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Letting Go off the Past

I couldn’t get the image out of my head. It was a runner—a sprinter, carrying a baton. If you know anything about a race, you don’t look back even when you pass the baton. Why? Because looking back decreases your speed.  Looking back also interrupts your focus.

I loved the Apostle Paul, who, too, uses this similar analogy: “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win (1 Corinthians 9:24 NCV). Focus is necessary for our destiny. Determination to win is necessary for our purpose Christ has called us to fulfill. Who would have thought God would have chosen and used a man like Paul?  As a Roman soldier, he brutally persecuted so many Christians. But one day, God literally stopped this man in his tracks. Saul, as he was known then, met God on the road to Damascus (Acts 9).  Paul became a believer after that day, and one of the major leaders of the Early Church. He transferred his drive from a hunter of Christians to a hunter of souls.  Many Christians died at the hands of Paul, but the other apostles accepted him as one of their very own brothers after his conversion, for they believed in the resurrected power of Jesus to forgive all wrong doings.  Now, Paul used his energies to move the gospel through the Roman kingdom.  He never looked back on his past: “If anyone belongs to Christ, there is a new creation. The old things have gone; everything is made new! All this is from God.” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18 NCV). Paul was a changed man literally overnight. Paul did not have time to allow his past to haunt him, for he was too busy preaching the Good News.  His entire focus was on moving the Gospel and becoming more Christ-like:  “I do not mean I am already as God wants me to be. I have not yet reached that goal, but I continue trying to reach it and to make it mine.  Christ wants me to do that, which is the reason he made me his. Brothers and sisters, I know that I have not yet reached that goal, but there is one thing I always do. Forgetting the past and straining toward what is head, I keep trying to reach the goal and get the prize for which God called me through Christ to the life above” (Philippians 3:12-14 NCV).

Paul understood what it took to be not only a good athlete but a good athlete who would win the prize. His steps were clear cut. He didn’t doubt the forgiving power of God because he never once looked back at his past. If we are going to become all Christ has created us to be, then, intentions to succeed in the life as a “well equipped” believer must be undoubtedly free from all thoughts of guilt or regret.  Live fully today.  A good athlete must eat the right food to win. Eat healthily and exercise, so that you may use your energies physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually to serve God! Make the choice today!

GOD’S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Forget what happened in the past, and do not dwell on events from long ago (Isaiah 43:18).

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What is Real Strength?

What is real strength
unless there is a current that you must go against?
What is real strength
without the force of gravity?
What is real strength
unless you are able to buffet the winds of a storm?
What is real strength
without the presence of adversity?
Now be strong!

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From Self Hatred to Real Love

What is it to really love you? How important is it to really love yourself? According to the Holy Scripture, we are commanded to love ourselves as Christ loved us. Christ was passionate about his love for us. As we walk into awareness of understanding the love Christ has for us, we too begin to love others passionately as well.

So you see, to love oneself—one’s body including, is central to one’s development as a human being. I hear so much self hate talk throughout the day, coming out of the mouths of men and women. These self hate talk can range anywhere from “I’m so stupid”, “I’m fat and ugly” to “I’m worthless”.

I bet if you were to set out on a quest to understand God’s love, you would begin to love yourself more each day. You see to love others as yourself can still pose a problem if loving yourself is relative. For example, we all value ourselves differently, so we love out of a flawed human nature. But to love oneself and others as Christ loved us puts us in a position to see a love that has been perfected—that is pure, unselfish, forgiving and sacrificial. The more you begin to love yourself, the more you begin to love others as well; you become passionate about people—about the world.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another ” (John 13: 34).

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Mind, Body, and the Holy Spirit (Part II)

If you are in me at all times, and my words are in you, then anything for which you make a request will be done for you. (John 15:7)

When a man and a woman are joined together in holy matrimony, they become one. The marriage bed is consummated by their physical expression of love for one another. To become one in this way is a spiritual act that is physicalized through the act of sexual intercourse. Similarly, when we abide in God’s words and God’s words abide in us, we experience this oneness. It is a fusion of our spirit with His. We are in Him as He is within us. Meditating on the word of God and repeating affirmations can help us in experiencing a deeper connection with the Holy Spirit of God. Too many times our knowledge of God remains at the head level never permeating the very fiber of our being. The Psalmist David said he blessed the Lord with everything that was within Him—every cell, artery, organ and breath were in harmony with God.

