Today was one of those special days where it all just comes together and God reassures you that you are on the path that He marked for you.

Started out the morning with a short meditation time, sweet devotional and energizing prayer.  It was better than good!

Enjoyed Bible Study in Colossians 3.  It seems like we have been in these verses for quiet a while, but the Spirit continues to teach us some really good stuff.

Worship was nice – back up on the new stage and everything looked really great.  David & Tonja did a great job with the refirb.  And the praise team was alive with praise.

Message came from Matthew 3:13-17 and I felt the most freedom I’ve felt in a long time.  Felt like a new and better old me!  😉  Three main points of the message:  1.) There will always be distractions – deal with them God’s way.  2.) Our goal should always be the righteous requirements of God.  3.) The Spirit provides the confirmation we need.

It’s important to remember that we fulfill a big part of our created purpose when We bring God joy and we bring God joy by living in obedient submission.

This afternoon and evening, God reminded me that Jesus loves everybody – especially those that others would classify as unloveable.  I sure do have some growing and improving to do.

Fellowship tonight was sweet and I really felt that I got to grow a little in some of my relationships.  Was extra blessed to have Tom Capps our Director of Missions stop by for some fellowship and Keith Mincey from Easley to share in a little family time.

As usual, it’s sometimes hard to believe that God let’s me be a part of His amazing work, but I sure am glad He does!  Hope you have a blessed and growing week!

Do you ever get caught up in your judgments?  This morning as I was taking some time to meditate, my Spirit allowed me to experience this continuous thought again and again:  “My judgments are based on my perception of opposites, which is generated by my human mind and physical living.”  This way of thinking causes me to live a very disjointed and often bumpy life.

The goal is to live without judgment in the unity of oneness.  To grow in and with those around me, not by judging each other, but by loving acceptance of one another.  Allowing the love to accomplish what our judgments cannot.  Jesus taught us in John 13:34-35 by saying:  “34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Life is not about me being right and every one else being wrong.  This way of living is a very lonely way to exist.  Life is about living in unity, connected spiritually, physically and mentally.  Growing and becoming more aware of the blessing of our spiritual self, while becoming less and less distracted by our physical self.

What Is Your Goal?  We love to set goals for ourselves, but the truth is many of the goals that we set for ourselves actually hold us back, rather than propel us forward.  If we want to learn to live a life in the power and creativity of our spiritual self, then we have to be able to step out of and away from our limiting physical self.  Here are a few goals to help us in this journey:

Goal #1 – Live The Unified Life!  We have a propensity to compartmentalize everything in our living as good or bad, right or wrong, beautiful or ugly.  This compartmentalization requires us to make judgments.  These judgments are a game played by our minds which are being dictated to by the physical.

The reality of spiritual living is this:  “Criticism is not necessary!”  If we really want to live in peace, then we must understand that it will not come because we create it.  God our Creator is the giver of peace.  It is not something we create, it is something that we allow.  We can make the choice to be at peace with what we see.  The power to make this choice flows from our understanding that there is a much bigger picture that we cannot see – A picture of which we are a part!

I have noticed in my own life that I am often bound and weighted down by my own thoughts and judgments.  Thoughts and judgments that I have allowed others to press  in upon me.  Thoughts and judgments based in my physical understanding of things.  This is not who I was created to be!

I was created as a spiritual being.  I was created in the image of my Creator.  I was created by God for eternal relationship.  My Spirit tells me to “Just be you – the you, you were created to be by your Creator.”  This is where and how peace is allowed to flow and grow.  Don’t allow yourself to be distracted by the sights and sounds of the human/physical experience, instead make sure that you enjoy and learn from it, because it is a special gift from God to you and me.

Live in unity with your Creator and who He has created you to be and you will experience peace, regardless of the situations and circumstances of the physical life which surrounds you.

