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Enjoy another wonderful text by Rev. Phil Smedsted, minister Emeritus of Oasis Rising Center

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Phil Smedstad's texts are one of the ways Oasis Rising Center supports members.

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
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“The Power of Inner Vision” 
 By Rev. Phillip Smedstad

Have you ever focused on something that you didn’t actually want to have happen, the then watched it manifest?  I certainly have done that.  We might say that this is the ego’s use of “The Power of Inner Vision.”

The following is the way our real, divine self uses this power:

• We use it to see through a problem to the opportunity it represents.
• We use it to see through the appearance of lack to the truth of God’s abundance.
• We use it to see a mistake as simply something to be corrected, rather than as a sin which needs to be punished.
• We use it to see through the appearance of someone as an ordinary person, to the divinity we all are at our core.

At this point, I asked everyone the following questions:  “What do you most want to be?  What do you most want to do?  What do you most want to have?

I also shared with everyone that for the first 30 years of my life, I approached the above questions from a backward point of view.  First I decided what I wanted to have.  Then, I let “what I wanted to have” determine what I would do.  Then, I let “what I would have to do in order to have what I wanted” determine who I would be.
The truth is, we are all here to make this world a better place.  And when we passionately participate in creating a better world according to the ways we love to serve, we are blessed with prosperity as well.

So, what would you want to be, to do, and to have if you didn’t have to know how you would accomplish it?  What would you begin if you didn’t have to know how you were going to finish it..

In my own life, at those times when I moved forward the most and accomplished the most (saying yes to ministerial school, constructing a new 10,000 sq. ft. church, taking an expensive course in transformation), I had to be willing to say yes without knowing how I would accomplish my goals.

An old saying goes, “Whatever we can conceive, believe, and visualize, we can achieve.”  The way Jesus said this is, “You say there are four months and then comes the harvest.  But I tell you to lift up your eyes, for the fields are even now ripe for the harvest.”  (He might have followed those words with, “if you can see it.”)

Next, I read Matthew 16:13-19.  This is the story of Simon Peter saying to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.”  I encourage you to “Google” this piece of scripture now, and then continue to read this article.  (It’s very easy to do!)

After Peter shared the above words with Jesus, Jesus said, “Peter, flesh and blood did not reveal this to you.  It was my Father in Heaven who did.”  In other words, “It wasn’t your body’s eyes that told you this.  It was true insight.”

Whenever we see ourselves and others with spiritual insight (inner vision), we behold the Christ.  In Hebrew, the word Simon means “hearing.”  Simon heard the divine truth from the Holy Spirit within him.  When we, ourselves, listen to the Holy Spirit within us, we always hear this same truth:  “You are the Christ, the son or daughter of the living God.”

At this point in the story, Jesus says to Simon, “You are Peter (it means “the rock”), and upon this rock I will build my church.”  What is that rock?  It is the ability to actually see the God self in ourselves and each other.  This is the foundation of living in Heaven here and now.
Here at Unity, we say that Jesus isn’t the great exception.  Rather he is the great example.  In this case, we could say the same for Simon Peter.  Jesus then says to Peter, “You hold the keys to the Kingdom.”  (The Kingdom of Heaven is an experience of oneness with God, and also the realm of cause.)

He continues, “Peter, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven.  Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven.”

To “bind something on earth” means to consciously decide that it is our truth.  That it will then be “bound in Heaven” means that it then becomes our truth on the plane of cause.
To “loose something on earth” is to consciously decide that something is NOT our truth.  That it will then be “loosed in Heaven” means that it will no longer be a cause of what we are creating in our lives.

Whatever you want to create in your life, visualize it each day and begin to move toward it.  Rev. James Trapp, who until recently was the CEO of Unity Worldwide Ministries, once said, “We provide the direction.  God provides the correction.”  So, just keep moving toward the life you want, and keep letting Spirit guide you.

Our job is to visualize the goal as best we can and then to start out and keep taking the next step.  Spirit’s job is to keep directing our steps.
So, choose a vision for your life – some way to contribute to the whole.  I love what Marshall McLuhan said about this:  “There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth.  Everyone is crew.”

Choose a way to contribute that you feel passionate about.  Claim it.  See it.  Feel lit.  Then take a step, and keep taking at least one step every day.  Let this be your time to claim the power of inner vision. 

You deserve to live your vision, and we all deserve to receive the contribution you came here to make.