Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: exercise strengthens spiritual protection

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: you are wiser and stronger than you realise.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: you are much more powerful than you think.

Quote of the day

Quote of the day: If we are willing to make the right choices regardless of how we feel, God will always be faithful to give us the strength to do so. - Joyce Meyer

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: you have the power to create inner peace in your heart. Don't wait for it to just come to you, use your power to create it for you.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: moments of crisis help you see what really matters to you.

Quote of the day

Quote of the day: [about allowing yourself to feel feelings of sadness] Feel them. Feel them all. These feelings are not going to kill you. - Panache Desai

Living in Trust

Image: openclipart

Today I want to talk about a revelation I had a while ago: live in trust, in all aspects of your life.


Before I talk about living in trust, however, I want to talk about 2 ways we don't live in trust.


Trust vs. Control


The first one is to live trying to control your fate.

For the past 4 years I had been living trying desperately to control my fate:

• trying to control my professional fate by looking desperately for a job - sending 100s of resumes to all the job postings I could find
• trying to control my financial fate by accepting a low-paying job - because I was desperate for any income.
• continuing to try to control my financial fate by working tirelessly on side projects - hoping they would become more profitable than my current low-paying job.
• trying to control the fate of a relationship by trying to get a person close to me at any cost - I even tried bribing them by promising to pay for their tuition if they came to study where I live.
• continuing to try to control my financial fate by looking desperately for cheaper places to live - looking at real estate listings every single day, calculating how much I would pay for taxes, transportation, etc.

When you live in control, you are not living in trust. You don't trust that that your future will be positive unless you take control.

Trust vs. Fear

The second way that we don't live in trust is when we live in fear.
Fear is related to control.
I see fear as an attempt to control the future.

A few months ago, I used to live in fear:

• fear that the person who had drifted away from me would never come back - so I kept trying to control them and bring them back.
• fear that I would not be worthy of love (from myself and others) if I didn't keep my house sparkling clean 100% of the time - so I spent all my free time cleaning and doing other house chores.
• fear of getting some deadly disease - so I would freak out at any strange symptom I would have and run to the doctor.

Getting out of the pit

The stress from all that fear and need to control snowballed into anxiety and panic attacks. I brought myself out of that horrible emotional state with a lot of hard work - and no medication.

One of the main pillars of my healing was focusing on myself. Instead of trying to control my exterior circumstances, I shifted my attention to understanding what was happening in my mind.

After I understood the fears behind my need to control, I then worked on changing my negative thoughts and behaviours.

That boosted my self-esteem, and I had more consistent faith. I felt confident that whatever happened in my life, I would be ok. I would survive.

And that's when everything started changing:

• When I stopped trying to get a person to love me (and instead focused on loving myself) they started showing me love. 
• When I stopped trying to get love from performing chores (and loved myself for who I am regardless of performance) I suddenly had free time to enjoy life.
• When I stopped running to the doctor to get a sense of security (and kept challenging my catastrophic thinking), I felt as healthy as a horse.

Living in Trust

Then, a while ago, I realised the connection between all the changes listed above: I was living in trust. And when, I did that, I finally got what I wanted. I didn't get it by trying to control my circumstances, but rather by trusting [God] that things would work out in my favour. I focused on love, inner peace and personal growth, and the rest took care of itself [or, God took care of the rest].

Following that, I had a revelation: I should trust God in every aspect of my life. Instead of trying to control my circumstances and trusting that my efforts will bring me what I want, it's better to live in Love and trust that God will bring me what I want.

• If I want a better job, I should meet people in my network and talk to them about what I want. Then trust that God will use the people in my life to bring me a better job.
• If I want to improve my financial situation, I should talk to people about what I would like my life to be like. Then let God work through them to give me suggestions or even put me in touch with someone who wants to help me financially. 
• If I want to get someone close to me, I should focus on defining what kind of relationship I want. Then trust that God will put the right person (possibly not the one I originally asked for) in my life.
• If I want to give myself love, I should do what makes me happy. Then trust that I will be in such a good mood that chores won't feel as stressful or time consuming.
• If I want to believe that I'm healthy, I should focus on all the times the doctor said I was fine. Then trust that I am really ok.

The key is focusing on love and peace, and trusting that God/the Universe will work things out in your favour. When you live in fear of losing something, it is much harder to get what you want. When you live in peace and trust that things will work out, they usually do.

So next time you are afraid, just focus on love and inner peace, and trust that things will work out.

Lesson of the day

Lesson of the day: sometimes it takes looking back at where you were in the past to realise how much better off you are now.

Do you have faith like a mustard seed?

Image: wikipedia

You might have heard the expression "we should have faith like a mustard seed". I have heard it a few times after I started listening to Christian ministers. I had never heard it before then.

For those interested, it seems to be in 2 places in the Bible:

1. Luke 17:6 : "If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and be planted in the sea'; and it would obey you"
2. Matthew 17:20: "(...) if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

But what does that mean? Like me, there are probably many people who have asked/prayed for something and believed in it, but not received. Why? The Bible seems to say that only a small amount is enough.

Today I will share 2 different interpretations of what that means, and why we don't see the results we ask for.

Interpretation #1 - The Problem is the Unbelief

According to Andrew Wommack's teaching, having faith the size of a mustard seed means that even if you have a little faith, that is enough.
Additionally, he says that everybody has the same amount of faith. According to Andrew's teaching, when God made us, he put the same amount of faith in everyone. We all have faith the size of a mustard seed.
The reason why some people see more results (ie, what they ask for comes true), is because they have less unbelief.
According to Andrew, as you grow in the Lord, you remove your unbelief, and your wishes will more easily come true.

Interpretation #2 - Quality and not Quantity

Watch this video from 11:27 to 17:38.

What a beautifully emotional and passionate segment!
In it, Joe Amaral explains that it is not the quantity of your faith that matters (ie, is it big or as small as a mustard seed), but rather the quality (are you as strong and tenacious as the mustard plant?).
Besides explaining, he also does a wonderful job of motivating the audience to be strong. If you need faith and encouragement, do watch that segment!

Criticism

I understand Andrew's point, but at the same time, I see unbelief as lack of faith. In my opinion, he is still saying that the issue is the lack of faith. What he calls faith is the constant faith (as in "he is a man of faith") and what he calls unbelief is a temporary lack of faith (maybe due to stress, fear, etc).

For Joe Amaral, my criticism is regarding the requirement of understanding the culture in order to understand the passage.I believe it is important to understand the culture of Jeseus, but that alone doesn't help us fully understand what the Bible meant. One of the reasons why Christianity has so many denominations is because there can be many different interpretations to the same passage of the Bible - even after understanding Jesus' culture.

Some more food for thought:

1. Do we ever fully understand a culture? Even when we were brought up in a certain culture, we sometimes only fully understand it once we travel and spend time in another one. Then what about a culture that is 2000 years and many continents removed from us?
2. We will never clearly know what Jesus meant because He is not here to explain it to us. The Bible was written by the apostles (if I'm not mistaken) many years after Jesus gave the lessons. It was also written in one language, then translated into a few different languages before it was translated to English. A lot can be lost through time and translation, including cultural nuances.

Conclusion

I believe both interpretations are in fact complimentary. Having lack of unbelief (Andrew's interpretation) means being strong in your faith (Joe's interpretation). In other words, it means striving towards consistent faith.

My message is the following: be as persistent and as strong as a mustard plant, by working on building a consistent faith inside of you.

Lesson of the day

You are stronger than you think.