Sunday Message for August 29, 2021

PASSION AND PURPOSE - TWO SIDES OF SAME COIN

Let's begin with a prayer: Father, Mother, God; I'm here today with open hands and an open heart, ready to depend on you to help me through the day and all it will bring my way. Help me come to you for guidance, strength, provision, and protection. As I face tough choices and hard situations, help me remember my belovedness, help me remember that I am Your child and Your representative to the world around me. Amen.

Today and though September we will be looking at an acronym that brings new enlightenment to living from a place of True Power. When we can realize and live from a place of Divine P.O.W.E.R., our lives seem to fall into place, our hearts are filled with joy and purpose, our relationships are stronger and deeper, we live our dreams daily, and really become the change our hearts are yearning for.

We will be looking at an acronym that can bring new meaning and understanding to the concept of living from a place of Power -- True, Divine Power. And isn't that what we came here to do? To live from our True, Divine Power?

In Develop Your Inner Power, Eric Butterworth writes: "Jesus taught very clearly that the power of God is limitless, but every person is endowed with His power, all power. He said, "All power has been given unto Me in Heaven and earth."

"Unfortunately we have tended to read into such statements the idea of divine dispensation, that he was doing something special for Jesus. Jesus was not referring to Himself alone, He was affirming the principle. It is an affirmation that we need to affirm for ourselves. All power has been given to me in the Heaven of my only God potential and in the earth of my manifest life. Jesus said, "Ye shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you."^a

When we access the power of the Infinite through our thoughts, imagination, through an inward feeling and an interior awareness -- we then live from a place of Divine P.O.W.E.R.

And when we live from a place of Divine Power:
Our lives tend to more easily fall into place,
Our hearts are more filled with joy and purpose,
Our relationships are stronger and deeper, and
We live more fully our dreams.

That may sound like a tall order. And your skeptical mind, or the mind that has experience to the contrary, may say, "Yea, right!"

But how about we set aside skepticism and even past experience that says this isn't true and from now through the end of September let's live in the place of possibility.

The possibility of:
Your life falling more easily into place;
Your heart being filled with greater joy and purpose;
Your relationships being stronger and deeper; and
Your dreams being lived daily

Are you willing to make that deal? Don't make it lightly. Don't say, "yea, yea" right now and then go back to thinking that's not really possible once you walk out of this room.

If you are serious about taking this challenge, I want a commitment, even a pledge. OK?

Raise you right hand; place your left hand on whatever holy text is meaningful to you that magically, if not invisibly, is now before you and say after me:

I pledge to set aside any skepticism . . . till the end of September . . . and to be open to believing . . . in the possibility . . . of having my life fall into place . . ., my heart filled with joy and purpose . . ., my relationships stronger and deeper . . . and my dreams lived daily. . . . To these possibilities I hereby pledge!

Now turn to someone and ask them if they meant it. Congratulate each other!

Excellent! Now that we have that taken care of, we are going to take the word power as an acronym and look at 5 P.O.W.E.R.-filled ideas.

Today's is: Passion and Purpose, Two Sides of the Same Coin.

PASSION & PURPOSE
Confused about your purpose in your life?

It's simple: Be your most authentic version of you.

As Meister Eckhart, a thirteenth-fourteenth century philosopher, theologian, and mystic, said it this way: "Let God be God in you."^b

Your purpose does not need to be linked to a specific career - or to doing a particular "this" - or to achieving a certain "that."

It's simply about becoming your best possible "you!"

Your true purpose is to bloom into your most loving, kind self.

It's about growing, stretching and learning how to freely allow yourself to express yourself - so you can confidently, generously share your love, thoughts, ideas, creativity, inspiration, and highest vibration with as many people as you can.

Let me say this again: You don't need to do a particular job - or accomplish a particular goal to live your purpose.

Your purpose is always about what you can bring of your most authentic, one-of-a-kind, best self to this planet.

