ReceiveHealing.com

Reading Level: Impassioned

To some, this title sounds like an oxymoron-complete opposites-yet taking responsibility for your actions and decisions can actually set you free.

A large portion of the balance of our lives is dependent on what we are and are not responsible for. Becoming aware of where we have or have not drawn boundaries with our chosen responsibilities can bring some startling realizations as to the sources of needless stress, irritation, and resentments. Two recent situations drew my attention to this concept.

The initial way to Freedom through Responsibility is to be content with the decisions you make as to your level of responsibility.

The first situation that made me aware of this principle was taking place in my own life. I was feeling resentful and becoming quite negative about a particular organization with which we work at times that was not being well run by the leadership. I would probably have released my frustration by sitting down and giving them input on a few key things that were affecting their effectiveness, as I had knowledge in that area. However, this past month was so hectic that I chose not to invest my personal time into that situation, deciding the people could probably learn from their own mistakes. I realized this week, however, that I was not taking responsibility for my own decision. Since I had chosen not to take from my time the volume of time needed to give input to that organization’s leadership, I needed to be content with that decision to let them learn from their own mistakes, and choose not to be irritated by the lack of effectiveness of the present leadership.

People often clutter their lives with irritation and resentment either by (1) choosing to take on too many “extra curricular” responsibilities in what would otherwise be their free time and then resenting the people involved or (2) not choosing to be content with the boundaries they set. The first often happens with people in any type of rescue work or those with a co-dependent personality who feel they always need to be “rescuing” something or someone. The wise decision is to Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

Reading Level: Leisurely

Visualization or creating a mental image of your dreams is an effective technique for reaching your goals.

The terms may vary at different points in history, but visualization is a healthy, effective concept that has been used for achieving one’s personal destiny for 1000’s of years. Whether you call it dreaming, vision casting, or the current term of visualization, creating mental images of your dreams and goals is a technique emphasized now by life coaches and other career experts. Sites such as VisionBoardSite.com provide you your own space, music, images, etc. to help you visualize goals and keep focused (Link in right column Blogroll and banner at end of the post.).

I came across a quote this week by Pablo Picasso, “Everything you can imagine is real.”

I thought it was very fitting to this concept. What you imagine, dream, or visualize may not be tangible (where you can touch it or see it) at the present moment, but imagining or visualizing can make that dream tangible. Jesus spoke a similar concept in Mk. 11:23,

I most certainly tell you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is happening; he will have whatever he says. (WEB)

Notice two things: Jesus said this is “absolutely” a true concept when He said, “I most certainly tell you…” and second, if a person believes that what he is saying is actually happening, such as moving a mountain, he would definitely be visualizing it before saying something with such an extreme level of belief. He would have to be seeing it as already done in his mind to speak it and believe it done with such confidence. Jesus said the result is then that you will have what you have said.

Visualization is often associated with the philosophy of the Law of Attraction, yet most people are unaware that it is a scriptural principle that was personally recommended by God to Abram.

Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

Reading Level: Impassioned

The amount of error and/or hoaxes seen in society by all of us are enough to make one question whether or not God speaks to mankind.

Yet, the level of difficulty in various seasons of life make a person desire someone more powerful, more knowledgeable than himself to look to, interact with, and rely on. I came across a great quote last week regarding this:

Happy, blessed, fortunate, enviable is he who has the God of special revelation for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God. (Ps.146:5, Amp)

It is quite fitting, as a person is absolutely happy, blessed, fortunate, and to be envied who has God Almighty providing special revelations of wisdom, insight, and direction to help him through life. The Hebrew word here for “hope” means expectation. Not many of us can say that we live in that state, whose “expectation is in the Lord his God of special revelation.”

Why do most people not expect divine revelation?

Other than the apparent faux pas or hoaxes that bring discredit to the concept of divine revelation, the idea I heard most quoted while growing up in religious circles was this one:

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him… (1 Cor.2:9)

People use this quote to say that God does not speak. This is one of those instances that prove how important it is to study the written Words of God for yourself and not go by what you hear. Notice the “…” at the end of the above quote. It is because it is only part of a sentence. People in religious circles usually never quote the full sentence which goes on to say-

…but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. (1 Cor. 2:10)

The concept of us not knowing the plans of God or “will of God” for our lives sounds logical if one only know the first part of that sentence. It is helpful to refer here to another quote Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

Reading Level: Gratifying

Joy is usually defined as a lasting contentment or fulfillment in life. It is something we all want. The question is, where do we find it?

