Spiritual Transformation and a Deeper Walk of Faith

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L.D. Turner

Gradually, through my personal experience, I have at last come to the conclusion that perhaps the most significant aspect of the process of personal change occurs right at the beginning. We may have many fits and starts, take a step forward and two backwards, but real progress only starts when we, deep in our spiritual heart, come to truly believe and accept that in Christ, we are new creations. Once we fully take this truth on board, real miracles can begin to occur. Until we do, our progress will be at best, tenuous.

One vital aspect of our new identity in Christ is that the Holy Spirit lives in us, shines in us, and reveals to us things of which we were previously unaware. In addition, we are also empowered to make the positive changes necessary to make our lives more fulfilling, rewarding, and aligned with God’s will and purpose. This does not mean that we will no longer have struggles, trials, and difficulties dealing with our old, habitual way of living. We will. However, by truly accepting our status as new creations we are assured of victory.

Lying dormant inside of every man, woman, and child is a power that is more potent than you might imagine – a power that can literally change your life in many ways. In order to activate that dormant power, you first must come to believe, really believe, that it exists. To some extent, this divine power works whether you believe it or not and even if you are not conscious of its existence. But when you become aware of it and believe in it, it is like a turbo charger has been placed on your ability to effect positive change in your life, so long as this change is in keeping with God’s principles.

Please understand that God did not create you to grovel in the dirt like some miserable worm. In the past, some Christian sects have taught that you must always keep before you the fact that you are a lowly, miserable sinner and that nothing in you is worthy of even a second glance from our Holy God.

Unfortunately, this kind of teaching has run rampant in the Body of Christ and, like a sick, festering tumor, it has reached rather deep into the collective Christian psyche. It is a shame and a tragedy beyond belief and I am sure that somewhere in the bowels of Hell, Satan is chuckling that he didn’t even have to lift a finger to cause this state of affairs. We gave up our power voluntarily, due to our own faulty theology.
Those who believe that humankind consists of a collection of miserable, sinner-worms do a great dishonor to Christ. Through this negative theology they discount the great work accomplished by Christ on the cross and only pay lip service to the sanctification granted by the Resurrection of the Master. Again, it is a shame and a slap in the fact of Christ who gave so very, very much for us.

The reality is that as Christians, we are part of a holy, powerful family of which Jesus was the “first of many.” No, we are not what Jesus was, an incarnation of God. But, through the gift of his life, mission, death, resurrection, and ascension, we have become powerful beings with the divine potential to be like he was. Jesus was our divine prototype and he gave us the authorization and the power source (the Holy Spirit) to do “even greater works.” No my friend, you are no sniveling little legless piece of flesh, living in the dirt. You are, instead, a new creation in Christ and a child of God.

If you don’t understand, accept, and apply this divine fact, your life will be much more difficult. The question before you involves a matter of choice. Will you be a sluggish believer, slogging your way through life satisfied with mediocrity and the status quo? Or, will you choose to reach out with an open hand and an open mind and accept the gifts the Master has already arranged for you? Will you settle for a life of “just enough” to get by? Or, will you seize your divine power and authority as a child of the Living God and realize the great potential placed in you before you were even conceived?

It’s your choice and no one, absolutely no one else’s.

With these thoughts in mind, I encourage you to spend the next 21 days (you can do more if you wish, but try not to do less) making the following positive, declarative prayer over your life. It is entitled, A Prayer for Deeper Belief:

Lord, I trust your word and your word tells me that if I have faith, even faith as small as a mustard seed, then what I speak in that faith will come to pass. I thank you Lord for giving me this power and this privilege and I pray that you increase my faith day by day, hour by hour, and minute by minute.

I declare and proclaim in faith right now, at this very moment, that in Christ I am a new creation. The old has gone and the new has come. I also proclaim that I am single-minded and that any vestiges of doubt, known and unknown, are removed from my heart and I go forth in confidence as a child of the Living God, declaring blessing over my life and that of my family. I trust in the power of faith that fills my spoken word and, just as the Father’s word does not return empty, neither does mine.

I firmly believe in these divine principles because they have been laid down by the Master, the very matrix through which the world and all that is in it was created.

In the name of Jesus I pray…

© L.D. Turner 2011/All Rights Reserved

A Personal Prayer: Identity and Optimism

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L.D. Turner

It is often said that prayer is a personal thing and this is a true statement. Prayer is the one place where we can take off our masks, open our hearts, and speak openly and freely with our Creator. At the same time, some prayers are meant to be shared. I know in my own spiritual journey I have often been inspired by the prayers of others. In fact, there have been numerous occasions that the prayerful words of other have triggered new insights and valuable new pespectives on things.

Like most things, I suspect each person has to make up his or her mind about using the prayers of others.

As mentioned above, I have frequently found blessings in using the prayers of other Christians, especially those who have walked the path at a level much deeper than myself. Significant figures of the past immediately come to mind when I think of prayer: Andrew Murray, E.M. Bounds, William Law, Thomas A' Kempis, John and Charles Wesley, just to name a few.

I have especially found the practice of "praying the scriptures" to be of consistent value to me. This powerful practice has received quite a bit of ink of late, but it should also be noted that this sort of praying has a long history in Christian tradition. Further, I suspect that the discipline of praying the scriptures in a positive manner was far more widespread than we are aware of. After all, we only know of those who have published their ideas on the subject, as well as those who have shared their own personal prayers. I don't feel it is a huge jump of faith to believe that for everyone who wrote on this subject, there were many more who simply practiced the discipline for their own edification.

Whenever I pray the scriptures, I keep several guidelines in mind. First, I find passages of scripture that are clearly related to what I am praying about. Second, I always form the prayer in positive terms and, as much as possible, put my words in the present tense. Doing things this way is a result of my own personal experimentation with the discipline of praying the scriptures. Personally, I find my prayer time more rewarding and positive if I use relevant scriptures, couched in the present tense. However, that doesn't imply you or anyone else should pray in this manner. My only suggestion is to keep at it, be persistent and see where the Spirit leads you.

As an example, I would like to share a personal prayer wtih you. Since composing this prayer, I have used it many times with the goal of letting the words and principles soak deep into my sub-conscious mind. That way, the prayer becomes more personal - it becomes a part of me.

A bit of background: this prayer, entitled, "Father of Lights," came to me during a time when I was looking to the Bible for a deeper understanding of my identity in Christ. Paul speaks often of the fact that, as Christians, we are "in Christ" and also states that we should take solace and inspiration from the reality of "Christ in you." As the weeks passed, I experienced a deeper awareness of my new identity "in Christ" and this knowledge gave me an encouraging sense of optimism. If what Paul says is true, and I believe that it is, we Christians have every reason to be optimistic, not only in the next world, but especially in this one.

Feel free to use this prayer whatever manner you discern, with the help of the Holy Spirit, is best for you. If you post the prayer or publish it, please cite its origin.

Father of Lights

Father of Lights, you have said that in aligning with you I am a Child of the Light. I thank you for that honor and privilege and also thank you that you have made me a new creation. Today, I seek to take possession of my reborn identity in you and I thank you for providing me with the ability to do so, through the blessed work of the Holy Spirit.