Say with me:
"My purpose is to bring my best self to this planet."
"My purpose is to live from my true Divine Power."

And it's an important purpose. Because both this planet and your soul need you to radiate your most optimum love, peace and happiness - in thoughts, words, and actions.

I want to share with you one of Mike Dooley's Notes from the Universe, but before I do, I want to assign you a part in it.

When I give you this signal (hand gesture), yell out your name. Nice and loud. OK? Let's practice. (Hand gesture) . . .

Good job, here goes the Note: "Of course it's true, everyone's born with a gift. One that will allow them to fill a special place in the Universe that absolutely no one else can fill. A blessing that makes all other blessings pale in comparison. A gift of incalculable value to the entire world when it's uncovered, explored, and embraced. What is yours, you ask? Being [make hand gesture]. Tallyho, The Universe."^c

Og Mandino wrote: "I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand. Henceforth will I apply all my efforts to become the highest mountain of all and I will strain my potential until it cries for mercy."^d

The Persian poet Rumi said the same thing in a gentler way: "Feel yourself being quietly drawn by the deeper pull of what you truly love."^e

When you are living from that deep pull of what you truly love, you are living your heart's desire or passion. And when you are living your heart's desire or passion, you are enlivened.

And it is what you desire - truly desire. Not what you think it should be or what someone else thinks it should be, but what really is your heart's desire.

As an example: There was once a businessman who was sitting on the beach in a small Brazilian village. As he sat, he saw a Brazilian fisherman rowing a small boat toward the shore having caught quite few big fish.

The businessman was impressed and asked the fisherman, "How long does it take you to catch so many fish?" The fisherman replied, "Oh, just a short while." "Then why don't you stay longer at sea and catch even more?"

"This is enough to feed my whole family," the fisherman said.

The businessman then asked, "So, what do you do for the rest of the day?"

The fisherman replied, "Well, I usually wake up early in the morning, go out to sea and catch a few fish, then go back and play with my kids. In the afternoon, I take a nap with my wife, and evening comes, I join my buddies in the village for a drink - we play guitar, sing and dance throughout the night."

The businessman then says to the fisherman. "I have a PhD in business management. I could help you to become a more successful person. From now on, you should spend more time at sea and try to catch as many fish as possible.

"When you have saved enough money, you could buy a bigger boat and catch even more fish. Soon you will be able to afford to buy more boats, set up your own company, your own production plant for canned food and distribution network.

"By then, you will have moved out of this village and to a big city, where you can set up HQ to manage your other branches."

The fisherman asked, "And after that?"

The businessman laughs heartily, "After that, you can live like a king in your own house, and when the time is right, you can go public and float your shares in the Stock Exchange, and you will be rich."

The fisherman asks, "And after that?"

The businessman says, "After that, you can finally retire, you can move to a house by the fishing village, wake up early in the morning, catch a few fish, then return home to play with kids, have a nice afternoon nap with your wife, and when evening comes, you can join your buddies for a drink, play the guitar, sing and dance throughout the night!"

No one else gets to tell you what you are passionate about!

And it is what your heart desires, not what your head thinks!

Michael Beckwith said: "We are here to unfold a cosmic destiny, not just make little bubbles and waves."^f

We are each here by Divine Appointment. We are here for a Sacred Purpose. Our lives are to be used for something beautiful and holy. Do you believe that?

If our world is to know PEACE, if your family is to know LOVE, if the people you work with or play with are to know JOY, it has to come from YOU...

There is no God out there waiting to give the world peace, joy or love. They have already been given to you, and it is through you living your purpose and passion that you live from a place of Power -- True, Divine Power.

Let's end with a prayer: Mother, Father, God; I know that I have the power to live the life of good.
My power is from On High; it cannot be taken from me.
It will not leave me desolate.
I declare that power flows through me and is in me, and I can now feel and sense it.
The Power to live is in me and It cannot desert me.
It is my power and is continually present.
I am the power to live.
Amen.