Pure Love

I was 12 years old and it was the first time I wanted to show a girl I liked her. It was Valentine’s Day and I was too faint-hearted to give her the box of chocolates myself, let alone tell her that I was crushing on her, so my sister gave them to her for me. I remember as if it were yesterday; Joanie had sandy hair, beautiful eyes, nice cheeks, and a very pretty smile. Just one week earlier my closest 12-year old buddies and I were convinced that girls had cooties, were tattletales, and were non-intelligible lifeforms. They existed only as trials to help boys toughen into manhood. We supposed that no respectable boy would ever give a girl a second glance. 

How were we to know that a single, well-aimed smile in our direction would crush our mighty defense systems? I was too overcome to notice then that while Joanie worked her magic spell on me, a girl named Charlene had worked a similar spell on both David and Marcus. My mind had forgotten GI-Joe, model airplanes and race cars. I was dreaming of giving Joanie a box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day. Also, I needed to figure out how I was going to tell Dave and Marcus that Joanie was different than other girls. I mean, she glowed way too sweetly to have any cooties, and I knew she would never tattletale or whither in the face of danger.

I went over to my friend’s homes, not sure what I would say. When I got to Marcus’s house, they were both there and they weren’t their usual selves, engrossed in a war game or over the latest model ship or airplane; they were talking about Charlene. It took me only a moment to realize that for all our girl-hating bluster, three boy’s boys had been utterly slain and overcome by the weaker sex. It had all happened in a Sunday School class right after the teacher had mentioned “Eternal Marriage.” Joanie had looked me in the eyes and smiled sweetly. Charlene had done the same but to two boys! Holy smokes, score three knockouts for just two weak girls.

Can you remember times when your heart was stirred with love? Since that day, I’ve noticed my heart grow warm in me on many occasions. I thought my heart would explode when my father gave me my first horse and later my first real gun, and when he first took me fishing with him, and later my heart exploded again when one morning he awoke me early with a grin during pre-dawn hours. He invited me to slip out of the house and into the hills with him for my first mighty elk hunt. 

My parents gave me a trumpet and I played it with so much love that I was lead trumpet from elementary school through high school. I discovered a true love for writing; while writing I found I could pierce the veil and bring God’s Spirit into my heart and mind. I later learned that when I was troubled, I could sit down with a pen and write until my troubles were sorted. In fact, it was one day while in the college library that my heart was troubled for reasons I could not understand. I wrote for four hours--until at last it appeared on paper that I loved Colleen and was going to marry her--an important fact that had escaped my knowledge previously.

When my folks moved us to a farm, I discovered a love of agriculture and animal husbandry. My love for horses also continued to grow until one day I had ponies, riding horses of all breeds, and even draft horses and mules. I took people far and wide through the mountains on horseback. I also had a love of telling stories and named my horse business Stories, Steaks, and Saddle Sores. I would take folks riding through the mountains and we would occasionally pause to rest. As we did so I would recount true stories of miners, Indian uprisings, and so forth that occurred in the very places we were riding. I would then bring them back to camp where Colleen and our daughters would feed these good folks a five-star meal among the pines.

It is important to recognize love in all its forms; in relationships with people, in a bond that forms between humans and their animal friends; love flows forth from us through God-given gifts that we work hard with to improve. Those gifts allow us to reach and lift others more fully and as we do so we experience true love and joy. My father recognized love in the delivery room as a physician--love that inevitably melted the hearts of even the toughest men on earth as they witness the birth of a newborn son or daughter and take that infant into their arms for the first time.

True love is not to be feared, but is the truest and most pure vibration that binds all of nature into a harmony. When we live according to that harmony we enjoy its peace, sweetness, and strength. The frequency of love should be recognized and embraced as the guidepost for the highest form of existence. I treasure what I’ve learned from every person, animal, gift, talent, and otherwise that has taught me something about love. 

The sum of our love-filled experiences are evidence enough that abiding love is well-worth the effort. For as any boy’s boy can tell you, who has been smitten by a well-aimed smile, or even the toughest man can tell you who has first held his newborn child, love is the most powerful force of nature. It makes all of us bow in reverence. It makes all of us vibrate at a perfect frequency; it binds broken hearts and heals deep wounds. It can even overcome cancer, heart disease, devastating injury. Nothing catalyzes life like love.

