3 Essential Steps to Making a ‘High-Speed’ Connection with God
What forces stress the connection between you and God?
Have you ever been stuck using a computer with dial-up internet after being spoiled by a lightning fast high-speed connection?
Talk about a trial of patience!
What’s really frustrating is that sometimes my connection with God seems to be stuck on ‘dial-up’....and frankly, sometimes my spiritual internet seems to be down all together.
What can we do on these ‘dial-up’ days? The following are 3 steps to help establish a 'high-speed' connection with God.
3 Steps to making a Better Connection with God:
Step 1: Close the ‘Programs’ of the Mind
Think of our mind as a computer. What happens to a computer when too many programs run at once? We’ve all had it happen…..it crashes right? The same is true with the programs of our mind. They serve a purpose, but when these programs, or thoughts, are running they inhibit our ability to connect with God.
It’s time to click the red “X” at the top-right of the screen and close those suckers out!
- that song stuck in the back of your head……gone!
- the things on today’s ‘to-do’ list…..see ya!
- what happened on the TV show last night…..bye-bye!
But How do we Quiet the Mind?
Be the school master:
Did you ever have an experience in school where you were fully engaged in conversation with a buddy during a lesson and you look up to find the teacher and the rest of the class staring at you? What did you do? Probably exactly what I did…..you shut up! Be the teacher of your mind. But don’t scold the students (your thoughts) when they are out of line. In fact, don’t even judge them….simply observe. That teacher staring at me directly in the face had more of an impact than anything else she could have said or done. This first step is essential because a conscious connection with God can only occur through the spirit, not the mind which we’ve grown to rely on so heavily.
Step Two: Click the Spiritual “Connect” Button
Now that we’ve closed the ‘programs’ of the mind, it’s time to make the connection.
I love the account of Elijah the prophet in 1 Kings 19: 11-12 as he withdraws into the wilderness to commune with God:
“….And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. “
Notice that it was only after the noise was quieted that Elijah made the connection with God.
Think of the brilliant words used to describe the communication of God to Elijah: “still small voice”
His connection with God came through stillness. Our spiritual “Connect” button is this stillness, which is the space between the wind, earthquakes, and fires of our lives. To make conscious connection with God we must discover this tranquil place despite the distractions of life…and go into it. It is in this stillness that we commune with God and how we “Connect” with Him.
What is truly fascinating about this connection is that we do not have to go to a mountain retreat like Elijah to make this connection. I wrote about an experience I had in a recent blog post that occurred during what would have otherwise been a stressful situation. A connection with God can literally occur any time or anywhere.
Step Three: Focus on the Connection
One of the biggest mistakes I make when connecting with God is to focus on the ‘data’ that I’m ‘uploading’ to God rather than on the connection.
The spiritual upload I’m talking about here is what I’m saying to God….the actual language I use during a prayer. The problem is that I sometimes spit out words with absolutely no meaning. Have you ever heard someone accidently bless the food in a night-time prayer….my kids do it all the time, and I’ve caught myself about to do it as well. To focus on the words of a prayer, or better stated, to feel that the words ARE the substance of the prayer is all wrong! The substance of the prayer or meditation is the connection with God, not the language we may use. If we are truly in unison with Him, our deepest and most heart-felt feelings will emerge as a natural result of the connection.
As we move forward with our lives, let’s focus on quieting our mind and listening to the still small voice. I have found that my life is so much easier when I have a conscious connection with our loving Heavenly Father. My toughest days are definitely the ones where I'm on spiritual dial-up.
Comments welcome as always!
3 Lies We tell Ourselves Every Day…..and Why Most People Believe Them!
Do you have a need for drama in your life?
We have all been lied to at some point in our lives. Not a pleasant experience….to be deceived.
As it turns out, we all lie to ourselves every single day….and the crazy thing is that most of us buy it!
Regardless of whether we believe these lies originate internally from the mind, or externally from some evil force, the reality is that there is something that manifests itself within us that attempts to place blinders on our spiritual eyes and keep us from seeing our divine nature. This ego, which is what we’ll call it for now, creates perpetual noise within our mind to distract us from feeling close to God. Think of ourselves as a stereo system with God being the only true frequency in existence. The ego emits false radio signals in the form of lies and deceit to prevent us from tuning into God.