Most people would agree that joy must be a matter of the spirit.

Happiness is usually defined as short term enjoyment that comes from positive, surrounding events. This is in contrast to joy, which is considered lasting because it is not derived from circumstances but from your inner self, your spirit. The meaning of the common Greek word for joy–chara-consists of calm delight and exceedingly joyful. The Greek word for complete-pleroo-is usually combined with the term for joy; it literally means to “cram full a net,” or figuratively to “satisfy, fill up, fulfill, supply.” This gives us the visual picture that joy is lasting like a calm delight, yet excessive, like an overflowing fishing net, bringing complete satisfaction and fulfillment to our lives. It supplies completely what we desire most in life, yet it comes from within.

You can find your spirit’s source of joy.

Your spirit, the eternal part of you, comes from the eternal Spirit of God. Since your spirit was created by God, did God intend for your spirit to exist in a state of joy? Absolutely. God describes His desire for your joy this way:

I say these things…so that My joy made be made full and complete and perfect in you and you may experience My delight fulfilled in you, that My enjoyment may be perfected in your own soul, and you may have My gladness within you filling your heart. Jn. 17:13

What is significant in this quote is that God states that He desires the source of our joy, delight, enjoyment, gladness to be derived from His joy, delight, enjoyment, gladness.

What aspects of your spiritual existence are the source of joy?

This is in no way a complete list, but it should give you several points to ponder. Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

Reading Level: Gratifying

A new year brings most of us the hope of starting over. We desire to see life be better in various areas of our lives during the new year. To start over, to experience a better life, make the decision to allow your year to be new.

First, forgive yourself of past mistakes.

Self-condemnation has no benefit. Even God desires us to live without the weight of condemnation. Romans 8:1,2 says that there is no condemnation for those who live in Jesus because God’s Spirit has freed them from the laws (the control, the results) of sin and death.

Second, forgive others.

Remember, if you’ve followed the posts this past year, forgiveness does not involve allowing people to mistreat you. There is a difference between forgiveness and reconciliation. For reconciliation to take place, it involves both people being willing to have resolution; in many situations, this is impossible. However, forgiveness takes place in your own heart and frees you from being emotionally tied to that person and bad experience for the rest of your life. For a full discussion on this topic, read the post, Forgiveness or Reconciliation: Understanding the Difference.

Third, forget what God forgets.

That may sound strange to someone who, at first thought, believes that God does not forget. Unlike people, God’s forgetfulness is not due to insufficient memory capability; He chooses to forget certain things. Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

I would like to speak a blessing of abundance over your lives as the first year of ReceiveHealing.com’s blog comes to a close. ReceiveHealing.com was developed and exists solely for the purpose of bringing physical, emotional, and spiritual healing to people’s lives. We trust you have benefited in a variety of ways this past year.

May your life be filled with the abundance and peace God desires for you, containing all that is beautiful, best, bountiful, cheerful, good, joyful, loving, prosperous, and wealthy [Hebrew and Greek definitions of abundance], as well as existing in a state of safety, happiness, good health, friendship, rest, and wholeness so that all is well in your life [Hebrew and Greek definitions of peace].

May you be comforted from all past and present sorrows. May you receive compassion as freely as you have shown it. May all your fears be replaced with faith and peace. May you forgive those who have harmed you in the past so that you are released to reach your future goals and desires. May the greater understanding of God’s love for you which you have gained this year be used as an unshakeable basis for your self worth and foundation for your life. May all your relationships be healthy, rewarding, and free from resentment. May the voice of God be clear in your spirit so that your words and decisions flow from His wisdom, bringing healing and wholeness to every aspect of your life.

Have a very merry and blessed Christmas! R.H. @ ReceiveHealing.com

Reading Level: Gratifying

Do you consider yourself a “perpetual worrier?”

