Month: September 2017

Posted on

Narrow Road

Lord, You said it is easy to align ourselves again with You. Then why did You call it a narrow road?

There are many distractions pulling you away from Love, or Peace, or Joy. Narrow doesn’t mean hard, or hard to find or follow. Narrow merely acknowledges that the one Path, the Center, the place of maximum abundance of life is in Love. Peace and Joy follow from Love, as do health and wealth, as do goodness and kindness, as do mercy and faith.

Love is so far-reaching, it embraces and encompasses the whole Universe—and beyond. Yet it is called Narrow, because it is laser-focused in its intent and commitment. Love is the Way.

Posted on

Believing for myself

God, why is it so easy for me to believe You will hear my prayers to bless others…and so hard for me to believe for myself? Is it just a lack of faith on my part?

When you pray for others, you are relying on what you know and believe in your heart about Me–that I Am good, that I Am Love, that I long to bless everyone. From that perspective, it is easy for you to ask, and to ask large. And look what you receive! That kind of faith opens all sorts of possibilities. It is not that you have to convince Me to act; I have told you this before. Rather, it is that much of My acting involves prompting humans to act in certain ways, to be sensitive to certain impulses, to follow their own hearts’ leadings.

When it comes to asking for yourself, a curtain drops down between what you know to be true, and what you were told about Me and about yourself many, many years ago. The curtain is thinner now; it is more gauze than thick brocade, but it still clouds your vision and thus your belief. You begin to doubt your inclinations, doubt your impulses, and unwittingly close the door to much that I would otherwise be able to give you. It is not that I become reluctant to give; it is that you cut yourself off from the very ways I mean for you to receive.

Let’s try this. Try pretending, the next time you feel uncertain about asking Me for yourself, that you are asking for your best friend. What would you ask for then? Ah, you see, you are smiling already. Remember, abundance really means “more-than-enough.” More than enough for everyone–including you.

Posted on

Stay Tuned

OK, Lord. Here I am at this point, where I need and want to get quiet. Try to hear You. Ask You to speak, to break in.

Imagine tuning a radio, the kind you grew up with, with its dial. Hear the crackle of static? Hear how stations get louder or softer as you dial them in or out? Here’s a secret—the music is always playing. I Am the Word, so I Am always speaking. I Am always speaking over you, over your life. Over your world. Over everyone in it. Like a radio station broadcasting 24/7, I Am always speaking. You just need to turn the dial.

Now, there are a lot of voices in your radio. Not all come from Me. Not all are inspired voices, just as a radio broadcasts all sorts of music and programs all across the dial. But each station has its own identity, its own voice. Be careful which stations, whose voices, you tune in to. Keep the dial of your mind and heart near Me. The other voices you hear in proximity to My Voice will ring true and can give you good counsel and encouragement.

This is a role you can play yourself, for others. You wonder, where is my own voice in all of this? Keep closely tuned to My Voice, and what comes from the depths of your own heart, and the reaches of your own mind, will be inspired, and give life.

Your broadcasters often end a segment or a program with the invitation, Stay Tuned. That’s good advice for a musical instrument, too. Stay tuned. Like an engine—stay tuned, stay tuned up. Stay tuned in to My Voice.

Posted on

Hearing God’s Voice

How can I learn Your voice, Lord? 

 

By setting aside time in quiet for Me to speak to you. The more you hear Me speak to you in your quiet times, the better you will recognize My voice at all times. You say, “my life is never quiet, and my mind is never silent.” I will speak to you through what seem your thoughts, but from a higher perspective. Don’t make this hard. Turn off the car radio for just five minutes of your commute. Take an extra two or three minutes in the shower and imagine My Love raining down upon you. Notice what thoughts come in those moments and how they make you feel. Talking with Me, listening to Me, will become your life’s greatest adventure.

Imagine unlimited access to the world’s libraries. There is no question I won’t answer, no complexity I won’t address. My delight is to love you and help you experience My love in tangible ways. My Voice speaking to your heart is one of those ways.

 

Posted on

In Everything Give Thanks

Whew, God, that worked out. Thank You.

Would you have said thank You if it hadn’t worked out?

Oh. Uh, no. Probably not. I’m sorry. We are supposed to thank You for everything, right? No matter what happens?