Father, I know you have placed in me from birth a right, preserving and steadfast spirit and I know that the Holy Spirit will empower me to contact, develop, embrace and enhance those divine qualities, all to your glory and for the sake of others as well as for the purpose of growing in sacred character.

I know Father that above all, you are a God of restoration and a God of renewal. I know that according to your holy Word, that you are, at this very moment, renewing in me the mind of Christ – the most sacred mind. Your Spirit is at work in me today, enabling me to live a life of integrity, enthusiasm and empowering me to maintain a commitment to excellence. I thank you Father for your faithfulness and the blessings you are bestowing on me today, both seen and unseen.

Father, thank you for your unfailing faithfulness. You have proven time and time again that you are there, walking as my companion, even when I don’t see you and even more when I don’t acknowledge your presence. I know that you have said that you desire my best and that all things, whether I can understand them or not, work together for my greatest good. Therefore, looking to you, I expect good and good alone.


Father of Lights:


I thank you for your presence with me;


I thank you for your presence in me;


I thank you for protecting me;


I thank you for providing for me;

I thank you for empowering me.


I am grateful my Lord, knowing that I will find in you all I will ever need.


(In the name of Jesus, the name at which every knee shall bow - Amen)


© L.D. Turner 2010/All Rights Reserved

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Christian Optimism is Grounded in God's Love and Grace

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L.D. Turner

One of the very first praise songs my daughter Salina learned in the Christian pre-school she attended was the same classic that I learned when I was her tender age.

Jesus loves me, this I know
‘Cause the Bible tells me so

Chances are this is the first praise song most of us learned, especially if we grew up in and around the church. Interestingly enough, these innocent words of this simple children’s song contain two of the most basic yet strategic reasons for being a Christian optimist.

First, the song gives us the basic premise of the gospel message right out of the gate, “Jesus loves me, this I know.” Christian optimism begins with the fundamental biblical truth that God loves us, whether or not we deserve it. The fact that I am loved by God (as are you) is the crown jewel of the gospel and the cornerstone of Christian optimism.

“For God so loved the world…”

So begins the most famous verse in scripture. Along with the simple praise song we have been talking about, I suspect that John 3:16 is one of the first Bible verses we came in contact with. Just as in the Jesus Love Me hymn, the message here is that God loves us in a way that we can’t imagine. He loves us enough to offer up the greatest sacrifice that can be offered and, tied to our belief in this truth, comes the incredible love gift of eternal life.

“Shall never perish, but have everlasting life.”

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I have to pause, pray a little, and let the enormity of the implications of this all-too-familiar passage of scripture truly sink in.

“Shall never perish, but have everlasting life.”

With the promise of such an incredible gift flowing out of God’s heart of divine love, how can we be anything but optimistic? In fact, I think anything short of radical optimism in response to what God has done may be right on the cusp of sin.

As Christians we often hear about God’s love for us but perhaps it is the very frequency at which these words, “God’s love,” are spoken that make us deaf to the real message here. Unlike other religions and belief systems, Christians worship a God that is proactive in his desire for us to enter into a life-giving and life-changing relationship with him. Remember the father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son? He didn’t just sit at home hoping that his wayward child would some day find his way home. No, the father lived in faith and positive expectancy. As a result, he went out to a place that overlooked the road and waited in anticipation for that tiny speck to appear on the horizon and, as the speck drew closer and grew larger, he ran out to meet his prodigal. It is this kind of proactive love on the part of God that makes our human capacity to love even possible.

John, who liked to call himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved” tells us, “We love because he first loved us.” As we can clearly see from this scripture, not only is our optimism grounded in God’s love, but also our capacity to love itself.

In closing, let me say that if you are seeking justification for Christian optimism, just turn to scripture. The Bible is filled with reasons, stated in ways direct and sublime, which give us great cause to be optimistic. If you happen to be person with a long history of pessimism or thinking that gravitates toward the negative, take specific scriptures that give you reason to be optimistic and read them over and over. Turn them into positive statements and use these powerful scriptures as affirmations. Doing this is a standard part of what we at Sacred Mind Ministries call ‘proactive prayer.”

Here is an example. Philippians 4:13 tells us, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Also, 2 Corinthians 5:17 affirms that, “…anyone who belongs to Christ is a new creation. The old life is gone and the new life has begun.” Turning this pair of powerful scriptures into a positive, proactive prayer, you might say:

I take possession of the reality that in Christ I am a new creation and that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

If so moved, you might even add:

Behold, the old life has passed away and my new life has begun.

Repeating these positive, proactive and affirmative prayers repeatedly helps sink the potent words of scripture deep into your subconscious mind, bring a healing presence and a voice counter to those old negative tapes that have been playing for so long. Granted, change won’t come overnight but believe me, friend, it will come. Few people went through life more negative than I did. I could find a dark lining in any silver cloud and often did. God’s grace, working through the personhood of the blessed Holy Spirit, has helped me heal many of those deep-seated scars in my psyche. Don’t doubt the process of positive repetition of scripture – it will work wonders.

As they say in the Nike ads – Just Do It!

(c) L.D. Turner 2010/All Rights Reserved

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Positive Prayer: Releasing Negative Imprints

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L.D. Turner

When a person first discovers the principles and the power of the various spiritual laws the Creator has put at our disposal, he or she is often filled with hope, enthusiasm, and positive motivation. This is both natural and as it should be, because these principles are blessings that God has given us and intends for us to use, especially when we need to make major life changes in general and changes that help us to grow spiritually in particular.

However, all too often this initial burst of enthusiasm is dampened when, despite applying these powerful spiritual principles correctly, the spiritual aspirant seems to obtain minimal results. This can be a frustrating experience, especially for those who are sincere spiritual seekers that want to not only improve themselves, but the world around them. Invariably, however, most of us reach this point when we consistently work with the Laws of Manifestation. Indeed, this can be a highly critical crossroads along the journey of spiritual development. More than a few dedicated seekers have thrown in the towel when this sort of experience begins to repeat itself with regularity. Believe me, I know because I have been there – done that.

What is even more tragic about this situation is the reality that this crisis can be worked through without too much difficulty. All it takes is a degree of awareness regarding the less-than-pristine nature of our subconscious mind and knowledge of the proper prayer tools to deal with it.

The Laws of Manifestation, those principles at play when we work to bring something from the spiritual world into manifestation on the physical plane, would work perfectly all the time if they operated through perfectly pure minds in a perfectly pure world. The unfortunate reality is, however, neither the minds in question nor the world in which they operate are anywhere near pure. We all have subconscious patterns of belief that operate beyond our capacity to control them, largely because we are unaware of them. These patterns of belief can sometimes sabotage our best intentions and, if we want to become more adept at applying spiritual law, we have to deal with these subconscious themes.

Although these subconscious themes can be stubborn at times, I have found that the most direct, effective, and simple method of dealing with these obstacles is through positive prayer. In essence, we apply the principles of affirmative prayer to the very things that seem to be blocking our prayers in the first place. As ironic as it may seem, I have found this to be the most consistently effective tool.