Is there always something in your life about which you are worrying? Do family pressures, financial pressures, and hectic schedules that are part of normal everyday life overload you with stress and anxiety to the point of negatively affecting your physical health, emotional health, and spiritual well-being? If so, you certainly are not alone. You can learn to have a worry-free life, but it takes some changes in your thought patterns.

First, remember that worrying does not accomplish anything positive for you.

Along this thought, Jesus said, “Who of you by worrying and being anxious can add a single unit of measure to the span of his life (Mt.6:27 Amp)?” Imagine that! All the volumes of time and energy you put into worrying will not even accomplish something as small as adding a single second to the length of your life! And, as many doctors and studies show, it is proven to do just the opposite and remove time from the length of your life as well as from its quality.

Second, realize that you cannot put trust for your well being in physical objects.

There is a very famous discourse by Jesus on worry in Matthew 6. Most people think it begins in verse 25, but I think verses 19-24 are actually a significant part of the instructions, particularly verse 24 which says,

No one can serve two masters for he will stand by and be devoted to one and despise and be against the other. You cannot serve God and deceitful riches, money, possessions as what is trusted in.

This quote is not condemning money, but rather the concept of being deceived into putting your trust in money and possessions. If your trust is there, you will still worry about the safety and stability of your life. I had a friend who had been very wealthy in her younger days, before her husband died. She loved to talk about the house she had and how she used to wear a different pair of shoes to work every day of the year! However, in spite of all her wealth, she said they went to bed every night worrying about whether or not they had put their money in the right investments. Admit to yourself that money, possessions, and investments will not keep you worry free. Neither can they be counted on for life-long stability. The world is full of stories of people of great wealth who lost everything overnight. Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

Reading Level: Leisurely

Your own life and the lives of others are greatly enhanced when you choose to daily show the people you meet just a little respect.

Making a difference in the world — in the lives of all the people with whom you come in contact in a day – is not difficult to achieve. Everyone appreciates being shown a simple kindness, such as being treated with respect. It does not take any extra effort on your part, just a decision to live by the golden rule, “Do to others as you would have them do to you (Lk. 6:31).” In other words, these simple words of Jesus give us a life guideline of treating people with the respect with which we ourselves desire to be treated. Most people will appreciate it; a few will not. But it is still well worth it to give people a gift that everyone inwardly desires and, hence, meet a basic human need. You, personally, cannot solve all the problems of humanity. Yet you can meet the innate daily human need for respect in those with whom you come in contact.

“Show proper respect to everyone.”

This is a quote from 1 Peter 2:17. You may not know the person at all to know if they are worthy of respect in the various aspects of his or her lifestyle, but in your daily business and community contacts, “proper respect” is responding to the fact that the person is a human being with the basic need of being shown respect. The Greek word for “respect” in this quote is timao, meaning to “fix value upon, to be peaceable, to show respect to people in general (Strong’s Dictionary of New Testament Words).” General respect, just showing a little bit of respect for the fact that they are a human being who needs it, is valuable in and of itself. Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

Reading Level: Leisurely

Whether you need encouragement or want some ideas upon which to meditate, this poem is worth reading.

A website out of Amarillo, TX, took this collection of verses, wrote out the main points in simple English, and arranged them into this moving poem. Receive from it whatever you need today. A link to their site is at the end of the post.

You may not know Me, but I know everything about you. Psalm 139:1
I know when you sit down and when you rise up. Psalm 139:2
I am familiar with all your ways. Psalm 139:3
Even the very hairs on your head are numbered. Matthew 10:29-31
For you were made in My image. Genesis 1:27
In Me you live and move and have your being. Acts 17:28
For you are My offspring. Acts 17:28
I knew you even before you were conceived. Jeremiah 1:4-5
I chose you when I planned creation. Ephesians 1:11-12
You were not a mistake, for all your days are written in My book. Psalm 139:15-16
I determined the exact time of your birth and where you would live. Acts 17:26
You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14
I knit you together in your mother’s womb. Psalm 139:13
And brought you forth on the day you were born. Psalm 71:6
I have been misrepresented by those who don’t know Me. John 8:41-44
I am not distant and angry, but am the complete expression of love. 1 John 4:16
And it is My desire to lavish My love on you. 1 John 3:1
Simply because you are My child and I am your Father. 1 John 3:1
I offer you more than your earthly father ever could. Matthew 7:11
For I am the perfect father. Matthew 5:48
Every good gift that you receive comes from My hand. James 1:17
For I am your provider and I meet all your needs. Matthew 6:31-33
My plan for your future has always been filled with hope. Jeremiah 29:11
I love you with an everlasting love. Jeremiah 31:3
My thoughts toward you are countless as the sand on the seashore. Psalms 139:17-18
And I rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17 Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

Reading Level: Leisurely

A detailed list of God’s care for you is shown through His illustration of Himself as a Shepherd.

