I know we have all heard the verse “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you”

Some may have even heard this one “Faith without works is dead!!!”

In the new world of today, some of us have heard this: “have an attitude of gratitude; be grateful for what you have and then you will attract more of what you want.”

You’ve probably even heard me say, “know your vision and focus with great intention.”

All good stuff but what’s missing is a strategic plan, belief along with dedicated, concentrated action.

So here’s the deal, use what God gave you. Matthew 7:7 says “Ask and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be open unto you.”

Well what are you asking for? Are you clear about “what to ask for”? Are you actually knocking on doors or waiting for god to mysteriously bestow your wants on you for your good samaritan attitude? Some believe if you’re just a good person, you practice gratitude or you pray, you will eventually get what you want.

Well James 2:20 says,  ”But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?”

I don’t care how good you are at being grateful, praying or the good deeds you do – you cannot escape the work; the dedicated concentrated work.

We tend the fail in this part of our daily responsibilities.

Even God worked 6 days and he rested on the 7th day. So we don’t get to sit back and not take consistent action everyday thinking he is going to reward us because we prayed or we worked a little bit.
So here’s what I’m saying:

Believe – you must believe in your vision and destiny. You must believe without doubt that god will deliver you to your destiny.

Matthew 21:22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, “BELIEVING” it shall be done.

And Matthew:21;21 Verily I say unto you, if ye have faith and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree but also if ye shall say unto the mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.

So belief is critical, it makes the impossible possible.

De-mystify manifesting – the problem with the word “manifesting” is it can be unclear. There’s no “how” to do it. So you find yourself manifesting with no real knowing of “how to do it”.

But if you look at one of the definitions in Dictionary.com on manifesting, it will offer the following:

“to make clear or evident to the eye or the understanding; show plainly”

Which leads me to the next step:

Make your path plain and create a strategic plan – no vision or purpose manifested without a plan of action.

And here’s the clincher, you must execute the plan. There’s no escaping the plan. You have to take the actions laid out.

Think about it – here’s a great example and I’m going to be brutal to take the point home. 

So you read the scripture as it is written which is  “ask and it is given unto you. Seek and ye shall find; knock the door will be open unto you.”

 And no sooner than you ask, you get the answer to take seven steps but for some reason you do not do all seven steps you are given. You stop at 2, then you might go into a state of gratitude to manifest your destiny, or pray to ask god to help you or you stop and do something totally off the beating path when what there is to do is step 3,4,5,6, and 7.

That’s what really makes your destiny manifest itself.

Nothing happens by osmosis or in a vacuum. Prayer works, yes; God answers prayers. Meditation works, yes. In the solitude of moments you are given peace and answers to your prayers however nothing happens without action; deliberate consistent concentrated planned action. NOTHING!

No beautiful masterpiece of art, landscape or building ever just appeared. It became a reality by someone laying a foundation and building on it through work or action.

So go to “work” on making things happen.

Your destiny is in YOUR hands. Everything you want is awaiting you, now go get it!

Lisa Thomas is a Vision and Leadership Support Coach, Visionary for Women, Contributing Coach for NBC’s My Carolina Today and Inspirational Speaker. 

For media inquiries or speaking engagement bookings, contact -bookings@thep3group.com. 

Feel free to contact her directly for your P3 Power Session where you will begin the journey of discovery. It will be the best 60 minutes of your life. Remember, power, purpose and vision begins within the spirit of who you are. Contact information for sessions at 910 221 9294 or 704 909 7663

A few years ago I had an opportunity to meet a young woman who owned a bull named “Tiny.” Trust me when I tell you there wasn’t a thing tiny about him. He was massive. He was also spoiled and was her mode of transportation instead of a horse. Talk about thinking out of the box. She also owned a car but when everyone said lets go riding, she would saddle up Tiny and off she would go. The horses gave this bull a wide berth and it was okay for all concerned even though she took a lot of ribbing for it.

Before the ride started this particular day I asked her what I am sure many people have asked her before and that was why a bull instead of a horse? She told me that when she was young on their farm her father and her brothers rode bulls and would not let her because she was a girl. She told herself that one day she would have one of her own and that she hated being told that she couldn’t do certain things because she was female. She raised Tiny since he was born and loved him fiercely. I admired her for moving past the conditioning that her family tried to give her. They had been taught that women and girls did not do certain things and so they in turn taught the same thing. That is how so many of us grow up with certain beliefs because of what others are telling us is true and so we go forward and tell others the same thing.

Our conditioning and our beliefs determine how difficult or smooth our spiritual path may be. It is vital that we examine what we think is true and why? Our beliefs can take us way off track spiritually, physically and emotionally if we do not examine the validity of what we think.

For this young woman who never lost track of the desire to own and ride her own bull. it became a reality. She never had the thought that it would not come true. If she had taken on the belief that girls just did not ride bills she would have never realized her dream.

Few people are aware of the thoughts that pass through their minds. Thinking is performed like a habit, in an automatic manner. If the thoughts are positive, it is good, but if they are negative it can lead to trouble in your life.

