and over. I hated practice! However there was no other way for me to get better and play on the team. I was not going to be able to walk in as a freshman and say "well I am here I have been given a scholarship and I have the right to start." The upper classman who have been practicing for all those years would have just laughed at me. It took practice for me to gain the skills to play at that level. It took repetition so that it became natural for my body and mind to work at the level it needed to so I could play college football.
Our spirituality is not something that we gain one day and no longer need to put thought into on a daily basis. Most people get "saved" (get their scholarship) and then go about their lives as if God was not involved and they have arrived - no need to practice. They live their lives as if they have reached the goal and what happens after that really does not matter. However, we get "saved" for a reason, to impact others, to raise the awareness of others about whose they are and they are loved. Jesus said in Matthew 5:13-15:

"Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.
"Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven."

So what is our salt and our light? I believe it is the love that we have been given by the Creator. However, since we just do not practice our spirituality on a moment by moment basis, we have a hard time showing love. Rather we spend much of our time thinking about how we have been wronged and looking for opportunities to be offended. When I am doing this I know that I am not shedding any God colors or God flavors into this world. I think that love is something that must be cultivated, grown in our hearts, and practiced.

Practicing love means we must first look at ourselves and ask ourselves, do we know that God loves us? Do we accept that the Creator of the entire, vast universe loves us? Do we understand GRACE? There is nothing we can do to make God love us more and there is nothing we can do to make God love us less! We must accept this love and love ourselves like that. This takes practice. We must practice examining our thoughts, moment by moment by sitting in silence to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Cor. 10:5) Once we can do this for ourselves, we can begin to give it to others. Jesus said to us

"You don't get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree. The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives. It's who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds. "Why are you so polite with me, always saying 'Yes, sir,' and 'That's right, sir,' but never doing a thing I tell you? These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on." Luke 6:44-46

It is after we change our life that we can then have patience for the person who is taking longer in the line than we would live them to, or the coworker who does not work like we think they should, and the family member who does not seem to appreciate what we have done for them. We give them the GRACE we have received. When we practice daily and this kind of love becomes more and more automatic the truth of scripture in our daily lives come alive!!

Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them." Matthew 22:38-40

What I'm getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you've done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you lived in responsive obedience. Now that I'm separated from you, keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.

Philippians 2:12-13

Love yourself today, practice silence for a few minutes, allow this practice to grow in you daily until your are full of so much salt and light that people only feel love in your presence.

Namaste'

Cheerfulness

Our level of cheerfulness is directly related to our level of connection to God and our spiritual life. Cheerfulness can be defined as a condition of supreme well-being and good spirits. If we are truly spiritual beings having a human expereince then we must be connected to God's spirit to be in "good spirits." I love the above definition because it describes cheerfulness as a "condition." The word condition can be defined as "a state of being." This is far more permanent than being happy in a moment because something good has happened to us. This is a state of being that comes because we know God is in control, we are letting the Creator manage the circumstances of our lives, and we trust the Creator to do so. When we have this kind of knowing about God and who we really are, worry is displaced in our life. The truth of Philippians 4:7 comes to life for us -

"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Your heart and your mind are guarded from the roller coaster ride that circumstances can bring us. We are guarded from this because we no longer see only through our physical eyes and fight to make sure things happen as we think they should, and become angry, frustrated, disappointed, and depressed. Rather we see through our spiritual eyes, connected to God, and we accept and allow God to work as has been planned all along. And we

"being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6

When we start each day with thankfulness, remembering who we belong to, remembering that who we belong to did a pretty good job creating the universe, and that our time in this physical body is but a breath in the light of eternity, how can we be anything but cheerful? I am a child of God, remember that today! If a child of God what do I have to fear? I can live in a condition of cheerfulness because I know that my condition in life is not dependent on the circumstances today for happiness that will be just for that moment. My condition is based on the fact that I am a spiritual being being taken care of perfectly by the Creator for the rest of eternity! Live in that connection today and see how cheerful you become.