With that said, let me share with you a simple prayer that I use when I run up against the sort of thing we are discussing in this post. If you are struggling with stubborn, deeply entrenched patterns of negativity, I encourage you to give it a try. Like all affirmative prayer, the key is to generate feeling in your prayer and repeat it many times. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither were your subconscious impediments and imprints. Likewise, they won’t crumble in a day, either. Here is the prayer:

Releasing Negative Imprints

Through the healing power of the God’s One True Light, I now release all negative imprints and impediments in my body, mind, will, and spirit. I release these personal delusions and they are no longer part of me, nor do they create obstacles to the perfect application of the Divine Laws of Manifestation. I am now cleansed and perfected – I am healed, healthy, happy, and whole.

By the power of the Holy Spirit and in the sacred name of Christ, so it is.

Amen.

© L.D. Turner 2010/All Rights Reserved

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Renewing the Mind: The Power of Affirmative Prayer

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L.D. Turner

Renewing the Mind: Conscious Cognition and Affirmative Prayer

Throughout his letters, Paul repeatedly demonstrates his understanding of the importance of dealing with our minds. The Apostle clearly recognizes that the mind is where our behaviors and actions begin and he also understands that it is in the mental realm where the enemy is most likely to launch his most diabolical attacks. It is for this reason that Paul tells his readers over and over again how important it is for the believer to renew the mind.

At Sacred Mind, clients and visitors often here phrases and terms related to dealing with the mind in general and the process of renewing the mind in particular. In our training programs on “Strategies for Renewing the Mind” and “Who We Are In Christ,” we typically explore the importance of developing what we call Conscious Cognition. Basically, conscious cognition involves assisting participants develop the ability to be acutely aware of their mental functioning. The more conscious we are about out thinking, the more equipped we are to master our minds.

“Conscious Cognition” is based on the teachings of Paul regarding the renewal of the mind, tearing down strongholds, and taking thoughts captive for Christ. The actual practice of conscious cognition involves disciplines such as positive thinking, positive imaging, positive statements, and affirmative prayer.

We have found that the most fruitful exercise for most people involves what is popularly referred to as Affirmative Prayer.

How to Form an Affirmative Prayer

1. Affirm your identity as a child of God and a new creation in Christ.
2. Affirm your positive connection with the Divine and the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life.
3. Voice your desired goal in positive, affirmative words in the present tense.
4. Express your gratitude for having your desire granted by God.
5. Close prayer in Jesus’ name with a firm and joyous Amen!


After your formal prayer session, your Affirmative Prayer process continues in three important ways. First, maintain a sense of positive expectation in which you faithfully believe your prayer has already been answered. This is not wishful thinking or a “fake it til you make it” pretense. Instead, it is the faithful acknowledgement that, just as scripture promises, your blessing has already been provided on the spiritual world. This brings us to the second manner in which your Affirmative Prayer process continues. You act as if the object that you prayed for has already been obtained in the physical world. What this does is aid in the process of bringing your already granted blessing from the spiritual world down into the flesh and blood reality of your daily life.

The third way in which your Affirmative Prayer session continues involves a personalized affirmation. This type of affirmation is a short phrase, usually gleaned from Step Three in the process described above. For example, if you prayed for an increased sense of confidence and courage, your personalized affirmation might be:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; I am courageous and confident in all my endeavors.

The important point here is to repeat this shortened form of your prayer session as often as possible. It is especially important to repeat your personalized affirmation when you first arise in the morning, and just before going to sleep. Another method that has been helpful for many Christ-followers is to coordinate their affirmation with their breathing, just as when performing “breath prayers.”

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. (inhale)
I am confident and courageous in all my endeavors. (exhale)

I have found affirmative prayer to be an excellent modality of approaching our relationship with the Creator. As stated earlier, effective affirmative prayer is always based on scriptural promises. The actual process of affirmative prayer as described in the preceding paragraphs is not designed to remind God of his promises. God does not need to be reminded of anything. Criticizing the method of affirmative prayer based on the “reminding God” notion is a mistaken and futile practice.

Affirmative prayer does help remind us of our need for God, our utter dependence upon God, and of the generous blessings he has already provided for us. With these thoughts in mind, let’s look at an example of an affirmative prayer that meets the criteria laid out above.

I take possession of the reality that I am a child of the Living God and a new creation in Christ. I acknowledge that because I have been adopted into the family of the One True God, His eternal light shines in me and through me, casting His presence and His love onto a dark, hurting world. The Holy Spirit, a full one-third of my Heavenly Father lives in me, making me powerful and whole, capable of doing great things for the glory of God.

Therefore, I go forth each day with confidence and courage, meeting the challenges of life with faith and optimism, knowing that the Lord is within me, equipping me for any circumstance.

Lord, I thank you for your presence within me, beside me, above me, and in every circumstance, and I am especially grateful for your gifts of courage and confidence, the very things I requested as I approached your throne.

With love and gratitude, I pray these things in Jesus’ most holy name, the name at which every knee shall bow. Amen…


Remember also that the abbreviated form of the prayer is:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; I am courageous and confident in all my endeavors.

I have found that for both the long form and the short form, repetition is the key to success. Our bad habits of thought were formed in the exact same way as we, along with the Holy Spirit, will go about forming new habits of thinking that will move forward the process of renewing our minds. Each time we repeat our positive affirmations and our affirmative prayers, we make a little progress toward our goal. We repeat it, and we move forward a little more – and on and on it goes. The good news here is that we can soon begin to see change taking place and that change, no matter how small, is significant. When we experience the fact that change is possible; when we see through our own experience that we are actually making gains – this provides us with the ability to live in hope and optimism.

As time passes and we remain faithful in our practice, the pace of change accelerates. Our friends and associates will notice that we are somehow different. Even if they can’t put their finger on exactly what has changed, they know that for some reason you are easier to be around. Whereas before you often greeted them with a flat expression and a diverted gaze, now you approach them with a smile and look them in the eye. And guess what, my friend? This opens a door for you to share the source of the “new you.” As you continue to manifest the fact that you are, indeed, a new creation, you will have increased opportunities to share how this all came about.

Renewal of the mind, as Paul pointed out, is the key to an effective walk of faith. If you have been ignoring Paul’s insistence of cognitive renewal, why not get back to it? And if you have been avoiding this teaching, why not push yourself to get on with it? Your progress will be minimal until you place a renewed mind in the new you, the new creation.

Also, I suggest that you keep in mind the goal of all this work toward the mind’s renewal, as well as other disciplines in your program of spiritual formation. You want to get to the point where, as the Apostle, you can say with confidence the four words that best describe the state of the truly transformed Christian’s life:

Not I, but Christ…

© L.D. Turner 2010/All Rights Reserved

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Today's Encouraging Word

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The more you connect with Spirit, follow inner divine guidance, and surrender to divine will, the more grace becomes potent in your life. In harmony with your true purpose, your desires attune to divine desires. Your heart beats with the heart of God. Your body becomes an instrument for God’s symphony to play. Your breath is the breath of the Almighty. Your life is divine life…..When you connect with God and become a vehicle of Spirit, then you see the world through the eyes of Spirit. You hear the voice of God. Your hands do the work of God. You walk in God’s footsteps. Your heart opens to God’s holy presence. Your mind attunes to God’s mind.

