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Matthew 9:18 starts the story of the synagogue leader who had a little girl that was not just dying but was dead! She had just died and in his panic and desperation he sought out Jesus. This was a daring act on his part as he was a leader and people looked up to him. Like famous people nowadays this man had a high up position and was in the limelight, at least in his area. Jesus had an uneasy relationship with the synagogue leaders, they were not too sure of him at this time and you might say he was under scrutiny. Maybe this was why this father did not come sooner but waited with hope that his daughter would improve. Maybe he was in denial, but then the unthinkable happened, she died. But in his panic this father knew that if any man could help, Jesus could.

Desperation is a very powerful emotion. This is the emotion that provides strength to a woman so she can lift a car off her child. Desperation is a strong emotion to put into prayer. The stronger the emotion the faster the prayer is answered. The answer may come as an idea that pops into your head like this father all of a sudden thinking of getting Jesus or it may actually cause something to materialize (the item may have always been there but you may not have ever noticed it before).

Desperation can cause us to act in ways we would not normally act. When desperate, we may appear to act irrationally which is what the mourners at the girls house thought of the father’s actions. They ridiculed him when he came back with Jesus. The girl was dead, they knew what death looked like. During this timeframe and society people were quite familiar with death. But desperation causes irrational acts, it causes people to take chances and sometimes those risks pay off.

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I have been thinking a lot about free will lately. That term has always confused me in the way it is used in theology but I think I am finally making sense of the term with my investigation of the ‘law of attraction’ and manifesting.

Let’s review; we are spiritual beings who are basically made of energy. If you look at the smallest physical particle of matter then look deeper past the atom past the electron you will finally get to pure energy and that is what everything is including you and me.
Since the only thing that truly exist is energy what are our thoughts? Energy of course.

Our thoughts go out and solidify into substance. The more energy (passion, effort or even continual thought) you put into something the faster it will solidify and materialize.
How does this relate to free will? You are free to think what you want, free to experience the emotions you want. You are free to send out your thoughts and create whatever you wish. This free will perpetuates itself because what you think the most about will draw those experiences and things to you to reinforce those thoughts. So you create your life through your thoughts and your free will. God wants you to use your free will otherwise God would not have given it to you.

This is a case of be careful what you wish for (or think about). When you dwell on the negative in your life you create more of it.

This is where free will gets sticky and the theological idea of “Your will not mine” comes into play. I firmly believe that God wants us to live a passionate life, one that is true to who we really are. If we are in alignment with who we truly are, then we are in alignment with God’s will. We often get sidetracked about who we are. We often insist that we are helpless, or a victim, or miserable because we have bought into what someone in the past told us or you have let a past experience tell you that is who you are now. No that was who you were then. Each moment is a different choice and you get to choose.

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OK worry is bad for you. This is the general worry that freezes your mind and sends you in a panic. Some worry is helpful. Helpful worry like helpful fear is that which spurs you to action; such as a child falls in the pool and can’t swim, the fear and worry causes you to dive in after them.

No the worry I am talking about is that which limits your view; you can’t see a positive future in fact you may not see any future at all. This is the worry that stifles and prevents action. This type of worry often feeds off of itself; one worry leads to another, snowballing to the point that you give up.

How do you drag yourself out of such a place without spending a fortune on therapy? I have some suggestions.

1. Start every day by reading something positive. You can even read the same book or chapter or poem everyday. The prime requirement is that it is uplifting. No downers. Some suggested reading material is listed at the end of this article. If you are not into reading, there are many audio tapes out there with uplifting material.

2. Reaffirm you faith and belief. If you affiliate yourself with a spiritual belief, remember it. When I was going through a rough time of worry I realized I was not practicing my faith. If I truly believed what I said I believed then I had to exercise that faith. The belief that I exercised was that all things work toward good and that God would take care of me. I also believed that God wants to give you good things. When ever I start to feel down or start to worry about bills or finances I turn back to that belief and feeling that I will be taken care of, and guess what, I have been taken care of. Have hope in the future.

3. Go for a walk. The exercise will do you good, but don’t just walk, look around you. Look at the trees, the clouds, the animals and feel gratitude for each of them. In sending the gratitude you are reinitiating the energy flow that worry has choked off. Keep the energy flowing through out the day by looking up and being grateful for what ever your eyes see. Try and really feel the gratitude.

4. Talk to your spirit guides. We all have them and they really want to help but they cannot help if you don’t give them permission. Just talk to them like you would a friend you are telling your troubles to, or you could just think the conversation. Ask for their help in what is troubling you or ask for them to help you be more positive. Just having some one else to talk to can help (even if you can’t see them). You can talk to a trustworthy friend but you run the risk of that becoming a pity party or one-up-manship competition on who has the worst life. This is not the kind of thing you want to dwell on and your spirit guides will not join in your pity.

5. Be open to solutions. As soon as you start letting go of the worry and replacing it with gratitude and hope for a better future, solutions will start to come to you. You may still be in a slightly negative bent and may be tempted to automatically negate any solution that pops up but try to realize what you are doing when that happens. Pay attention to the solution and give it a legitimate look. A true solution may seem weird but as you think about it, doors will start to open to allow it to happen.