No, no. Not FOR everything, IN everything. IN everything give thanks. In every circumstance, you can find reasons for gratitude, things to give thanks for. This misunderstanding has caused much harm. People assume they are supposed to be thankful for disasters, for pain, for war, for abuse, for horrific crimes. Of course you can’t give thanks for that—and even if you tried, I would not receive your thanksgiving because I cannot rejoice over these things Myself. But as you have learned, you can always find something to feel and express gratitude for, in any circumstance. You can look for the slightest glimpse of joy. You can be alert to the least motion of love in your direction. You can take one breath, in and out, focused on peace, for those few seconds. Please DON’T give thanks FOR everything. But please, please, make gratitude foundational in your life, and give thanks IN everything.

Do you know why I asked you, asked all humans, to give thanks IN everything? Because thanksgiving changes you. Because I Am always trying to break into every human conversation, every confusion, every dilemma, with more love, more peace, more joy, more unity. Gratitude opens your mind and heart to receive. You know this; you have lived this. Gratitude focuses the attention, even in sorrow, even in hardship, and helps to illuminate a different way, a different course of action, another choice. Once you make the first choice, to give thanks IN everything, other choices become more evident, more possible.

Posted on

A Relationship with God

Lord, I am—we are—always asking You for things. Please do this, or heal that. Please help us or guide us or protect us. And we do try to remember to thank You and praise You—is that what You mean by a reciprocal relationship? Our praise? Or our offerings, our money or tithes? Or when we help someone else?

When you give your money or your time to help someone else, you are really practicing one facet of “love one another.” And yes, of course that pleases Me, just as a parent rejoices to see a child sharing toys or treating someone kindly.

God, it’s hard to think of You as needing anything from us.

Can you believe your behavior at times breaks My heart?

Yes, Lord. I can, definitely.

And can you believe your behavior can delight My heart?

Well, yes, of course—as You just said, like a child doing well and making a parent proud.

So can you stretch your belief beyond God-as-Parent to consider the implications of God-as-Friend and God-as-Spouse? Think of what parents provide children—food, shelter, safety, a place where they can grow and discover the world around them and who they are. I Am all of that. All of that is contained in a relationship with Me. But it can be so much more, and that is what I Am inviting you into—and through you, inviting others, many others, as many as will listen, into.

Think of the way you began to feel about your husband, how you couldn’t wait to see him, to be together, to tell him all about your day and hear all about his. Think of the excitement you felt to hear his voice or to be in his arms.

But isn’t ours more of a cerebral relationship, all this dialog?

Is it? What about the hearts you find? What about the Light Shows I put on, just for you? What about those times you heard My Angels singing? What if I heighten your senses to experience My Presence with you in a holy way, so your taste, your sight, your hearing, your smell, even your sense of touch is ramped up to make you more aware of what life in Heaven is like?

Wait—heaven is sensory?

What did you think, that your senses disappear?

Well, yes, like when You said we don’t marry, we are like angels.

All I meant by that statement is, your loving others is not exclusive, but expansive. Your heavenly capacity to love is too large to center on just one or even a few persons. And you can begin to expand your capacity even while on earth. It is what couples do when they adopt, or when someone starts a rescue shelter.

Remember I ate before My Disciples after My Resurrection. I had a Body. I have a Body, without the limits an earthly body has, limits of time, space, strength, and stamina.

So what do I need to do, to heighten our relationship?

Let Me woo you. Trust Me to give you good gifts; trust Me with your dreams. And when I open new doors, go through them joyously! Little one, you are so worried, about time. Tell Me your dreams.

Posted on

The Third Way

Lord, what do we do when we want two things that are—or seem—mutually exclusive?

A Third Way.

Lord, there is a third way?

There is always a third way. That is one message of My Resurrection: on the third day, a third way. Neither the life I had before, nor death as finality, but resurrection, a third thing, a third way. Neither a caterpillar nor a chrysalis but a butterfly—a third way, a third thing.

So, Lord, when I get trapped in either/or thinking, I should look for a third way?

 The third way is not rational. It is not a logical conclusion. Nor is it a synthesis of what has gone before. The third way is new in every sense of that word. The third way can seem miraculous even, because it is so fresh, so unexpected. It is nothing you can dream up on your own. The third way is a Divine surprise, a solution so far beyond the obstacle or problem or challenge as to render it insignificant.

The third way is the doctor coming into the room, puzzled, and saying, I don’t understand these test result but the cancer cells are gone. Healing is a third way solution. So is miraculous provision, like the coin in the fish’s mouth, like the net bursting with a catch, like the loaves and fishes multiplied. Seek the third way, even in business. No, especially in business. I promise you, there is a third way, and it doesn’t involved you weighed down, drowning in debt, but walking on the water of provision.

