To See or Not to See ~ That is the Question...!

What if ... what if we are experiencing life (either as positive or negative) in accordance with our own understanding of God ...? This, I believe, is our foundational premise ... as we see God, so do we see ourselves, and so do we relate to God, and to the rest of the world.

What if we were intended to live free of disease ... and even free of the FEAR of disease...? What if it's possible, right here and now?

What if the fear of disease is what's keeping the manifestation of disease in our lives...?

What if doing certain things, or taking certain things, in order to avoid disease, is actually keeping disease as a reality in our lives?

What if we could come to a place in which we could see ourselves as being beyond the grasp of disease?

What would it take to get there?

It won't happen by anything we do ... it will happen only by what we know ... and knowing differently depends on seeing differently.

We have to start by being open to the possibility that what we currently believe (about God, about ourselves, about disease/health) may not be the truth ... if we insist that what we currently know/believe IS the truth, then that's where we'll stay -- until we change our minds.

Those who know they are blind shall see, but those who profess to see, shall remain blind.

It doesn't work to think a thought that we *want* to believe, trying to force it to move from "the head to the heart" (utterly exhausting -- and totally ineffective). We need an entirely new understanding -- a way of seeing -- that becomes more real to us than what we currently believe.

As I see it, we've made a choice, individually and collectively, to believe in a God who is distant, arbitrary, withholding, capricious, judgmental, angry, wrathful, punishing, and separate. Does it not stand to reason that we could challenge this view, question it, dig into it to see whether it's indeed true ...? And, could we not choose *again*...?

It all starts there ... and once we see God as He is (as He reveals Himself to each of us, as only the Spirit can), would it not follow that our view of ourself would also change, to align with His view? And if we come to the place where we know that we're not separate from God, but are manifestations of the very life of God (for there is no other Source of Life), wouldn't it dawn on us that however God's Life is defined, so too would our own life be defined?

Is God sick, diseased, vulnerable to attack? Or is God whole, healthy, complete?

How then should we, made in His exact image and likeness, BE...?

Let's look at the occasion wherein Jesus washed the feet of His disciples ... when He got to Peter, Peter balked, but Jesus said, "If I do not do this, then you will have no part with me." Peter then wants ALL of him washed (I can so relate with impulsive and passionate Peter!). But don't miss what Jesus says next: "He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean."

So why the feet? Literally speaking, and particularly in that day and age, the feet collected much dirt and grime (and assorted unmentionable contaminants!) from walking through daily life ... metaphorically/spiritually speaking, we pick up on the collective "dirt" and contamination that comes from aberrant theology, psychology, and experiences in daily life ... all of this must be washed away, in order for our inherent cleanness/wholeness to come through...!

It's not that the cleansing changes us -- it's that we're then able to see what's always been. Once we are aware of who and why we're here ... there is no disease, no fear of disease that can ever find a place to attach to us again. We will know that NO human effort is needed to fix something "broken" because we have always been "completely whole"!

We are not what we have always believed about ourselves ... what we've been told all our lives. We are not victims, and we do not need to live from the false perceptions of lack, loss, and fear...!

When this occurs, when we make this perception-shift - when we can SEE (& are no longer blinded by the lies of this world), then we will have risen to the level of awareness that transcends all man-made laws and rules and doctrines and pronouncements. For we will then live by the higher law of perpetual life (where disease cannot exist ... wherein disease is illegitimate)...!

Shalom, Dena

The Illegitimacy of Disease

What if disease is illegitimate?

What if it's our focus on it, our sheer fascination with it, our obsession with it, that gives it its very power to even exist...?

(radical thought, no? what if it's true?)

Once again, I see how our fear, individually and collectively, has created something -- which is really a nothing, a no-thing. Unless, of course, we believe it is a thing, unless we give it legitimacy, by the power of our own thoughts.

Let me share a story about a man ... a man who had AIDS. He'd been told he was dying, and he believed it. All the evidence was there to back up that thought. And so, he prepared to die ... and he visited a spiritual practitioner whose focus was to increase the awareness of his own spirituality and his connection with God. This man did not focus on healing .. he wanted only one thing -- to know God -- not the images of God he'd formed through his former religion, not the pat answers that he'd already received (and which had failed him in his need), but he just really wanted to know God - as God IS.

The practitioner was astonished -- most folks came to him wanting symptom relief, healing. Something from God. This man wanted God Himself, and nothing less, nothing more. Over the course of a couple of years, they discovered that God was willing and eager to reveal Himself -- He fully responded to the prayer to know His true nature, to bring understanding of Himself. The two men experienced much joy and excitement in this compelling journey -- each discovery of God's nature was a delight ... old and tired concepts of God (lies of human constructs) were replaced, one after another, with God's revelation of Himself, and of man's relationship to God. Because they desired nothing less than God's truth, the mind and heart of God were accessible to them, and transformation became a way of life.