In this volume of Living Young, I’m not going to presume to tell you how to embrace and receive love fully in your life. Spiritual writers, poets, song writers, and others have added much to the discussion. I do want to say, however, that it is a gift to be received and to be given and the more it is given the more it grows within. I read last week of a woman who set a goal to blog about a daily act of kindness and love for an entire year. As her attempts to show kindness and love progressed through the year, and as she described them through writing, extraordinary outcomes were achieved. It became one of those forever, life-changing efforts. She learned that the greatest way to receive love is to give it freely and abundantly. You simply cannot out-give the universe when what you give is love--it is utterly impossible. By comparison, self-centered living makes prunes of all of us and causes us to whither and die prematurely.

As I served a two-year mission for my church as a young man, I spent seven days a week seeking to serve the needs of others. It was an amazing experience to have been able to entirely forget myself for two whole years. It was during that period of time that I experienced love that far eclipsed the well-aimed smile of my youth that first toppled me over. As I progressed in the service of others during my mission a time came when love poured into my life from heaven with such measure that I cannot aptly describe it, except to say it was if a balloon had been steadily filled with love throughout my mission and that when it burst, I experienced greater joy and tangible sweetness than words can possibly describe. I realized, because of these experiences, that God is a Being of Loveand His entire purpose is to guide us and help us understand how to live to enjoy a fullness of love, as He does. As with any law of science the gift of pure love is bound by natural laws. When we act in harmony with those laws, we receive pure love freely, but as we act outside those laws it is as if to us love does not exist in the world.

Colleen and I met in College. Much like my experience falling in love with Joanie many years before, Colleen’s eye caught my eye one day and we took an interest in getting to know one another. We spent many hours and much time studying together, working together, playing together, and spending time with friends together. With all that and the enjoyment that accompanied it, we didn’t come into marriage with all the tools necessary to hold onto our love easily. She brought strengths and weaknesses into our marriage from her family and I from mine. We did not know how to live the pure laws of love together.

Our family traditions combined to contribute to both happiness and to unhappiness. Certain contrasts led to head-on collisions that we did not see coming during our courtship. Love grew cold on occasions and even extinguished entirely from time to time. In those moments, life was pure hell. We discovered that as dead as love may seem, love may be rekindled. When I think back of all that love and hell has taught us, I remember that I loved the trumpet because I gave my soul to it as I played it and to all within the sound of it. I played the trumpet with love. I loved animals because I cared for animals; I saw to their needs, I helped them become whole when they were sick, we enjoyed nature together, and we served the happiness of others together. I love Colleen as I serve Colleen's happiness. Nothing Colleen can do for me enable's my love for her. It is only what I choose to do for her that fills my heart with love for her. Similarly, she loves me truly and serves me continually.

Do you feel happy when you help enable a child to be happy? Do you feel love toward the child? Do you feel happy when you enable anyone else to feel truly happy and do you feel love toward them? Friends passed the hat to help me receive an emergency hip surgery. Such a gift was nearly impossible for me to receive, but their kindness and encouragement made it possible for even this independent farm boy to receive a great and needed act of charity. Later, I lost my ability to write one day when my instrument for writing was utterly destroyed. Someone who has appreciated my writing learned of what happened and purchased me an instrument that is ten times that which I used before. How do you ever thank someone adequately who reaches out in such a manner? You pay it forward?

Many years ago, after a snowstorm, I was running the blade behind our tractor down the lane to clear it so that my father, who was the town physician, could more easily traverse the half mile from the highway to our home that sat back by the river. As I neared a stream that went through a culvert running under our lane, my blade hit a large frozen chunk of earth and within less than a second the force and leverage-action caused the hind wheel of my tractor to fall off the side of the road and into the water. We didn’t have anything large enough to pull the tractor out of that predicament. It was tipped over so far on it's side it nearly tipped over. As I sat there pondering my options and dilemma, an out-of-state truck pulled slowly over at the end of our lane. A man hollered, “Could you use some help?" I nodded sheepishly, knowing that I did not possess the power to undo the mistake I had made. I was fiercely independent, but welcomed his help.