Many articles have been written about baby boomers and their pets. There is no argument about the deep extent of their love, affection, and attachment to their animals. They vacation with them, sleep with them, involve them in most all aspects of their lives. Their pets are as much a focal point of their lives as other humans. Studies have been done which show that many people are closer to their pets than to humans due to the unconditional love they receive from their pets. Even Scripture says that a righteous person cares for the needs of his animal (Pr. 12:10). Most pet owners go far beyond the level of meeting their pets’ needs and, just as with a child, take great delight in giving them unnecessary things which they think will bring them greater joy. It reminds me of the passage in which God says, “If you, though you are evil in comparison to Me, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will I give good things to those who ask Me? (Mt.7:11)” This brings us to the obvious question, won’t God take better care of us than a responsible pet owner does for his pet, even giving us things we don’t need just because He knows it will bring joy to our hearts?

Though God’s most common illustration of His relationship to us is as a father, several good points are brought out in Scripture from His comparison of Himself to a good shepherd who loves and cares for his animals.

Here is a list of your benefits from God’s “Good Shepherd” heart:

God sees value in you as the individual that you are!

Jesus said, “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.” This is part of a story Jesus told of a shepherd who owned 100 sheep searching for 1 that was lost until it was found; He used it to illustrate God’s interest and value in an individual person.

God knows we cannot fully protect and care for ourselves, so He responds in compassion to our needs. Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

Reading Level: Gratifying

There is a simple principle to increase the ability to hear with your spirit. First, however, let’s look at God’s promises to speak both wisdom and direction to us.

(This is an unusual post, but I think you’ll enjoy it.) People often ask me how to hear from God. They want help and direction for their decisions. They desire wisdom and success for their lives. God has promised both:

If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of ]the giving God, Who gives to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given you. Jm. 1:5 Amp

God will give us wisdom liberally regardless of our faults. He obviously wants us to have the benefit of His wisdom.

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Is. 30:21 Amp

This is a straight forward promise of clear direction for our decisions.

Since God desires us to have the benefit both of His wisdom and clear direction, any lack of receiving it is a matter of our ability to hear it.

Just as with a pet learning the voice of its new master, we learn to hear God’s voice to our spirits through a simple process of repetition.

In helping people understand how to hear the voice of God in their spirits, I have used the illustration of a lost pet recognizing its owner. The organization which has the lost pet can easily tell if a person is the owner of that pet because the pet will instantly recognize and respond to the owner’s voice. The pet, depending on how friendly it is, may respond positively to anyone who approaches to give it attention, but there is a completely unique and obvious response by the pet to the sound of its owner’s voice.

Now let’s back up in the process. Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

Changing the often un-noticed habit of projection makes your life more receptive to the abundance that would otherwise come to you through your relationships with other people and God.

This post is Part 2 of 2. If you missed the first post, Clearing the Path to Attract Abundance, please read that first as it explains how we project past experiences into our relationships and ways to implement change.

I was reading a passage the other day which was the source of inspiration for these 2 posts. It clearly portrays an attitude of abundance, of clearing the path to attract and receive abundance based on believing good will come to you.

This passage speaks of many types of abundance that you can expect to receive from your interaction with God. However, there are several key points of benefit for you to keep in mind as you read it to change your habit of projection with God or people:

1. Notice the overwhelmingly positive description of God’s love and compassion and the resulting abundance that comes to you from them.

2. If you realize after reading Part 1 that you are projecting past negative experiences onto God and need to change, the main way to overcome those negative thoughts is by replacing them with these truths He speaks of Himself.

