Do Not Quench The Spirit

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affirmation, belief, faith, focus, possibility, prayer, Spirit, thought, trust

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.”      (1 Thessalonians 5: 16-19)

Sometimes it can certainly seem as though no matter hard much we pray nothing is happening. Has God not heard our plea? Are we doing something wrong?

We can never see the roots beneath the surface of a plant. Before the plant begins to reach upward toward the sun it moves downward into the soil giving the plant a strong and vital foundation for what is yet to come. Finally, when all is ready, the plant begins to break through and becomes known to us.

Beneath the surface of our physical life experience there is much growing, thriving and becoming. Our prayers of faith and belief in God’s presence and power have ignited a powerful action and caused a mighty shift to happen. We can prayerfully continue to affirm that on the unseen side of our present awareness something wonderful is already happening, moving, and evolving. Soon we will see it in all of its magnificent glory and manifestation. Even when our answer may only seem like a tiny sprout on the surface of our experience, we have the assurance that beneath that surface the roots of its support are growing more deeply, and that they are planted in firm wonderful soil that supports and sustains us. As we continue to lift this affirmative prayer not only do we begin to recognize that sprout as it grows, but we soon see that sprout become a mighty bloom.

It has never been that God turned a deaf ear to us, for we know that our prayers do not change God, but they change us. Our prayers begin to alter our experience of Spirit in and around us and that often takes a little time. However, the sprout of that new experience began the moment we first uttered our prayerful words, or had the beginnings of our prayer thoughts. At that moment the stirring of Spirit within us started a powerful shift that began to change our belief in the power of God within us. Now as we continue to nurture our belief and trust in God, our answers can become ever more clear.

Affirmation: “My faith in a powerful God supports my life at every moment.”

Rev. Jefferson Beeker

http://jefferson340.wix.com/index

 We live our lives one thought at a time. Let each of those thoughts really count for something wonderful.

Be prepared to change your thinking and change your life.

Follow me on Twitter @jeffersonbeeker for daily affirmations of uplifting and positive faith.

Joyous Anticipation

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belief, believe, faith, God, inspiration, prayer, Spirit, thoughts

“The Lord accepts my supplication; the Lord accepts my prayer.”     (Psalm 6: 9)

Do you ever notice on your computer that so often when something is being downloaded on the inter-net that on the screen you see a little pinwheel twirling around? It is telling you that your content is being loaded. Somewhere, somehow, what has been requested is being delivered. Sometimes this happens very quickly and other times it can seem to take forever. Usually in the later circumstance our impatience makes it seem longer than it actually is and our getting frustrated has absolutely no effect on the download. It comes in it’s own time.

The answers we receive to our prayers are much the same way. We make our request known to God and we do so with the assurance that God hears us and answers us. Wouldn’t it be great if instantly we received our answer? If our connection with God and the download of our answer to prayer was as fast as our inter-net connection?

Lifting up our prayers to God is a powerful way to begin to renew our faith and belief in divine possibility. With the awareness that having lifted up our request God is responding and our prayer is in the process of manifestation moves us even further to a spirit of renewal in living an abundant life. More often than not the answer we seek takes some time. Like the pinwheel whirling for our download. Too often because we do not immediately experience the answer we think nothing is happening, but that is not the case. The answer is coming and on the unseen side of life events are moving and happening toward the fulfillment of our recognizing the answer.   We are to wait with joyous expectation that God has answered our need.

There is a wonderful song lyric that goes: “the dark of night will always find the light of day.”   Our answer will always find us, but we must be receptive to understanding and recognizing that answer. This is the essence of spiritual renewal. It is trust, it is hope, and it is belief.

Affirmation: “The answers I seek are forming in God’s perfect timing. I trust and I believe in the power of God in my life today and always.”

Rev. Jefferson Beeker

http://jefferson340.wix.com/index

We live our lives one thought at a time. Let each of those thoughts really count for something wonderful.

Be prepared to change your thinking and change your life.

Follow me on Twitter @jeffersonbeeker for daily affirmations of uplifting and positive faith.

Is There A Passion For Life Burning Within You, Or Are You Just Lukewarm?