He backed down our lane in an outfit that was heavy enough and powerful enough to help my tractor back up onto the lane. It took only a minute to accomplish and when it was over I reached in my pocket and pulled out my wallet. I handed him a $10 dollar bill and He looked crestfallen and said, “No son, I don’t want your money; I’m glad we could get your tractor back onto the lane again and it makes me happy to see the relief in your face that something you could not do for yourself is now done.” Then he said, “Son, as payment to me I want you to promise me that whenever you see a true need that exists, that you will serve that need freely if you can; don't accept payment, but ask them to return the favor to someone else in need; someone helped me when I was about your age and asked me to do the same; the choice to reciprocate in such a manner has been the greatest joy of my life.”

Well, I wondered if I could keep such a promise and did not respond immediately. But it felt right to me so I promised him that I would surely try. He said that was good enough for him and he left leaving me feeling richly rewarded and happy. I was relieved on many accounts; first, to be able to complete the job of clearing the lane of the heavy snowfall. Second, I did not feel good when my father returned from such long hours as a doctor, only to find I had created burdens for him while he was gone. I was so happy he would have a clean and safe lane to drive home upon and that he wouldn't have to bundle up to face the freezing cold weather, just to go out and undo a mistake his son had made. I was grateful for the unknown stranger that gave me a moment of his time and lent the power of his beautiful truck, which far exceeded anything we owned.

Is it possible for you to notice a need in another and to reach out and fill that need, without experiencing an enlargement of your heart? I cannot do it, unless I help for reasons other than a desire to help another. The man who helped me felt joy as he witnessed my utterly real, farm-boy relief. He somehow understood and it made him happy. Do you feel happy when you lovingly care for your garden or flowers and watch them grow in beauty? Can you give your heart to the need of anything without filling your heart in some measure?

From time to time each of us have experienced pain that is brought on through how we perceive and respond to unkindness or thoughtlessness of others. If so, what is the cause and effect? Are we dependent upon what others do in order to be happy, or is there some higher natural law that enables happiness within us more surely?

An author once penned these words. Forgiveness is not required of all men, it is only required of men who have made the mistake of letting love leave their hearts because of the actions of another. He went on to teach that forgiveness is the process of us repenting for having allowed love out of our hearts; forgiveness is the repentance process for returning our hearts to a pure and loving state. He challenges that if we choose not to be offended by improper actions of others, we would have no need to forgive or to return to a pure and loving state, since we never departed from that state. What wise foresight. 

Consider this, since the earth was formed, created, and man was placed upon it the sun has never once ceased to shine within the heavens. Consider also the possibilities of maintaining a radiant loving heart that never ceases to radiate love, not even once. It is interesting to me that the great Master teacher taught that in order to be our Father in Heaven’s children we must pray for God’s blessings to be upon our enemies; we must come to love them just as God allows the sun to shine and the rain to fall upon the just and the unjust. By this we know that if we want to become as our Father in Heaven, we must learn to radiate goodness to all, always--for surly the sun’s rays are given to us all and it does not withdraw itself from the heavens on account of our good or evil. So must we become toward all men for God radiates nothing but goodness.

As you consider the natural laws that govern the most healthful state possible for the human body, which is a state of true love, one of the first principles of the law of love is that true and pure love has never been contingent upon the actions of others, but is contingent only upon the way you view the world, how you think about it, how you feel about it, and what you do about it. God’s purpose is to lead you to see, think, feel, and act as He does and to help qualify you to live within a perfect state of pure, abiding love--or in other words, the identical state in which He lives. This is Eternal life, for Eternal is His name. Eternal Life then is to live within a state of perfect love forever, just as God lives. We can receive that love just as quickly as we will learn and master the laws upon which it is predicated. Just like 2+2=4, mastering each law upon which love is predicated is the only path to the love that we all so much desire.

Just as the natural laws of science govern the rotation of the earth, the ebb and flow of the tides, and the workings of the universe itself love is also based upon natural law. Colleen and I have noted through the years, that the happiest and most peaceful people we know manage to see the world through the eyes of love. They see differently, they think differently, they act differently, and they feel differently. They most closely see, think, feel, and act as God and therefore peace and love flow unto them and from them like an endless river. We became attracted to such older couples many years ago and set a goal to become as they were before we reached their ages. All would do well to achieve a similar goal.

Our physical bodies vibrate and thrive best when tuned-in to the frequency of love. This is now a scientific fact, not hyperbole. By molecule count, we are composed of more than 99% water. Water molecules help to bind all other elements within us into their form throughout our bodies. That is why a sweetheart's lips, which contain the same carbon of a rock, are soft, beautiful, and supple while the rock is “rock hard.” The rock is not filled with water and the carbon molecules within the rock are not structured and suspended within and between countless water molecules. 

