{"id":9388,"date":"2017-06-27T07:50:11","date_gmt":"2017-06-27T11:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/?p=9388"},"modified":"2017-06-29T10:47:26","modified_gmt":"2017-06-29T14:47:26","slug":"a-voice-in-the-wildernesssteps-4-to-7-in-having-your-ownconversation-with-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/?p=9388","title":{"rendered":"A voice in the wilderness
STEPS 4-TO-7 IN HAVING YOUR OWN
CONVERSATION WITH GOD"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have been on an extended road trip to Barcelona and to Lisbon, where, in each city, I offered spiritual renewal retreats based on the messages in Conversations with God. So my apologies for not having been here in this space for a bit. I do want to continue — and conclude — the series of articles that I started here some weeks ago, on Seven Steps to Having Your Own Conversation with God.<\/p>\n

Please allow me to pick up here where we left off with the last entry.<\/p>\n

The fourth step<\/strong>in having your own Conversation with God is a commitment to wakefulness; an agreement with yourself topay attention to God.<\/em><\/p>\n

God is all around us, and we are not paying attention.<\/p>\n

We may be willing. We may have gone past Step Three. But we are not awake. We are not paying attention.<\/p>\n

Often that is because we are looking too hard for what is right in front of our face. We are listening so earnestly that we miss the sound.<\/p>\n

God is talking to us in a thousand different ways, across a million moments. But we must pay cultivate what I call Attentive\u00a0Inattention<\/em>\u2026or the Unexpected Expectation, or \u201cactive passivity.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is when you listen by not listening. It is when you look by not looking.<\/p>\n

It is when you open your mind\u2019s ear and your mind\u2019s eye to nothing at all,\u00a0expecting<\/strong>\u00a0nothing at all,\u00a0searching<\/strong>\u00a0for nothing at all,\u00a0wishing<\/strong>\u00a0for nothing at all,\u00a0striving<\/strong>\u00a0for nothing at all, just \u201cbeing with\u201d No Thing\/Everything.<\/p>\n

This is exactly what I do when I am writing. It is exactly how I have produced 27 books.<\/p>\n

This\u00a0Attentive Inattention<\/em>\u00a0turns\u00a0every<\/em>\u00a0moment into a meditation. Just let life go by, but watch it out of the \u201ccorner of your eye.\u201d<\/p>\n

God\u2019s conversations will \u201csneak up on you.\u201d The lyrics of the next song you hear on the overhead speakers in the food store. The article that jumps off the cover of a two-year-old magazine at the hair salon. The chance utterance of a friend you just happen to meet on the street. The words on the billboard around the next corner.<\/p>\n

\u2026or\u2026a fleeting thought that crosses your mind, seemingly out of nowhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cNowhere\u201d\u2026that\u2019s an interesting word. Slice it in half and it comes out to NOW HERE.<\/p>\n

God is always NOW HERE.<\/p>\n

So I call Step Four: Wakefulness. Don\u2019t sleep walk through life. Stay awake. Watch what\u2019s going on\u2014without looking for something in particular.<\/p>\n

Like right now.\u00a0What do you think is happening right now?<\/em><\/p>\n

The fifth step<\/strong>\u00a0is acceptance<\/strong>\u2026or, if you please, non-denial.<\/p>\n

We need to call our conversations with God exactly what they are when they occur.<\/p>\n

Once we start by setting aside that kind of special time, and begin walking through Life in wakefulness, we will be aware that we are receiving communications from the Divine all the time.<\/p>\n

What will happen is that we will suddenly\u00a0notice\u00a0<\/em>them. We will become aware that Life informs Life\u00a0about<\/em>\u00a0life through the process of Life Itself. And we will become a conscious part of that process.<\/p>\n

Still, if we\u2019re not careful, we\u2019ll call this something else. We\u2019ll give it a different label or different name for fear of being ridiculed.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll call it \u201ccoincidence.\u201d Or \u201cserendipity.\u201d Or \u201cwomen\u2019s intuition.\u201d Or a \u201cstroke of genius.\u201d Or a \u201csudden inspiration.\u201d Or, simply\u2026a \u201cgood idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll call it everything we can think of except a Conversation with God.<\/p>\n

And in denying it for what it is, we will minimize it. And that\u2019s the danger. We won\u2019t give it the importance it deserves because we\u2019ve called it less than it is.<\/p>\n

Now there\u2019s another side to this. And it\u2019s kind of ironic, but I have to tell you about it so you don\u2019t fall into the trap.<\/p>\n

Step six<\/strong>\u00a0is discernment.<\/strong>\u00a0We have to be careful not to become\u00a0so<\/em>\u00a0precious with the experience that we start categorizing everything that happens to us as \u201ca sign.\u201d Or, \u201cGod, talking to me!\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, don\u2019t let your imagination run away with you.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t let your mind play tricks on you.<\/p>\n

God talks to you through you Soul, not through your mind. And you can learn to tell the difference. This is called discernment.<\/p>\n

So if you\u2019re reaching for your car keys and a dollar falls out of your pocket, this may not be a \u201csign\u201d that you should take all of the money out of your pocket and throw it on the sidewalk.<\/p>\n

