The story of Abraham and Lot and the difference in their relationships with God, made me think how building an intimate relationship with God can give us the boldness to ask Him anything in prayer. Abraham’s intimacy with God, always following closely His instructions was the reason he could implore God to save Lot and his family before destroying the sinful Sodom. Abraham intercedes for Lot and Sodom, when God informs Him of His plan to destroy Sodom.  To intercede means to use one’s influence to persuade someone in authority to forgive a person, or to save that person from punishment.  We read in Genesis 18:16-  “Then the men left and went to a place where they could look down at Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on their way. And the Lord said to himself,“ I will not hide from Abraham what I am going to do. Then the Lord said to Abraham, “There are terrible accusations against Sodom and Gomorrah, and their sin is very great. I must go down to find out whether or not the accusations which I have heard are true.” Then the two men left and went on toward Sodom, but the Lord remained with Abraham. Abraham approached the Lord and asked, “Are you really going to destroy the innocent with the guilty? If there are fifty innocent people in the city, will you destroy the whole city? Won’t you spare it in order to save the fifty? Surely you won’t kill the innocent with the guilty. That’s impossible! You can’t do that. If you did, the innocent would be punished along with the guilty. That is impossible. The judge of all the earth has to act justly.” The Lord answered, “If I find fifty innocent people in Sodom, I will spare the whole city for their sake.” Abraham spoke again: “Please forgive my boldness in continuing to speak to you, Lord. I am only a man and have no right to say anything. But perhaps there will be only forty-five innocent people instead of fifty. Will you destroy the whole city because there are five too few?” The Lord answered, “I will not destroy the city if I find forty-five innocent people.” Abraham spoke again: “Perhaps there will be only forty.” He replied, “I will not destroy it if there are forty.” Abraham said, “Please don’t be angry, Lord, but I must speak again. What if there are only thirty?” He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty.” Abraham said, “Please forgive my boldness in continuing to speak to you, Lord. Suppose that only twenty are found?” He said, “I will not destroy the city if I find twenty.” Abraham said, “Please don’t be angry, Lord, and I will speak only once more. What if only ten are found?” He said, “I will not destroy it if there are ten.”  After he had finished speaking with Abraham, the Lord went away, and Abraham returned home.” Lessons we can learn from this encounter: Firstly, God is willing to spare cities – although Sodom was wicked and corrupt and God had had enough of their unrighteous living, he was willing to save the city if He found ten righteous people. God is willing to spare cities where believers are praying and interceding for the people.  Secondly, there is power in intercession – When Abraham saw that God was determined to destroy Sodom, he began to intercede knowing that Lot and his family lived there. Abraham positioned himself between God and the city on behalf of the innocent that lived there. Only Lot and his family were found to be righteous and therefore, only they were saved.  Thirdly, the intercessor’s prayer can affect the outcome of any situation. Abraham’s persistence caused the angels to take Lot and his family by the hand to  lead them to safety.  Let’s look at another example: In Exodus 32, Moses intercedes for the children of Israel to hold back God’s judgment after they made a golden calf and worshiped it.  God said to Moses in Exodus 32:10, “Now, don’t try to stop me. I am angry with them and I am going to destroy them. Then I will make you and your descendants into a great nation.” Verse 11 reads: “But Moses pleaded with the Lord his God and said, “Lord, why should you be so angry with your people, whom you rescued from Egypt with great might and power? Why should the Egyptians be able to say that you led your people out of Egypt, planning to kill them in the mountains and destroy them completely? Stop being angry; change your mind and do not bring this disaster on your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Remember the solemn promise you made to them to give them as many descendants as there are stars in the sky and to give their descendants all that land you promised would be their possession forever.” So the Lord changed his mind and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.” Once again we see someone intercede for the people, by placing themselves between God and them. We can see that Moses’ intercession ‘changed God’s mind’ and in so doing the children of Israel were spared.   What makes an effective intercessor? We can learn from Abraham and Moses that although they were different people and lived at different times, they had some things in common that made them effective intercessors.  How does this relate to the child of God? As children of God we only need to look around us to see that the age we live in is not so different from that of the destroyed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, we realize the impending doom and we are called to stand as intercessors in the gap and hold back the hand of God. The word says in Luke 17:28-30,(MSG) “It was the same in the time of Lot—the people

Lately, I have been thinking about this concept of home. I ask: What is home? How much distance is there between where I am and home? As a child growing up in the church, I have always understood home to have 2 meanings.  My earthly home with my parents and siblings and my heavenly home that I will go to when I die.  As an adult I now have had several different homes in different locations and one was as transient as the other. However, I know my real home is not from here. It is the place my soul originates from.  I believe Rumi is referring to that home, the place or origin of his being when he says :  “ whatever brought me here must take me home.” For many, our earthly home is synonymous to a loving family, warm meals around the table, laughter, singing together and sharing a welcoming space that feels safe and secure. A place to run to when life gets hard.   Others may have experienced home to be very different; a place of criticism, constant judgement and even a place where physical pain was inflicted regularly. A place to run from. Rumi says: “Whatever brought me here must take me home.” Home means so many different things to different people, and in spite of our personal experiences of what home represents for us, we all have a comprehension of what a true home should be like. I wonder where this concept of home came from. Did we read it in books? The dictionary perhaps, or was it what people told us?  I believe our understanding of true home does not come from outside of us, but from the all knowing place where we remember the origin of our soul. Our hearts, It sends out the bell toll whenever we experience something that reminds us of our true home.  