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Oasis Rising Center 8125 West Sahara Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89125

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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“Claim Your Personal Ministry” 

By Rev. Phillip Smedstad

Over 20 years ago, my wife Lura and I began a “school of personal ministry” in Minneapolis.  The concept was that ministry isn’t something which only happens in churches.  Rather, each of us can be a minister of God, a representative of God on planet Earth, contributing in ways we love to contribute.

As David Owen-Ritz, the author of the prosperity course some of us are taking, said in the beginning of the series, “Life is not given to you.  You are given to life.”

Living a purpose-filled, service oriented life is the key to understanding Jesus when he said, “I have come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly.”

A Course In Miracles says, “All true happiness comes from doing God’s will.”  I have found this to be true in my own life.  When I’m living my purpose, my passion, as a representative of God, I’m happy, at peace, and fulfilled.

Each of us has a purpose in life.  Perhaps we can say that that purpose has more than one layer.  A Course In Miracles tells us that our one function here on earth is to be constantly in a state of forgiveness.  That’s one layer of our purpose.

Shakti Gawain, in her book The Path of Transformation, says, “Our higher purpose is what we came here to do on a soul level.  We are born with the specific interests, talents, and abilities to fulfill that purpose.”

She continues, “The more we learn, grow, and transform (stop acting our our small, fearful selves), the more capable we are of developing and sharing these natural gifts and thereby making the world a better place.”

It’s important to know that it’s never too late to discover your purpose.  It’s also important to know that your purpose is not just what you do.  It’s who you are.  Your unique combination of energy and personality brings forth something to the world that no one else can.

So, if you don’t think you know your purpose, ask the Holy Spirit in you for guidance.  If you do know what it is, but don’t yet know how to manifest it, practice the power of prayer to bring it into expression.

As Jesus said, “Ask and you will receive.  Seek and you will find.  Knock and the door will be opened to you.”  Here at Unity, our way of asking is to practice knowing that our one Source is God in us.  It is also to practice claiming, opening ourselves to, and accepting the answers.
The two methods we use the most in our asking and claiming are visualization and affirmative prayer.  To visualize your answer to prayer, practice seeing yourself having manifested it with as much feeling as you can.

An affirmation to use might be (if you want to be a successful writer), “I now experience myself as a successful writer.  Thank you God.”

As you move toward actualizing your personal ministry, it’s important to know about what the Russian mystic Gurdjieff called “The Law of Three.”  He said, “Whenever you move in the direction of your dreams, there are three stages or phases.”

The first phase is the initial excitement of the idea.  You accept that “this is something I actually can do.”  It feels like the truth, so you begin to take action toward manifesting it.

The second phase is almost always resistance.  Why?  Because our ego minds don’t want us to express our personal ministry.  Our ego doesn’t want us to be happy or to know how powerful we are.  If we are happy as a minister of God, we have begun to undo the ego mind.

So in this stage, we begin to have thoughts like, “Who do you think you are?”  Sometimes it can look like there are roadblocks.  If there are, don’t believe your ego mind.  Remember, even Jesus and the Buddha had to face their ego mind before they began their personal ministries.

In my life, whenever I’ve begun a major “up-level,” resistance has come up.  It just comes with the territory.

The third and final stage calls for the energy of strength and persistence.  It’s the energy of “one foot in front of the other.”  In my life, one huge secret of staying the course has been to have conscious, positive friends – people who were able to see in me what I didn’t yet see in myself.
A very important part of actualizing your personal ministry is to be a part of a conscious, positive community.

So, if you don’t believe you know what your personal ministry is, affirm:  “Holy Spirit, I’m ready to know what my personal ministry is.”  If you DO know what it is, keep taking the next step – even if that one step is all you can see right now.  If you take that one step, the next one will be revealed.

Finally, surround yourself with conscious, positive people – friends who see more in you than you see in yourself.  You deserve to know and express your personal ministry, and the rest of us deserve to receive your unique contribution.