God wants us to trust him to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Faith without works is belief in God without trust. We can believe God and his word. That's good. Even devils believe. But they don't trust God. Faith is complete belief and trust. Trust compels me to act upon what I believe. Trust is the doorway to the miraculous. Extraordinary individuals are those who have experienced God's power and abilities in stepping out and testing their faith trough corresponding actions. Genuine faith initiates a response that actualizes what it believes in practical down to earth ways.
daily November 8
Meditation is a practice. Before the program my meditation was negative and self centered. I find that it has become more positive the more God and others centered I direct it each day. It's an individual adventure for sure. No one can do my thinking for me. The way I choose to view the world and my place and influence upon it, will determine what sort of meditation I practice, and the quality of life I enjoy!
daily November 9
Prayer and meditation are a step into the light from our dark and checkered past. Our history can, with the guidance and direction of God's power, become His story, IF we are willing and open to follow the wisdom and direction granted us through prayer and meditation. The path of the righteous gets ever brighter unto the noon day. The wicked are not so, for they know not at what they stumble. These words from the Bible show us the value of the flashlight of prayer and meditation this program has placed in our hand IF/WHEN we are willing to turn it on :-)
daily November 10
The sense of belonging we find in prayer and meditation comes not from the world, or the people in it. It comes from it's Creator. This entity placed a desire to belong with in each of us. The trouble is, as one spiritual giant said, our hearts are restless until the rest in Him. I find in prayer and meditation a confidence in God that makes me more sure of the world, it's people, and my God given position in it. Our greatest instinct to belong is found in acceptance of who and what we were created to be in the eyes of God. We lose sight of this vision when we seek our identity from people, places and things. The truth is we're connected to each other. When I seek recognition, I separate myself from the world and it's people and contribute to it's sickness rather than it's health and healing. I must seek to be for others the medicine my higher power intends me to be.
daily November 11
To focus on any one of my shortcomings alone is to lose sight of the biger picture and underlying purpose of my higher power behind the seen. When I moved from knowing about to actually knowing God. I found that I am accepted, loved and valued just the way I am. Confidence founded on inner peace and security cannot be earned our bought. They only be accepted and then expressed in extending them to others wherever and whenever possible.
daily November 12
My greatest destiny wasn't achieved in titles or positions. It was found in the humble acceptance of my responsibility to be the hand of God in simple ways for others. I seek not for recognition but to recognize. I seek not for attention but to attend to the needs of others. I pray only that I may see the emotional and and spiritual needs of others. God knows what he needs to be for them. My transformation is contingent on allowing Him to do for them what they cannot do for themselves through me.
daily November 15
To improve our conscious contact with a higher power means prayer and meditation. These skills help us to find and understand God's will. Just to the extent that we do as we believe He would have us do, to that extent do we find the serenity and sanity that light the way of patients, tolerance and love our creator would have us be to ourselves and others.
daily November 16
Prayer and meditation open for me a channel through which my higher power can balance my inabilities and inconsistencies. My powerlessness to change the things in myself that the steps and principles of the program have brought to the surface of my consciousness, has shown me that the answer to my problems is in the power of God that surrounds me. It was like I spent my whole life dying of thrust emersed in endless pools of life giving water. The spirit that is the source of all living things has been with me the whole time. It doesn't judge me. It just is. It has shown me strength in accepting people and things and this world just the way they are. This brings me a sense of peace powerful enough to face my failures and successes with class and character :-)
daily November 17
The rewards for doing what's right are found in the doing of the next indicated step toward a better life. God's plans and designs for me are like a mighty river. It's impossible to fight against the stream. Peace and power are found in my acceptance and surrender to it's flow. It will take me where it's going with or with out my cooperation. The separation and loneliness that once drove me to ignore the fear that was screaming for me to stop the course of actions I chose in seeking a false since of security, were lost in my surrender to God's guidance and direction found in the powerful flow of His will for me.
daily November 18
The safety net of prayer and meditation are tools to redirect the energy of anger and resentment into constructive rather tan destructive attitudes and practices. This program doesn't teach you how to never get angry. On the contrary, it show us how to be honest and realistic with our emotions. When we get angry, not IF but WHEN, we don't have to stay angry. Instead it is an opportunity to show empathy and compassion by putting ourselves in the other persons shoes. Chance are we have failed others in similar ways. In cutting them a break we are not only loving them, but we are healing ourselves in the process :-)