So – what fiery furnace are you living through? What “outward appearance” is attacking your belief system? The good news is each of us has within us the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego qualities that, when strengthened, give us the power to stand solid in Truth in the midst of the fiery furnace, and not merely survive, but thrive!

Of course, the question is, how do I do that? We’d like to share a quick formula, with a very specific “How-To” added as a bonus.

1. Know your Truth! Know that you know that you know the Spiritual Truth of who and what you are. We call this the Abednego quality of spiritual wisdom. It is one thing to recite Truth rhetoric; it is a totally different thing to KNOW and understand it. One of our Truth principles is “There is only one presence and one power in the universe and in my life and affairs: God the good, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent.” We say it – but do we really understand the implications of it? Whenever we give power to outer appearances of lack, or jealousy, or anger, or fear, or health challenges, we are creating a rift between ourselves and the Truth of who we are.

I am reminded of children reciting the Lord’s Prayer. These are things that I have really heard! One child believed God’s name was Harold, because he always said, “Our Father who art in Heaven, Harold be thy name!”

Another contemporized the prayer by saying, “Leave us not in temptation, but deliver us some email!”

In our perception of the Truth principles, we encourage you to move beyond just saying Truth, and grow in your understanding so Truth becomes a part of your consciousness and manifests in your reality.

2. Recognize the LINT (Listless Impoverished Negative Thinking) and catch it as quickly as possible! How important is that? Consider a beautiful black wool suit, with one little teeny piece of lint. Where do your eyes go immediately? To the lint! It is identical in our consciousness.

Allow us to share the Parable of the LINT (not from the Bible) – from the Holton household we were facilitating a Prosperity class at another church, and were staying in church member’s home. We shared a nice breakfast in the sun room before leaving for the church. When we got to the church parking lot, we realized that Bil’s suit was covered with long white cat hairs! We had not even been aware of it before!

Now let’s stretch the metaphor – we are often in the midst of LINT (Listless Impoverished Negative Thinking). When we fail to recognize the source of it, it connects to us and becomes part of our consciousness and experience.

You become aware of the LINT by the way you are feeling (agitated, irritable, frustrated, stressed); by what you are saying (negative focus, self critical); and/or by what is manifesting in your life. As soon as you spot it, do the GAP assessment (Here’s that specific “How-To” we promised at the beginning of this article):

* Guilt-free, go from where you are. * Acknowledge the separation * Pray and meditate to close the gap and reconnect with Spirit.

3. Transform the LINT: Emerge from your prayer and meditation, ready to practice Truth principles in your life. Be proactive in living the Truth as you face the world of appearances, and look for ways to see things from a new perspective.

A good example of this is Cesar Lopez, a musician and composer from Bogota, Columbia. In USA Today, 04/19/06, you can read about how he created the escopetarra: an electric guitar he designs from shotguns collected by the police from scenes of violent crimes. One quote says, “the weapon is still present, but when you strike the first chord, everything that is violent about it disappears. That’s the kind of transformation we would like to see in our country.”

So-as you identify the LINT in your life – Listless Impoverished Negative Thinking -that separates you from the Truth of who you are, perform the GAP assessment. Then you can use your power to transform the LINT into a life of joy, prosperity, and unbelievable spiritual wisdom.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.