Anyone who has studied the effects of love and hate upon the structure of water can begin to understand the influence upon our physical nature as we spiritually vibrate at the frequency of love. With expressions of love through music, word, and feelings the same water, as revealed under powerful microscopes, bursts into celestial, radiant structures. By comparison, the structure of water immediately changes to dark and deathly structures whenever hateful music, words, and feelings are projected upon it. This incredible science is landmark in helping us begin to understand why our bodies quickly deteriorate under stress, hate, and bitterness, and also why others who live with similar stressful conditions, but who enable love fully in their lives, maintain extraordinary health in spite of harsh conditions.

May you learn to always live by the laws which govern radiant love, health, and peace. This Valentine’s Season, please take a few minutes to consider fully how love has catalyzed resplendent health within you during your lifetime, and how the lack of it has led to lesser states of health from time to time. As you pause to remember truly great love in your life, please take a moment in the comment section below to share your experiences and thoughts about love with us. Please share how you have seen love expressed through the gifts and talents of others, and describe all the various forms of love you have seen. Comments shared will be organized and published more fully (with the permission of contributors) in the near future within an important forthcoming publication that will be written to better inspire and sustain health in others. 

Parable of the Pumpkin

It was nearly halloween and a mother had taken her young children to a nearby farmer’s field to see all the pumpkins the farmer had grown. The farmer was gentle and kind and invited the children to go out into his pumpkin patch and to gather pumpkins of every size and shape. Some were small, some tall, some large, and some were round. He gave the little children a candle to place inside each pumpkin and invited them to take the pumpkins home and to help Him clean them up and to make them glow for the whole world to see.

The children helped their mother take the pumpkins home to clean them up, to clean them out, and to create unique and lovely pumpkin faces that could be lit aglow with a candle from the kind farmer. The children loved all the pumpkin faces; some were serious, some were silly, some made you laugh, and some were very scary. What they loved the most is that when halloween came, each pumpkin was lit beautifully aglow with light from within and was set upon the front porch for the whole world to see.

The children asked their mother if Jesus liked halloween. She said, “Yes dears, for Jesus calls little children to go forth into His patch to gather pumpkins; and as they are gathered, to then help wash the dirt from exteriors and to help scoop out and remove the seeds of doubt, hate, and greed; and although every pumpkin has his or her own unique personality, shape, size, and face Jesus’s light can be placed inside of any pumpkin who will receive Him.”

May your unique and beautiful size, shape, design and personality always be found shining with His light. The Lord and Master of the great pumpkin patch, even the Bridegroom, will someday come again, and whoso is found shining brightly with His light and has helped others to do the same, will be invited to be with Him at the great wedding feast...

As you seek to improve your health, remember that you are part physical and part spiritual. To enjoy your greatest potential and capacity to contribute and to do good and to live and love life fully, enable yourself fully--both physically and spiritually.

Soul

Recently, I've observed failures in marriage, in business, in health, and in many other arenas of life. No failure is worthy of our losing our sense of "Divine." We have duel natures, one part physical that is made literally of the dust of the earth, which has been organized into human form; we are also part spirit or intelligence, which enables live within our bodies. Mother Earth has lent us our bodies, and God, who is known by many names, is the Father of our spirits. We cannot see God in this life without walking a very special path, but we are not limited from being able to feel and hear Him immediately. His light is in everything, and if we will use the gift we possess to feel His Spirit and to hear His voice, we can live in such a manner that enables us to also see His face while we still live.

The veil that disables us from seeing Him at present is thin; however, it is rent in part anytime we act in harmony with His Spirit. One day I walked to a neighbor's home with the intent to give her a piece of my mind for having spread gossip about my wife, which was entirely unfounded or true. My wife had spilled many tears because of the gossip. I thought I was doing my duty to put my neighbor in her place and such was my intent. The moment before I opened my mouth to share my displeasure, God's Infinite Spirit rested upon my soul. I had a choice to speak in harmony with that spirit, or to succumb a baser spirit. I found myself looking her deeply in the eyes and telling her how much we care about her and expressed my hope and desire that we could be good neighbors, that were unaware that we had offended her; I asked her forgiveness and reasserted our desires toward her.

