Free Mind

Live Beyond the Restrictions of Religion and Uncover the Power of Christ Within

E’yen A. Gardner

Free Mind: E-book Edition

Copyright © 2013 by E’yen A. Gardner

Printed Word Publishing

www.eyengardner.com

All rights reserved.  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the author.

Book Editing: Maia R. Gardner, Senior Editor

Cover Design:              EM Cover Designs

www.emcoverdesigns.com

To my wife, Maia, thank you for freeing me to do what I love.  Without your encouragement, this book would not have been completed.  I love you so much.  Your gifts  make my job easy.

To my children, Arin, J’sun, Raya, Lesa, Kyan, and Bria, thank you for showing me unconditional love. You love me for who I am.  You are my inspiration for writing.  I hope, one day, to be able to share my writings with you.

Other books by E’yen A. Gardner:

Humbly Submitting to Change

Break Free

Chosen One

In the Morning

Seventh Day

Extreme Makeover

Poetic License

Husband Rules

Detox 21

Love Letters

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter 1              The Naked Truth

Chapter 2              Revealing the Free You

Chapter 3              Expanding the Mind

Chapter 4              Going Deeper

Chapter 5              A Fresh Start

Chapter 6              Innocence Within

Chapter 7              Engaging the Mind

Chapter 8              Reflection of God

Chapter 9              Free Thinking

Chapter 10              Drinking from the Well

Preface

How do you know if what you believe is right?  What is “right?”  Who came up with “right” and “wrong?”  Who decided that the right hand is more powerful than the left hand?  Who created the laws that we live by?

Molded by the influences of the world we live in, we shackle the power our minds possess.  We are taught from our youth, all that has been done and achieved.  We have heard the great feats from the past of the legendary characters in our history books.  As much as we accept the feats of others, can we accept the feats yet hidden within us?  The place of impossibility is not where something has already been done but where is yet to be.

You are Free

You are free!  You were born free.  Not because of anything, your parents have done or what your family has achieved, but by the life of Jesus Christ, you are free.  Not will be free, you are free.  After the early slaves of the United States of America were emancipated, many of them remained where they were.  They continued to work the same jobs and accepted still being treated as slaves.  Many slave masters and whites did not want the blacks to live free and chose to oppress them by keeping them ignorant of their rights.  Laws were manufactured to control the blacks instead of allowing them to enjoy their freedom.  However, the “white society” did not realize that the more laws they created against blacks, the more they limited themselves.  By oppressing black Americans, they were oppressing themselves and limiting their own enjoyment of the “land of liberty.”  We are not free if it comes at the expense of someone's freedom.  True freedom releases others to walk in liberty as well.  By creating a culture of hate and oppression, many in the “white society” themselves became the animals that they had perceived blacks to be.

We are all free.  No matter what you have been told or what you have done, you are free.  Being free is hard to accept if you have been taught the contrary.  The abuse of the past causes many to live broken, dysfunctional lives.  No matter how much we try to hide behind our imitation of freedom, it is nothing more than a shell that will eventually break under pressure.

Chapter 1

The Naked Truth

“And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked?” Genesis 3:11

Who told you, you were naked?  Adam and Eve lived free in the Garden of Eden until they turned away from God for a piece of fruit.  Instead of looking within for goodness and truth, they created their own “truth.”  They saw their nakedness and thought it was bad, then clothed themselves to hide the shame of their nakedness.  Adam and Eve created a law in their minds that nudity was wrong, but God never told them to clothe themselves, not even the serpent told them they were naked.  They depended on themselves instead of God and found bondage.  They created this negative label and surrendered to.  They committed to their own minds, leading them to decide what was right and wrong for them.

Our minds discern what is right and wrong. To know what binds us, we don’t have to go any further than our thought life.  We live bound by the beliefs we carry in our minds.

A free mind is an empty mind.  If your mind is full, there is no place to expand the capacity of your life.  The place for imagination will be filled with the skewed reality of how you believe you have to live.  Everything you see will be perverted by the predictable cycle you have created in your mind.  The simplicity of life is cluttered with the complexity of our thoughts, and we complicate life by trying to control it.  By concentrating on how life will play out in the end, we miss the journey we are in now.

Salvation and deliverance is more than just going to heaven.  Salvation is now; deliverance is now.  The confusion about doctrine and theology places us in a bubble of stupidity.  We fill our minds thinking we must please God with our actions but fear based action cannot produce faith-based outcomes.  Salvation is based on believing now, in the gift God gave. (Romans 5:15) We don’t have to concern ourselves with making things right with Him, we just need to believe in the righteousness of Jesus.  (2 Corinthians 5:21)

A mind clouded in fear, is a mind clouded in doubt.  Life is not about following laws and rules; it is about having a relationship with God.  (Isaiah 1:11)  Think about the simplicity of living a life communing with God, and allowing that relationship to produce direction and power in us.  A mind is a terrible thing to waste, yet the moment we act independently from God, that is exactly what we do.  Our minds fight against the will of God; He is not bound by what we think.  He is above our expectations and is able to do what our minds can’t comprehend.  (Ephesians 3:20)

Change your mind to love

Religious wars have gone on for centuries with no resolution.  Governments have been overthrown, only to be overthrown.  Races of people have been wiped off the earth because of their beliefs.  Protestors have fought in the streets over their differences.  Why do we need to impose our beliefs on another person?  Oftentimes, when others do not carry the same beliefs, they become our enemy.  The moment we see a person as our enemy, we no longer see them as human.

We close off others but enslave ourselves to the boundaries of our beliefs.  The greatness in them is ignored as they are rejected and dismissed but that is our loss not theirs.  God is not the issue, we are; we cannot humble ourselves to accept the humanity of others.  We all have issues and weaknesses and we are all in need of love.

Separating ourselves from others who are different (whether because of their sexual orientation or religion) does not promote love.  Rather, through our ignorance, we hate.  When we use the Bible to the point the finger at someone’s lifestyle, we are really using it to kill them.  Instead of loving and embracing them, we condemn them.  Heaven is not as narrow and closed-minded as we are.  There is room for everyone.  The center of every person, every creature, is love.

At some point, something or someone has hurt us all.  It is all in the past, your heart still wants to love.  No one is unworthy of your love and you are worthy to be loved.  This world has been covered in hatred; hurt by wars and words that have distorted love.  However, you can make a difference.  You can change your mind.  You can be freed from the mind of this world and live with the mind of God.

Rooted in faith

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:” Philippians 2:4-6

Having the mind of God is not a dream.  With volumes of accounts that reveal the contrary, our evidence is rooted in faith.  We establish truth by what our minds comprehend to make sense, but faith makes no sense.  Faith is opposite to the facts that we see; opposite to the laws that we create and follow.

You may have been told that you need a college degree to earn the job you desire or the right credentials to achieve your dreams.  You were told without them, you wouldn’t have success.  Whose view of success do you live by?  Is it your parents, friends, family, pastor, teacher, president or your own?  You are successful the moment you believe in yourself and act in the gifts you possess, not by the awards you earn or the words of praise you receive.  You are not what others say you are; you are not even who you think you are.  Your existence is more than what you see, and to have faith in the person within is to have faith in the divinity you carry.  People will hate you for being different. (John 17:14) You will be criticized for believing in the “true you” but you are free to be you!