Namaste'

Inspiration

When was the last time you felt inspired? When I talk about being inspired I am talking about being in-spirit, connected to God. Inspired means divine guidance or influence exerted directly on the mind and soul of humankind. When has God had a direct impact on your life and your moment to moment decisions? When we are truly connected to God we will have a life of inspiration. Do we realize that we have the chance everyday to connect to God or to our own egos? Think of it like a power outlet and you have the choice which outlet to plug into. The top outlet is the world, or the things of this world. When we plug in here we attempt to become inspired by telling ourselves we are the things we have, the money we make, the title of the job we have, or what others think about us. These things are ever changing, ever moving and never really get to satisfy us. This is a life of bondage to everything that is outside of us, we give our power of decision to the world.
However, imagine that the other outlet is the connection to the spiritual world. When we connect there we realize that we are spiritual beings having a temporary human expereince rather than a human being trying to have a spiritual expereince. When we realize who we are we can give up our ego and begin to see that we are worth everything to the Creator of the universe! Inspiration can flow through us and God's dreams come alive. God has placed a passion, a dream, a task in each one of us that can only come to be completed in connection to God. Remember Jesus told us that "When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you." (John 14:20) and "I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works." (John 14:12)
Which will you connect with today? Will you spend your time attempting to please the world and man to feel inspired and complete? Will you use your EGO to define who you are and Edge God Out? Or will you make the choice to remember whose you are, a child of God, and plug into the spirit of God and live as Christ? From here all the inspiration you will ever need will flow and the words of Christ come alive when he reminded us that "the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Matthew 6:32-33)
Namaste'

Namaste'

Many of you may have seen this word at the end of my post. It is a word that is used in eastern culture and religions to say "I bow to you," or "I see God in you." I have found no other word like it in our "Christian culture" to give the idea of humility. In everyday life, "namaste" is not necessarily considered a religious gesture by everyone. Namaste is used as a friendly greeting in written communication, or generally between people when they meet in eastern culture. I find that in our western christian culture we have forgotten the reverence we should have for those around us. First because we should walk as Christ did and "do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:2)"
Secondly, the idea and use of this word for me is a daily reminder that we are all created by God and I have also been unable to find a word that can so richly describes that we are all God's children. We all have the "breath of life in us" ( God's spirit), and if we are Christ followers, Jesus has told us that He is in us and we are in him, so we are are connected.

"Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."
Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit "If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

John 14:6-21

Third, I also love this word because it does remind us that Christ is God and is in everything, holds all things together, and God brings all the broken pieces back together through Christ:

"We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.
He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross."

Colossians 1:15-20

When I think about this word, what could be more Christian than to do as "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Namaste' to me holds a wonder of Christian ideas in a simple word. "I bow to you and see God in you." Philippians 2:13 reminds us "it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose."

A friend of mine told me that Archbishop Tutu came to speak to his class in seminary and said "if we could recognize the presence of God in one another, we would bow at each other's feet. How much conflict in our world could be eliminated if we really took seriously the idea that we are all made in God's divine image?" Bow to each other today.

Namaste'

Worship

How do we worship God? Is worship only about singing hymns, songs of praise, and giving of our time and money on the designated day? How often do we actually have the opportunity to worship God? I believe that we have the chance each moment of our lives, we just do not take it very often because we do not see these moments as opportunities to worship. How often to you see the chance to minister to the person who cuts in front of you in line as a chance to worship the Creator? Most of us see this as a "slap in the face" and have the need to assert out rights and let them know how they have wronged us. However, what if we could see that they are just like us, we are connected, and that we now have the opportunity to join them in anger and frustration or to bring peace and love to the situation. Jesus told us

Here's another old saying that deserves a second look: 'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.' Is that going to get us anywhere? Here's what I propose: 'Don't hit back at all.' If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously. Matthew 5:38-42