Here are 3 Lies My Ego Tells me Every Single Day:
Lie #1: My Life is a Soap Opera
Could you imagine a soap opera without some form of intense drama……..someone being offended, cheated on, abused, etc? The viewers would ask, ‘why the heck am I watching this, it’s just as boring as my life?’ The writers of soap operas are just like our ego……their purpose is to create drama out of thin air.
Why do we create drama in our lives?
Drama fulfills the egos need to be separate from everyone and everything else. For example, think of how we feel when we are offended by someone: isolated, misunderstood, alone, etc. And what follows but more isolation in the form of resentment and anger that persists into the future. The ego is getting what it wants: to feel special. To survive, it has to be different, alone, and distinguished from all other forms. Although these feelings may seem satisfying in some strange way, they ultimately lead to suffering.
Seeing Our Life vs Our Life Situation
The key to ending life’s drama is found in our perspective…..an eternal perspective. To rid ourselves of self-inflicted drama we must have the ability to differentiate between our life, or our divine nature, and our life situation which is simply our circumstances. Many people are incapable of distinguishing between the two and therefore build a self-identity around their problems. But here’s the thing: we are not our problems. Problems are temporary, we are eternal. Problems are on the surface, but the essence of who we are is much deeper. To confuse the two would be like defining the ocean by the waves and ripples on the surface. The wonders of the ocean were only discovered when mankind was daring enough to dive into its depths; we then realized that it was more dynamic and abundant than the dry land we considered our home. The same is true with our lives. The ego would have us focus on the dramatic waves of our life situation, however just as with the ocean, the disturbance only occurs on the surface……there are miles of stillness beneath.
Lie #2: I Will Be Happier Tomorrow, Next Month, or Next Year
Here’s the thing: it’s impossible to find true joy in the future. I like to use the buffet analogy (I think of everything in terms of food.)
Here’s how my brain works when I’m at a buffet:
The first thing I do upon arrival is plan my first plate. But when fixing said plate, I’m in a hurry to sit down and begin the feast. But as soon as I sit down to eat, I begin thinking about the composition of the second plate…..and so on. Three empty plates later I find myself stuffed full of food I never focused on eating! Is this not the definition of insanity?
Many of us Lead Entire Lives of this Insanity
If all of our focus is consumed by the future, we are never fully present and therefore miss life! Our ego would have us wait for happiness in the form of the coming weekend, next month’s vacation, or when the house is paid off in ten years, so we can never find true happiness now….which is the only place it actually is.
Have you ever actually taken time to smell the roses?
I don’t mean figuratively, I mean literally taken several minutes to do nothing but admire the appearance and fragrance of a rose. This is the meaning of the cliché right? I did this the other day. As I sat in my kitchen in awe of a beautiful red rose, I had no problems, I had no thoughts of finding happiness right around the next corner…..I had everything I needed in that moment. I can have it now, and so can you.
Lie #3: I am Defined by My Accomplishments
My ego would have me believe that my value as a person is determined by external factors. Some of these metrics of “success” include large scale things such as the success of my business, my work in the community, how my children do in life, the accolades and recognition I accumulate, and so on. The ego would also have me believe that small things such having an idea accepted or winning an argument also adds or detracts from my value as a person.
Lies…..all lies!
The ego understands that the more value we place on our true divine nature, the closer we become to God. So the ego does all it can to turn our attention to external sources of value. It would have us build our identity around our accomplishments instead of around our true nature. Deep down we all know that true peace and joy cannot be obtained through external sources, it can only be found through a conscious connection with God who created and sustains us.
How do we Stop the Lies?
We can’t! But that’s alright, because they don’t need to stop. We simply have to stop believing them.
Here’s how:
1. The first step is to understand that you are being lied to on a daily basis. That there is such a thing as the ego and it does lie to you.
2. The second step is to recognize the lies of the ego as they are being told to you.
3. The third step is to simply observe the ego as it interacts with you in your life. Do not judge it, do not become angry with it….simply watch it. Even smile at it, accept that it is there. To do so forces awareness of it, and by so doing, it becomes impossible to confuse yourself with it. Just as shining light into a dark room eliminates darkness, so too does shining the light of our awareness on the darkness of the ego cause it to shrink.
4. Maintain conscious connection with God through prayer and meditation.
I’m finding that a greater understanding of my ego gives me a deeper perspective on life. As I go through my daily routines I find that although I sometimes allow myself to be deceived, many times I see the ego coming a mile away and chuckle at the insane thoughts it tries to place in my mind. As I do this I become closer to God.
What say you?