Chapter 2

Revealing the Free You

God is speaking to you now and it is completely contrary to what your mind is telling you.  Your mind wants you to rationalize and gather evidence, while God wants you to believe and act on what you have been given.  Don’t be afraid to be different, that is who you are.  Don’t be afraid; stop hiding behind “fig leaves” and reveal the real you.

I know that being yourself has gotten you in trouble in the past.  Every time you have shown the person within, you were told to cover it up.  It may make others uncomfortable, but now it is time to live beyond your boundaries and have faith in the God in you.  God has created us to create, dominate, reveal beauty and give life to the lifeless!

A child can create a game without any tangible objects.  Regardless if anyone else can see it, everything is real in their mind; they are completely free.  To take away the creativity of a child is to hinder the essence of their imagination.  A child looks at life as a playground and takes no thought of consequences or dangers.  When a child loses faith, the life they knew dies and is replaced by the fears that they embrace.  As they grow, their experiences reshape them.  They no longer live free and embrace imagination, but begin to live as slaves to their “reality.”

As a parent, should I be more concerned with my child being free or being enslaved to the laws established for him to obey?  My child’s freedom is the most important thing to me.  How much more does God want His children to be free?  God has invested His best to guarantee our freedom; there will never be a better gift than His Son.  Jesus has set us free, and through His life, we are planted in a garden that cannot be corrupted by the persuasion of this world.  A garden where we don’t have to be ashamed to be “naked,” and where we can be who we are, without the tormenting and judgmental thoughts our minds have been filled with.

When Jesus was standing outside the tomb of Lazarus, He called Lazarus out of the tomb and declared that he be loosed and let go. (John 11:44)  Before Christ came to us, we were bound in our ignorance and dead to the purpose and plan for our life.  In darkness and under death, we were wrapped up in grave clothes.  The clothes covered us from head to toe, making us unable to live in freedom.  Understand that what is worn in death cannot function properly in life.  We hear God and follow His voice out of the tomb, but we can’t grow or obey His voice because our thinking prevents us from believing what He says.

Until we are stripped of grave clothes, we will have a hard time believing the voice of God.  The clothes we hang onto prevent us from seeing the truth of His words.  Jesus can tell us to walk, but the clothes we wear prevent us and we fall every time, we then become afraid of the voice of God because it seems to be working against us.  Fear intensifies our distrust and hinders us from yielding ourselves to Him.  When there is no trust, there is no growth.  Fear blinds us from the truth, so when our minds are filled with fear, we are blind to Christ’s presence in our lives.  To live in the garden of God, we need to be stripped naked of our grave clothes.  A butterfly does not remain in their cocoon when it breaks; it leaves its old existence and flies towards its destiny.

When Jesus calls us out, He does not want us to live the way we did before. (II Corinthians 5:17)   He does not want us to carry our past into our future; He wants our existence to be fed by His existence.  Whatever transpired before Christ passes away, and in Him, we become a new creature.  We don’t go back into the “tomb” of ignorance; rather we live in the light of His truth.

Uncorked Bottles

God created us, and then placed us in this dark world to be developed.  When the time is right, He takes hold of our lives, uncorks the bottle, and allows what is in us to relieve the lives of those that are thirsty.  The cork is needed while we dwell in ignorance of our purpose.  When we realize the truth of what we carry, we no longer need to be “corked” because our value is in what we carry, not the bottle.  The knowledge of Jesus Christ frees us to pour our lives out to a world that thirsts for what we carry.  No limits are necessary; we are free to enjoy life in His Light.  It would be foolish of us to go back to the “dark cellar” when we have been exposed to the light of God.

We may be perceived as being wasteful and reckless by living in the freedom we have been given but a child can’t grow in the womb beyond its time.  The water breaks and the baby is pushed through the tunnel that leads to light and freedom.  New life begins the moment they are separated from the womb. The birth date is so important that it is remembered beyond the life of a person.  When you look back at someone’s life, the birth date is always the beginning.  The day a baby is conceived is rarely recorded and rarely treasured, but the birth is remembered and celebrated every year.  There comes a time that a baby can no longer survive solely off its mother.  They must journey into the light so that they can grow, develop and prosper.  No matter what has transpired and left a negative impact on you, the past dies once you press through your journey.

New Life

You are completely different from what you used to be.  Filling your mind with the past will only hinder you from enjoying the peace that you are entitled.  God does not want you to worry about anything; He wants you to live worry-free.  He wants you to grow and develop, and not concern yourself with the details of life.

As His children, God wants to help us overcome the fears we are confronted with when learning of ourselves.  He knows the special qualities we were born with and places us in the perfect situation to thrive.  We may not always desire our situations, but He knows what will develop us best.  He wants our focus to be on what we can do, not on what we can’t do.  We are His children and we were born free.  When our minds come into agreement with our spirits and we realize who we are, in turn we reveal who He is.  We have no need of anything but Him because in Him, we are given everything, and all things come from Him.

The narrow-minded thoughts of religious people, keep many of us from seeing that God is in all things.  Many things in life are corrupted, but in all things, God can be found.  When we open our eyes in faith, we can clearly see the purity of His presence.

What is your name?

When Jesus saw Simon for the first time, He saw more than who Simon was.  He saw the God nature in him, and Jesus called him Peter.  The new man was always in him, but Simon failed to see him.  When Jesus looks at you, He sees the reflection of Himself.  His nature lights up the canvas of our lives as He sees His masterpiece yearning to be released from the prison of our minds.  The more your mind focuses on feeding the appetite of your natural lust, the more you are distracted from the God nature that dwells in you.  Material things are great, but it does not reveal or bring clarity to who you are.  Seek the life within and allow what is in you to add those things to you.

Simon had to make the decision if he would remain who he had been or become one with the person that Jesus saw.  Jesus Christ walked the earth with a perspective that is beyond imagination.  He saw the inner man, not the “outer shell.”  He was not tainted by the guilt of sin; He looked at the hearts of men and spoke to who they truly were.  This is the state of enlightenment that He desires us all to walk in.

People were healed because when they saw Jesus, they really saw a reflection of the person within themselves that they were blind to.  He revealed the divine nature of each person that was hidden.  Ignorance and the consciousness of sin kept them from believing, therefore, they could not see it.  Jesus opens our eyes and enlightens us to the truth; a truth we can believe in.  The truth is we are not alone; God is with us.  Jesus is someone we can believe in and He has given us hope beyond our limitations.

Faith eyes

Every thing you see has been created from what you don’t see.  The creator dwells within and He cannot create through you if you don’t believe in His power.  When we draw from the power in us, we do things that have never been done or seen before.  We don’t follow the mundane path of others; we follow the exciting path of Christ.  When Peter declared Jesus to be the Christ, He saw through the eyes of faith, what could not be revealed through natural eyes.  He saw God because he believed in God. (Matthew 16-16) God is God despite our ignorance, but for us to live in faith, we must believe in Him.  We must believe that what is in us is greater than what surrounds.

