Choosing what we need from within is being spiritual complete in every situation. Imagine we have a beautiful fruit tree within our mind and each piece of fruit represents an emotion. One piece of fruit might represent joy and another love, there is one for peace and another for happiness. We could continue and say there is one for thankfulness and one for forgiveness and all we have to do is to reach out and take one if we are in need.
Choosing what we need from within is reaching for some happiness when we are sad. When our mind is troubled we will reach for the fruit of peace. If we have hate or guilt then we could use some to forgive and to forgive ourselves. 2 Timothy 1:7 "for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." Through God's spirit within us, we have what we need to have strength, peace of mind, love, and self-control. All we have to do is to put our mind, our thoughts and our prayers towards that to which we want. We have to make the effort ourselves and not to wait on others for our answers.
You need to think about these questions. If you are alone who will forgive you? How will you find your love? Where will your joy come from? Can you be happy all by yourself? The answer is you can forgive yourself, you can find love within yourself and have joy and happiness. You do not have to depend on others to give you what you need. All these things are within your reach just put your mind to them and choose them. God has given you what you need.
God's word has instructed us to change the way we think. Ephesians 4:22-24 "to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." If we place our trust in God and do his will our lives will change for the better. By listening to his words and doing them, our thinking will be lifted up to a higher place.
We need a better way to live our lives and the Bible gives us God's wisdom to do just that. The Bible has inspirational stories to lift up our spirits. In today's world, there is much negativity. Sometimes we do not have any uplifting events or stories to tell. We even have a hard time to think in a positive way. This is where reading the Bible will give us a different outlook on life. We can read about how Jesus and the apostles endure a difficult life and how they cope with it. We can pattern our lives after them and find our hope within this negative world.
Philippians 4:8,9 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me--practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you."
Monday, April 29, 2019
Friday, April 12, 2019
Don't Worry, Trust in God
Don't worry, trust in God for he is in total control. There is no government, nor powerful men that can change his plan for our world. What he has planned for us will come into being at his appointed time. Believe in God and give him all of your trust for he will never disappoint you. In our eyes, our world may look chaotic but God is guiding us every step of the way. If we were to live long enough we would see the return of his son, Jesus Christ and nothing in this world or universe can stop that from happening. It is God's will. So I say to you don't worry for you are in God's hands.
Do not let fear of current events overtake your emotions. Rest your hope in God for he will carry you through your troubles. When you fall he will catch you when you cry he will comfort you and when you are weak he will strengthen you with his spirit. God cares for you and he loves you. Tell God about your worries and your fears and trust in him to give you the answers that you need. Do not spend your time worrying about what you cannot control, some things are way out of your control and only God can handle it.
Release your anxiety and relax, believe in God's words and wisdom. Trust in God that he is doing the right thing every day in your life. Our doubts will drown us in an ocean of our fears and worries but to place our trust and our hope in God will calm our minds and bring a peace to our souls. I will walk with God in total trust. I can rest at night knowing that our world is in his loving hands. So don't worry and trust in God with your whole heart. Believe in his words.
Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding."
Thursday, April 4, 2019
The Breath of Life
What I like to do most is to find the truth about who we are. I look to find what we all have in common. A lot of people see divisions. They look at the world with their prejudice and bigotry. They preach about nationalism like it was their religion. I want to put aside all that and look at all of us as one people under God, who are equally loved by God.
Today, I want to focus upon what God gave Adam at the beginning to bring Adam to life. Genesis 2:7 "then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." The breath of life that God gave to us is common to all of us. We can not live without it, without it we will die.
When do we really notice our breath? When we get ill and our nasal passages become blocked. When we do hard work or some sport where we run out of breath. Some people have panic attacks and their breathing becomes rapid. It seems to me, the only time we notice our breath is when something goes wrong with us. These occurrences of lack of breath show us that the way we breathe and how we breathe is important to us.
A professional athlete whether a runner, a weightlifter or a swimmer tries to control his breathing when doing his or her sport. A panic attack victim will try to control their shallow breathing with some deep breaths. When I am in an anxious situation, I try to calm myself by concentrating on my breathing rather than letting my anxiety take control. Controlled breathing can calm the mind. Our breath is a gift from God isn't a good idea to know how to use it in every situation.
I was reading about a therapy used on post-traumatic victims, especially veterans. These people have suffered the unimaginable. Their past thoughts bring back horrible images into their minds and because of that, they cannot see a hopeful future for themselves. The therapy that has been successful for them is called mindfulness. It focuses on the present moment only. It begins by calming the mind through proper breathing and thinking not on your past or your future by only on yourself and your environment in the present moment. Why, because you cannot change your past and you must change the way you think in the present to have a successful future. This all begins by learning how to breathe. Our breath not only keeps us alive but if we use it properly, we can live more happily.