There is a way to a better, worry-free life. You can do it!

Suggested reading material:
The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles down load for free from www.thesecret.tv
The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale (also in audio)
Moments of Grace by Neale Donald Walsch
Chicken Soup for the Soul by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen

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Did you know that the word “worry” is derived from an old Anglo-Saxon word which meant to strangle or to choke? This is very appropriate as when you worry you are choking the life out of your world!

Worry prevents the life energy from flowing. Worry literally chokes the flow of energy. As Einstein pointed out everything is made of energy. In fact energy is flowing all around us connecting each and every thing in the universe. This energy is what sustains all things. You may think of this energy as God or Universal Power but whatever you choose to call it the main idea is that it is energy. When you worry, you create a necking down of this energy. You are so focused on your little world of problems that you do not see the larger world. It is when you see the larger picture you will feel gratitude; you will be uplifted out of your problem mindset.

Worry prevents the energy that can bring solutions from flowing to you. Worry is like constipation; only a little gets through and the backlog of the worry slowly poisons your system. Only when the worry is released does it allow the energy to flow providing fresh ideas and options that you could not see before.

Manifestation also requires the energy to flow. I had a dream recently where I effortlessly started using telekinesis to bring objects to me. It was as if the objects flowed to me. In the dream, when I tried to force the object to me, it did not work, I had to let it ride the energy flow, I could not force it by the power of the mind. I think this dream was about manifesting. You have to let it flow to you and it can not flow if you have choked the flow off with worry.

How do you prevent worry? Check back tomorrow.

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“Do for others what you would like them to do for you. This is a summary of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.” This is important. Right here it says that this is a summary of all taught in the law and the prophets. If you don’t learn anything else, learn this one thing!

This saying also goes by the name of ‘The Golden Rule’. Jesus thought it was so important, he told thousands about it in his sermon on the mountain. Most all cultures and religion have something akin to the golden rule and for a good reason. This is the key to manifesting. You have to send out the positive energy to be able to attract positive energy.

If you want compassion, be compassionate. If you want love in your life, be loving and forgiving of others. If you are constantly sending out negative energy you will attract the negative into your life. This is the main tenet in the law of attraction.

I know of a very successful business woman who cannot tolerate pessimistic people who are always looking at why something can’t be done. It is like trying to mix oil and water. The pessimistic people will attract pessimistic people to them and the can-do positive people will attract the optimist because neither type can really tolerate the other. Which type of personality do you think is more successful?

If you tend toward the pessimistic side, try being optimistic for a week. Tell yourself that you can go back to the ‘realistic’ pessimistic thinking after the week. However after the week is up and you allow yourself to be ‘realistic’ again, you will find that you weren’t realistic before, just negative and your new ‘realism’ will appear more optimistic!

I dare you to give it a try!

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The second temptation in verses 6-7 claims that the angels will protect you. (Don’t go thinking that this only applies to Jesus. God loves each of us immensely, no matter who we are.) Yes, the angels can protect you, but don’t go and do something foolhardy just to see that they will. You do have free will and the angels won’t interfere if they see that is what you want to do.

This free will business is tricky. God gave us free will. It is not free will if a decision you make can be condemned by God. It is like a dictator saying “you are free in my country” but then having anyone killed that does not do what he says. This is not true free will. Another interesting side note about ‘free will’ involves willing something to be or not. I have read so many articles and books about manifesting (these are real life stories) and one of the attributes for manifesting is to have a strong will for it to occur. This gives a whole new meaning to free will.

The third temptation of Christ in the wilderness is basically a form of bribery, doing what someone else wants you to do. No, hold the faith and do what you know you should do. In other words, be yourself. Be the best (insert your name here) you can be. Be true to yourself and who you are. God created you so you are who you are supposed to be. You have the likes and dislikes and talents for a reason. Yes it may be a thorn that you have to overcome to build character that you do not possess but more than likely it is for you to work with and develop to its full potential. Believe in yourself and God will provide the doors and opportunities and that does not involve lowering your standards to accept something someone else is holding out with strings attached.

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I have been reading several books lately about manifesting. They all point to the same technique. In fact a couple books have a Christian bent and talk about how faith and belief and a positive attitude are upheld in the Bible.

I am very familiar with the Bible, having read through it at least 4 times. But for some reason my upbringing instilled in me a ‘holiness’ to poverty. These books are telling me the opposite. So I am going to work my way through the Gospels and record all the places where a reference to having faith, believing and good coming to you are stated or even implied.

This may take a while but should be very interesting. I am using this to counter all the ‘lies’ I was brought up with.

God, at least my God, is a God of abundance and all powerful. What I had been taught was God wanted you to deny your material property (sounds like a past life monkish existence) and live in scarcity. This does not make sense. How can you help the poor by becoming one of them? Why would you throw back into God’s face what he is lovingly trying to give you? Sounds like a very rude thing to do.

When I give someone something, I love it when they gush and accept it with gratitude. Don’t the people who can’t take a complement drive you crazy? Makes you not want to give one. I was always one to believe that you should graciously accept, and don’t throw a complement back, at least not immediately because that make you sound like one-up-man-ship.