The Mind
The mind must be retrained to focus on whatever things are true, whatever things have honor, whatever things are upright, whatever things are holy, whatever things are beautiful, whatever things are of value, or virtue. Therefore, memorizing scriptures is one way to not only keep the brain fit but also one way to train it.
Memory Scripture: “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you can ask for anything you want, and you will receive it.” (John 15:7 International Version).

The Body
The body has the ability to hear. Because it hears, we need to guard our words with care. If the body hears an idea often enough, it sets out on a path to bring that thought into being. Dialoguing for the body can be spoken or unspoken. Affirmations are declarations usually spoken aloud.
Affirmation: I am in you; you are within me.

The Holy Spirit
In this place, there is no striving just being. It is here where we learn to rest in Him—to be still, allowing His spirit to refresh and change us from the inside-out.

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Mind, Body, and the Holy Spirit

Okay! So what if the whole world makes sense to me through the discipline of exercise? It’s how I connect. Connect with what? My inner being. And it gets better or worse for some…it’s how I connect even more so with the Holy Spirit. I can hear you now. Connecting to your inner being I can swallow, but to the Holy Spirit? I don’t know about that, you may say.

For the most part of our lives, at least for some of us, we are accustomed to looking on the outside. We seek for wealth outside of ourselves not realizing that wealth exists first in the mind. We seek for health outside of ourselves not realizing that health exist first in the mind—inside a healthy body is a healthy mind we have heard. We look to blame others for our short coming before we look within to see what our responsibility should be or should have been. We seek for happiness and peace within the world rather than creating the happiness and peace within ourselves first. We look to political and world leaders for change rather than focusing within ourselves to be the change the world needs.

To bring it home to my fitness lovers, we lift weights, we workout, but unless we connect with the muscles within, our bodies will not take a specific shape. The other day, I worked out with a friend who went through each exercise as if he were running the 100 meters race. I finally asked why are you rushing through your exercises?  You must connect your mind with your muscles, so the movements should be controlled.  By slowing down the motion, the muscles receive more tension.  Similarly, in walking to lose weight, the legs must be connected to the head. One time or another, I know we all have gone through “the motion” in our lives when doing an activity. But if we expect to get result we must connect from within. We must move from the external to the internal.

Our entire Christian faith shows this focus: the Holy Spirit is God within. Jesus-the man, was “Emmanuel”—with us. The Holy Spirit comes to live within us. It is our responsibility to connect with the Holy Spirit even when one has accepted Jesus Christ. The connection must be continually made else we will only go through the motion of being a Christian. You may ask how do we connect with him?  The same way you get within to everything else except it is not just the mind involved; it is not just the body involved, but it involves also your spirit connecting with God’s Holy Spirit. The irony here is most people can grasp the spiritual connection in theory, but have not connected the Holy Spirit to their bodies and minds. For example, the body houses the Holy Spirit of God.  Our mind is the mind of Christ and under constant repair and reconstruction. It’s the headquarters. If this area is not brought in connection with the Holy Spirit, it can destroy the body.

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Meditation of Life

This morning, I had the best meditation in the shower.  It was strangely sweet and refreshing.

I had just finished my cardio and had cool down with a powerful quote that went something like this: “we may not be able to control the length of our life, but we can control its width and depth.” As the water cascaded onto my sweaty skin, I felt as if these words fell like drops from heaven onto my mind.

It is so easy to base our life, our faith, our outlook on what we see only. But life is so much more than what we see. As surely as the physical world exists, so does the spiritual. Teilard de Chardin, a Jesuit priest said, we are all human beings having a spiritual experience. Caring about others who may not be family and/or friends is adding width to life. Some of the most selfish requests are in the form of prayers. Some prayers are all “me” centered. What about praying for the world? What about when sitting down to eat, we remember those who do not have food to eat and, perhaps, going a step further, to give? There are so many ways we can add depth to our life.  Today, how many ways can we add width and depth to our lives?  Just something to meditate upon.