Just something so simple as learning how to control your breath can make a big difference in your life. God's gift "the breath of life" may be a gift that we all should be taking a closer look at. Calming the mind in a chaotic world does have its benefits. Learning how to breathe during strenuous work or exercise can make your life easier. The breath of life is in all of us, maybe we should all take a moment to breathe and thank God for his wonderful gift.
Job 34:14,15 "If he should set his heart to it and gather to himself his spirit and his breath, 15all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust."
Today, I want to focus upon what God gave Adam at the beginning to bring Adam to life. Genesis 2:7 "then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." The breath of life that God gave to us is common to all of us. We can not live without it, without it we will die.
When do we really notice our breath? When we get ill and our nasal passages become blocked. When we do hard work or some sport where we run out of breath. Some people have panic attacks and their breathing becomes rapid. It seems to me, the only time we notice our breath is when something goes wrong with us. These occurrences of lack of breath show us that the way we breathe and how we breathe is important to us.
A professional athlete whether a runner, a weightlifter or a swimmer tries to control his breathing when doing his or her sport. A panic attack victim will try to control their shallow breathing with some deep breaths. When I am in an anxious situation, I try to calm myself by concentrating on my breathing rather than letting my anxiety take control. Controlled breathing can calm the mind. Our breath is a gift from God isn't a good idea to know how to use it in every situation.
I was reading about a therapy used on post-traumatic victims, especially veterans. These people have suffered the unimaginable. Their past thoughts bring back horrible images into their minds and because of that, they cannot see a hopeful future for themselves. The therapy that has been successful for them is called mindfulness. It focuses on the present moment only. It begins by calming the mind through proper breathing and thinking not on your past or your future by only on yourself and your environment in the present moment. Why, because you cannot change your past and you must change the way you think in the present to have a successful future. This all begins by learning how to breathe. Our breath not only keeps us alive but if we use it properly, we can live more happily.
Just something so simple as learning how to control your breath can make a big difference in your life. God's gift "the breath of life" may be a gift that we all should be taking a closer look at. Calming the mind in a chaotic world does have its benefits. Learning how to breathe during strenuous work or exercise can make your life easier. The breath of life is in all of us, maybe we should all take a moment to breathe and thank God for his wonderful gift.
Job 34:14,15 "If he should set his heart to it and gather to himself his spirit and his breath, 15all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust."
Saturday, March 24, 2018
Life Giving Love
I really have not given this concept of life-giving love much thought. How we are lost without love within our own lives. Love sustains us and pushes us forward by encouraging us to carry on. It lifts our spirits and gives us hope. All is not lost if we have love in our lives.
In selfishness, one takes without the consideration of another, no love is given from that selfish act. In giving your love, you care and are sensitive to a person's needs. You wish them well in their endeavors and lend a helping hand when you can. You care for that whole person and not from what you can get from them. You love them and help them to flourish rather than take advantage of them. Life-giving love is compassionate, kind and unselfish. It can breathe new life into a lost soul.
A pouring out of your love into the world is what our world needs. Love can heal a festering wound whereas hate will keep it open. A healing is needed badly within our world and only those with a loving heart can help those who are hurting. A giver of love is what the takers in this world is really looking for. They are looking for life's meaning and love can open that door. It can give them a direction to go in. They will be looking into the light rather than the darkness. In the light, they will see what was missing in their lives and it was love.
Find that spark of love within your own life. Start by thinking about someone you really care for and mentally wish them well. Project only good thoughts toward them and feel that warmth within yourself. Let the love you find within yourself soften your heart and let kindness and compassion take hold. Practice to be a better person. Let the old ways past away and a new you take over. Pray for others that they may find love and be changed by it. Love is life giving, for God created us from his love and God is love (1 John 4:8).
In selfishness, one takes without the consideration of another, no love is given from that selfish act. In giving your love, you care and are sensitive to a person's needs. You wish them well in their endeavors and lend a helping hand when you can. You care for that whole person and not from what you can get from them. You love them and help them to flourish rather than take advantage of them. Life-giving love is compassionate, kind and unselfish. It can breathe new life into a lost soul.
A pouring out of your love into the world is what our world needs. Love can heal a festering wound whereas hate will keep it open. A healing is needed badly within our world and only those with a loving heart can help those who are hurting. A giver of love is what the takers in this world is really looking for. They are looking for life's meaning and love can open that door. It can give them a direction to go in. They will be looking into the light rather than the darkness. In the light, they will see what was missing in their lives and it was love.
Find that spark of love within your own life. Start by thinking about someone you really care for and mentally wish them well. Project only good thoughts toward them and feel that warmth within yourself. Let the love you find within yourself soften your heart and let kindness and compassion take hold. Practice to be a better person. Let the old ways past away and a new you take over. Pray for others that they may find love and be changed by it. Love is life giving, for God created us from his love and God is love (1 John 4:8).