Susan Shumsky
(from Miracle Prayer)

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A Primer on Affirmative Prayer

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L.D. Turner

One of the most effective tools that we have in the process of following Paul’s injunction to renew our minds (see Romans 12:2) is “Affirmative Prayer.” My personal experience with this positive method of prayer, along with that of many clients over the years, has demonstrated to my satisfaction the effectiveness of affirmative prayer in bringing about remarkable gains in spiritual formation and personal change, provided it is carried out with commitment, consistency, and especially, simplicity.
Affirmative prayer is a fairly straight forward process but, as with many things, we humans have a marked tendency to complicate it. I know this from past experience because I have been as guilty of exhibiting this “genius for complexity” as anyone – probably more than most. It was with some degree of difficulty that I eventually learned that with most things it is best to keep it simple. With this truth in mind, let’s see if we can simplify the basics of affirmative prayer by stating the following:

When we use our affirmative thinking, put into the containers which we call words, and animate it speaking with living faith, we are able to manifest that which we desire, providing of course, that it is in alignment with God’s will.

There is really no need to mystify the process any more than that. Granted, the underlying laws and cosmic principles associated with affirmative prayer can seem a bit mysterious, but in actuality, even the laws are not all that complicated.

It is essential that we understand that this process begins with our thinking and moves forward from there. Everything that we see began somewhere as someone’s thought. Creation in all its glory began as God’s thought and came into being at God’s command, using His words. He literally called things into existence from the world of the unseen, into the world of the seen. On a smaller scale, this is how we manifest reality as well. Our thoughts begin the process and or faith-filled words empower and animate the process that results in the creation of the thing desire.
Two important factors are also involved in the process of bringing our desired outcome down out of the spirit world and into concrete manifestation. These are emotion and intention. Centuries of working with these principles has revealed that the more deeply you feel about your desired goal, the more readily it manifests in physical reality. I have found that this is precisely where imagination comes into play. When we clearly visualize what it is we desire we arouse our feeling nature, which is a natural part of our soul. We facilitate this by focusing not only on repetition of our positive prayer, but we also form a clear, concise image of the desired outcome and bring our attention to bear on that outcome. We allow the feelings that arise to become magnified and these feelings, along with our thought, image, and faith-filled words form a powerful magnetic force that will pull our desired outcome out of the spirit world, where it already exists, down into physical reality.

Intention is perhaps the most important component of affirmative prayer. Your intention is what gathers and focuses your cognitive energy in a specific direction. It is for this precise reason that your intention must be constructed carefully and spoken clearly. This is not some sort of cosmic, New Age mumbo jumbo, but instead, is a fundamental principle of positive cognition. Your words of intention accomplish several vital functions in the process of affirmative prayer. First, speaking your intention gives direction to your energy and gives firm direction to your prayer. Second, your intention lets your subconscious mind know exactly what it wants to bring down from the spirit realm and why. And finally, your spoken words contain the power necessary to animate the unfolding of the process of affirmative prayer. As stated before, your words, especially when joined to a vital foundation of faith, serve as a magnet to attract the very thing you desire.

So keep these two aspects of affirmative prayer before you at all times. Positive emotion amplifies the power of your prayer and positive intention supplies even more punch to the process. Without these two vital aspects of prayer, you may find your prayers unfocused, impotent, and ineffective.
Another key principle when using affirmative prayer can be expressed this way: use frequent repetition in present tense. Your patterns of negative thinking and behaving were not formed overnight. Instead, these unhealthy thoughts were repeated over and over again until they were firmly planted in your subconscious mind. Once that happened, these damaging thought patterns seemed to have developed a life of their own. This same principle of repetition, however, can also be utilized to your benefit. First, understand that positive thoughts are more powerful than negative thoughts. Formal research and well as the experience of countless pilgrims who have used these methods of cognitive reprogramming have confirmed the fact that one positive thought can counteract many negative ones, provided the positive thought is constructed in the present tense and is repeated many times.

The principles we have discussed here are basic but essential to the process of creating and using affirmative prayers. As stated at the outset, these principles are not overly complicated, unless of course we choose to make them so. My suggestion is that you study the relevant literature available on affirmative prayer, positive thinking, positive imaging, and the Law of Attraction. By doing so you can deepen your understanding of what is going on when you utilize affirmative prayer as a part of your spiritual path. However, don’t let your studies lead you into any unnecessary confusion or complexity. Above all:

Keep it simple!

© L.D. Turner 2010/ All Rights Reserved

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Today's Encouraging Word

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Be silent and listen to God. Let your heart be in such a state of preparation that His Spirit may impress upon you such virtues that will please Him. Let all within you listen to Him….

Don’t spend your time making plans that are just cobwebs – a breath of wind will come and blow them away. You have withdrawn from God and now you find that God has withdrawn the sense of His presence from you. Return to Him and give Him everything without reservation. There will be no peace otherwise. Let go of all you plans – God will do what He sees best for you.

Francis Fenelon

Today's Encouraging Word

Life works by direct affirmation. There is no other way for it to work. This is why we are told to be still and know that all things are possible to God. We are told to affirm, positively to assert, to declare this truth, in the face of all apparent opposition; to proclaim abundance in the midst of poverty; to affirm health in the midst of sickness; to decree joy in the midst of sorrow; and to announce the kingdom of God here and now….Why are we told to do this? Because this is the way Life works. It knows nothing about discord or fear; It forever sings the song of Its own being. This song bursts forth from the joy of Its own inner wholeness. We, too, could become part of this celestial choir if we knew how rightly to affirm Life.

Ernest Holmes

An Example of Scriptural Affirmative Prayer

L. Dwight Turner

Although we have published a good bit of material on how to construct and utilize positive biblical declarations or affirmative prayers, from time to time readers ask that we publish more of these prayers on line. In reponse to these requests, the following is an affirmative prayer, based on the passage of scripture from 2 Peter 1: 3-7. First, the scripture reads:

His divine power has given us everything need for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature.

For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love.

(New Living Translation)

The affirmation based on this passage of scripture is:

I am a child of the Living God;
His divine power has provided all I need
To live a life of godly excellence.

I receive and accept God’s great promises,
So I may participate in his divine nature.

• In Christ I am a new creation, filled with faith and goodness.
• In Christ I am a new creation, filled with goodness and knowledge.
• In Christ I am a new creation, filled with knowledge and self-control.
• In Christ I am a new creation, filled with self-control and patient endurance.
• In Christ I am a new creation, filled with patient endurance and godliness.
• In Christ I am a new creation, filled with godliness and mutual affection.
• In Christ I am a new creation, filled with mutual affection and love.

In Jesus most holy name, Amen.

Suggested use: Pray the first part of the affirmation daily, and also select on of the seven affirmative statements and use it for a day. In seven days, you will have prayed through the entire passage.

The value of this kind of prayer is magnified through three forces: positive intention, repetition, and faith. Have as your intention to bring about these positive changes in your life; after the first week, select on of the seven affirmative statements and pray it at least three times a day, preferably on arising, at lunch time, and before going to sleep. As the Master instructed us and as Peter tells us, have faith (even as small as a mustard seed) that God has already provided this blessing for you and you are, by praying in an affirmative manner in good faith, bringing that desired biblical quality into physical manifestation in your life.