While they were focused and consumed with pursuing the Kingdom of God (God's reign in our minds and hearts - for the Kingdom is within), an amazing thing began to happen ... the man's HIV symptoms began to cease, and even to reverse. Upon checking with his doctor, he discovered that he had become HIV negative. He had not pursued this, hadn't even considered that it was remotely possible! He had done nothing to earn it, hadn't qualified for it, hadn't thought himself "worthy" of it ... but in coming face to face with God's true nature, his wholeness and health was the only possible result ...!

So, what happened here? What can we learn from this? Can we discern a principle, a truth, that we can understand and apply, so that we, so that others, can also experience such a healing?

The only requirement seems to be that we approach God with a desire to want truth far more than we want to be "right". We need to let go of our own preconceived notions, opinions, beliefs and thoughts (and our "right" to have them!), to let go of all we think we already know, all that we insist that we're correct about, and to let God, and God alone, teach us about who He is, what His nature is like. We need to wipe the slate clean, and have a do-over, from God.

Here's the reality: we experience life according to our own perception of God.

When our perception of God is corrected by God, when we are aligned with His thoughts, when our minds have been renewed, when lies have been replaced with truth, when our perception is God's perception -- our experience is also corrected.

With no striving, with no human effort, with no intervention of any sort.

Want some scriptural backing for that...?

Matthew 5:8 ~

Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.

Titus 1:15

To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.

2 Samuel 22:26-27 ~

With the good man thou wilt show thyself good. With the upright man though wilt show thyself upright. With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; and with the perverse thou wilt show thyself perverse.

However our minds perceive of God -- that is how God appears to us.

God created us in His own image, and we've been "returning the favor" ever since.

Is it time to fire the god in your own carnal/egoic mind, and let the real God, who is in you and fills you, emerge from behind the shadow of that which is false...?

As Jesus asked -- do you want to be whole..?

(& do you want to know that you already are...?)

Shalom, Dena

Thoughts for a Friend ...

A sweet young friend wrote to me recently, in much fear and pain, asking for prayer for a physical problem. Certainly I can relate to being catapulted into a tailspin of fear and anxiety ... it goes with a sense of helplessness and hopelessness ... when all we can see at the end of the tunnel is a faint light (& even then, the fearful assumption can be that it's a train coming right for us!).

And YET -- I've been learning that I've got a much more profound role to play in my own life ...

I see much of what passes for faith in God to be merely a sanctified sort of fatalism ... a resigned victim mentality ... as if God is fickle and capricious, but that since He's the only option we have, we may as well oy-vey ourselves into compliant acceptance.

What if that's a product of our own imaginings, and not the design of a loving and lavishly gracious God...? What if that concept arises from our own ego (both individual and collective) and not from the intersection of spirit-and-Spirit..?

What if God really *is* good, and all His plans are good, and that we're invited into not merely cooperating, but co-creating with the God in whose (Creative) image we are designed..?

With all that in mind, I'll share what I wrote to my friend:

My friend - you are created in God's image ... that means you have incredibly powerful creative abilities within you. Your mind is a powerful tool. When you think negative thoughts, you are, in effect, creating negative outcomes, bringing them about in your own experienced reality.

When you choose to focus on fear and illness, you empower them, and even bring them into manifestation.

When you choose to focus on trust and peace, you empower them, and even bring them into manifestation.

God gives you this choice, and this glorious responsibility.

You have nothing to fear but fear itself ... God is good, His universe is good -- ALL things work together for your good. No exception. No matter HOW things appear to be, we are to judge *not* by appearances (how they SEEM to us at the time).

This is why we're to thank God in *all* circumstances ... you can (by your choosing) thank Him for all that is happening, and to thank Him for the solution that He is right now, at this moment, bringing to you. But if you dwell on the negative feelings (which are actually negative vibrations that you're putting out -- everything is energy, including all matter - study quantum physics to grasp this), you are drawing more negativity to yourself. Like creates like, and like attracts like.

You have a CHOICE. You are not a helpless recipient/victim here.

You can assist your body in behaving as it was created to, by choosing to think on the good things, choosing to believe that it's awesomely and wonderfully made, and that your body knows how to restore itself to balance ... for this is how God has designed it to operate.

Your mind affects your brain, which affects your body -- do you see the awesome part you play in this?

Change your thinking, and you change your perspective, which changes your experience.

It's our *minds* that need to be renewed (to become aligned with our spirits), and then our bodies follow...

Perhaps consider asking God why you seem so drawn to the drama/trauma of life ... ask Him to show you what's at the root of this ... your peace is at stake.

Much love!

Shalom, Dena