 

Posted on

Talking and listening

Now I’m at that awkward pause point where, in a conversation, you realize you’ve been doing all the talking.

There never needs to be any awkwardness between us. You assume I don’t care what you have to say, that your thoughts or feelings or words don’t matter. Of course they matter–they are the fabric of your daily life. Out of your thoughts arise your choices–and those matter a great deal, how you spend your time, and with what attitude. If you didn’t have Me to talk to, here, much of what you think and feel would remain locked inside you, never to be acknowledged or directly expressed, or worked through. Your thinking would be more muddled than clear.

Sometimes, I Am like a therapist who asks one question just so you can listen to yourself. So, what do you hear when you listen to yourself this morning?

I hear focus, Lord. I do. I have a lot to get done, but I don’t feel panicked. I feel…confident, actually.

You see, spending this time with Me has already done you much good. You’ve checked your compass–you know you are on course.

And that’s it?

Isn’t that enough for one day? These conversations don’t always have to be profound. Sometimes they can be, they need to be, very practical. What good is a relationship if it doesn’t touch you where you really live?

Posted on

Learning to see

I have more “space” in my 3-page journal allotment. Lord?

You are learning where your power lies, where your strength is. You are learning the power of gentleness. You are learning where to apply stubbornness. You are learning there is a time to stand. Because of your tendency to reticence, you are learning to carefully consider your words when you do speak. You are practicing awareness and connection–to My Spirit first, to My beautiful world, to others around you.

Somewhere along your path, you picked up the idea that worry was a sign of caring. That you could not care without worry. From there, it was easy to pick up fear, and then, to let those become so heavy that they turned into panic. Hauling worry, fear, and panic, along with their companions anxiety and stress has exhausted you, and robbed you of joy and peace, of hope and vision.

The world has enough doom-and-gloomers. My world needs visionaries–those who see Light, who see reason to hope, who see evidence of My Presence. Hope is the evidence of things not seen–not seen by others. Not seen–yet–by the world. But you see! I’m telling you, you DO see. That is why and how you can have hope. Hope isn’t blind. It is seeing the evidence others don’t see. It is making the invisible, visible. That is what I mean when I say, you are My visionary. That is why the phrase “stubborn hope” has resonated with you so. It is who you are–who I made you to be, not blind, but seeing, and sharing what you see, for Who I Am.

 

Posted on

Why is all this happening?

But why is all this happening in the first place? I don’t understand.

 

You have stories from the Old Testament where prophets warned ahead of time about disasters to come. Well, your scientists and climatologists are modern-day prophets, and just as in those Old Testament stories, today’s rulers ignore their warnings at their own–and their citizens’–peril.

 

So what is an ordinary person to do?

 

Pray. Keep connected. Counsel as many as will listen, now and afterwards, to heed the warnings. Believe I can even now inspire solutions, creative solutions, to ease the pain the earth is feeling.

 

The earth is in pain?

 

Of course. You think a storm like this impacts only humans? The very earth, the waters, the winds and waves, are literally suffering even as their energy is ramped ever higher. For the earth is Mine–and its fullness–and no part of My earth rejoices in destruction, not flood, not fire. Rain, wind, fire–these were meant as blessings, not curses. The earth is out of balance and suffers under the weight of that burden. And yes, it is breaking My heart. I made earth out of a dream in My Heart, of a place of great beauty, populated by great love. Now look at it!

 

Lord, You made miracles. Miracles for the blind and lame, You cleansed lepers, You healed the deaf, You cured epilepsy, You transformed water to wine, You multiplied meager resources, You helped Peter pay his taxes, You brought an abundant catch of fish, You calmed the storm on the Lake, You raised Jairus’ daughter and Lazarus. You make miracles Now. So please…would my fasting help?

 

That is another misconception. You never have to “convince Me” or “persuade Me” to take a loving action, to be Who I Am: Healer, Protector, Provider. You think this is what you have to do. But, no. I Am Healer. I Am Protector. I Am Provider. You merely have to receive. And receiving is an individual choice.

Some sadly, don’t know. Don’t understand. Don’t realize Who I Am. Some cannot really accept that I Am here to be all those things, for them. So they give up, or give in. They don’t know. Knowing isn’t study, isn’t listening to or memorizing sermons or Bible verses. Knowing implies relationship. Knowing about Me and knowing Me are two very different things. Knowing about Me breaks down in crisis, personal or collective. Only knowing Me, Who I Am, gets you through. So pray Floridians hear Me, sense Me, pray they listen. For everyone who is able to listen, truly hear My Voice, will be spared, even in this storm.