Done with faith and consistency, this prayer will change your life.

I Have Heard Lord

I Have Heard, Lord

Lord, I have heard your Holy Word and I have understood. You are the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. You never grow weak or weary and no one truly fathoms the depth of your understanding.

You give power to the weak and strength to the powerless. I trust you, Lord, and, according to your promise, I will find new strength and soar high on wings like eagles. I will run and not grow weary; I will walk and not faint.

Even more Lord, I am blessed because I know you have called me back from the ends of the earth and have said, “______________ you are my servant. I have chosen you and will not throw you away.” For this I am ever grateful my God and I am not afraid because I know you are with me. I have abundant courage because I know that you are my God. I draw my strength from you and know that you are always there to help me when I need you. I am more than blessed my God; you hold me up with your victorious right hand.

[from Isaiah 40:28-31; 41:9-10.]

(c)L.D. Turner 2010/ All Rights Reserved

A Prayer for Deeper Faith and Removal of Doubt

The Holy Spirit nudged me to post this prayer, which I composed some years ago, on this site today. Whenever I receive such a leading by the Spirit, I am not one to resist. I have found that these messages from the Spirit are pregnant with great possibilities. Perhaps there is someone out there right now who needs to see this prayer and begin to repeat it in his or her life. It is my sincere prayer that this is so. The prayer, which you should speak over your life every morning for at least a month, is as follows:

Lord, I trust your word and your word tells me that if I have faith, even faith as small as a mustard seed, then what I speak in that faith will come to pass. I thank you Lord for giving me this power and this privilege and I pray that you increase my faith day by day, hour by hour, and minute by minute.

I declare and proclaim in faith right now, at this very moment, that any vestiges of doubt, known and unknown, are removed from my heart and I go forth in confidence as a child of the Living God, declaring blessing over my life and that of my family. I trust in the power of faith that fills my spoken word and, just as the Father’s word does not return empty, neither does mine.

I firmly believe in these divine principles because they have been laid down by the Master, the very matrix through which the world and all that is in it was created.

In the name of Jesus I pray…

Amen

(c) L.D. Turner 2009/ All Rights Reserved

Today's Encouraging Word

Today is indeed the first day of the rest of my life –
Today is a day of resurrection, renewal, and restoration and I greet this day with enthusiasm, confidence, and passion.

This confident passion arises from my acceptance that in Christ I am a new creation and that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Today I know that the old indeed is passing away and that the new has been born. I am a being of light and love, committed to my spiritual growth, service to others, and becoming the optimal version of myself.

Today I declare, along with the Great Apostle, that with the power of the Holy Spirit, I am forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press forward into the future toward the goal and the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

In Christ most blessed name,

Amen

(Prayer composed by L. Dwight Turner / All Rights Reserved)

Three Keys to Proactive Prayer

L. Dwight Turner

Scripture tells us that God has already blessed us with everything we need to lead godly lives and also teaches that we have many great blessings which exist in the spiritual realms. The key principle we have to keep before us is that it is our responsibility to bring these blessings and positive character traits down from the heavenly realms and into manifest reality in our daily lives.

The most effective way I have discovered to accomplish this is through what I call “Proactive Prayer” and in this article I want to discuss three key aspects of this procedure: simplicity, intention, and repetition. Consistent application of this trio of concepts will make your experience with Proactive Prayer more effective.
This procedure, also known as affirmative prayer is a fairly straight forward process but, as with many things, we humans have a marked tendency to complicate it. I know this from past experience because I have been as guilty of exhibiting this “genius for complexity” as anyone – probably more than most. It was with some degree of difficulty that I eventually learned that with most things it is best to keep it simple. With this truth in mind, let’s see if we can simplify the basics of affirmative prayer by stating the following:

When we use our affirmative thinking, put into the containers which we call words, and animate it speaking with living faith, we are able to manifest that which we desire, providing of course, that it is in alignment with God’s will.

There is really no need to mystify the process any more than that. Granted, the underlying laws and cosmic principles associated with affirmative prayer can seem a bit mysterious, but in actuality, even the laws are not all that complicated.

It is essential that we understand that this process begins with our thinking and moves forward from there. Everything that we see began somewhere as someone’s thought. Creation in all its glory began as God’s thought and came into being at God’s command, using His words. He literally called things into existence from the world of the unseen, into the world of the seen. On a smaller scale, this is how we manifest reality as well. Our thoughts begin the process and or faith-filled words empower and animate the process that results in the creation of the thing desire.

Two important factors are also involved in the process of bringing our desired outcome down out of the spirit world and into concrete manifestation. These are emotion and intention. Centuries of working with these principles has revealed that the more deeply you feel about your desired goal, the more readily it manifests in physical reality. I have found that this is precisely where imagination comes into play. When we clearly visualize what it is we desire we arouse our feeling nature, which is a natural part of our soul. We facilitate this by focusing not only on repetition of our positive prayer, but we also form a clear, concise image of the desired outcome and bring our attention to bear on that outcome. We allow the feelings that arise to become magnified and these feelings, along with our thought, image, and faith-filled words form a powerful magnetic force that will pull our desired outcome out of the spirit world, where it already exists, down into physical reality.

Intention is perhaps the most important component of affirmative prayer. Your intention is what gathers and focuses your cognitive energy in a specific direction. It is for this precise reason that your intention must be constructed carefully and spoken clearly. This is not some sort of cosmic, New Age mumbo jumbo, but instead, is a fundamental principle of positive cognition. Your words of intention accomplish several vital functions in the process of affirmative prayer. First, speaking your intention gives direction to your energy and gives firm direction to your prayer. Second, your intention lets your subconscious mind know exactly what it wants to bring down from the spirit realm and why. And finally, your spoken words contain the power necessary to animate the unfolding of the process of affirmative prayer. As stated before, your words, especially when joined to a vital foundation of faith, serve as a magnet to attract the very thing you desire.

So keep these two aspects of affirmative prayer before you at all times. Positive emotion amplifies the power of your prayer and positive intention supplies even more punch to the process. Without these two vital aspects of prayer, you may find your prayers unfocused, impotent, and ineffective.

At Sacred Mind Ministries we conduct a training program entitled, “Conscious Cognition,” which is basically the capacity to be acutely aware of what we are thinking on a consistent basis. It has as its goal the honing of our ability to recognize negative thoughts the moment they arise and take those thoughts captive. Rather than climbing aboard our negative “train of thought,” we never allow it to leave the station. Instead, through the development of our capacity for conscious cognition, we replace these negative thoughts with positive ones. At first this process will seem quite cumbersome and highly unnatural. This is to be expected because we have been thinking in unproductive ways for many years. It takes time to delete this negative process from our memory banks and reprogram our minds to think along positive avenues. Persistence and patience are the keys. Keep at it and you will eventually find that you are responding to life in a healthier, more optimistic manner.