3. If you have been projecting past negative experiences onto people, hindering your job and personal relationships, use this example of the overwhelmingly positive thoughts of abundance coming to you from God to pattern your own expectations of good coming to you on a daily basis with your job interactions and personal life. Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

We each desire good to come to us in our relationships with other people and with God. Sometimes it is necessary to clear the path for abundance by evaluating the views we automatically project onto others and God.

Each of us have ideas of how other people will respond to us based on past experiences. There may be certain personality types which don’t mesh well with our own, so we immediately assume anyone with one of those personality types will not like us and will not bring good into our lives. Or, some have a more extreme view, going through life assuming that it is most likely that any person will not like them. Obviously, past negative experiences tend to leave a deeper mark than positive ones. It is beneficial to clear the path for abundance by evaluating and altering negative views from past experiences that we project onto people as projection repels, rather than attracts, whatever good they may bring into our lives.

Projection is the opposite of the Law of Attraction.

For those who haven’t read about projection before, it is a term from psychology which basically is the opposite of the Law of Attraction, repelling good instead of attracting it. In the Law of Attraction, no matter how bad your life has been up to that point, you choose to change and believe that your life is destined for good purposes and good results; you choose to believe that abundance will come to you. This causes you to be looking for, and eventually see, the right openings and beneficial connections which you otherwise would have missed if you had a defeatist attitude.

With projection, a person projects negative feelings and perceptions from past experiences into present job situations and relationships. He or she expects the same past bad scenarios to repeat themselves, or is afraid that they will. The person may frequently change jobs or change relationships due to this unrecognized habit of projection. Completely unaware, the person now interprets people’s responses on the new job or in the new personal life in light of those past experiences; Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

Reading Level: Leisurely

Learning to make stress, trials, and problems work for your benefit can often be a matter of choice.

If you are going through an extreme situation right now, you may think, “That is not possible.” However, contemplate all the people who have found out that they had various types of cancer or other serious diseases, and became well-known role models because they chose to find personal benefit in the midst of traumatic situations. It can be done. Some of them even credit this personal mindset as the reason they overcame non-curable illnesses.

Chose a perspective in which you can learn to benefit from it in some way, rather than be defeated by it.

Start looking for ways this particular pressure can work for you. This is actually a scriptural principle. Look at this quote:

For our light and momentary troubles, which are for the moment, works for us [or achieves for us] eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we don’t look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Cor. 4:17,18)
Amplified v. 17- For our light and momentary affliction, this distress of the passing hour, is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving in us an everlasting glory.

Troubles can work for you. They can prepare and produce and achieve some good for and in you. The good it can work for you or achieve in you may not be something that is physically seen. The personal growth and accomplishment spoken of by the famous people referred to above, who are going through or have been through serious illness, are not things they themselves, or anyone else, can physically see, but no one would deny the existence of their achievements.

Here are 2 illustrations to assist you in mentally and emotionally grasping hold of this concept so you can put it into action during your times of trouble, stress, or trauma. Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »

Reading Level: Gratifying

A major help in overcoming fear is knowing that God is attentive to you.

A friend put together this selection of quotes below (using a couple of different translations) to clearly illustrate God’s commitment to be attentive to our communication with Him, especially in times of fear and need. These will be a great encouragement to anyone who is now seeking God during a time of fear or any other overwhelming need.

As with any relationship, your ability to receive affects the good that comes into your life.

Keep in mind as you read through these quotes that your own receptiveness affects what you receive in any relationship, including your relationship with God. People who teach on the Law of Attraction encourage us to first love and value ourselves and then believe that the people we meet will actually like us. This attracts the desired response from other people because of a change in our own receptiveness. Using this principle, if you realize your value and believe that people will like you, then, when you go to a meeting or begin a relationship, instead of acting out of fear, you act with confidence. Why? Because you know that you are a person of such value that any other person will benefit from the meeting or relationship and definitely like you. The confident, self-acceptance creates a warmth and attractiveness which literally draws people to you. Other people did not change; the adjustment in your own viewpoint changed your receptivity.

In the same way, by believing that God is attentive to you and your needs, you open up your receptivity.

Just as a fear that people won’t like you causes you to act in a way that drives others away, keeping you from receiving good, a fear that God is not attentive to your call for help causes you to respond in such a way that hinders you from receiving good from Him into your life. Immerse Yourself in the Full Healing Contemplation Here »