You Are Simultaneously

Both a Bud AND a Flower

This article explains more about how you can safely allow the Lord to dismantle/heal your baggage.

If you look closely at the picture above, you’ll see a fully developed dahlia flower .Then you’ll notice a little dahlia bud at the bottom right of the flower.

I want you to keep that dahlia picture in mind whenever you think about the two ‘you’s’!

You see, it’s an accurate image of who you are at any moment in your life.

The bud represents your God-given potential for full development.

The fully grown flower represents what God has always planned for you to become.

You are simultaneously both a bud AND a flower!

Now let’s take a deeper look at ‘The 2 You’s’.

Here’s the thing.

You mightn’t realize it — until it’s brought to our attention one way or the other, few of us do! —but you’re journeying with God with a fair amount of mental and emotional —and, yes, even spiritual—baggage.

Like any baggage, this baggage weighs you down. You’re not fully free.

Everyone carries around baggage in their souls…until they come to the Lord for healing that baggage.

Here’s the thing.

Your baggage embodies a powerful energy.

 This is the energy that helps to drive your false self.

But, There’s Truly Good News for You …

The really good news is that you don’t have to heal/dismantle that baggage yourself.

Once you realize that this baggage might be getting in the way of your friendship with the Lord, the Lord himself will heal it —if you ask Him!

And the way He does it is so gentle, patient, sensitive and loving, that you mightn’t actually notice it. 

Your family, friends and co-workers often notice the change in you for the better before you do! 

Definition of Your False Self

Your false self is that part of you that is driven by your ego’s primal need for happiness, approval by others and security. 

It is informed by an inaccurate image of God. 

Your false self goes to any lengths and pays any ‘price’ to meet these primal needs.

As it does so, it gets in the way of your ‘adult’ friendship with God.

It hampers your ability to love God, yourself and others in the way God planned. 

Your false self is the self that limits you.

This skewed image then, in turn, negatively affects the way you see the Lord, yourself and others.

It compromises your ability to love God and others, and to LOVE YOURSELF —as God intended.

Any lack of love towards yourself and others impedes your friendship with God.

It also deprives you of inner peace and joy, and so compromises your overall wellbeing.

But when you allow the Lord to dismantle your false self, you start to see Him, yourself and others in the same way God sees YOU and others —with the eyes of UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.

Facing Your False Self Does Not Come Easy!

Facing the false self within you does not come easy.

Your false self has huge strength and surprisingly deep roots.

You see, it has served you so well for so long —since very early childhood, in fact —that it has become part of your actual identity.

Any threat to it or questioning of it is, therefore, bound to cause it alarm.

This is why when Love and Truth invite your false self to be healed, it can become fiercely defensive.

 

The Really Good News!

Yet the very good news is that despite putting up an admirable fight, the false self does gradually succumb to God’s love. 

But notice what it succumbs to: God’s LOVE for you.

You see, although your false self has endless energy, God’s LOVE has far more. 

Indeed, it is only God’s love that has the supernatural power necessary to dismantle and heal your false self. 

Once you get your mind around this fact, it becomes easier to begin letting go of your false self and releasing it to its Healer.

And when you release your false self to its Healer, your inner pain also diminishes. 

Your inner peace and joy start to return.

Why?

Because you don’t need to be defensive anymore.

Remember, erecting a defense system in order to protect you from the harsh world is the name of the game for your false self.

It is nothing if not fiercely defensive.

My Own Story

During the fifteen months of my second conversion,  the Lord —using both my regular daily heart prayer and the clear teaching of my highly gifted spiritual guide —introduced me to my false self very gradually and with great love and sensitivity and gentleness.

At the beginning, it certainly was not easy to have to face my false self.

The Lord, however, knew that my wellbeing and safety were not to be found in fleeing either from my pain or from my false self.

He invited me to keep walking the distance with Him, giving me the faith, encouragement, hope, and courage to do so.

This was a pivotal point in my conversion process. 

I had now learned with the help of God’s Holy Spirit not to run from my pain or my false self. 

In this way, I had crossed the first big hurdle to allowing God to find me right smack in the middle of my pain and crisis.

And when the Lord gradually introduced me to my false self, He held my hand. 

Whenever I spent a few minutes each day in His presence praying with my heart, I could feel Him holding me.

When He did, it became far easier to surrender my false self (and my pain) to Him for healing!

How Healing the False Self Happens

 There are 2 things that can get in the way of your ability to fully experience God’s Presence, receive His love and soak in His rest:

1. The mental, emotional, spiritual and psychological baggage that you, like all of us, carry around deep inside your being

2. Your lack of our awareness that this baggage even exists, because you have buried it so deeply inside you for so long!

Once you start discovering how to enter into God’s Presence, and experiencing firsthand His love for you, it will s-l-o-w-l-y start to dawn on you that you are beginning to arrive at a NEW place, a FRESH place, in the Lord!

As you come to experience firsthand for yourself that the Lord loves you unconditionally, you gradually and automatically arrive at a very SAFE place.

An umbrella of protection opens up around you.

Feeling safe, you now begin to really entrust your healing to God.

Once You Know How to EXPERIENCE God’s Love,

An Umbrella of Protection Opens Up Around You

In this place of profound safety, you are able, perhaps for the very first time, to take an honest look at your blemishes —your weaknesses, sins and limitations.

Why?

Because it is only when you are certain that you are loved deeply and unreservedly —DESPITE all your sins and limitations —that you are given the courage needed to do this!

When you are certain that you are loved deeply and unreservedly with absolutely no strings attached, an umbrella of protection and safety opens up around you.

You no longer feel that you need to defend yourself at any cost.

The Person who is Love is protecting you.

Your honest acknowledgment of your sins and limitations then gives God the opportunity to start the healing of your false self. 

The fiercely defensive barriers of the false self that, often without your even realizing it, have perpetuated the breeding ground of a somewhat dysfunctional relationship with God and with others —start to come down. 

Soon you, your family, friends, work colleagues, and neighbours will become aware of this very beautiful change that is slowly taking place inside you!

Definition of Your True Self

 

Your ‘new’ or ‘true’ self, the deeper, ‘real’ you, is always part of you, even if it’s not fully functioning.

It’s been obscured by the noise, clutter and baggage you’ve collected over many years since childhood.

Your true self is the ‘you’ that God wants you to become.

This is the ‘you’ that God called to Himself when you were baptized into His Kingdom.

This is the ‘you’ where God lives and reigns supreme.

This is the ‘you’ that has consented to, cooperates with, and participates in the purposes of the Lord for your life.

Spiritual Guidance is a Definite Advantage

From time to time, each one of us needs the help of a wise and experienced Christian spiritual guide  if we wish to deal effectively with and heal our false self.

This help can be critical

• in recognizing and acknowledging your false self
• in helping you allow God to dismantle it

A human personal guide is your ideal option. But if you can’t find a reliable guide, the Holy Spirit himself will become your Personal Guide.

In actual fact, He is always your and my ultimate Guide.

So don’t panic. 

Trust God’s Holy Spirit wholeheartedly. 

This online magazine has been specially designed to offer you spiritual guidance on your journey with the Lord.

So …if you can’t find a personal guide, the articles, FREE Guide, and my book that you find here all together offer you sound spiritual guidance for every step and every aspect of your spiritual journey.

When you rely on the Holy Spirit and at the same time take advantage of my online guidance, you won’t go wrong.

Remember that the Lord knows your situation, and He is holding your hand at every step of your journey. 

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 Read Part 1 of this article here 

 Read Part 2 of this article here 

 Read Part 3 of this article here 

 

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