Another key principle when using affirmative prayer can be expressed this way: use frequent repetition in present tense. Your patterns of negative thinking and behaving were not formed overnight. Instead, these unhealthy thoughts were repeated over and over again until they were firmly planted in your subconscious mind. Once that happened, these damaging thought patterns seemed to have developed a life of their own. This same principle of repetition, however, can also be utilized to your benefit. First, understand that positive thoughts are more powerful than negative thoughts. Formal research and well as the experience of countless pilgrims who have used these methods of cognitive reprogramming have confirmed the fact that one positive thought can counteract many negative ones, provided the positive thought is constructed in the present tense and is repeated many times.

The principles we have discussed here are basic but essential to the process of creating and using affirmative prayers. As stated at the outset, these principles are not overly complicated, unless of course we choose to make them so. My suggestion is that you study the relevant literature available on affirmative prayer, positive thinking, positive imaging, and the Law of Attraction. By doing so you can deepen your understanding of what is going on when you utilize affirmative prayer as a part of your spiritual path. However, don’t let your studies lead you into any unnecessary confusion or complexity. Above all:

Keep it simple!

© L.D. Turner 2009/ All Rights Reserved

Releasing Negative Imprints

L. Dwight Turner


When a person first discovers the principles and the power of the various spiritual laws the Creator has put at our disposal, he or she is often filled with hope, enthusiasm, and positive motivation. This is both natural and as it should be, because these principles are blessings that God has given us and intends for us to use, especially when we need to make major life changes in general and changes that help us to grow spiritually in particular.

However, all too often this initial burst of enthusiasm is dampened when, despite applying these powerful spiritual principles correctly, the spiritual aspirant seems to obtain minimal results. This can be a frustrating experience, especially for those who are sincere spiritual seekers that want to not only improve themselves, but the world around them. Invariably, however, most of us reach this point when we consistently work with the Laws of Manifestation. Indeed, this can be a highly critical crossroads along the journey of spiritual development. More than a few dedicated seekers have thrown in the towel when this sort of experience begins to repeat itself with regularity. Believe me, I know because I have been there – done that.

What is even more tragic about this situation is the reality that this crisis can be worked through without too much difficulty. All it takes is a degree of awareness regarding the less-than-pristine nature of our subconscious mind and knowledge of the proper prayer tools to deal with it.

The Laws of Manifestation, those principles at play when we work to bring something from the spiritual world into manifestation on the physical plane, would work perfectly all the time if they operated through perfectly pure minds in a perfectly pure world. The unfortunate reality is, however, neither the minds in question nor the world in which they operate are anywhere near pure. We all have subconscious patterns of belief that operate beyond our capacity to control them, largely because we are unaware of them. These patterns of belief can sometimes sabotage our best intentions and, if we want to become more adept at applying spiritual law, we have to deal with these subconscious themes.

Although these subconscious themes can be stubborn at times, I have found that the most direct, effective, and simple method of dealing with these obstacles is through positive prayer. In essence, we apply the principles of affirmative prayer to the very things that seem to be blocking our prayers in the first place. As ironic as it may seem, I have found this to be the most consistently effective tool.

With that said, let me share with you a simple prayer that I use when I run up against the sort of thing we are discussing in this post. If you so desire, give it a try. Like all affirmative prayer, the key is to generate feeling in your prayer and repeat it many times. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither were your subconscious impediments and imprints. Likewise, they won’t crumble in a day, either. Here is the prayer:

Releasing Negative Imprints

Through the healing power of the God’s One True Light, I now release all negative imprints and impediments in my body, mind, will, and spirit. I release these personal delusions and they are no longer part of me, nor do they create obstacles to the perfect application of the Divine Laws of Manifestation. I am now cleansed and perfected – I am healed, healthy, happy, and whole.

By the power of the Holy Spirit and in the sacred name of Christ, so it is.

Amen.

© L.D. Turner 2009/All Rights Reserved

A Prayer by Ernest Holmes

Ernest Holmes, the founder of Religious Science and one of my favorite New Thought writers, says the the following prayer is beneficial when you are feeling confused. He suggests that you sit down and say:

The peace of God is at the center of my being.
I am conscious of this peace.
I enter into this peace.
I am surrounded by this peace.
This peace moves out from me in all directions.
It calms the troubled waters of my experience.
It heals everything it contacts.
There is nothing but peace.
I rejoice in this peace.
I permit this peace to enter my soul,
to fill me with calm, to inspire me with confidence.
I know that this peace goes before me and
makes perfect , plain, and straight my way.

Dedicated Desire and Affirmative Prayer

L. Dwight Turner

Desire

Let’s begin by looking at desire, because all good things, whether or not they are brought to fruition, begin in the realm of desire. It is desire that gives rise to our dreams in life and it is desire that provides the fuel for performing the positive activities that will allow us to bring those dreams into reality. In this sense, desire provides positive motivation. When we truly desire something with our whole heart we set in motion the powers of the mind to achieve that which we desire. If we have as a goal to deepen our walk of faith and manifest some degree of success in living the genuine Christian life then we must recognize that this positive goal began as a desire. Further, the power of a strong desire, when properly applied, helps insure our success. Christian Larson tells us:

…it is readily understood why the wish, if strong, positive, determined and continuous, will tend to produce the thing wished for…It is not occasional desire, or half-hearted desire that gets the thing desired. It is persistent desire; persistent desire not only desires continually, but with all the power of life and mind and soul. The force of a half-alive desire, when acting upon a certain faculty (the subconscious mind) cannot cause that faculty to become fully alive….it is true that the desires of most people are neither continuous nor very deep. They are shallow, occasional, wishes without enough power to stir to action a single atom.

Let’s look more closely at what Larson is trying to tell us when we apply these principles to the process of spiritual formation. If you want to develop spiritually you must first possess the desire to do so. Lack of desire is why so many Christians fail. They just don't have any desire to improve. Larson goes on to say that our desire must be strong, positive, determined, and continuous. He further states that it is persistent desire that brings about results. When applied to our spiritual formation it means specifically that we must have:

Strong Desire:

From the outset of our desire to improve must be strong and unwavering.

Positive Desire:

We must always keep in the forefront of our minds the concept of positive thinking and positive faith in ourselves and especially in God. We should always remind ourselves that part of our purpose in life is to grow and develop, in short, to become all that we can be.




Determined-
Desire: Our desire must be paired with a willful determination to make every effort to see it through to completion.

Continuous-
Desire:

Continuous desire means ongoing desire. If we are to be successful our desire cannot be here today and gone tomorrow. Although there may be days when we feel like our energy is low and our desire is at low ebb, we must maintain the power to resurrect our dream and keep it ever before us. This is the surest way to success and fulfillment.

In addition to these four vital characteristics of positive desire, Larson goes on
to tell us that an "occasional, half-hearted desire" will avail us nothing. It is easy to see, based on Larson words, why so many apathetic, ambivalent, and lethargic Christians fall short of their goals. Their desire is occasional and half-hearted. Ambivalent and lethargic Christians have the dream but not the drive. Apathetic Christians don't even have the dream.

What is the opposite of occasional, half-hearted desire? A desire that is continuous and full-hearted. It means that we give our all, all the time, to deepen your walk of faith and, more importantly, deepen you relationship with Christ. Application of this type of desire with diligence will insure our success.