Our faith in God is what we draw strength from.  The more we dip into His “well” of life, the more refreshed we become.  When we draw from ourselves, our minds and talents, our “tank” goes empty.  Our well has a limit to its capacity, and although it starts as a “well,” it usually ends up being a “pit.”  When our well is full, we don’t see the need for faith because we feel that what we have will sustain us.

However, as we continue to consume, our supply begins to dwindle and we eventually become empty.  There is hope though, because when we hit the bottom, the only thing we can do is look up.  The faithfulness of God is evident, in spite of our faithless actions and independence; He is right there to draw us out of the pit and place us in His “well” of life.  Jesus is a “well” that has no end and through faith, we will never thirst in His presence.

Faith for the will

Faith begins with you believing, it is not dependent on others opinions.  It is not necessary to have the help of others in the beginning it starts with just you.  If you believe, it will happen.  Don’t believe the worst, believe the best.

Why do you think it is so easy to believe a bad report?  It's because you see the evidence.  You see the remnant of history, showing you what's happened to others in similar situations.  Bad reports usually insinuate the worse case scenario and we believe it.  We see the x-ray, we see the credit report, we see the evidence stacked against us, but we are blinded to truth inside of us.  You see, what we see is distorted by our lack of faith.  Yes, the circumstances are real.  Yes, the odds are against us, but God is for us.  When we have faith in God, we don’t need the circumstance to tell us that we are healed, saved or delivered.  We don’t need to see everything in our lives working perfectly for us to have peace.  We trust and believe God and our minds are at rest, at all times.

Faith is undefeated.  Faith in God has to begin within you, for everything you see can speak contrary to what your heart is telling you.  To be set free from this world, you must have faith.  Faith is the key that gives us access to a world beyond our imaginations, a world not subject to temporary circumstances.

In this world, things are temporary, but by faith, we can tap into the eternal resources that we can find rest in.  We can hope for a life that is greater than what we see.  We can live without the weight of carrying our problems.  Naturally, we cannot sustain or create a new way through life; we can only travel where others have gone.  However, in the realm of faith, we can go where no one has gone before.  We can constantly create and rule the environment we live in.

Chapter 3

Expanding the Mind

When a young bird has grown too big for the nest, the nurturing mother bird will push it out of the nest.  Fear arises as the bird leaves the only home it has known.  Yet, in the fall, the young bird learns to fly - using its wings to soar to heights unlike ever before.  Like the bird, you don’t know the potential you possess until you use it.

God has freed us, and now he wants us to spread our wings and fly!  He does not force us out of our comfort zone to destroy us; He wants to show a new side of us.  Regardless of when we think we are ready, He knows and He does not push us out until we are ready.

Imagine being a bird, living under the nurturing wing of your mother, everything you have known she has given to you.  Then, one day without warning, she pushes you until you are barely on the edge of the nest and home of your comfort.  As you take a last look at what you have loved and known, you start spiraling down to the ground but your wings won’t let you fall.  You soar higher and higher, then farther and farther to the point that where you were is nothing but a memory.

In this life, your wings are your faith and your faith will not let you fall.  Every time it seems like you will not make it, your faith expands and you soar beyond your circumstance.  The farther you travel, the more confidence you gain in your wings.  Everyday you are strengthened through the journey.

When our minds are expanded, we think things that we would have never considered before.  We do things that we would have never done before and we go places we would have never gone before.  You see, every one of us has the capacity to believe that we can soar but we cannot reach or know our power until we begin to fly.

When I was young, someone told me, “You can do whatever you put your mind to.”  I did not appreciate this powerful statement back then.  I thought it was pointless, but now I find it to be true.  When you direct your mind with your heart, your mind is ruled by what you believe.  Consequently, what you believe will happen; there is no other option.

As I write this, my mind is saying, “How can you say that?” I can say it because it is simply faith.  Faith does not lose power, just believers.  When people lose faith, they really give up on “flying” through life and become content with just walking.  They would rather control their lives than fly without knowing where they might end up next.  In faith, you know the destination but you do not know how you will get there.  Without faith, you only go to where you are familiar but what is familiar will never get you where you want to go.  You fly in the direction that your faith takes you.  By expanding your horizon, you see the depth of all that you are and the potential you possess.

The Fragrance of Love

When Jesus was baptized, something special took place.  The Father was pleased and His Spirit rested and remained on Jesus. (John 1:32) The scent of His Father was on Him and from then on, wherever He went, the presence of His Father was evident.  When you have been in the presence of God, His fragrance becomes your aroma.

One day, my daughter came home from visiting with my grandmother.  When I picked her up, she had this distinct smell all over her.  It was the smell of my grandmother.  My daughter had been held my grandmother the entire time they were together.  Although she had left her arms, the smell of my grandmother remained on her.

That is the amazing thing about God; His love remains on you as well as rubs off on every one you meet.  He does not want us to live only in the “nest” of His presence.  God wants our relationship with Him to be so strong that when we are around others, they experience Him.   Our relationship and bond in His “nest” is to develop our faith in Him so strong that when it is time to leave, His nature is with us wherever we go.  You don’t have to wear a tee shirt professing what you believe.  You don’t have to make an announcement to everyone you meet, telling them about your faith in God, you just have to go. Wherever we go, our Father’s nature goes and He is seen through the life that we live.  Our relationship empowers others to want to know God for themselves.  Not because we’ve memorized every bible verse or because we mention Him in every other sentence, rather what we believe plays out in the life we live, for all to see.

Open Cage

When we push beyond the reality we see, we create the reality we want.  There is no point of enlarging your territory if you are unwilling to learn how to maximize the land you acquire.

Usually, the things we fight against the most, teach us the greatest lessons.  You learn how to be patient and persevere.  You learn how to live.  You see, the things that we are comfortable with, cage us in from the world ahead and keep us from our potential.  Like a caged bird, when the gate is open, we have a choice.  We can remain caged in the place that we have found comfort in or fly off, unsure of where we are going, but live in freedom.  When you have an opportunity to expand your mind, it is not in doing what you have done, but in engaging what you haven’t done.

Abram was in a “cage” he called home.  Then, a moment of clarity happened, and God told Abram to go where he had never gone before.  Abram had no idea where he was going but something inside him drew him to embark on the journey.  He had lived a long life and had made a name for himself.  His father had passed away and he had no child to carry on his name.  Though he had many possessions, in his mind, nothing was worth rejecting the journey to “no where.”  Abram believed God and went. (Genesis 12:1-5)

Countless people come and go in this world and their memory does not last beyond two generations.  The difference with people like Abram is that they make history by acting on their faith.  Their faith takes them places that most people only dream about.  It is not that one person is more special than another, it is that in spite of the obstacles before them, they believe that the dream inside of them is possible and they go for it.

Imagine being a “city” boy your entire life and a passion grows in you to become a farmer.  Talk about a culture shock!  You have no experience, as a farmer but you know that it is what you are supposed to do.  Would you leave your life in the city to live on a farm?  Would you be willing to leave one life to begin a new one?  This is exactly what Abram had to decide.  You have a chance to do something great, an opportunity to experience life like never before, but you will have to do things you may have never desired to do to get to where you desire to be.  Stop judging yourself by your past, you can begin again.