Like taking in a breathtaking sunset, hearing the happy laughter of children, listening to beautiful, uplifting music, or just appreciating quiet peaceful moments. Those times when we feel complete, when we cannot put into words what we are experiencing. I believe when we seek out these precious moments and are present within them, we connect with the divine, God, The Universe, Source. Even though those around us may be unaware, yet the experience is no less heavenly. We have transcended. We are home! When was the last time we have experienced this and have actually taken notice?  I bet we can all think of a time when we felt breathless with ecstasy or excitement that we could not put into words. Those times came to us to remind us that we are connected to our true home, we just don’t realize it.   For many people, true home represents God, The Universe, Source. It is also a place where they will be with Jesus. In Col1:27 the Word says: God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.  In John 14:23 the Words says: Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. Then my Father will love him, and we will go to him and make our home within him. To make an analogy. When we eat an apple, that apple gets broken down to be absorbed into our bodies as nutrients to sustain us. We could say that the apple literally becomes a human as we would be unable to separate it from our bodies once it has been absorbed. Jesus and The Father live within us. We are ONE! That is, if God is absorbed in me and I in Him, we are ONE.  I believe when we experience those blissful moments in our everyday lives, we are actually connecting with God and Christ who live in us. We connect with the Divine who has “made our home within him.” For that reason, I believe we no longer have to wait until we die to be at home with God. He lives in us! If we are waiting to go to our home, which is Christ, then scripture tells us we are already home. “Christ in you the hope of glory.” We can experience all the joys of home everywhere and whenever we want to.  When we take a moment to test this, we’ll find that our true home is without distance and inseparable from us.  God is our true home. His home is IN us.  His home IS us.  So the next time we experience our bliss, those moments that take our breath away and inspire us.  We are home!  Love and blessings

No matter who we are or where we live, we have all been conditioned to think and act in ways that have become intrinsic to our character. In order to access our highest and fullest potential, we need to overcome this conditioning. Unfortunately, our ego’s will not allow us to simply discard the old behaviour patterns and beliefs that have been the driving force for most of our lives to be suddenly replaced by a zen-like life.  However, understanding and recognising that conditioned beliefs and subconscious programming govern our thoughts and actions can hold profound and uplifting transformational value for our future.  If we rely on our ego to help us shift the beliefs and programming that have held us stuck in a familiar and destructive cycle, it will merely reinforce it’s hold on us. We must find a way to liberate our conscious mind from the limitations set by society, our parents and teachers.  The Ego perpetuates Separation The ego operates from the premise of separateness – that means it makes us believe that we are somehow separate or different from all other people. That is why some of us feel the need to compete with others by working harder, by doing more, by achieving the highest position in our corporation.  Our Divine Nature promotes Oneness Our higher self, our connection to universal intelligence have no desire or need to compete with another. It knows that we are part of the whole. It understands that when another wins, we all win and if one loses, we all lose.  Four conditioned beliefs that keep us stuck Manifestation depends on orchestrated luck by cosmic forces. We will fail if we try  Only people with very high spiritual insight can manifest Let’s look at this for a moment. Manifestation depends on orchestrated luck by cosmic forces.  For many people the belief in luck or cosmic benevolence is more acceptable than the idea that they are responsible for their own lives. This defeatist mindset keeps people stuck in old behaviour patterns and prevents them from living their full potential.  Our thoughts determine our future and we often fail to manifest what we want because we continue to buy into the belief that outside forces are responsible for the way our lives unfold.  If we understand that ‘as a man thinks, so is he’ we are able to take responsibility and guard our thoughts and thereby transform our lives. The Bible says in Luke 10:19: “I have given you power and authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.”  This power is within all of us in completeness. We are the only ones who can relinquish that power. We do that by playing small and allowing others to make decisions and choices on our behalf. I will fail if I try, I always fail. We have all tried something at some stage in our lives that have failed. This is part of the human experience. It is through trial and error that we learn our most valuable lessons in life.  Imagine as an infant we tried to get up and walk, but then fell down and so decided walking was too hard and gave up and stuck to crawling on the ground. We wouldn’t have the freedom of movement that we enjoy today.  The belief that we will fail even before trying prevents us from living our highest potential. At times we all are required to make adjustments to achieve our goals and this should be seen as a necessary skill to live a successful life rather than an obstacle. Believing that failure is imminent before we even attempt something withholds us from learning and improving and ultimately manifesting our true potential.   A way in which we can overcome this is by letting go of our obsession with the past when things didn’t work out the way we had hoped. We can allow for a renewal of our minds. The past is a memory and our future is secure in God. We have the present moment and in this moment we have the potential to succeed. Only people with very high spiritual insight can manifest This belief stems from the ego’s view of being separate from the whole. Let this notion go!  Know that the power of the universe resides in us, that we are the universe and the only difference between us and the person we perceive to have high spiritual insight is the understanding of the connection we have with universal intelligence.  Once we make the connection for ourselves, we will be able to receive insights from the higher realms as well.   We have all been exposed to programming that conditioned us to believe certain things about ourselves and at times our ability to manifest our deepest desires have suffered because of these long standing beliefs. Unfortunately, they have restricted and stunted our ability to do the things that were for our highest good. We all have an opportunity to identify the conditioned beliefs and allow them to fall away like a tree that sheds its leaves in autumn. We can nurture new beliefs, rooted in faith that God has intentioned us to thrive. The way in which we do this is by guarding our thoughts and allowing the most uplifting and life enhancing ones to occupy our minds. These thoughts will sprout and grow into glorious experiences and we will find that our lives have been transformed.  My desire is that your thoughts would be so uplifting that soon you’d find yourself in joyous union with the life God intended for you.   Love and blessings.