Dedication


The second aspect of our subject to consider is the concept of dedication. Dedication is fundamental to any successful endeavor in life, including spiritual development. Dedication is defined as the act of "devoting oneself wholly and earnestly to a specific goal or purpose". If we are to improve our application of Christian principles of living we must dedicate ourselves to that specific aim.

Dedication is an act of the mind. We begin with a strong desire to improve our relationship with the Lord. We follow this by firmly dedicating ourselves to making this goal a reality in our lives. We can best do this by the use of affirmations. Affirmations are powerful, positive statements that we make to ourselves over and over again, thereby deeply impressing them into our subconscious mind. According to the discoveries of Cognitive and Transpersonal Psychology, it is those things that we deeply plant in our subconscious minds that actualize into physical reality in our lives. So, if our goal is to become closer to God, we begin by dedicating ourselves to the process. We do this not only in the conscious mind, but also in the subconscious.

Look at the process like this. Suppose a farmer wants to grow corn. He begins by preparing the field, then he carefully plants the seeds in the fertile ground, then waters and cares for the field so that, at harvest time, his yield of corn will be bountiful. Your conscious desire to deepen your Christian walk is the farmer. The affirmations are the seeds, and the subconscious mind is the field. Based on your desire, you use your conscious mind (the farmer), to plant the seeds (affirmations) into the fertile field (subconscious mind). You then water and nurture the field through constant repetition of your affirmations. Try the following: Each morning before you get out of bed, relax your breathing and repeat silently to yourself the following statement:

Every day, in every way,
I am getting closer and closer
To Christ

During the day, at lunch- time for example, repeat this statement over and over to yourself. Each time that you repeat the statement you are not only planting more seeds, but you are also watering and nurturing the field of your subconscious mind. This is the way to insure success. It may sound simplistic and perhaps it is. That's the beauty of positive thinking. It is simple! But in spite of its simplicity, it is a proven method of personal and spiritual transformation that has worked miracles in countless lives. Try it and see.

The keys to making successful affirmations are: repetition, faith, and expectancy. We need to repeat the affirmation many times and have faith in the process, a living expectancy that if we continue, we will surely succeed. The key again is repetition. Do it over and over again. In this way, your subconscious mind will be saturated with positive thoughts of dedication.

Keep It Simple!

This procedure that has also come to be known as affirmative prayer is a fairly straight forward process but, as with many things, we humans have a marked tendency to complicate it. I know this from past experience because I have been as guilty of exhibiting this “genius for complexity” as anyone – probably more than most. It was with some degree of difficulty that I eventually learned that with most things it is best to keep it simple. With this truth in mind, let’s see if we can simplify the basics of affirmative prayer by stating the following:

When we use our affirmative thinking, put into the containers which we call words, and animate it speaking with living faith, we are able to manifest that which we desire, providing of course, that it is in alignment with God’s will.

There is really no need to mystify the process any more than that. Granted, the underlying laws and cosmic principles associated with affirmative prayer can seem a bit mysterious, but in actuality, even the laws are not all that complicated.
It is essential that we understand that this process begins with our thinking and moves forward from there. Everything that we see began somewhere as someone’s thought. Creation in all its glory began as God’s thought and came into being at God’s command, using His words. He literally called things into existence from the world of the unseen, into the world of the seen. On a smaller scale, this is how we manifest reality as well. Our thoughts begin the process and or faith-filled words empower and animate the process that results in the creation of the thing desire.

Two important factors are also involved in the process of bringing our desired outcome down out of the spirit world and into concrete manifestation. These are emotion and intention. Centuries of working with these principles has revealed that the more deeply you feel about your desired goal, the more readily it manifests in physical reality. I have found that this is precisely where imagination comes into play. When we clearly visualize what it is we desire we arouse our feeling nature, which is a natural part of our soul. We facilitate this by focusing not only on repetition of our positive prayer, but we also form a clear, concise image of the desired outcome and bring our attention to bear on that outcome. We allow the feelings that arise to become magnified and these feelings, along with our thought, image, and faith-filled words form a powerful magnetic force that will pull our desired outcome out of the spirit world, where it already exists, down into physical reality.

Intention is perhaps the most important component of affirmative prayer. Your intention is what gathers and focuses your cognitive energy in a specific direction. It is for this precise reason that your intention must be constructed carefully and spoken clearly. This is not some sort of cosmic, New Age mumbo jumbo, but instead, is a fundamental principle of positive cognition. Your words of intention accomplish several vital functions in the process of affirmative prayer. First, speaking your intention gives direction to your energy and gives firm direction to your prayer. Second, your intention lets your subconscious mind know exactly what it wants to bring down from the spirit realm and why. And finally, your spoken words contain the power necessary to animate the unfolding of the process of affirmative prayer. As stated before, your words, especially when joined to a vital foundation of faith, serve as a magnet to attract the very thing you desire.

So keep these two aspects of affirmative prayer before you at all times. Positive emotion amplifies the power of your prayer and positive intention supplies even more punch to the process. Without these two vital aspects of prayer, you may find your prayers unfocused, impotent, and ineffective.

Here at Sacred Mind Ministries we conduct a training program entitled, “Conscious Cognition,” which is basically the capacity to be acutely aware of what we are thinking on a consistent basis. It has as its goal the honing of our ability to recognize negative thoughts the moment they arise and take those thoughts captive. Rather than climbing aboard our negative “train of thought,” we never allow it to leave the station. Instead, through the development of our capacity for conscious cognition, we replace these negative thoughts with positive ones. At first this process will seem quite cumbersome and highly unnatural. This is to be expected because we have been thinking in unproductive ways for many years. It takes time to delete this negative process from our memory banks and reprogram our minds to think along positive avenues. Persistence and patience are the keys. Keep at it and you will eventually find that you are responding to life in a healthier, more optimistic manner.

Another key principle when using affirmative prayer can be expressed this way: use frequent repetition in present tense. Your patterns of negative thinking and behaving were not formed overnight. Instead, these unhealthy thoughts were repeated over and over again until they were firmly planted in your subconscious mind. Once that happened, these damaging thought patterns seemed to have developed a life of their own. This same principle of repetition, however, can also be utilized to your benefit. First, understand that positive thoughts are more powerful than negative thoughts. Formal research and well as the experience of countless pilgrims who have used these methods of cognitive reprogramming have confirmed the fact that one positive thought can counteract many negative ones, provided the positive thought is constructed in the present tense and is repeated many times.

The principles we have discussed here are basic but essential to the process of creating and using affirmative prayers. As stated at the outset, these principles are not overly complicated, unless of course we choose to make them so. My suggestion is that you study the relevant literature available on affirmative prayer, positive thinking, positive imaging, and the Law of Attraction. By doing so you can deepen your understanding of what is going on when you utilize affirmative prayer as a part of your spiritual path. However, don’t let your studies lead you into any unnecessary confusion or complexity. Above all:

Keep it simple!

I Have Heard, Lord (A Personal Prayer)

I Have Heard, Lord

Lord, I have heard your Holy Word and I have understood. You are the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. You never grow weak or weary and no one truly fathoms the depth of your understanding.