In every milestone is a tombstone.  What you have achieved needs to take rest so you can move to the next area of your life and embark to a place that is beyond your imagination.  Those is where freedom rings from the mountaintops, where those that have lost hope can hear and witness the transformation of something impossible, made possible through a life that has unyielding faith.

God made man and told man to be fruitful, multiply, replenish, have dominion and subdue the earth.  That is what He expects from you; to be fruitful and to fill and rule the earth for His glory.  Creation is waiting for you to take your rightful place.  Through your identity, nature finds its identity.

If you act in independence from the One who created you, your reflection is of the world around you.   If you reflect love, the world will love.  When Jesus spoke to the storm while in the sea “Peace, be still” the sea obeyed Him.  Why, because what He reflected was what nature desired to be.  It obeyed His voice because in Him, nature heard God.  You might not believe me but the same power lives in you.  It is time to go deeper, where the core of us reveals the power of God living inside of us.

Chapter 4

Going Deeper

As the Messiah faced the crowd, the words He spoke pierced the hearts of His followers.  His words were so powerful and so far from what they knew that, many of them turned from Him and returned to their homes.  Only twelve remained.  If only they had stayed, maybe they would have understood what Jesus spoke was true.  (John 6:60-67)

No matter how bad we want every person to believe and experience the wonderful life God has for us, it just won’t happen.  It is hard to follow a God you don’t see.  It is hard to believe in a God that allows such hardship in the world.  Therefore, when things get hard, most people give up the fight and “give in” to their circumstances.  It’s like going into a tunnel.  The deeper you go into a tunnel, the less light you see.  Those that truly believe don’t need to see a light to know that what they are doing is right.  They trust that the path will lead them to the land that they see in their hearts.  When traveling from one place to another you will find yourself immersed in complete darkness.  You can’t turn back because you don’t see where you came from anymore.  You press forward even with no knowledge of how far you must go.

Most likely, the twelve disciples were at a crossroads, where most of the followers chose to avoid going “deeper” and turned back to their former lives.  Still, the twelve disciples committed to going deeper and each one of their lives was changed forever.

Going deeper costs you everything, it cost the disciples their lives.  That is why many do not “go deeper.”  It is too risky to sacrifice all that you have and trust your guide with your life.  Who wants to die?  To put yourself in a position where you may die doesn’t seem to be sensible.  By fearing death, many never know what it means to live.  Fear puts up barriers to protect us from situations we are afraid of.

To go “deeper” means to go beyond the protective barriers of fear and completely trust our lives with the path we are traveling.  You can choose to live in your barriers, or choose to travel deeper and farther than you have ever been.

When Isaac was in the midst of a famine, God did not send him back to a familiar land but directed him to invest in the land he was in.  It was risky and the consequences could have cost Isaac all he had.  The land was not bringing a return to anyone, yet God still told him to invest.  Isaac trusted and believed God and in the same year received hundredfold on his investment.  Isaac could have played it safe but he would have never seen the depths of all God had for him if he did.  He went “deeper” and the reward outweighed the risk.

Dealing with old wounds

To go deeper, you have to be willing to have your perceptions and beliefs uprooted to get to the core of who you are.  The process can be painful, it brings to mind memories that you have suppressed.  The vivid images of the events that have caused shame and despair are brought to mind and old wounds become “fresh” again.

I remember watching a movie where a brave warrior wounded himself in his sleep.  The wound was so deep it never healed.  In his old age, the warrior fought in another battle.  He was extremely brave but after their victory, he ultimately died, not because of a new wound but from the old wound, he suffered in his youth.

Many of us are still suffering from old wounds.  We inch closer to death because of a wound that has not healed.  Dealing with the wound is so frightening because it moves us deeper into darkness, so we find ourselves hiding our pain and struggle.  To accept the fact, that what has happened is apart of us, can be heart wrenching.  No matter how much we want to envision our future, free from the events that have happened, we can’t guarantee that we would be who we are today if things were different.  The fact remains it is not about who we were or what happened, it is about realizing who we are today.

The reality of who we are rests on the other side of our wounds; these wounds God heals in our darkness.  We have to confront them, realizing that they are apart of who we are and that a cure has been given to mend and heal each one of our wounds.  We don’t have to hide our wounds anymore for our journey is a light to someone’s dark path.

Dealing with your present circumstance is the first step.  Going deeper means confronting the psychological walls and wounds in your lives, and then recognizing the spiritual nature within you.  The spiritual nature in you is where the power dwells.  It is where the atonement for your mistakes is made.  It is where grace and love abides, where life begins.  What good is hundredfold increase and healed wounds if you have no understanding of what is beyond the scope of where you’ve been?  It is not about seeking money or power; it is about seeking your heart.

As a man thinketh

Your heart is the core of your existence.  Without it, your will dies.  When we seek our heart, we become connected with its benefits.  Our heart causes us to be fruitful and productive, allowing us to express every bit of our being.  To express yourself without your heart is like painting a portrait of an empty room.  Our hearts fill our expression and reveal the substance of who we are.  Our hearts show the beauty of our lives through the images we exude.  We are made to grow and learn, and whatever we learn, becomes renewed according to the amount of heart we put into it. (Proverbs 23:7)

When we apply our hearts, the results are amazing, because it withdraws doubt and risk from the equation and places our minds and faith in what it is that we believe.

Redefining Weeds

I was taking a walk with my oldest daughter when she said, “Dada, look at the flowers!”  “What flowers? All I see are weeds.”  I replied.  I was so focused on what I perceived as negative that, I was blinded from the beauty right in front of me.  My daughter replied, “No, Dada.  These are flowers and I like them.”  Children look past the details and see the beauty in almost everything.  I stood corrected.  Why can a little child find goodness in something that the world has labeled as bad?  I love her so much that I can accept her “flowers” with open arms.

I can imagine God and His son Jesus, walking when Jesus sees humankind and says, “Wow, look at them dad!  Aren’t they beautiful?” God replies, “What?  All I see is evil humanity, destined for destruction.”  “I see beauty and I want them to live, so I will live with them.  I will play with them and I will love them,” Jesus declares.  When the Father sees the love Jesus has for humans, He accepts us with open arms, simply because His son loves us.  Jesus took us out of our old existence and transformed us through the beauty that He saw within us.

We are all connected by the love that Jesus has for us.  No longer hopeless or lost because Jesus walked by a “field” one day, gazed upon our nakedness and still loved every bit of us.  He took us and placed us in a garden where we could grow and live in freedom.  When you go deeper, you realize that your reality is not necessarily your truth.  What you thought was a risk; you now understand was the right choice.  You were not meant to live in a field but in a garden that causes you to grow and live abundantly.

Chapter 5

A Fresh Start

A seed is never fully appreciated except by the one who sowed it.  What people appreciate and enjoy is, the fruit.  The fruit is what is honored and valued in the eyes of most people, but the sower realizes the value of the seed before it reaches maturity.  No matter what dirt or darkness is upon the seed, the sower understands that the seed is in a process of becoming the fruit it was destined to be.  When the dirt presses down on the seed, its shell eventually breaks and the growth process begins.  Once broken, the seed tunnels through the dirt and roots begin to grow and spread.  As long as the seed remains in the hand of the sower, it cannot tap into its potential.