She commenced to cry and told me that the gossip she had spread about my wife was because of a misunderstanding and because of great pain she was suffering. She had recently lost a child she had been carrying in the womb. Her parents, celebrated the loss of the child and hurt this woman's soul terribly. During the next few minutes, a bond was forged, understanding was enlarged, and permanent love was established between two neighbors. Rather than bring more hurt to her soul, I succeeded in bringing God's perfect influence through the veil to shape and mold an important relationship. How so? Simply by acting in harmony and obedience to the omnipresent Spirit of the Infinite. By resisting the natural man within me and by speaking in harmony with the Spirit, an amazing spirit and power rested upon our conversation. It healed the breach between neighbors, and helped ease pain that my wife and I were entirely unaware of. We eased her burden and a wonderful relationship ensued between our families.

Holy writers have promised that as we live in harmony by choosing to act in harmony with the Spirit of the Infinite, we qualify ourselves to see God's face whilst we live and to know that He is. In this very moment we can feel His deep and unconditional love; stop, pause, be still, and know that He is; know that He loves you immeasurably, that your best efforts--mistakes and all--are sufficient before Him because anyone who will do there best will receive compensating help from Him to learn to do better than their best. To God you are priceless and amazingly beautiful. He never dwells upon your mistakes, only how to enable your forward progression as a spiritual being. Take a moment right now to look in a mirror deeply, look into your eyes and while doing so pause to remember just how beautiful and perfect you are, not the dust you are made of, but "You." See yourself as the Father of your spirit sees you, and envision where He wants your life to go...

You are not required to be like your earthly father, your mother, your heros, or anyone else. You are required to simply live in harmony with the Spirit of the Almighty daily. That is enough! This life and all its quirks, turns, trials, joys, adventures, fairness, unfairness, and sorrows is to give you experience that can be had in no other way. Revel in every experience; ponder deeply to learn all you can from every experience; the path to heaven goes through hell; we are intended to experience deep adversity in order that we may fully contemplate and lay hold upon redeeming knowledge. The darkness of adversity enables us to more fully understand and embrace light, knowledge, and truth.

Right now, you can learn to live in harmony with the Infinite; it doesn't matter your religion; it doesn't matter your ethnicity, and it doesn't matter your status among men. Your successes and failures are irrelevant. He is no respector of persons and will visit anyone who will forsake disharmony with Him, and who will strive to come unto Him, and who will call upon His name, and who will obey His Voice and permeating influence. As you grow in this path, first you will "feel" His influence, then you will feel it and will receive "pure thoughts" from Him; as you act upon these inspirations, you qualify to hear His voice and it will come to you distinctly from time to time. You must act upon inspirations received or they will cease to come to you until you repent and act in harmony with all that has already been given to you. As you continue to grow in this path, you will continue to grow in light, truth, knowledge, and faith. From time to time you will also receive both earthly and divine messengers that are sent to enable you with even more light and understanding. As you continue to act in harmony with the Spirit of the Infinite,  there will come a time when you will see God's face and your faith in Him will pass to "sure knowledge."

No disbeliever possesses any direct evidence to the contrary regarding the path described above; yet, every saint from every period of earth's history who has walked this path has born testimony of its truthfulness and reality. In addition, over 13 million accounts have been collected in recent years from people whose spirits have temporarily left their bodies during near-death experiences (NDE). The weight of evidence regarding what occurs after the spirit leaves the body has grown to such a proportion that even hard-core scientists conclude that it is more rationale to believe in the eternal existence of our spirits than it is to believe otherwise.

God has come to me as a boy, as a young man, as a husband, as a father, as a friend, and I know that His perfect and powerful influence touches every aspect of our lives--as we live in harmony. His tender mercies surround us, they are in us, they reach out from us to others, and they are showered from heaven upon us. If we allow Him to be in us always, His power and influence can mold and shape the events of our lives on a day-to-day basis. Like the Hebrew boy David who faced Goliath and learned that Goliath's power, strength, and ferocity were mere illusions, we too can face our Goliath's or great struggles similarly. By acting according to the Spirit of the Lord within Him, even in the face of extreme and real danger, David successfully rent the veil and through obedience to the Spirit that encouraged him to confront Goliath, David brought forth God's power and strength from heaven, through the veil, and into the confrontation. David learned that Goliath was a mere illusion when compared to God's power, grace, and perfecting influence.