You give power to the weak and strength to the powerless. I trust you, Lord, and, according to your promise, I will find new strength and soar high on wings like eagles. I will run and not grow weary; I will walk and not faint.

Even more Lord, I am blessed because I know you have called me back from the ends of the earth and have said, “Dwight, you are my servant. I have chosen you and will not throw you away.” For this I am ever grateful my God and I am not afraid because I know you are with me. I have abundant courage because I know that you are my God. I draw my strength from you and know that you are always there to help me when I need you. I am more than blessed my God; you hold me up with your victorious right hand.

[from Isaiah 40:28-31; 41:9-10.]

By L. Dwight Turner

Personal Change Begins With Willingness

Mick Turner

The desire for personal change is epidemic in America these days. If you don’t believe me, next time you are in a bookstore go through the section containing Christian books, and then also peruse the Self Help section, along with Psychology and even Alternative Health. Examine the book covers, front and back, and count how many times you read the phrase, “…will change your life.” Look for similar phrases as well. I think you get the idea.

Marketers of publishing houses great and small have discovered that people like you and me want to change the quality of life for the better. This is understandable. I suspect just about everyone wants to improve, but I believe there is something deeper here than meets the eye. Experiences with family, friends, and clients in workshops, training programs, and faith coaching sessions have led me to believe that everywhere you look these days, there is a common malady riding on the backs of people: a basic dissatisfaction with life.

Volumes could be written on the causes for such a phenomenon. However, that is not the point of this article. What I want to focus on here is not the cause for this sense of quiet desperation that seems to be hanging off people like some dark, dank, energy-sucking moss. A discussion of the possible solutions to this problem is not the focus, either. What I would like to discuss is the first step in any program of personal transformation. Without this essential ingredient, you won’t even make it out of the starting gate.

What is that essential component? It is simple, really. In order to actually change your life you have to genuinely want to. You see my friend, many people say they want to change, but they actually don’t mean it. They may even think they mean it, but they are only fooling themselves. The minute the going gets rough, these folks bail out faster than you can say, “Maybe things weren’t that bad after all.” Once these folks get a good whiff of the personal sacrifices often required in any program of transformation they hit their haunches faster than a Mississippi donkey.

Many years ago I worked as a counselor in an inpatient psychiatric facility. I recall one patient in particular who was a good example of what I am getting at here. We’ll call her Bessie, although that was not her real name. Bessie had been admitted to the facility at least eight times that I knew of. No matter what therapeutic interventions her doctors tried, she always reverted back to her problematic way of dealing with the world, which involved a combination of prescription medication, alcohol, and frequent violent explosions.

Bessie had been a patient of just about every psychiatrist in town at one time or the other, but the results were always the same. Bessie reverted back to being, well, Bessie.

At one point a new, young doctor came on staff and took over Bessie’s case. He tried a number of new things with Bessie and she at least seemed to be making some changes. Unfortunately, one day while in the hospital she manifested her old behavior. She reached over the nurses’ station and grabbed two medical charts and smashed them against the wall. She then began jumping up and down on them while ripping her clothes off and screaming at the top of her lungs. All of this happened just after she noticed her young doctor get off the elevator. While only clad in her underpants (Bessie was in her 70’s mind you, and more than a few pounds overweight), she started running in circles around her physician while telling him the following:

“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to, Buddy,” yelled Bessie in a loud, cackling voice. “I figured it all out last night. You’re trying to change me, aren’t you? Well, I’m here to tell you it ain’t gonna work.”

Granted, many of those who resist change are not as dramatic as Bessie in their behavior or their lack of desire for personal transformation. Still, the results are always about the same. Like Bessie, there is little lasting change. Bessie’s story and the stories of many like her share one thing in common: the stated desire for change was illusory.

The simple fact is if change is to happen in your life, you have to truly desire it. Like anything of value in life, change begins with desire. I repeat:

Every positive accomplishment begins as a desire in the mind of the individual. Desire is the initial force that gives birth to our dreams and it is desire that motivates us to achieve those dreams. All great things begin with positive desire.

I encourage you to begin with an honest, gut-level assessment of your desire to change. You have to ask yourself, “Is my desire for change genuine? Am I willing to, if necessary, make personal sacrifices in order to reach my desired goal of personal transformation?” If you answer these questions in the negative, that’s ok. It just means you are not yet ready to change yourself and your life. If this is the case, my suggestion is for you to pray to God, asking him to impart to you a willingness to change. Be sensitive to anything the Lord may be trying to communicate to you regarding change and/or willingness to change. Keep a journal and write down any insights or messages that may come to you. Go back later and reflect on what you have written, pray about it, and see what happens next. Even the unwillingness to change can be an avenue through which the Holy Spirit can help you to grow spiritually.

If you conduct an honest, thorough assessment of your desire to change and you discern that it is genuine, it is time to take the next step. You need to begin, through prayer and planning, to set goals for personal change and make specific plans for how this transformation might be facilitated. Enjoy where you are at that moment, because you are on your way to becoming a better version of yourself. Keep in mind that as you grow, you are increasingly able to realize the divine potential that God has placed inside you. You are more and more able to discern your strengths of character and put those very strengths into practice where it really counts, your everyday life. And one more thing, do it all for the glory of God. Like Jesus, your ultimate goal in personal change is to increasingly put yourself in a condition where you can glorify God.

Doing so was a big part of Christ’s mission on earth; and it is equally a big part of yours.

© L. Dwight Turner 2008/All Rights Reserved

A Devotion for Christian Optimists

L. Dwight Turner

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” (Romans 8:28 NLT)


If ever there was a reason for Christians to be optimistic it is the promise recorded by Paul in this powerful scripture. The Apostle nestled this verse in the context of a number of other verses towards the end of the eighth chapter of Romans, all of which point toward the central reality that, as Christians, we really have every reason to rejoice and celebrate, whatever our circumstance. The unfathomable intelligence that forged this incredible universe and arranged all the subtle, complex laws that keep it in perfect balance, has also orchestrated the events of our lives to also work in our ultimate favor.


I don’t think this means that God planned everything that happens to us. Our own wrong choices many times get us into trouble. But Paul is telling us that even then, and even when disaster and tragedy strikes, God can use the results of our bad decisions, the results of tragedy, loss, and disaster, to ultimately work for our greatest good. In light of this reality, optimism is not only logical, it is unavoidable.


Lord, I know that you go before me, making my way both perfect and positive. I now take refuge in the serene peace and complete assurance that you are, indeed, devoted to the unfolding of my greatest good, even when I can’t see it. And I also am aware that this is your promise to all who love you and who are called to your purpose.


Father of Lights, I also am aware that each person you place before me is the person you are calling me to love at that moment. I am deeply aware that, just as you direct all things to work for my ultimate favor, I am to love the person before me in the same way. Therefore, I commit all my thoughts, actions, and plans to the unfolding of the greatest good of the persons you bring before me today. I am created in your image, Lord, and as your love directs you to bring out the best in me, I am also committed to bringing out the best in those you place in my path.


I thank you Lord for giving me the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to be able to accomplish what I cannot do on my own, and I thank you for making all things work toward my greatest good. In Christ’s most Holy Name…..Amen.


© L.D. Turner 2008/All Rights Reserved