You are the seed.  You were planted into earth’s “garden.”  You live, consumed in darkness, with so much untapped potential.  You fight against the darkness trying to make something out of yourself.  You try to use what you see to bring fulfillment but all of your efforts fail to get you closer to reaching your potential.  You try to emulate the other plants you see but you are still in the dirt.  Suddenly, the pressure seems to come down on you, pressed on every side, and out of desperation, you cry out for help and you become broken.  However, the strength you were looking for, you find inside of you and it grows.  You begin to thrive on the circumstances you are in; the greater the circumstance, the more you grow and expand.

What often keeps us as “seeds,” is our fear of being consumed by our circumstances.  However, when we confess them and allow what is in us to come out, we are able to overcome our situation and transform into the strong, fearless person we have always wanted to be.  Understand that our circumstances are not to destroy us but to enlighten us to the power that we carry.

Your faith gives you a fresh start in every situation and what you possess creates a new future of limitless life.  If our lives were solely based on our circumstance; then there would be no hope for any of us.  Fortunately, life is more than meets the eye; life is born through the death and brokenness of something else.

Broke Open

Jesus Christ was the end of the “law.” (Romans 10:4)  He began a new way of living and thinking.  By dying on the cross, the old way of living under the law died as well.  Yet, when he rose again the new way of living began.  When we institutionalize our minds, we place ourselves in bondage, limit our thinking, and become religious, arrogant, uncompassionate and proud.  When we learn the gift of every moment, we appreciate the growth that our entire lives can bring.    Many have studied the religious works of wise scholars but have failed to live in the knowledge they learned.  Knowledge that is not applied is worthless.

A seed must first be broken in order to understand how to use what it has been given to grow.  To be broke open is to become aware of what you possess.  If you don’t tear down the walls in your mind, you will prevent yourself from growing because anything that resembles change, you will reject.  Nevertheless, when the door is open, you are able to move beyond the narrowness of your thinking, which in turn, activates your ability to grow.

Accepting you

Life is not about reaffirming what you have been but transforming into who you really are.  How liberating your life can be when you can just be who you are!  You can accept the good and bad as one and not feel guilty for the things you desire.  When our minds are open to accepting who we are, we can tear down the facades we live behind.  Because we don’t just accept things in our life, we allow what we think about them, keep us enslaved to them.

For example, denouncing something as “wrong” does not make it go away.  No matter how much we don’t like something, it will have an affect on us until we accept it and decide to move forward in spite of it.  I can say, “Lusting after a woman is wrong,” but that does not rid my mind of thoughts of the woman.  Instead of just accepting that a woman is beautiful, I deny what I believe and torture myself with lusting after her because I have convinced myself that looking at her is wrong.

The more we deny the truth, the more we accept the lie and deny ourselves.  When we have thoughts, we find ourselves judging what is right or wrong, causing us to become enslaved to our own minds.  Because I see, a beautiful woman does not mean I have to be with her.  When I focus on her beauty or deny that she is beautiful, I allow those thoughts to take root in my heart, and what is initially innocent and insignificant, becomes my temptation.  When we confess the truth, it allows us to move beyond what we see.  We can accept that someone is beautiful and not become attracted to them because of a guilty conscience.  The “elephant in the room” gets smaller and we can actually to be ourselves.

We cannot be free until we accept who we are. No matter how bad you were hurt in your past, you can’t move forward in life without taking your wounds with you.  It is apart of you that you must accept.  You are more than your wound; it does not define who you are but reveals the power you possess to overcome.

No longer are you afraid of moving past your fears and insecurities.  Yes, you are afraid, but you face it anyways.  Failure is not an option because is the victory is in going.  Maybe you have been someone that has wondered where your life has gone.  You have lived twenty years “paralyzed” because of something that happened or maybe you are just afraid.  Well, you have the opportunity to start fresh now.  You can discover the person that has been lost behind the façade you have lived.  It does not matter how much you deny your true thoughts and feelings, you cannot overcome them until you are willing to confront them.  That is the paradox of ignoring thoughts, you think you are moving past them but in reality, you are stuck where you are, enslaved to the thoughts you have been trying to ignore.

Your moment is now

In reality, all we truly have are moments.  We can’t control what has happened or what might happen, we can only choose what happens “now.”  We can ignore our thoughts and feelings now or we can confront them.  We can move forward or we can remain where we are.  It is like a runner in a sprinters stance, ready to begin a race.  The runner has every thing necessary to run the race but when the gun sounds off, the runner remains stuck in the blocks, missing the opportunity to move forward in the race.

What is holding us from moving forward and running the race set before us?  What is keeping us from our fresh start?  In one quick moment, we can choose to run towards your destiny.  The gun has gone off and our body is waiting for us to choose to move beyond the starting blocks, into a life we have always wanted!

The race is full of resistance, trying to hinder us from making progress.  Nevertheless, what is in us will carry us to the finish line.  When I go running, I am confronted with the same resistance.  My mind tells me to stop.  It tells me that I won’t make it to the finish line.  It says that it is too hard, just take a break, it is okay.  When I let my mind have its way, I am distracted from my goal and I fall short of the task.  When I run through the thoughts and fight through the adversity, I go beyond what I even expect from myself.

No matter what we think, when we yield to the voice in our hearts to keep going, we overcome every thought that hinders us from the change we desperately want.  It would be nice to not battle the thoughts and feelings that resist our progress but the reality is the resistance is necessary for us to develop and mature into exactly the person we are to be.  Many times, it is not even the resistance that causes us to give up but rather the external distractions.  It may be an untimely storm and the chaotic elements that send us off our path.  We can’t control what people say or what the “weather” may be, but we can control what we do.  We are more than able to handle what is in our path.

A focused mind is a peaceful mind.  Nothing can defeat a mind that is at rest.  The resistance cannot break a person that is determined to move forward, regardless of their circumstances.  When we focus inwardly, nothing outwardly can stop us from going where we want to go.  The fresh start comes from within us.  We have to build upon and draw from the eternal nature that is in us.  We can gain strength and peace from within to combat all of the thoughts and the circumstance in our lives.

Chapter 6

Innocence Within

One day, I quietly sat with my daughter and I listened to her talk about God.  To hear a child speak from the innocence of their heart is an experience that is too often ignored.  Because we are so busy or simply feel like we know the truth, we don’t appreciate the lessons a child can teach us.  The scripture says, “Blessed is the pure in heart for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)  From a child’s perspective, God is entirely different than what we adults see.  A child can see God in everything.

As a child, you never view our habits as issues.  You live and grow, and the limitations become apparent as adults encourage you not to challenge the walls that you see.  So, the child that yearns to fly is stripped of their wings and forced to walk.  The world begins to shrink as it forms around our beliefs.  Nothing is attainable unless we can see it and nothing can heal the wounds that strip you of your innocence.  Your imagination is replaced with facts, and the noises of the outside world cannot penetrate the walls of your reality.