Friday, March 9, 2018
I Was Not Left Without a Connection
Separation, Isolation, a feeling of being less and without. I made these things apart of my belief about myself. I realize there are different ways you can view your existence. I want to focus this post on two ways of living. I will call them the external and the internal beliefs.
The external belief consists of everything outside of ourselves, everything that we touch, see, hear and smell. The internal is how we perceive and interpret what our senses are telling us. You could call them our outer world and our interworld. In a spiritual way, you could call them the flesh and the spirit.
Externally, we walk about in our environment in a vehicle of flesh and bone. We are separate from everything as everything is separate from us. However, internally we can feel connected to everything and believing that everything is connected to us. A feeling of isolation can come from believing only in the external and not the internal. It doesn't help if we are suffering from depression in which will cause us to feel isolated and separated from everyone else. A belief could form that I am alone and I am nothing within our world. A depressed person will be trying their best to live in a state of sadness and isolation.
The external living is trying to have happiness by attaining more things and looking to gain power and control by buying your way through life, not through respect and honor but through wealth alone. In external living, you connect through ownership. Possessing something becomes your form of connection. Possession brings yourself only temporary satisfaction.
The internal living is being contented and thankful for what you have. It is a peaceful connection to your environment. Not trying to own it but to enjoy it the way it is. It is letting people live the way they want to live without trying to control them. Deception is part of the external and honesty is part of the internal. Peace, love, and happiness come from the internal.
I can say that I am not left without a connection if I connect to my inner self. If I live only viewing the outside of myself, I will feel isolated from my environment. Externally, I am isolated and separated from the things around me but internally, I am spiritually connected to everything. From the internal, is where my connection to God is made.
1 Corinthians 3:16 "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?"
The external belief consists of everything outside of ourselves, everything that we touch, see, hear and smell. The internal is how we perceive and interpret what our senses are telling us. You could call them our outer world and our interworld. In a spiritual way, you could call them the flesh and the spirit.
Externally, we walk about in our environment in a vehicle of flesh and bone. We are separate from everything as everything is separate from us. However, internally we can feel connected to everything and believing that everything is connected to us. A feeling of isolation can come from believing only in the external and not the internal. It doesn't help if we are suffering from depression in which will cause us to feel isolated and separated from everyone else. A belief could form that I am alone and I am nothing within our world. A depressed person will be trying their best to live in a state of sadness and isolation.
The external living is trying to have happiness by attaining more things and looking to gain power and control by buying your way through life, not through respect and honor but through wealth alone. In external living, you connect through ownership. Possessing something becomes your form of connection. Possession brings yourself only temporary satisfaction.
The internal living is being contented and thankful for what you have. It is a peaceful connection to your environment. Not trying to own it but to enjoy it the way it is. It is letting people live the way they want to live without trying to control them. Deception is part of the external and honesty is part of the internal. Peace, love, and happiness come from the internal.
I can say that I am not left without a connection if I connect to my inner self. If I live only viewing the outside of myself, I will feel isolated from my environment. Externally, I am isolated and separated from the things around me but internally, I am spiritually connected to everything. From the internal, is where my connection to God is made.
1 Corinthians 3:16 "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?"
Saturday, January 6, 2018
A Deeper Understanding
I believe I found the answer that I have been searching for. This post is sort of a continuation of my last post but I wanted to say more about contentment. Contentment is not about having possessions. It is a belief that you have toward yourself. If you say to yourself "I am in need" then you believe you are in need. In the opposite way, if you say to your self " I do not need anything" then that is how you feel. The way we talk to ourselves affect how we feel about ourselves. I realized that if you change that self-talk to something positive and really believe it, your whole outlook on life will change. This is an important point to understand, we are what we believe. What we believe affects our actions and the way we feel.
This is a big truth, a life-changing truth that I have found about my self. I am complete and whole. I do not need anything to complete me. I am always in a state of wholeness. I do not know why I could not understand this truth a long time ago but I do now. I heard the words but I did not feel them to be true. Maybe you can only hear a truth spoken but you will not really understand it until you reach a time in your life that you can truly understand. So I feel that not many of you will understand what I am saying. You will intellectually understand it with your mind but you will not feel it within your heart because it does not have that much meaning to you right now. But I will say this to you, this will become extremely important to you at a certain time in your life. I will go even further to say that this is what we all are searching for the realization that we are complete and whole right now in our lives.
Wherever I am, I am complete. Wherever I go, I am complete. In whatever conditions I am in, I am still complete.