Take occasions when you think that others should be doing something different then they are to worship your God, to live in connection to the Creator by acting like Christ. Bring love to a situation of anger. Bring peace to a situation full of frustration. Turn your own will over and act as Christ is telling us and live generously! This is true worship! Worship is not just the singing of songs or the giving of your money or time. True worship is the giving of your life to others and living our life as much like God as we can because we are connected by the Creator's spirit. Jesus reminds us

It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration." John 4:23-24

Worship comes out of our spirit, which is God's spirit in us. Today rely on that spirit to help you show kindness to everyone you meet, to truly be compassionate to those around you, even to the ones that seemed to have forgotten whose they are - because we are all God's children! Namaste'

Patience

How many of us are really able to practice this in our lives today? Given the way most of us live our lives we view patience as being able to wait in the drive-thru line for more than two minutes. Even when we have to do that, we do not wait with patience but with frustration. Patience is the ability to endure waiting, delay, or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset, or to persevere calmly when faced with difficulties. So to be patience is really waiting on things without frustration or anger. We must be able to wait on things sometimes and this is very difficult to do when we want things to happen "our way" and "now."
We have a tendency to say to ourselves "I want what I want, when I want it, and I want it now." We have little patience to allow God to work at the pace of perfection. We assert our own will's and ego's. It is much like if I planted a tomato seed in the ground. Sometime later, a sprout comes out of the ground and I look at it and cry, "where is the fruit?" I want it now so we attempt to hurry this perfect process along a little bit. I water it more, give it more fertilizer, and pull on the top of it to get it to grow faster. I hope that you are thinking "but you will kill it." Exactly, and this is what happens when we assert ourselves, our ego's, over what God would like to do in our lives and attempt to make the circumcstances of our lives different - now! We kill the dreams we have, we disconnect from God and plans the Creator has for us, and we must start all over again. We actually delay the appearence of "fruit" in our lives when we are not patient. The scripture tells us in James 5:6-7

Meanwhile, friends, wait patiently for the Master's Arrival. You see farmers do this all the time, waiting for their valuable crops to mature, patiently letting the rain do its slow but sure work. Be patient like that. Stay steady and strong. The Master could arrive at any time.

I wonder how often we are "steady and strong" rather than angry and frustrated when presented with the opportunity for patience? That is right the opportunity to be patience and let God work our life to perfection. Will we let God work in our life or continue to move to fast for things to grow?

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

James 1:3-4

There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!

Romans 5:3-5

Today try patience on and see how it works. Let your heart be calm and peaceful in the presence of things that would normally cause anger and frustration. Allow God to work in whatever way and see if you find that you will never be shortchanged! Namaste'

Connectedness

We all see ourselves as seperate from the others around us, and in a physical sense I guess we are. When we see ourselves this way we have a tendency to judge people and events around us with a harshness that we would not want others to lavish on us without understanding us in the greater context. We seem to easily judge and think we understand others actions, but would never allow someone to make a judgement about us without some type of defense. I wonder how we could change the world around us if we understood that we are all connected? We are told that we are all connected

There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:28-29

How is it that we continue to make distinctions based on people being different than us? If we claim that we follow Christ I wonder how he treated those around him?

A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, "Would you give me a drink of water?" (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.)
The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, "How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" (Jews in those days wouldn't be caught dead talking to Samaritans.) John 4:7-9

It seems that Jesus was not worried about the differences in appearence, background, or any other reason that she was "seperate" from him. I really do not know what Jesus was seeing or thinking, but I wonder if he just saw a soul that he had created and placed here for a purpose that it was not fulfilling? He created all of us on this earth and placed spirit, "the breath of life," within each of us. We are all connected, we have all come from God, whether we say we are Christ followers or not. In mathematics, connectedness is used to refer to various properties meaning, in some sense, "all one piece". When a mathematical object has such a property, we say it is connected; otherwise it is disconnected. When a disconnected object can be split naturally into connected pieces, each piece is usually called a component (or connected component). We are all connected components of God, created by our Creator. If just Christ followers realized this and treated each person they encounter each day as someone they are connected to by spirit, Christian or not, maybe we could do as Christ asked:

I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You'll never—I promise—regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we're at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind.
"Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. Don't condemn those who are down; that hardness can boomerang. Be easy on people; you'll find life a lot easier. Give away your life; you'll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity." Luke 6:35-38

Try it today. See everyone you encounter as connected to you, having the same spirit of God, the "breath of life" in them. Do not treat them as an enemy, but as an eternal soul in need of love, grace, and kindness even though they may be at their worst today. It is what each of us expect at times from others. Be kind to the waiter at the restaurant who is not treating you as you think. Asked to help them and see if you don't have a wonderful dinner experience! Be kind to someone who is not driving as you think they should and see if your life does not run easier without that anger. Live as Christ each moment you can! Namaste'

Thankfulness

It is thanksgiving day and we all know that today is the day to give thanks for all that we have. We give thanks for God bringing us this far in our life and blessing us. My challenge today is to make this a lifestyle, a practice. This can be a daily experience where we all can wake up each day and say to ourselves one of two things - "Good God Morning!" or "Good Morning God!" One is given with a attitude of dread for the day and the impending frustrations that we are anticipating. The other is given out of a heart of thankfulness and expectation of living another day with the Creator; giving yourself to others and experiencing the wonder of God. We read in scripture that we are to have thankfulness as a daily practice:

Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.

I Thessalonians 5:16-18

Begin each morning when your feet hit the floor saying "Thank you God." Begin to look at what you can be thankful for each day. This changes the nature of what you begin your day thinking about and it will change your perspective of the entire day and eventually your life if practiced daily. Remember that you get what you think about whether you want it or not and if you change your thoughts your change your life. Everyday there are things to be thankful for and things that we can look at and say "why?" They are both there, which one will you choose to give your attention to? The one that we choose to give our thoughts, our energy, our attention, will be the one that determines the outcome of our day, our weeks, our years, and our lives. Really what is the worse that could happen to us if we are just thankful everyday?

Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you're on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!
Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

Philippians 4:5-7

Namaste'

Remember Whose You Are

To whom to you belong? Most of us think that we are all alone in this world. We have the idea that we must struggle to make sure life is running as smoothly as possible. We are the masters of our own destiny. However, if we call ourselves Christ followers, scripture calls us the "children of God" over and over again.

This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!

Romans 8:15-17

How can this impact our daily life? I think often of my son, who has taught me much about living life at the age of 3, who is no different that most children. Children this age have no concept of worry, fear, anxiety, or planning for tomorrow. They live each day for that day knowing that whatever they need will be taken care of by their parents. They have complete faith and knowing that what they need is there, no worries. My son thinks he can jump off the house, like spiderman, and not be harmed. He jumps into my arms from his bed with no fear that I would drop him. He has complete faith that I will do anything in my power for him. I believe that children live like this because they have just come from God. They remember whose they are! They have not taken on this thing I call ego (Edge God Out). They have not become a hostage to how others think about them or the things they need in order to find worth. They know they are worth everything and have no fear of the future. They live life with the joy, peace, and passion that we adults envy.

We need to take Jesus' words to heart in Mark 10:13-15:

The people brought children to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus was irate and let them know it: "Don't push these children away. Don't ever get between them and me. These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom. Mark this: Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in."

A child's world is one of simple faith! This is the very center of the God's kingdom! This is where the joy of the daily practice of surrender is found - in living your life as a child of God! Live your life today completely abandoned to the idea that you are a child in the hands of a loving father. Let go and let God care for you! Meditate on these word today to help you remember:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.

Proverbs 3:5

So be content with who you are, and don't put on airs. God's strong hand is on you; he'll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you.