I remember as a child, I loved to be naked.  I would take my clothes off at home and in public.  I saw nothing wrong with it until someone told me that it was wrong to take my clothes off.  So, my young innocence was covered up by rules and laws that kept me from hurting myself.  As I grew older, whatever was natural to me often had rules established against it, building up a “wall” with fresh paint.  Anytime I got close to the wall, I was met with resistance.  No matter how much I grew, new “walls” were always built and whatever was beyond them was completely off limits for me.

When I was twelve my mom died of cancer, another “wall” appeared.  I ignored this wall for many years until one day I wanted to see what was on the other side.  When I confronted the wall, I was consumed with emotions I had never released and I was able to see beyond the wall that I lived behind for seven years.  I was able to see my innocence.

Discovering the Heaven in you

Innocence is something that many of us have lost and some never find.  Innocence is the part of a person that is pure and simple without outward influence.  It embodies a reality of tranquility and love.  It is the part of us, which sees heaven.  Nothing is impossible in innocence everything is obtainable.  Just as I did, you also have to discover your innocence.

You have to confront your “walls” of fear, guilt and shame.  Fear keeps us from seeing God.  Guilt and shame lets us ignore the events that have placed is in bondage.  Anytime we look at our “wall,” the resistance brings back the pain and fear.  To get back what we have lost means to confront and focus on what has caused us so much pain.  It means we have to let go of our fears and move towards the place where we lost ourselves.  To connect back with the person that we are, we must reconnect to the child that we were.  We must face the labels of our past.  We must face the abuse and death we encountered.  We must face the hate and darkness that haunts our dreams.  We must face ourselves.

Who do you see in the mirror?  Do you see a survivor that has endured tragedy?  Do you see a strong willed person that has overcome obstacles?  Can you see beyond your experiences and see the child that longs to be reconnected with their Father and longs to be loved?  Beyond the surface, there is a child that yearns to know God and their purpose in life.  We have not even scratched the surface of what we can create and accomplish.

Changing Partners

To go beyond the surface, we must empty ourselves of all that has filled our lives.  There is no room beyond the framework of our beliefs.  If we believe one thing is wrong, then we also believe that the opposite is right, and this is the dilemma.  To change our minds, we have to accept that what we thought and lived was wrong.  If you are living a nightmare, changing your mind is easy.  However, if you are living with what you believe to be prosperous, then changing your mind can be petrifying.

Children have an easy time changing their minds for they are usually willing to try something new.  Not because what is new is better, but to explore.  Uncovering the wrong thinking that has kept us caged in for years allows us to see the light in everything.  When you see things in the light, you understand its intended purpose and its place in your life.  We also see God and stop trying to label everything as either good or evil.  When we don’t see God, we are tormented by the thought that who we are is not good enough because we desire what has been labeled as evil.

Adam and Eve saw being naked as shameful and wrong.  Although they convinced themselves that it was wrong, God was not concerned with their nakedness.  He saw them as His children, as are we.  We must remember that we are innocent through the blood of Jesus.  We are children of God and we don’t lose our place.  We are not living off our innocence but Christ’s innocence.  His goodness is in us.  We don’t have to go far to see God, we just have to open our hearts and minds to Him.  God can’t fill what we have filled already; we have to empty ourselves to receive abundance.

Empty your storage

I went to help some people move out of a storage and when we opened the door, the room was filled to capacity.  There was no room to move within the storage, so we began at the entrance and worked our way back until it was completely empty.  There were things in there that they forgot they had.  They had things that were extremely valuable to them but hidden under “junk.”  Most of what we took out of the room was trashed, but through the painful and exhausting process, treasures were found that were priceless to them.

When we open our hearts and minds, what we initially see and feel can discourage us from emptying our space.  However, the more we remove the junk, the clearer our minds become and we can notice the treasures that have sat dormant in our hearts.  This is the discovery of the benefit of learning.  To know what you possess, you have to let go what you knew.

I used to have the bad habit of being close-minded when reading other author’s work.  I wanted to know what they knew but I was unwilling to open my mind to receive their knowledge from their perspective.  I was like a student in class who was ignoring the teacher’s lecture because I assumed I already knew the subject.  A student, however, cannot learn beyond the capacity that he allows his mind to go.  I would finish reading books with no satisfaction because I allowed my ego to get in the way.

When we let go of what we know, we discover the treasure that learning brings.  Like an innocent child, we can embrace new concepts that will stretch our faith and minds.  Instead of traveling according to our logic and expertise, we surrender to concepts that burns a fire in us that we never knew existed.

My wife has a gift of re-creating; she can look at a room and create a new way of designing it.  I don’t want to change the room because I don’t see anything wrong with how it looks.  I don’t see what she sees but I have learned to surrender and get out of the way.  From my perspective, I see chaos and discord when she begins to change things.  From her perspective, she is just getting started and by the time she is done the room looks amazing and it always looks better than it did before.  When we trust The Great Designer, it can be unsettling to watch but when we surrender to the process, we gain a better perspective and see that our lives have much more room for what He has to offer.

Chapter 7

Engaging the mind

I am a routine kind of person.  It is not natural for me to want to change anything in my daily life when it might interrupt my routine.  The reality is that plans change, routines are altered and people adjust.  No matter how challenging it is to adjust to the waves of life, we must adapt.  Either adapt and move forward or be left behind.

Getting in shape has been a huge adjustment for me.  I have learned that it has more to do with my mind than it does with my body.  My body will follow wherever my mind leads it, as my mind follows where my heart guides it.  To get in shape it takes commitment, discipline, sacrifice, determination and patience, but many days I fall into the trap of listening to what my mind tells me.  You are tired; you don’t have to work out.  You have so many things to do; you have no time to run.  Excuse after excuse, I entertain them all until I find the one that removes the guilt from not doing what I intended to do, but that is the problem.

We too often regard what our minds want to do, so we don’t have to engage our minds to work outside of our comfort zones.  When we are too comfortable in our dwelling place, we become afraid of challenging ourselves and learning new things.  We begin to tell our minds what we cannot do instead of what we can do.

I firmly believe that we can do all things when our minds are engaged with the plan that our hearts believe in.  I can run five miles because I believe I can and I set my mind to do it.  My body may want to stop running but my mind is ordered to trust the plan and keep going.  No matter how much I want to quit, the power of an engaged mind won’t let me.  That is power, and if used wisely, our minds can take us to places we have only imagined.

When we engage our minds, we are giving our minds purpose.  A purposeful mind is a mind that is unyielding to any distraction or obstacle that will prevent it from completing what it has set out to do.  When we don’t engage our minds in purpose, we are led by our emotions and feelings.

When you hear the story of someone who has lost a lot of weight, one thing that is evident is they believed and stayed committed to their plan.  Through all the suffering and pain, and even the mistakes and downfalls, they stayed focused on the goal they set out for.  When your mind is engaged, everything that happens is apart of the process of living and growing towards the life you desire.

Where there is no vision, the people perish.  When there is vision, there is growth and life.  Do you see who you are?  Do you have a clear view of who you were created to be?  Don’t let what you’ve done prevent you from being who you are, just set your mind on being the best you.  You are more than the weight that you carry.  You are more than the debt you have incurred.  You are more than what you see now; you are amazing and greatness dwells in you.  Don’t forget that you are greater than what is behind you.