Be judicious. Give everything the \u201ctummy test.\u201d<\/p>\n

Your stomach will know when something is true. Ever notice that? Your tummy knows what the Mind can only wonder about.<\/p>\n

The body is more intelligent than we think. Listen to your body. Watch how you feel. If you feel uplifted by something you have noticed out of the \u201ccorner of your eye,\u201d pay attention to that.<\/p>\n

If you feel downtrodden, or \u201cburdened,\u201d by an incoming communication, it cannot be from God. It must be from your Mind.<\/p>\n

\u2026Or\u2026it has been filtered so much BY your Mind that you have lost the purity of the original communication.<\/p>\n

Now don\u2019t get me wrong. Your Mind is not your enemy. It is a very important and effective tool, actually. It\u2019s just that it has a job to do.<\/p>\n

Your Mind\u2019s job is to ensure your survival. Therefore, it will always look for anything that may seem threatening to you. It will be super-cautious. It will see every possible bad outcome, and warn you about it. No wonder that you will often feel burdened, and not uplifted, by its communications.<\/p>\n

And then, irony of ironies, when your Mind sees that you are feeling burdened, it will do whatever it can to guarantee that you get through that \u201cdowner\u201d so that you can survive\u2026so it will even give you a temporary \u201chigh\u201d\u2014such as a thought or idea that every single thing that is going on is a \u201csign from God.\u201d If THAT doesn\u2019t make you feel special, nothing will.<\/p>\n

So be careful with your Mind. It is always powerful, but not always reliable.<\/p>\n

Use discernment. Go to the place that\u2019s\u00a0thinking about what you\u2019re thinking about.\u00a0<\/em>This is Who You Really Are. You are the Observer of That Which Is Being Observed.<\/p>\n

You are neither your Body nor your Mind nor your Soul. You are That Which Is All Three.<\/p>\n

This is the Totality of Your Being\u2014and this is what you are seeking to experience during your time here on Earth.<\/p>\n

And that brings us to\u00a0Step Seven: Fulfillment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

After you have used your discernment to decide which thoughts, concepts, and ideas really are coming directly from God\u2014as opposed to\u00a0indirectly<\/em>\u00a0thought the many filters of your Mind, your life, and your world\u2014give yourself permission to act on them. Do something about them. Don\u2019t ignore them, or put \u2018em on a pile for \u201clater.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I was a child there used to be a saying: \u201cStrike while the iron is hot.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the process by which something is forged from steel, you have to shape the metal into the desired formation while it is white hot\u2014and therefore pliable enough to turn into anything you want.<\/p>\n

When you have a conversation with God, something wants to be forged from steel. So strike while the iron is hot.<\/p>\n

Do<\/em>\u00a0it.\u00a0Act<\/em>\u00a0on it. Step\u00a0into<\/em>\u00a0it, not away from it.<\/p>\n

And do it now, not tomorrow. Not when you \u201chave more time,\u201d or when you \u201chave more money,\u201d or when you have \u201cmore\u201d of\u00a0whatever it is<\/em>\u00a0you don\u2019t think you have enough of right now.<\/p>\n

Make it your intention to at least begin. All right, maybe you don\u2019t have a particular item, or a particular aspect, perfectly in place. But make it your intention to\u00a0begin.\u00a0<\/em>And then\u2026make it your intention to\u00a0complete.<\/em><\/p>\n

Remember that\u00a0life proceeds out of your intentions for it.<\/em><\/p>\n

And \u201ccompletion\u201d is the definition of enlightenment.<\/p>\n

Watch how much lighter you feel when you complete\u00a0anything.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

So intend to\u00a0begin<\/em>, and intend to\u00a0complete<\/em>, the next step in the process of your own evolution.<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t wonder about what it is you should do. Don\u2019t worry about what your next step is, or how to solve your current dilemma, or how to resolve your present issue, or how to solve the prevailing problem.<\/p>\n

Say this prayer:<\/p>\n

Thank you, God, for helping me to understand that this problem has already been solved for me.<\/em><\/p>\n

Then listen for God. Ask God whatever you want to ask. Then watch. Wait. Listen for the answer.<\/p>\n

Now I want you to know that, with regard to your present question\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026you\u00a0will\u00a0<\/em>be answered.<\/p>\n

Indeed, it has been written: \u201cEven before you ask, I will have answered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet you may not hear the answer in this very moment. You may not be aware of it \u201cright now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not everyone becomes aware of their conversation with God in the same way.<\/p>\n

Give yourself time. Have patience with yourself. Have patience with the process. Ultimately, once you deliberately ask a question of God, you will become aware of the answer. It will happen very rapidly, if you stop looking for it, and just let it \u201ccome to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ask, and you will be answered. Knock, and it will be opened unto you.<\/p>\n

So let yourself receive the answer in the Fullness of Time.<\/p>\n

That could be today, in this way that we are going use right now, or not. Let it all be okay.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s my\u00a0Seven Step Process to having your own Conversation with God.<\/strong>\u00a0I hope it has been helpful to you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have been on an extended road trip to Barcelona and to Lisbon, where, in each city, I offered spiritual renewal retreats based on the messages in Conversations with God. So my apologies for not having been here in this space for a bit. I do want to continue — and conclude — the series […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[161,439],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headline","category-parenting"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9388"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9402,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9388\/revisions\/9402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}