1 Peter 5:7

Namaste'

Surrender

What does it mean to actually surrender? In spirituality it means that a believer completely gives up his own will and subjects his thoughts, ideas, and deeds to the will and teachings of a higher power. Are we actually surrendered to God? Are we able to allow things in our life to happen as they need to happen? Do we allow the circumstances of our life to be as they are, or do we attempt to change them with our will, thoughts, ideas and actions? Most people encounter God from a Christian perspective and get "saved." They accept that God loves them and Christ died for them, but that is about where their spiritual life stops. They have their ticket and say "thanks for loving me God and giving me a way to heaven, but I will take it from here." We never surrender or allow God to work. We then begin to assert our will and actually become angry when God does not do things the way we think they should be done. We do not allow God to work, we have no faith, no trust.

It's impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him. Hebrews 11:6

I think the word surrender can be looked at as allowing. Are we going to allow God (spirit) to work as it likes? Are we going to go with the flow of the spirit. There is an metaphor I like to use to illustrate this idea. Imagine that you are floating down a river with a life vest on going with the current of the river. Suddenly you decide that you do not like going this way and you want to swim back up stream, so you turn around and begin to swim upstream. It is not long before you are tired, angry, frustrated, scared, and asking yourself why this is happening. Really all you had to do was continue to enjoy the trip down river. We do the same in our life. We swim against the flow of God's spirit and try to go different directions, rather than just relaxing in the natural flow. When we do this and do not surrender to the flow of spirit, all of our anger, frustration, depression, anxiety, and worry spring from this place. We do not believe that God "cares enough to respond to us." We do not believe that the Creator knows best. Today surrender yourself to God and just notice what is happening while you gently float downstream with the flow of spirit allowing yourself to

"Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure. Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Phillipians 2:12-14

Stillness

How do we get the place where we can actually have the mind of Christ like it talks about in Phillipians 2? The answer to this, I think is stillness or quietness of our own mind. In Psalms 46:10 it says "Be still and know that I am God." How often are each of us really still with our body, much less in our mind? We need to take the time to examine each of our thoughts and bring them captive to the mind of Christ. Paul told us "and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Cor. 10:5) How do I do this you may ask, well the scripture is clear again about how this is done. In Phillipians 4:8 we are told

"Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies."

To be worked into God's most excellent harmonies! Wow is that not an awesome statement! I believe it is what each of us want out of life - to find our passion and the thing that God has placed us here on this earth for and let our life sing! We only do this by practicing ways to change our thoughts to these things, rather than being focused on the negative of life. To find this we must find the voice of God. Where do we find God's voice? Elijah found out how in I Kings 19: 11-12.

Then he was told, "Go, stand on the mountain at attention before God. God will pass by."
A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before God, but God wasn't to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but God wasn't in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but God wasn't in the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper.

It has been said that the voice of God is silence. We must find a way to examine ourselves, listen to God's voice, and bring our thoughts captive so that we can have the mind of Christ. How often are you truly silent? How often to you truly challenge your thoughts? How often to you truly challenge your perception of life? If you change how you look at things, things change and you will be worked into God's most excellent harmonies! Find time for quietness today and listen to God in your thoughts!

Give Your Life Away

To give our life away is our ultimate calling and purpose. Especially if we are Christ followers and want to truly live in connection with God we must have the mind of Christ.

If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a

crucifixion.

Philippians 2: 1-8

True miracles can take place in our life if we can get to a place where we think like Christ! That is that we competely forget about "what is in it for me" and we totally look at how we can serve. When we do this we realize God, know God, and truly expereince God. Then, when we are truly not worried about someone else's praise or the gaining of riches, we have those things show up in our lives. However, we are not attached to them to find purpose or passion, so we give them away and continue to serve. This I believe is the meaning of the following verses:

"If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Matthew 6:30-33 (Message)

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew6:33 (NIV)

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Matthew 10:39 (NIV)

This is when we find God. We do not gain things by checking off the spiritual "to do" list. It is an ironic message that once we truly give up the things we thought we needed to find ourselves, we gain them all. We gain by thinking and living as Christ daily. Remember that true nobility, or privilege, is about being better than you used to be, not being perfect. Namaste.