The mind is like a small child, who accepts and takes for granted whatever it sees or hears, without judgment and without considering the consequences. If you let your mind behave as it likes and give it total rein and freedom, you lose your freedom. We are constantly flooded with thoughts, ideas and information coming through the five senses and even through the sixth sense of intuition. In fact it has been told to us that on average we have about sixty thousand thoughts a day. We also get information through other people and the media. These thoughts, ideas and information penetrate the mind whether we are aware if it or not.

This outside flow of information messes with our behavior and reactions. It influences the way we think, our preferences, likes and dislikes. It creates prejudice and judgment. It creates fear, worry and doubt. This means that we let outside powers shape our very life.

Where is the freedom in that?

Most people think and believe their thoughts originate from them but have you ever stopped to consider if your thoughts, desires, beliefs and likes or dislikes are really yours? Are they completely original? If there is no filter to process the thoughts that come from the mind, there is no freedom. All your actions become like a puppet on a string, though few will admit it, thus becoming carbon copies of an organization, of outmoded beliefs and ideas or of someone else and how they act and think and believe.

You may object to this and say that the thoughts that pass through your mind are yours, but are they?

Have you deliberately created every thought that entered your mind? Why let outside influences control your mind and life. Why be a slave to other people’s thoughts? Do you want to make your mind free with the gift of free will that was encoded into your very being by your creator or do you prefer to enslave it to others peoples opinions and ideas?

If you leave your mind open to every thought that passes by, you put your life in other people’s hands and without realizing it you accept their thoughts and act in accordance with them. Where is your original thought?

Everybody is susceptible to certain kinds of thoughts than others. Certain thoughts and ideas we usually ignore and others spur us to immediate action. Thoughts concerning subjects we love have more power on us than other thoughts, but even thoughts and ideas we don’t care for, if we are frequently exposed to them; may eventually sink into our subconscious mind and influence us.

Everybody has desires, ambitions, and dreams that he or she may foster from childhood. They may be the thoughts of parents, teachers or friends and have lodged in our minds and are carried around throughout our lives. Are they necessary? Do you need all this excessive baggage?

Think about all the negative stuff that other people pile on us. Maybe it is a dad who bitterly tells his young son that women are bad due to a divorce. His son may grow up thinking that all women are bad and have horrible relationships because of it. It could be the obsessive mother who tells her young daughter that a house has to be spotless and this young girl grows up thinking an unmade bed is sinful. I could go on and on with the list. My mother told me that no matter what your husband may do you should always bow to his wishes right or wrong. I can’t begin to tell you how much grief that caused me in my earlier life until I finally knew that this was the way she thought and was not my truth at all.

In order to reduce the power of outside influences and thoughts in your life, you need to be aware of what is coming into your mind and ask yourself if it is true, if you like it or not, does it feel good to you and are you willing to accept it as a fact? In illness not being aware of your thoughts will make you sicker if you are listening to everyone out there and their ideas about your illness. Newly pregnant mothers are scared half to death when they listen without qualifying the information what other women who have given birth tell them.

You do not have to accept each and every thought, idea or information. Think and find out if you entertain certain thoughts because you decided to do so, or because they popped into your head due to outside influences.

It is not easy to be fully aware and with your thoughts. It takes practice and a desire to live an authentic life and to be unique. You mind may revolt over the control as it is not used to it. If you want to be the master of your own life, you should not let other people’s thoughts, desires and motives rule your life…unless you choose to. It is about choice,your choice. When you were created you were so incredible and unique. Are you still unique?

Are you blossoming into your full potential and using your mind all on your own? Do you trust your own thoughts or is it just more comfortable to go with popular thought?

When you put your spiritual practices fully into your life of gratitude and staying in the now, It becomes easier until pretty soon you are the driver of your mind not just a passenger. This is just something to think about.

Rev. Diannia Baty is a Spiritual Life Coach, author and speaker.

by Diannia Baty

It has occurred to me lately that people are simply not thinking outside the box. We have a tendency to think about life from an old mode of what or how to overcome or solve a dilemma. If what has always worked before is not working now, it is time to change it.

In other words, if what you are looking at is not changing then change the way you look at it. If ever there was a time to change the way you think about things, this is it. There is no denying the fact that our world has changed. The only way to survive this change and do it magnificently is to change with it. Fighting against it will not work.

All around the world fortunes are being lost but also found. People are losing their homes to foreclosure. Many of you have lost your jobs and have no income. Some of you are sick and have no health insurance. Relationships are ending because of all the stress that is present. Crime is up because unfortunately some people have used this as a way out of the box. The universal question of “why am I here,” is sounding around the world. Rampant materialism is ending.

The reason there is a Starbucks on almost every corner is because we supported by our purchase gourmet coffee that is almost $4.00 a cup. If you bought one every day for a workweek it added up to an average of $24.00 a week or almost $100.00 a month for coffee! That boggles my mind. That, my readers is over $1000.00 a year for a cup of coffee. No wonder there are so many stores. Now, as times become tight many of these stores are closing. Is it any wonder? My purchases at a Starbucks were a rare treat and certainly not the norm.