Getting back off my soap box, I will title the post with the Bible verse involved and the post will explain how it supports manifesting.

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I have been reading Wallace D. Wattles book “The Science of Getting Rich”. This is the same book that Rhonda Byrne’s daughter gave her to read that lead to her producing “The Secret” movie (you can download an e-copy of Wattles’ book there). There are some interesting correlations between what this 1910 publication says and modern discoveries.

A key idea that is often quoted in the book is “There is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates and fills the interspaces of the universe. A thought, in this substance, produces the thing that is imagined by the thought. Man can form things in his thought, and, by impressing his thought upon formless substance, can cause the thing he thinks about to be created.” This correlates with some astronomical discoveries made in the last 10 years or so; the existence of dark energy and dark matter.

Scientists believe that dark energy exists because of its effect on bodies that are visible; like the belief in subatomic particles because of how particles act and react under certain conditions. Scientist believe that the dark energy condenses into dark matter. It is the dark matter that condenses further into the physical bodies that we see in space. It is said that only about 5% of the energy available has actually created all the physical things we can see. This includes all the galaxies, all the solar systems, all the planets and everything on each planet such as the chair you are sitting in and yes even your body. That leaves a lot of energy floating around out there.

How do these ‘things’ get created? I believe mainly through the mind of God. The first thoughts were God’s and since we have been created in the image of God, I believe that means we are creators also. Often our creating has taken a more tangible form such as taking hammer and nail to cut-up trees. But even that has to start with an idea.

Could we be more powerful than we give ourselves credit for?

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Paul and Jesse got back from a mission trip Saturday. The Youth and 5 adults from our church went to Durant Oklahoma to help put roofs on houses and paint and do general maintenance for the elderly and disabled in the area.

I am glad I was not there because Paul almost fell out of a tree. He had been cutting branches away from the roof and the branch came down and hit his ladder, knocking him off and sending him head first down the tree. Luckily he was able to grab a branch on the way down and was hanging on upside down. I guess survival mode kicks in and makes you reach out and grab at things. Paul told me that his co-leader at the job site was screaming when she saw him headed toward the ground. He did come back with some colorful bruises, lumps and scrapes.

I had also asked for angelic protection for the crew and specifically Paul and Jesse while they were gone. I believe in asking for spiritual help for anything and everything.

We had a discussion in Sunday school about what to ask God for help with. Most were of the opinion that only ‘big’ or ‘important’ things should be asked for. I was in the minority (of one) that any and everything was reasonable to request help with.

God is not too busy to help with even the smallest most insignificant task. God is universal power and is not limited by time or place constraints like we are. You are not bothering God when you tell Him/Her (God doesn’t really have a gender you know, human kind has provided that and it has changed over time) your concerns. We are denying our power when we don’t access God’s power. If we deny our power, we are not performing our task to the best possible effort we can and therefore we are cheating ourselves and cheating the world.

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As promised, today is how the commandments 4-10 relate to the law of attraction.

The rest of the commands have to do with how we treat each other. If we are truly living in abundance and in the law of attraction we will not do any of these because that would be like doing it to yourself. What goes around comes around. Be good to others and good will come to you. Let’s take a few and look closer.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy’. You don’t have to work your tail off. Take some time off and recuperate. Have faith, expect that good will come and let it come. This can also be expressed as take time for gratitude which is very important in the law of attraction.

“Honor your father and your mother”. Ok who hasn’t had a dysfunctional childhood? Congratulations, move to the next paragraph. The rest of you keep reading. I am going to use the big “F” word: Forgiveness. I know it is hard, but your mom or dad or who ever wronged you had a crappy childhood too. More than likely they did not wake up each morning thinking of ways to make your life miserable. For the few who had parents that did, remember you are grown up now and can break those ties for your own good. They don’t have to be in your life any more, I give you permission to never see them again! Thank them for what they taught you, because you did learn from them, then move on. Those lessons may not have been pleasant but they formed you. Now you know what you do not want to be like. Remember you are forgiving them, not their actions. But if you can’t bring yourself to forgive, work on the issues involved with EFT or one of the other meridian tapping methods. (Go to www.naturallyresilient.com to learn more). Lifting the weight of the issues from your shoulders will help you tremendously.

The next several are no-brainers; don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie. This falls under what you think about comes about. If you do something to someone else then that is the way you view the world. If you view the world as unfriendly that is the kind of world you will get. I have heard it said that the most important decision you will ever make is to decide what kind of a world you live in; a friendly one or an unfriendly one.

What about the last one; you shall not covet. This is beyond just wanting what they have. In the law of attraction, you can attract the same thing into your life if you want it. You do not have to take from some one else to have it, there is plenty to go around. This is beyond just wanting because I also see this as rejoicing with your neighbor for what he has accomplished. Be glad that you neighbor has figured out how to attract good things into his life. This is like love, just because you love one of your children that doesn’t mean there is less love for the other children! Rejoice and be glad and expect just as good for yourself.

These tenants are great ones to live by and can enrich anyone’s life no matter what culture they live in.

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