Love

Can we really love as Christ loved when he was on this earth and loves us now? Can we love like Christ did when this happened -

"When they got to the place called Skull Hill, they crucified him, along with the criminals, one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them; they don't know what they're doing." Dividing up his clothes, they threw dice for them. The people stood there staring at Jesus, and the ringleaders made faces, taunting, "He saved others. Let's see him save himself! The Messiah of God—ha! The Chosen—ha!" (Luke 23:33-35)

Jesus was on a cross, a spear pushed into his side and he still forgives. I pray that I will be able to love like that and inspire others to love like that. Even though we have been hurt, offended, or taken advantage of we would be able to say "forgive them because they do not know what they are doing." This is the way of holiness. To love despite who stands across from us, to forgive because we understand that this is how God loves and our calling as Christ followers is to be like him. This is not an action that comes just because we get "saved," but only comes with great practice, prayer, meditation, and daily treating all we encounter as Jesus himself. Mother Teresa was asked, "What do you do everyday? Her response was "I see Jesus Christ in all his distressing disguises." Remember that people do not know what they are doing, they do not realize that God loves them and we have the opportunity to treat them all as Christ.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what's coming to you in this kingdom. It's been ready for you since the world's foundation. And here's why: I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was homeless and you gave me a room, I was shivering and you gave me clothes, I was sick and you stopped to visit, I was in prison and you came to me.'
"Then those 'sheep' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?' Then the King will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.'"