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faith, focus, God, humanity, inspiration, mind, passion, possibility, reflections, Spirit, truth

“I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” (Revelation 3:16)

John’s words in the book of Revelation are a bit brutal, don’t you think? Brutal, but they have to make you think.   These words were not written idly and for no reason. John looked at the church at Laodicea and he responded in a way that would hopefully cause them to do some inner reflection and make some changes.

As I read these words I have to think, what about each of us? What are we passionate about, if anything? Has our faith and belief in the power of God working in our lives become lukewarm because we have gone on auto-pilot and just move through our days in a lackluster and defeatist manner?

John was asking the church in Laodicea to have a fire within them. He was asking them to remember why God is important to them, and how that fire might ignite purposeful expressions of God’s presence in their world.

These things are being asked of us as well. If we put our faith and belief into practice, living it each and every day as a vital part of who we are, as vital as our breathing, our eating and our very existence, then it can not be lukewarm, lest we allow the everyday struggles of humanity to overwhelm and overtake us. Having the fire of conviction that God is with us in each thing that we do, in each thought that we have and in each purpose for which we proclaim, changes not only us but the world around us. We are meant to have a passion for God’s work in our lives and in the world and to live that passion, not as a special “sometimes” event, but as the normal everyday blessing we have been given. God energy, God vibration, God presence moves through our veins and is the oxygen that causes us to see our life in a truer, more divine way.

Remember, the true meaning of “eternal life” is the quality of the life we live now. I am going to repeat that, because I think it is important. The true meaning of “eternal life” is the quality of the life we live now. Be not lukewarm. Burn hot, burn with a passion to experience life in its fullest. Burn with the belief that with God on your side you are blessed and blessed abundantly and all things are possible.

Affirmation: “My passion for life is the realization that God is forever with me at this and every moment.”  

Rev. Jefferson Beeker

http://jefferson340.wix.com/index

We live our lives one thought at a time. Let each of those thoughts really count for something wonderful.

Be prepared to change your thinking and change your life.

Follow me on Twitter @jeffersonbeeker for daily affirmations of uplifting and positive faith.

Beyond The Limitation of Our Previous Experience

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Christ, faith, focus, Jesus, mind, possibility, Spirit, thoughts, truth

“Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”     (Matthew 14: 28)

I love the story of the Disciples in the boat on one of the many times they were crossing the sea. The storms are pounding the boat and they are terrified. Suddenly, out over the sea they see a figure walking toward them and they think at that moment they were seeing a ghost and their fate is doomed.   They finally realize what they are seeing is Jesus walking toward them on the sea. An amazing vision of Jesus who sees beyond the limitation of earthly human form and into the very essence and possibility of what God can do in the world. Peter tests Jesus and says that if he is really Jesus he will command him to walk out to Jesus. Jesus calls forth to Peter to come and join him and Peter steps out onto the raging water and at first he is successful in walking toward Jesus. Jesus tells him to keep his eyes locked and fixed on him. Don’t look away, don’t let anything happening around him, the raging waters or the wind, alter the fact that Peter is in the gaze of the Christ. But, in all his humanity, with human limitations and expectations, with a human mind-set and with human experiences, Peter, seeing the waves and the wind, becomes frightened and begins to sink. And what does Jesus do? He reaches out his hand and lovingly pulls Peter back up.

In the presence of the Christ, with our gaze upon him, we will always be safe, blessed, anointed and strengthened. With our gaze firmly affixed on Christ the earthly limitations of life no longer bind us to what we think is possible. In this gaze, the scope of possibility is now unlimited.

As we live our lives, and desire to move forward as dedicated students of Jesus, at times we all have to be willing to get out of the boat. No matter what is happening all around you, whatever your human senses and limitations are saying to you, in Christ we are reconciled to an unlimited and perfect God. Sometimes we need to get out of the boat. Get out of the safety zone of the way things have always been. What has been is just history. It is over, hopefully we have learned something from it and can now move on to a new experience. Now, with a renewed faith, we can finally see the transforming possibility of our life that can only be found in trusting, living and breathing with the Christ.

 Affirmation: “With my eyes firmly fixed upon those of Jesus I know I am always safe and protected.”

Rev. Jefferson Beeker

http://jefferson340.wix.com/index

We live our lives one thought at a time. Let each of those thoughts really count for something wonderful.

Be prepared to change your thinking and change your life.

Follow me on Twitter @jeffersonbeeker for daily affirmations of uplifting and positive faith.