Engaging your mind will stretch you to believe that your experiences don’t frame you.  Just because you’ve never followed your heart, doesn’t mean you can’t begin now.  There is no use in expressing your dreams and desires if you are unwilling to set your mind to reach them.

Do the impossible

“And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.   And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.  And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.” (Matthew 14:25-29)

When Peter walked on water, he first expressed his desire, and then acted on his desire.  Jesus heard his desire, then granted Peter’s request according to his faith.  To do the impossible you must believe the impossible.  When we listen to the voice of God and set our minds in agreement, there is nothing we can’t do.  We become what we hear on the inside.  I am not saying to jump off a building and see if you could fly, I am saying that the faith that comes from within reveals the true nature of who we are.  If we are willing to believe in it, we become the person we were created to be.  Nothing, not even flying, is impossible with God.  It is impossible only if we believe it is impossible.  We have not tapped into even ten percent of what our minds can do, so either God made a mistake with our brains or we are missing the amazing potential of our minds.

You are stronger than you think and the more you realize it, the more your mind will embrace a life that is beyond possibility.  Our minds are equipped to handle all that life presents to us.  Whether we have a temporary problem or long lasting, we have a God who empowers our minds to overcome the issues of life.

Set your mind on your desire

When Lance Armstrong was diagnosed with cancer, he set his mind to overcome it and now he is alive, cancer free and stronger than ever.  He reminds me of the saying “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.”  Instead of crying over what is given to, take it and make it what you desire it be.  When Jesus wanted to feed five thousand people, he did not cry over what he was given, he gave thanks over it and broke it to create what he desired.  When he healed a blind man, he did not have the “proper” equipment to perform surgery he used mud.  We are children of God and the miracles we desire are in our hands!  We just need to learn to squeeze the most out of the situations we have been given.

When we focus on God and rest in the power, He has given us, our minds are at peace and our lives are victorious.  The confidence we have in God’s abilities enables our minds to pursue the possibilities that life presents.  I am amazed by tri-athletes, their will power is remarkable.  To push the body to the point of exhaustion and continue to go is a miracle and inspiring.  How do they set their minds to endure such extreme pain?  With no rest, they amazingly go from one obstacle to another.  When they cross the finish line there is no question in their minds or (mine) that they gave all they had.

That same power is within us.  Instead of focusing on how far we have to travel or how much pain we are in, we can set our minds on finishing strong.  We only have to look at the step before us.  To engage our minds to finish each step strong empowers us to go further than where we have been before.  When we are eager to break through stagnation, our minds will not fear the challenge but run towards it.  Our minds will not look for the easy comfortable way but for the challenge.  When we are not challenged, we don’t realize our power.  The fight against your will and the challenge to overcome drives you to finish.  No matter how daunting the task may be, greater is He that is within you than he that is in the world.  You can finish whatever you start as long as you engage your mind.

Walk in your greatness

When you don’t play down to your opponent, your opponent has no chance of beating you.  In other words, when you disregard the level of talent of your opponent and fight with all your might, your opponent won’t be able to defeat you.  If you set your mind more on what is happening around you or how you feel, you will lose your confidence and fall.

A professor can tell you that you are not “cut” for the career you desire.  A family member can tell you that you will be nothing because your father was “nothing.”  A doctor can say that you have no chance of living because of a disease.  A sports coach can say you are not tall enough or big enough to be a star player.  You may look in the mirror and tell yourself, you will always be overweight.  What does God say?  What is His will for your life?  His power can overcome any negative perception, for they are nothing more than empty words.  When our will is connected to His will, nothing can keep us from our destiny.  Our minds have to be saturated in the will of God for Him to perform the impossible in our lives.

This world is full of God’s nature and love; we are merely performers, discovering and revealing the story.  The script has been written and we are the main characters.  The role we played before we saw the script was nothing but acting.  What we are enlightened to in the script is who we were made to be.  Nothing is impossible; all that we need is in us and all we have is for our use.

What does your role require from you?  Will you engage your mind and heart into becoming the character God wrote you to be?  You were made for this role and only you can fill it.  The power of God is in you, what will you do with it?

Chapter 8

Reflection of God

Jesus was approached by a group of people who were trying to trap Him in His words.  They asked, “Do we have to pay taxes to Caesar?”  Jesus responds, “Whose face is on the coin?”  After they told Him that it was Caesar’s face on the money, Jesus said, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s.” (Matthew 22:15-22)  This passage is so amazing to me because it reveals the essence of our purpose in life.  God is more concerned with our lives than our money.  He wants our minds and hearts to be free so that we can give all that we have to Him.

We were created with the wealth of heaven; nothing on this earth is more valuable to God than us.  When He looks at us, God sees the reflection of Himself.  It pains Him to see His children living ignorant of their value and power.  He wants us to know that we are in His hands, under His domain, and nothing against us can stand before Him.  The challenge is that we have to see the value in ourselves.  We will keep falling into pits and traps until we treasure our lives.  When we recognize our value, in turn we treasure the One that gave it to us.  Until then, we will look at the choice of giving our lives to God as hard and painful.  We will feel that we have a life void of enjoying the pleasures of life.  However, when we you regard the gift - our life- as great, our appreciation for the Giver will be multiplied.

When Noah left the ark after the flood, he took time to give an offering unto God.  He gave an extravagant offering, not out of obligation but out of thankfulness for being faithful to His word.  God smelled the aroma of Noah’s heart and blessed the ground and life of all that followed Him. (Genesis 8:19-21)  Simply put when you give God what you value, you will value what God gives you.  Now, God does not require a burnt offering, but rather a mind and heart yielded to His voice.  He wants you to see the reflection of Him in you, just as much as He sees it.

Our minds can be so focused on getting things and receiving recognition that we never appreciate the treasure we are.  It does not matter what others think if we value ourselves.  We may be labeled as proud and arrogant, but setting our eyes on the great qualities of God that are in us is vital.  He has placed His imprints on us and nothing can define us better than God.  Our purpose is known and revealed only by God and freedom comes from understanding the purpose we carry.  When we are enlightened to it, nothing can defeat or destroy us; our knowledge overcomes ignorance.  We must set our minds on what we have been given and allow our gifts to cover the earth with the beautiful colors of the Father.

God told me, “I know who I am but who are you?”  God wants us to know who we are; He wants us to see what our true nature is.  To know God but not know ourselves is a tragedy.  It denies the power within from working outside of us.  He wants us to listen to Him as He tells us who we are.  After we strip away the titles, the gifts and the calling, we are left with the very essence of who we are: His children.  He wants us to know we are His and He is ours.  God does not need our bible knowledge and doctrines; He desires our hearts and minds.

Chapter 9

Free Thinking

A free mind is a clear mind; uncontaminated by the ways of the past and unset on the perceptions of our future.  A mind that is willing to challenge the beliefs of yesterday in order to discover the truth of the present time.  A mind that applies the revealed truth with the unknown to tear down the boundaries of fact.