Matthew 25:34-40

The Advantages of Humility

The advantages of humility. What a notion that must be rejected by most people, and most Christians, in this modern age. Is there really such a thing as advantages of being humble? Most of us today have been taught the advantages of going out and “getting all we can”, “nice guys finish last,” and “work harder.” We have all been bombarded by the notion that we must strive, plan, and create exhaustive list of goals that we must meet in order to get what we want out of life and find “God’s will.” We all learn from the moment of birth that we are separate from God and that to gain anything we must try and strive. We spend out lives attempting to be better and smarter than those around us. Parents are encouraged to place their children in school at an earlier and earlier age. If you aren’t having your child listen to classical music and singing the ABC’s while they are in the womb, your child is at a disadvantage. Parent’s plan before birth what school their child will attend and push their children to get it right and “color within the lines.” Acknowledging anything less than perfection is admitting weakness and humility is pushed aside as a characteristic of the shy and the ones who will get left behind. This spiritual truth is one of the most important that Jesus himself taught, yet today it is a forgotten teaching. Phillipians 2 reminds us that humility is good in every situation. How contrary to the modern western life, even the modern western Christian life. We are taught that we are to “stand up for our rights,” and be assertive and even aggressive in situations that we feel like someone may be taking advantage of us. We are even taught that to “allow” someone to “win” over us is a weakness and we are to assert that we are right. “humility produces a teachable spirit that makes everything easy.” Most of us are told just the opposite and believe that to be the case. Stand up to that teacher that has pick you out of the class as the one talking. Make sure that someone knows that they are wrong and will apologize for their mistake. Be sure that you are running with the big dogs because if you can’t you must leave the porch. Something that I have learned through my counseling and therapy, for myself and with others that I have seen, is that to actually “win” a power struggle you have to be the one to stop fighting. I always imagine the scene of two powerful people standing up in the middle of a room with their arms outstretched pushing on each other hands. The goal is to make your opponent fall over. I ask people what is the quickest way to make this happen? My thought is to just get out of the way and let them push has hard as they want. When they have nothing to push against they fall right on their face!
I have practiced this for years when working with individuals who have alcohol or drug addiction problems. If I spend the first few times meeting with them trying to convince them they have a problem, all they do is push back against me as I attempt to push to them to admit they have a problem. They come in and say “I would not have to be here if that stupid cop would not have searched my car, they did not have a right to search me anyway.” If I attempt to respond with some convincing evidence about how this is their third arrest, or if they would not have had the substance in their car it would not have mattered – all I get back is a power struggle and them attempting to convince me that they do not have a problem. However, I have found that if I am just humble and agree that the cop was out of line, they have nothing to fight me about anymore. Soon, usually about three sessions, they have nothing left to talk about and begin to be open to the idea that their may be a problem that they need to be looking into. This could only come about with someone interacting with them that practices humility.
This made my life as a psychotherapist very easy. When I could take off the hat of “expert” and no longer felt like I had to assert my self as right and they need to see it my way because “I am the expert,” it was no longer my work to do. I could leave the problem with the person to figure it out on their own. My work became very easy in a sense. I learned a great deal about my own need to allow others to find their solutions. I learned a great deal about how people came to learn on their own. I became teachable and so did the people with whom I entered that relationship. Humility is good in every situation. What could you learn and what could you allow others to learn when you are humble? Is it possible that you and the other person would be able to have a teachable spirit? If this is true, the opposite is also true. If I do not have humility, there is no teachable spirit. I learn nothing and neither does the person with whom I am interacting.
Let’s take a look at little children before the age of about four. How teachable are they? I see them as little sponges with a knowing that they need to gain understanding and must have a humble, teachable spirit to do so. Fenelon writes in his book Let Go, “The Lord has taught you so much the necessity of becoming a little child.” Jesus says unless you have the faith of a child you will not see the kingdom of heaven. I always think of my son, age three and a half. He has not a worry or care in the world. When he was even younger he would ask for help with tasks, ask how things would work, and believe that he could be taught anything! However, as he grows he will take on what we in the psychological field choose to call an ego. He has already begun to say that he can “do it myself” and “leave me alone.” As we all grow up, we forget that we need to be like little children willing to learn from every teacher and circumstance. We lose the understanding that we do not know much and that we are always learning. We begin to assert our rights and have our “terrible twos” for the rest of our lives.
Few of us see humility as a “fitting” place to be. We believe that we have the “God-given” right to assertive ourselves and our ego. “How dare someone do that to me” is our mantra in these modern times – “don’t they know who I am.” We will not allow ourselves to experience anything that we perceive as weakness for fear of not being in control of our lives. We are so connected to our ego that we define ourselves by it. Ego is just that idea that we carry around in our head that tells us who we are. We like to tell ourselves that we are the stuff we have, the job title we hold, the care we drive, the friends we have, the money we make, and what others think about us. When we believe that we are these things we need to vigorously defend ourselves against attacks against the ego. This means that we must protect ourselves, defend our rights against those who would like to say that we are something different than our idea or do not recognize us, or our ego, as we do.
The good out of having humility is that we realize that we are dependent on God. We realize that Jesus has made a connection to God available all the time if we are willing act in humility and realize that we are still in need of being taught. We come to a place that AA talks about in its first three steps and we realize that we are powerless and that a power greater than ourselves can restore us, but first we must be act with humility. We must realize that we have to be willing to be taught and open to learning. We must realize that we are not alone and that all things come from the creator. Being open to humility will lead us to a greater understanding of who we actually are in God and Christ, and how we all are connected to each other and can learn and teach each other.

People of Grace

The church today has lost it's power because it has refused to love as Christ commanded. We no longer take seriously the two greatest commandments - to love God with all that we are and to love our neighbor as ourselves. (Matthew 22) We forget that Christ taught us that if we do not give our lives away as God did, and is described in Phillipians 2, God will not regonize us. Christ taught to feed the hungry, visit the sick, vist the prisoners, and clothe the naked. (Matthew 25) We are also taught to love those that we consider our enemies (Matthew 5) and return kindness instead of anger when they attempt to hurt us. It appears that the whole book of I John has been forgotten along with the encouragement of I Corinthians 13. We are called to make a difference in this world because this kind of love was given to us by the One who created us. We should be changing the world using the same kind of love. A love that helps, serves, meets needs, and gives itself away expecting nothing in return no matter who is on the receiving end. I created this so that it will encourage you to make your Christianity and spirituality a day to day, real, effective practice in your life. I believe that we should live as Christ each and everyday, in each and every encounter and thought that we have. I hope you will begin the challenge and serve others!