Afternoons spent at the home improvement centers are like going to the mall for a lot of you. You go in with the idea in mind to get a few light bulbs and you come out three hours later having spent at least $100.00. I have been guilty of doing this. I leave my credit cards AT HOME now. I have been doing this for some time. If you can see clearly that things are changing then start making changes NOW!

If you have a job and you are complaining then you are not thinking outside the box. Having employment now is more of a blessing than you know. Bloom where you are planted and shine like you have never shone before. Keeping this kind of outlook will insure that you will attract good things into your life. We are universally gravitating toward something better and higher for ourselves. Many of us have never felt peace.

Indeed many of us have never felt happy. We don’t have a clue what it is. We think it is our job so we identify with it. But that is only what we do and not who we are. Any deep spiritual happiness is out of our reach simply because we have not done our due diligence where our soul is concerned. We don’t know who we are much less why are we here? As things and circumstances are being removed from our lives, we quickly go to a default setting of pining after what is gone. What we should be doing is expressing gratitude for what we do have and not for what we don’t have.

Change is a constant. What is happening is not a removal but a transmutation.

Look at the opportunities that are opening up for you. How are you going to fill your life now? If you are sitting there moaning instead of writing on that novel that you haven’t touched for months…shame on you. If you are sitting there telling the whole world what has been done to you instead of thinking about what you can do. Let the cant’s go. This word should not be in your vocabulary.

How can you think outside the box right now?

I am telling you that your creator is leading the way with guidance and signposts along the way. You are being assisted right this moment. Once you understand and use it in your life things will start to change dramatically. So, you have to start thinking outside the box with God too. Have you had God in a box? I am being constantly reminded not to box my spirit in. How about you? Are you feeling a little boxed in? Open the box and allow the expansion to follow. You can tap into more peace and happiness than you can imagine. Stop creating more problems for yourself and create more solutions. God has always told me that if I wanted peace and joy, I had to learn how to be peaceful and joyous. It makes sweet sense to me.

Creating Heaven on Earth What if we woke up every morning and celebrated the day – happy to be alive and ready for the new adventure? What if we greeted and acknowledged everyone that we meet with love, compassion and respect no matter how they appeared or behaved? What if we accepted challenges as just a part of our life’s experience with no negative inner or external reaction as they arrived and departed? What if we only anticipated and lived with the knowledge that God was taking care of all our needs all the time?

What I am describing here is a new way of living and of being. If we could move our consciousness totally into one of love, acceptance and acknowledging the oneness of everything all the time, even part of the time for a start, our lives would reflect a whole new picture.

Heaven would become a part of our earthly experience. If we each assume responsibility for our personal role in releasing critical judgments and for looking through the eyes of Divine discernment, the world would change over night on a personal and global basis. Identifying our negative thoughts and transforming them to support the life we want, is a huge step for many, but a necessary one. Those situations that we label as difficulties would dissolve as we consciously transform negative thoughts into a cheerleading squad to assist us in realizing our dreams. .

I find myself having really great days, where I know heaven as a part of my soul and that I am able to share and connect with the heavenly perspective in all that I see. I also find that I have days where I wake up in critical judgment of myself and of the world. I fall from heaven suffering into my fears and in the thoughts of separation. Sinking down only to return to remembering the only resolution, the only true path is to return in consciousness back to the Kingdom and to live in this higher perspective.

As you can see the world around us (in business, government, military, religious organizations, and family structures) is trying to choose whether to change from the comfort of the old way of behaving, which has created chaos, fear, deception, poverty, and power struggles, to learning to live differently by climbing the ladder of consciousness. The world is struggling to release old negative behaviors, thought forms and old paradigms in order to make positive shifts both individually and collectively. As each person and organization chooses to embody and live in this heavenly consciousness, it makes it easier for the next person to make the shift. When the essence of what we display is truly love, compassion, respect, faith and gratitude, we create a vibration, an energy field, grounding heaven on earth. Your presence then naturally lifts the spirits of others. It impacts where you work and where you pray. Healing occurs. Negative defenses are dissolved. The energy of heaven becomes permanent on earth, when ever you are and where your mind goes. You see abundance and you are peace, and this spreads around the world.

So when you wake up tomorrow morning and every morning give gratitude for another day. Immerse yourself in the knowledge of the Divine that flows through you as rivers of living water. Anticipate and be open to peaceful resolution to life’s challenges. Send loving thoughts to yourself and to others. Know deep within your heart that your role is to establish heaven on earth. Throughout the day visit your consciousness to ensure that you are creating heaven wherever you are.

If any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, just as the scriptures have said, the rivers of living water shall flow from within him. John 7:21 37-38

Join Dawn Fleming on April 4th , in P3’s teleseminar: Releasing Negative Thought Forms that Limit Our Success, Empowering Women to Live their Truth

Dawn Fleming, is a holistic health practitioner and teacher, author, and spiritual advisor. http://www.energytransformations.org Join her free ezine, check out her transforming meditation CDs.