Anything that is added to my life adds to my completeness and happiness. It does not complete me but only adds more to my life. If things are taken away from my life, it does not make me incomplete. I am whole and complete until the day I die. Nothing but God can change that.
The basic needs of food, clothing, water, and shelter, all add to my well being. However, if it was all stripped away, my feeling of wholeness and completeness would still be there.
This belief of being whole and complete has increased my thankfulness. From this point of complete contentment, I feel truly thankful for everything that I do have. From this place of peace, I give thanks to God and I feel more connected to him.
Yes, this year has brought a great revelation to me. I feel my long search for answers is over and I have found what I was looking for. I have found my peace and contentment. From this point forward, I can see me having an even greater connection to God. This is all new to me, no more searching but experiencing, what I do have. I feel complete at this moment and I am confident that I will feel this way for the rest of my life. Where will this lead me, I do not know? Only time will tell.
Romans 12:2 "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."
This is a big truth, a life-changing truth that I have found about my self. I am complete and whole. I do not need anything to complete me. I am always in a state of wholeness. I do not know why I could not understand this truth a long time ago but I do now. I heard the words but I did not feel them to be true. Maybe you can only hear a truth spoken but you will not really understand it until you reach a time in your life that you can truly understand. So I feel that not many of you will understand what I am saying. You will intellectually understand it with your mind but you will not feel it within your heart because it does not have that much meaning to you right now. But I will say this to you, this will become extremely important to you at a certain time in your life. I will go even further to say that this is what we all are searching for the realization that we are complete and whole right now in our lives.
Wherever I am, I am complete. Wherever I go, I am complete. In whatever conditions I am in, I am still complete.
Anything that is added to my life adds to my completeness and happiness. It does not complete me but only adds more to my life. If things are taken away from my life, it does not make me incomplete. I am whole and complete until the day I die. Nothing but God can change that.
The basic needs of food, clothing, water, and shelter, all add to my well being. However, if it was all stripped away, my feeling of wholeness and completeness would still be there.
This belief of being whole and complete has increased my thankfulness. From this point of complete contentment, I feel truly thankful for everything that I do have. From this place of peace, I give thanks to God and I feel more connected to him.
Yes, this year has brought a great revelation to me. I feel my long search for answers is over and I have found what I was looking for. I have found my peace and contentment. From this point forward, I can see me having an even greater connection to God. This is all new to me, no more searching but experiencing, what I do have. I feel complete at this moment and I am confident that I will feel this way for the rest of my life. Where will this lead me, I do not know? Only time will tell.
Romans 12:2 "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."
Finding The Truth
Finding the truth is a hard thing to do. Why? Because it is usually your interpretation or somebody else's interpretation and not the real truth. It is hard to believe in something for most of your life and then find out it was all lies. We live most of our lives mostly believing in what our society is telling us and when we find out that something was not true. It may be hard for us to change those beliefs, depending on how long we have been living that lie.
Luke 12:15 Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions."
Colossians 2:10 "And you have been made complete in Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority."
I believe the real truth is within our basic self. In the happiness of that child that we were. A child who looked at the world with wonder. We were happy from the beginning and everything that we touched and seen just added more to that happiness. I believe God put us all here on an equal spiritual footing and then something happened to our lives that took our happiness away.
What happened to us? The lies of the world. Some of the lies are: You are less and I am more. I have something that you do not have and you cannot be happy without it. In truth, we are all whole and complete inside. It is the lie that tells us that we are broken. Chaos happens when we start to think something is missing inside. No, we are complete and whole every second of our lives. Our doubts, worries, and insecurities divide us and make us feel incomplete.
I see equality when a disaster happens. When people who have lost their homes and are living together in a shelter. The young, the old, the rich and the poor are all together and just trying to survive. In these hard times, people will help one another and not be caring about each other's social status. What is important when you go through a disaster? Seeing that your family and friends are safe and unharmed. During that time everything else seems unimportant.
If we want to feel whole and complete, we must not lose sight of what is really important to us in our life. You need to be at peace with yourself and content, to be able to say I have everything that I need, even if you have almost nothing and you can still be thankful for what you do have.
If we stand with God and really believe that he created us to be whole and complete. We can have peace and contentment in our lives. It does not matter how society will view you. You will be happy and joyful for you will feel God is always with you. All things that you have built can be wiped away by fire and natural disasters but if you stand with God you will have a lasting peace and live forever in his kingdom.
Believe in the truth of God over the lies of men and you can be happy always. If I have only God in my life then I have the truth and that truth brings me peace and contentment into my life. This contentment makes me feel I have found my answers and has made me feel satisfied. I have found that I have all that I need in the truth of God.
Philippians 4:11,13 "Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 13I can do all things through him who strengthens me."
Luke 12:15 Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions."
Colossians 2:10 "And you have been made complete in Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority."
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