Monthly Archives: March 2013

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No Approval Necessary!

We worry too much about what other people say or what other people think.  If we want to be who we were created to be, then we need to learn to live independent from the opinions of others.  It really does not matter if they love us or hate us, the issue comes when we make their assessments more important than the ones we have of ourselves.

Our reason for caring about what someone else thinks is based on the messed up system of trying to find favor from others.  Our reason for wanting the favor of others is to satisfy our need to obtain or live up to some man generated status.  It is our chasing after status that corrupts the flow and power of supernatural power that flows into and through our lives enabling us to live the life that we were created for.

Just be you, the you that you were created to be and stop worrying about trying to live up to everyone eles’s standards.  Status, titles and ego are all man-made things that get in the way of the real you, the inner you that is longing to flow out.

Life has it’s own way of working out the things that need to be worked out.  The approval you need will flow to you, as well as the disapproval.  When you work to achieve approval from man, then you make yourself a slave to man.  When you get disapproval, then you work that much harder for their approval.  All of this is looking to the outside for that which we need to be getting from the inside.

Outside living makes us dependent, which decreases and blocks the flow of a blessed life, while inside living makes us independent, which increases opportunity and allows the blessed life to flow freely.  

The bottom line is that ego – edging God out, will get you into trouble every time.  You are more than your flesh, you are spirit.  We give more attention to the physical than the spiritual and because of this, we miss out on much of the amazing part of life and living.

Get in touch with your spirit, who you really are and start to live from the inside-out.  Your life is filled with passionate and powerful thoughts.  When you learn to allow these thoughts to flow, you will begin to live a secure and blessed life.

You are not your physical body.  You are not what other people think or say.  You are spirit, made in the image of God.  Allow His Spirit to flow to and through your life.  Learn to see with His eyes and hear with His ears and you will walk in His footsteps and touch with His hands of love.  You will experience the amazing gift of really living, which is all about learning to live blessed.  Live blessed – it’s what you were created for.

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The Place Of Contentment!

We tend to focus our energy on outward pleasure and the satisfaction of our senses at the expense of vision and the inner work of our lives.  The sad reality is that this produces a life of illusions, where appearances leave us empty and wanting more.  The wise writer of Ecclesiastes teaches us that “Everything comes and goes, there is nothing new under the sun.”  

The material world can only bring temporary satisfaction, because the stuff of the temporary world is – temporary.  When all we see, taste, touch, hear and smell is of the material world, we limit ourselves to only what exists in this world and cause ourselves to miss out on the vast blessings that exist in the spiritual world.  We often so focus on the creation, that we fail to know and appreciate the Creator.

The biggest problem with our trying to satisfy our senses is that our focus becomes the chase and attainment of that which is limited and temporary.  We get locked into a game of continuously striving, because there never seems to be enough.  We all know what it is like to live in this place of craziness, but most of us, are not willing to do life differently.  We keep doing the same things, making the same mistakes and expecting different or better results and that is just plain insane!  
 
Peace and inner satisfaction come from within.  Jesus teaches us to be in the world, but not of the world.  My satisfaction does not come from this world, because this is not my home, I am simply a spiritual being passing through a human experience.  When we learn to live life from the inside, then there is not much that is required from the outside for our happiness and peace,
 
We need to learn to look and see beyond the here and now.  We know that a flower is much more than just a flower.  It is even more than what our senses tell us it is.  It is more than color, taste, feel, smell and sound.  It is creation unfolding in a different way, unique and beautiful.  Evidence of something greater, someone with a greater plan.  It is in front of you for you to enjoy and be blessed by and when it ceases to be, there will be something else, but you don’t have to go out and find it, because it will find you.
 
Learn to relax.  Enjoy the gift of this moment.  Instead of being consumed by a focus on the search for what you can find outside of yourself, instead take some time to journey inward and discover awe, wonder, excitement and appreciation for the things that make your senses alive to appreciate and enjoy the gifts of the outside, physical, material world.
 
Allow life to flow in the natural order of “come and go” and avoid getting caught up in the tyranny of the urgent.  This moment is a seed, plant it, cultivate it, observe it from the inside out and you will enjoy it’s growth for ages to come.  You are a seed, your Creator has planted you, is cultivating you, observing you from the inside out and enjoying your growth.  When you get that you are created in the image of the Creator, then you will discover a power that allows you to live from the inside out and this is a big part of what it means to live blessed.
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When Empty Living Is Not A Bad Thing!

When I am driving down the road and I hear that little bell go off to remind me that my gas tank is on empty, I know that I have to do something about it, and so I head to the gas station to put gas in, so that I can get rid of the “E”.   When I have not had a chance to eat, my stomach will begin to growl and remind me that it is empty, and I will look for something to eat, so that I might fill that void.

We have been taught that when something is empty, we need to fill it. We walk into a room that has nothing in it and almost immediately our mind goes to the place of filling it with this and that.  I think all of this focus on filling, causes us to miss the value of emptiness.  Lao Tzu in the Tao Te Ching gives us the idea that “The usefulness of what is, depends on what is not.”  In everything, there is an emptiness, a missing something, but that missing something is something, not nothing and this is the challenge of our thinking.

Our lives are full of work and living, but that is not what really makes our lives meaningful.  It is often the spaces of our life that we perceive as empty that actually give us meaning and purpose.  Since all of life around us seems to work by filling the empty void with whatever, we spend most of our energy trying to fill things back up and miss the joy of the emptiness.

We try to fill our lives up with work, activities, events, hobbies and almost anything we can think of and the result is still a gnawing emptiness, a void that we just can’t seem to fill, at least in a way that brings us satisfaction.  This hole, void, emptiness is not a bad thing. In fact it has a purpose and it’s purpose is to help us to discover who we are and what we are about.  It’s purpose it to teach us that rather than spending all of our effort and energy on trying, that we should invest ourselves instead on simply allowing.  When we learn to allow what will be to be, we begin to enjoy the flow of life.

When you allow yourself to breathe. The breath comes in and it goes out, quiet naturally, until you decide to start messing with it. This is the best way to live life.  Rather than trying to force and make things happen, just allow yourself in your living to breathe.

Most people cannot stand silence. Why? Because it is emptiness.  Emptiness that we feel needs to be filled.  As soon as we get in our cars, we power up the radio.  As soon as we walk in the door of our home, we turn on our televisions.  When we have a moment to sit and do nothing, we are on our smart phones trying to fill the void.  And the result of all of this, is that we miss the power and blessing that the emptiness is there to bring.

At some point today, take a few moments to practice silence.  I try to spend at least 10 minustes everyday in silent meditation.  I try during this time, to go into that empty space and enjoy what my Creator has given me.  I have discovered that it is from this place that some of my most amazing and beneficial thoughts begin, grow and flow.

It is in this place that I meet the essence of who I am and as I learn to allow that essence to flow, the real me begins to reveal itself to the rest of the world.  Philippians 2:5-9 teaches us that this is what Jesus did when it says: “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name.”

Let go of everything – who you are, what you do, where you go, how you think, when you’ve got to be finished and learn to exist in the empty space of this moment.  Appreciate this moment and the space of what it is allowing you and let it to do what it desires. You will be glad you did, because you will live blessed.