Goal #2 – Try Less And Accomplish More!  You cannot do everything and you cannot be everything, so stop trying.  Instead focus on doing what you were created to do and find your fulfillment in that.  Be who you were created to be and learn the joy of “effortless action!”  Life will happen and it does not matter what your plans are.

We often get so concerned with the outcome, that we don’t enjoy the process and the process is a big part of what our physical life was created for.  We need to enjoy the process and when we do, the outcome takes care of itself.

This may seem really simple, but we need to learn to just enjoy being!  I’ve got some good news for you!  You do not have to explain yourself.  You do not have to defend where you are coming from.  Peace and joy are a reality for those who have learned to walk though life with their hands down by their side.

Put your hands down as you learn to enjoy whatever life brings your way or as life decides to take you in the direction of something or someone else.  Don’t be so worried about right or wrong.  Trust that your Spirit will take care of them as your Spirit takes care of you.

What you have right now is right now!  Live in what is and you will discover freedom that unlocks the door for amazing and incredible things to flow into and through your Spirit!

Is it possible to live without really living?  The answer to the question is an obvious yes!  In fact, we have all been at that place of realization, where we know that this is exactly what we are doing a lot of the time.  We are busy with activities and agendas, but feel as if we are getting nowhere – really fast.

Stop trying to understand and explain everything!  We feel as if we have to understand and have an opinion about everything that happens.  We think that we are somehow less valuable, if we allow something or someone to pass by without adding our “two cents”!  The reality of life is:  Some things are not for our understanding, they are simply for our experience.

There are some things in life that cannot be explained, only experienced.  One of the most difficult challenges of life is to try to explain an experience or experience an explanation.  The reason this is so difficult is because experience is personal and unique to the one that experiences it.  I cannot put my experience on you and you can’t put your experience on me!

Let go and let God!  Learning to enjoy the experiences of life is a beautiful thing, that allows us to enjoy a major part of why we were created and allowed to experience human life here on this earth.  Someone said:  “Let go and let God!”  This is simply a beautiful way of saying:  “Enjoy the experience!”  When we learn to “Let go and let God!”, an amazing freedom unlocks the door for miracles to flow into, through and out of our lives.

Can’t Be Explained, Only Experienced!  This natural flow of the miraculous does not require explanation, because it cannot be explained, only experienced.  Life happens!  You can allow it to unfold in the amazing way that our Creator created it to unfold, or you can fight it every step of the way and live in continual frustration.  I say:  Let it unfold!

Enjoy life!  Life was not meant to be endured, it was meant to be enjoyed.  Here are four steps to practice today and in the days ahead that will help you to get the most out of this wonderful experience called life:

1.) Let it be!  Whatever is, is!  What will be, will be!  Just learn to live life in the moment and let one moment take you to the next moment when it gets good and ready to take you there.  Be honest with yourself:  Where is all this striving getting you?  Jesus gave us this advice:  “25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”  -Matthew 6:25-27

2.) Stop working so hard and start allowing life to unfold!  Stop wasting so much energy trying to accomplish what you think you need to accomplish to make the world look and feel the way you think it should look and feel.  God already has all of that taken care of.

3.) Relax, let go and live open-handed!  If you really believe there is a Creator, then you must also believe that He has a purpose and design.  So stop the madness!  Get out of the rat race, because even if you win, you are still a rat!  Relax!  Actually take and make time to sit and enjoy still quietness or quiet stillness.  During these times of still and quiet – practice letting go.  Letting go of what?  Whatever is getting in the way of you relaxing and enjoying this life that God has given you.  Live open-handed.  I call this “palms up living”.  Live to receive whatever God has for you.  If you are trying to hold on to everything, then you cannot receive what God has for you and God has something for you – all the time!

4.) Stop worrying about what should be and start enjoying what is!  What good does your worry do?  Our worry does not add, it actually takes away.  You cannot worry and enjoy at the same time, so you have to make a choice.  Life is life, so what are you going to do with the one that you have been given?