You were made to be a free thinker.  You cannot follow me and be free for freedom comes from your heart.  Your free will cannot be taken away from you regardless of the efforts of religious practices and institutions.  You have to make up your own mind on what you will believe and be passionate about.

Freedom is defined differently by each person but the key is to think, consider and believe the voice within you.  I don’t hear a voice!  To hear God, you just have to engage your mind in listening to that “uncommon voice."  It does not sound like what you hear on the news, on the radio or in the classrooms; it is the voice that you are normally afraid of.

Most people don’t want you to listen to it because it does not conform, nor resemble the reflection of what others believe.  The voice causes you to standout in a crowd and at times can make you seem “crazy” to those around you.  If you look deep within, you’ll know that the voice is true and it is real.  It is the same voice Elijah heard, the same voice the prophets of old recorded.  It is the same voice that told you not to travel on the highway and you avoided a deadly accident.  It is not a mere coincidence; it is the voice of God.  It is the voice that we so often fail to listen, yet continues to speak.  When we unclog our ears and minds, we will find the wisdom we desire, the answers to our questions, and the freedom to choose wisely.  There is a saying, “Knowing is half the battle.”  If you know who you are, you will not live like someone you are not.

You are royalty

There was a young boy, alone in a field, singing a melody that was flowing from his heart.  In the eyes of his family, he was young and immature.  What his family thought of him didn’t matter, he loved to sing and he loved to take care of his responsibilities.  He may have been a disregarded by man but God was in his heart.  God knew there was something special about him, and it had nothing to do with his size.  It had nothing to do with the job he had and nothing to do with being the forgotten child in the eyes of his father.  God saw himself in this young boy’s heart; in David, He saw a king.

In spite of what the world thought about him, David’s destiny was to be a king. When the prophet anointed him, it revealed the essence of who he was.  There was no special power in the oil; the power was already in him.  There was no denying that his greatness would eventually reign.  Though David did not ascend to the throne until he was thirty years old, from the time, that he was a shepherd boy, he knew who he was.  Though the circumstances in life were contrary to the eternal truth, he believed and trusted the plan of God.

Everything he went through was used to develop his character for the position that he would occupy.  If he did not know he was a king, he would have never developed through the struggles he experienced.  Rather, he would have become a victim of his environment.  He would have songs that would have never been sung or recorded.  All that he was gifted with would have been wasted because he would have not properly understood the nature of who he was.  He did not have to follow who his dad or brothers were; he had to find his way from within.  If David had been who his dad wanted him to be, he would have never left the field.  He would have had no sense of wholeness and he would have wasted his greatness, cheating us from hearing his story.  You are the royal child of God; your throne awaits you.

You need to focus on who you are; your story is yet to be completed.  Open your mind to a life that is limitless and abundantly working on your behalf.  Leave the past behind you, move forward, and allow the chips to fall where they may.  Don’t be afraid to do something you have never done before.  Don’t settle for what you see, set your mind on things that are above the standard.  You have an opportunity to not only do something great but be a river of greatness.  All that are thirsty can come to you and be filled with the knowledge of what is in them.

We are all full of water but sometimes we need fresh water to take the place of what is in us so we can refocus on the life we have ignored.

Chapter 10

Drinking from the Well

When the Samaritan woman came to the well where Jesus was resting, she traveled there for water, however, Jesus was there for her.  He wanted to fill the void that was in her.  It was not about what she had done in the past, it was about the moment.  When she tasted of His well, she found purpose and a passion she looked for all of her life.  She looked for it in the men she married, yet she remained thirsty.  Ultimately, she met a man who was looking for her and found life.  (John 4: 4-30)

She didn’t find the well of Jesus, He brought it to her and gave her the choice to be filled by it.  We can try so hard to “fix” and change ourselves but we will always find that it will never satisfy our need.  The solution is not far from the need, we just have to choose to embrace it.

The woman at the well became the first evangelist in Samaria to talk about a man that could fill the people’s voids.  Imagine the lives that were impacted by seeing this woman who had a long list of public mistakes now changed and whole.  She became the extension of the well that filled her.  Her mind had been clouded by the stains of her past until Jesus cleansed them, and she became so full that the water began to “overflow.”  Your knowledge of who you are will fill the voids in others and open their minds to the “well” in them.  Nothing can stop you when you allow the “dam” to come down and the habitation of your mind be flooded with the consciousness of love, peace, joy, and grace.

The “dam” was never meant to be built and you were never intended to be limited to your own natural way of thinking.  The power that will transfer your dreams into your reality is now separated only by the boundaries you set.   Your thought life can’t dwell in truth until you are willing to be open and honest about yourself.  You can look in the mirror and see that you are overweight but you won’t lose any weight until you take responsibility over your choices that caused the problem.  You can’t blame the snacks or your family.  You have to accept that you created the problem by allowing your habits to dictate your life.  When you see that you are in need of help, you can look beyond your own intellect and receive wisdom from the divine connection within.  When you believe in truth, you can receive from heaven all the riches that satisfy the longing you have.

A Father's Love

Just as a father holds his child for the first time, your presence enriches God’s existence; you are so special to Him.  There is no better word that can express how He feels about you other than love.  When I held each of my children for the first time, they were not as excited as I was.  I wanted them to open their eyes and look into my eyes.  I wanted to show them that I was their dad and I loved them.  When they slept in my arms, I never wanted to put them down.  That is one reason why I am so excited on my children’s birthdays; it reminds me of the moment I first held them in my arms and the fact that they are an amazing treasure to me.  I am truly enriched by their presence in my life.

You can’t experience the kingdom of God unless you are born again.  If you are to be born again, you must go through the process of being developed in the womb.  When you come out, you can use your senses to take you deeper into the knowledge of your existence.  Your birth date is the day you left the “restrictive womb” of your mind covered in darkness and entered into a world of freedom, perfectly positioned in the arms of God.  Your mind is now able to see life, God and opportunity.  As you discover the life that is beyond your thoughts, you realize that your inner self is greater than any obstacle that stands before you.  God does not want you to look at what you can’t do as law but to look within yourself to realize the power that can do all things.  Whenever you seem to be consumed in darkness, remember the proximity of His presence wherever you are.  Your mind is not made to be restricted to what is seen but like a newborn close your eyes and sense the presence of God.

I pray that you take off the limits and live life to the fullest.  Be transformed by your relationship with God, and create with the power He has given you!

About the Author

E’yen resides in Ohio with his wife and their six beautiful children.

E'yen is passionate about helping people discover their purpose and live their best life. His desire is to inspire others to see that the life they want is possible, and push them to take action towards reaching their dreams.

WEBSITE: http://www.EyenGardner.com

EMAIL: eyengardner@yahoo.com

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Table of Contents

Copyright

Other books by E’yen A. Gardner:

Preface

Chapter 1 The Naked Truth

Chapter 2 Revealing the Free You

Chapter 3 Expanding the Mind

Chapter 4 Going Deeper

Chapter 5 A Fresh Start

Chapter 6 Innocence Within

Chapter 7 Engaging the mind

Chapter 8 Reflection of God

Chapter 9 Free Thinking

Chapter 10 Drinking from the Well

About the Author