Spiritual Support Leadership / Staff Directions Events / Calendar What people say
Come Celebrate With Us every Sunday:
Meditation 10:45 am
Celebration at 11am
Join us:
Oasis Rising Center 8125 West Sahara Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89125
Come and enjoy talks at our Sunday Services or get a midweek pickup on Wednesday at 6mp
A Positive Path for Spiritual Living
Oasis Rising Center Spiritual Center
Oasis Rising Center 8125 West Sahara Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89125
(702) 804-8189
_______________________________________________
“Opening to the Holy Spirit” By Rev. Phillip Smedstad
Who or What is the Holy Spirit, and why would we want to open to It? Traditional Christianity talks about the “Trinity,” which some of us learned is the “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.”
This concept was a fourth century addition. Jesus never heard of the Trinity. However, he was completely open to the Holy Spirit being in charge of his life.
One reason for speaking of “God in 3 parts” is that the concept of God is so large, it can be helpful to look at Spirit’s aspects.
Here’s the way I think is the most helpful to view the Trinity:
If we’re open to it, the Holy Spirit can literally speak to us through anyone or anything. Our job is to be as open as possible to this Voice (which often speaks without words).
When Lura and I had our school in Minneapolis, we began every school year by gathering in a circle and saying, one at a time, “I give my relationships with each of you to the Holy Spirit.” Now I do that here. After each Board election we all give our relationships to the Holy Spirit.
Most of us grew up believing that the purpose of relationships is to provide us with comfort, to keep us from being lonely, and to protect us from the outer world. However, that isn’t the Holy Spirit’s purpose for relationships. It’s the view of our ego or small self.
The divine purpose of relationships is to heal our sense of separation from God. When we realize that the true purpose of relationships is healing, they become one of the most potent tools we have to support us in our transformation.
When we give our relationships to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit accepts the offer – quite literally – and the purpose of the relationship changes. It is no longer about comfort and protection. It’s about healing and empowerment, and things in the relationship begin to happen which reflect that.
A couple of weeks ago, I attended a Peace Skills Training at the headquarters of Unity Worldwide Ministries. Each of us participants shared our “paradigm for ministry.” When it was my turn, I said, “What if church or spiritual community is not a place where everyone is supposed to be peaceful all the time and all get along? What if it’s a place to experience healing?”
If we’re open to it, whenever we attend services at a spiritual community like Unity of the Keys, everyone we need for our healing is here – our mom, our dad, our brothers and sisters, our exes, former bosses, and anyone else from the past with whom we have ever had issues. They’re all here to support us in our healing.
One day at Theophilus Divinity School in Minneapolis, someone asked Lura, “Why do these classes produce so much healing? Which of the techniques you use are the most powerful?” Lura responded, “It’s not the techniques. It’s the love. We marinate people in love for six months at a time.”
“Then, as people are willing to accept responsibility for their own experience, release blame, and see everyone as their mirror, the Holy Spirit provides the healing and the empowerment.”
There’s a chapter in the book The Untethered Soul called “Removing the Inner Thorn.” It asks, “What if we had a thorn in our arm and the thorn was touching a nerve? We would have two choices, and the choice we make will determine our entire future.” I then added, “What if this inner thorn is in our heart?” (It is.)
One choice is to protect ourselves and make sure that nothing and no one gets too close. The other is to remove the thorn. This latter choice is the choice for the Holy Spirit, and it is the choice for transformation.
For many of us, the problem is that we have gotten very used to not letting anyone get too close. It seems normal for us to keep love away. Also, that thorn has often been there since childhood and now is covered by layers and layers of repression. The result is that we have actually forgotten we even have a thorn. We’ve gotten used to living with a dull ache.
However, if we once again start letting people get close; if we once again practice intimacy (into-me-see), the thorn will begin to come to the surface so we can actually release it. One axiom in transformational work is that love brings to the surface anything which needs to be healed.
As I’ve said before, personal transformation is not for the feint of heart. To be transformed, we have to allow the Holy Spirit to remove the thorns from our heart. It isn’t always comfortable, but it is so worth it.
Jesus, when asked when the Kingdom of God was going to come, said, “It will not come through observation.” (That is, is isn’t an outer phenomenon.) He then said, “The Kingdom of God is within you.” However, the word we translate as “within” can just as easily be translated as “among.”
This would jibe perfectly with the concepts of Hell and Heaven from A Course in Miracles, where it says that Hell is feeling separate and alone, and Heaven is being joined with others and with God, freely giving and receiving love.
The very best thing I ever did for myself was to give my life and my will to the Holy Spirit. I invite you to do the same. You deserve the joy of healing your sense of separation from God. You deserve to live in Heaven now.
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
Texts by Our Master Minister Emeritus
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
Challenge and Joy of Change
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
Amazing, Never Ending Love of God
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
Spiritual Principles in Relationships
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
Accept Your Innocence
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
Raising Your Upper Limits
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
Spirit of Resurrection
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
The Freeing Power of Forgiveness
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
You Can Hear Your Guidance
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
The Victory of Surrender
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
Claim Your Personal Ministry
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
The Joy of Transformation
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
The Power of Spiritual Community
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
The Keys to the Kingdom
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
Awakening to Who You Are
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
The Birth of the Christ in Us
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
Express the Love That You Are
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
The Sabbath Principle
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
Loving Yourself for Fun and Profit
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
How to Be Supportable
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
The Essence of Transformation
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
The Parable of the Talents
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
The Power of Inner Vision
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
Accelerate Your Spiritual Growth
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
How Prayer Changes Our Lives
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
From Egypt to the Promised Land
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
Healing From the Inside Out
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
Opening to the Holy Spirit
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
God's Infinite Love
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
How Much Good Can You Tolerate?
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
Loving Yourself Through Integrity
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
Living Your Vision
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
Our Power of Creation
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
Resources Follow Commitment
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
Money: An Aspect of God's Love
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
Prosperity From the Inside Out
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
Uncovering Your Inner Wealth
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
Learn to Hear Your Guidance
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
Live a Life of Passion and Purpose
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
The Joy of Forgivess
Wisdom Holder Our Master Minister Emeritus shares his insights.
The Power of Spiritual Vision
Explore the five Our New Thought Principles on Audio
Our New Thought Principles
We got our domain at DivineDomains.orghref="http://ProsperityWebs.net"