Knowing what makes us happy is one of the most under developed skills in our modern day. More and more people subscribe to society’s ideals of what true happiness is and conform and often disregard their own standards and values.Happiness comes in a myriad of forms, so much so that it can be difficult to pinpoint. This is unfortunately not the case for unhappiness as one can almost immediately tell when one is in a state of unhappiness.  Contrary to popular belief quite often people are not actually seeking their own happiness at all. Studies have shown that even people who earn millions of dollars each year are only incrementally happier than those who work to get by. They have also found that genetics and life expectancy only contributes to less than 50% of a person’s happiness. The rest is up to the individual to decide. When it comes to finding our happiness, we first need to understand what it is that makes us happy. This can be very different for everyone.  Many people believe they’d be happier when: They are thinner They are fitter They live in a beautiful home in just the right location They have met their romantic partner It is true that these things can add joy to one’s life, but if we build our happiness on things that are changeable, we run the risk of becoming very unhappy when change sets in.  Instead of waiting for specific things to happen to us so we can be happy, could happiness bloom from within us instead? When we list all the things that make us happy, (can you make a list right now?) chances are some of the things that made us happy in the past don’t have the same appeal today. Why is that? Well, it’s because our environment, our needs, the people in our lives and we ourselves constantly change. Does it mean when our lives go through changes we will experience unhappiness? Quite possibly. If we place the basis for our happiness on that which is outside of us, we are always at risk of losing it.  How do we create lasting happiness? We start by understanding that happiness is not something we own, it is a choice! When we choose to be happy above all, we approach life with a different state of mind or attitude. We realise that happiness is not a result of something, but it is the root from where all of our interactions with life blooms from.  Choose happiness above all Choose to be happy no matter the circumstances you find yourself in. Happiness is not the absence of sadness or struggle. It is knowing that in all life’s challenges, we are held by a benevolent source of divine energy.   Do not fret over things we can’t control There are many horrifying events happening around the world. We are bombarded with it when we watch the news. At times we are able to give support and so we should, but there are times when we are helpless in the face of what is unfolding and no matter how much we wish there was something we could do to improve the situation, we have to trust that life will bring healing and restoration. Happy people are informed people, but they do not allow themselves to fret over things outside of their control. Instead they take action and spread positive energy in their own immediate environment knowing that we are all connected. When we keep our own vibration high, we contribute to raising the vibration of all creation. Happy people know they can put their best efforts towards those things they do have control over.  Hold on to our integrity Violating our personal value system creates discord within ourselves. Feelings of discontent, regret, guilt and shame hold negative charge and affect our physical body through our emotions. We are encouraged to stand confidently and speak our truth when we feel pressured to compromise. We can never be happy when we violate ourselves.  Take care of our body As a result of modern technology, people are increasingly struggling to find time to rest properly. Increased screen time and lack of sleep are becoming the main causes of people feeling overwhelmed and becoming sick in the physical bodies.  A good night’s sleep goes a long way to maintain focus and a pleasant mood. The benefits of deep brain cleansing sleep is tantamount the best medicine for any ailment or mood. It ensures that we wake up alert and clear headed with energy abounding. Sleep deprivation robs us of our energy and reduces our ability to concentrate and bounce back when faced with challenges. Physical exercise is another important ingredient that boosts our immune system and feelings of happiness and contentment.  Cultivate a growth mindset It is widely believed that people’s attitudes to life fall into one of two categories: a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. People with a fixed mindset often believe they are who they are and they’re unable to change. This causes problems when they come up against challenges that require them to adapt. They feel hopeless and overwhelmed easily when they are tested beyond what they perceive they can handle.  Those with a growth mindset on the other hand believe that they can make changes, improve their skills and increase their productivity if they make adjustments. This leads to increased opportunities for happiness as they are better equipped and also more resilient when faced with difficulties in their life.   Declutter: Create a living and a work space that is calm, soothing and uplifting. This is achievable by doing away with unwanted, unused and broken furniture. This is stuff that takes up space and hinders positive energy flow. Decluttering can be therapeutic for our mental well being as it enables us to do away with those things that we associate with a hurtful past. After such purging we could be pleasantly surprised by the benefits of owning less. Trust