Everyday Goliaths, such as gossiping and hurtful friends, neighbors, and family must be confronted similarly. As we act in harmony with God's Spirit with every Goliath we face, our "great" problems will also become illusions to us. We must believe in "real time" or we miss the opportunity to act in faith and to bring forth His power in the moments we need it.

I took a moment to consider the many names of God; the Father of our spirits is called by many names; He is known as the Infinite; He is known as Allah; the qur’an contains the Ninety-nine Most Beautiful Names of Allah. Judaism refers to 72 Divine names for God. The Mahabharata contains a thousand names for Vishnu, the Supreme God in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. What is in these various names that can teach us about attaining spiritual health in our quest to enable the spiritual part of our natures more fully? Whether from the Kabbalah, Christianity, Hebrew, Shinto, Buddhism, or otherwise, God’s names pass into common forms of thought and are symbolic of the characteristics, attributes, and perfections that are used by sacred writers of holy writ to describe Him.

Every culture speaks according to their language and understanding, according to traditions that influence them, and according to the light and truth they possess as a culture. God works among all who will receive further light and truth. He is no respecter of persons or religion, or belief. He is patient and will come to anyone who will approach Him. His Son, who was sent to earth, is known by many people and by various names and has revealed Himself in the flesh to many people. The Father enjoys characteristics, attributes, and perfections that He seeks to share with all men who will strive to live in harmony with Him and the teachings of His son. His many names merely reflect His characteristics, divine attributes, and perfections and influence the writings found among all religions today.

For example, The Almighty is a name given that reflects God’s omnipotence and His power to do as He says, declares, or promises. Other names are symbolic of His omniscience or of His all-seeing ability to see the end from the beginning, or of His truthfulness and inability to lie or to deceive us, or they symbolize His mercy, kindness, and slowness to anger. Some names remind us there is no variableness or changing in Him--that He is the same today as He was yesterday and as He will be tomorrow. Some names remind us that one’s personal rank, stature, wealth, or power does not elevate his spiritual health or position before God; rather, our status before God is based solely upon the truth and light that is within us--obtained through our obedience to His Spirit. Because He is no respecter of persons, anyone who will receive more light from Him, grows in stature before Him.

His various names symbolize a being in whom we can trust. We are reminded that He is perfect, just, and that His judgement is always perfect. Therefore any difficulty or suffering we may face while obeying His Spirit will be perfectly judged and justly rewarded. Perhaps most inspiring are names which remind us of His perfect and unconditional love toward each of us. Each of His names are guides to help us better understand how our spirits can achieve health through total harmony with His Spirit.

Friends, the devil and His minions believe in and fear God; believing in God is utterly insufficient. If you believe in God; if you have felt His Spirit and perfecting influence, please know that believing in Him is not sufficient. If you would live young all the days of your life; if you would continue the wonder, the joy, and the adventure you felt intuitively as an infant and young child, then you must live in complete harmony with God today. You must choose to act upon His omnipresent influence today. You must choose to deal with your neighbor according to that Spirit today. The veil will not rend for you one moment sooner or later than your willingness to act in obedience to His perfecting influence--today!

It isn't sufficient to "believe in Him." We must come to live everyday so that we "Believe" Him today in a manner that can bring His power and influence through the veil to shape and mold outcomes in our lives today. Are you abused by someone incapable of changing? Learn how to bring God's power through the veil in your behalf and in behalf of the one who cannot change. Miracles only happen when we "believe" that all the wonderful religious stories are not just stories, but are examples of how we are to conduct ourselves and how we are to receive miracles today. Do you know anyone who walks on water? Do you know anyone who raises the dead? Who causes the blind to see? If not, why not? Did not the Son of man prophecy that His disciples would do all things He did and even greater? Who do you know today who is actually doing all things He did and even greater? Are you? Only by acting in harmony with the impressions He gives today, or in harmony with His direct voice that He sends from time to time, or to messengers He sends to those who continually follow Him, can you continue to grow and to preserve wonder, joy, and high adventure that marks the path of those who live in continual harmony with His Spirit. Only through this path is true belief expressed and are true miracles wrought. When they are not wrought and are only spoken of, sang of, and prayed of, then our faith is weak. We draw near unto Him with our lips, but we deny His power by not bringing His power into our lives to help us in our day-to-day crossroads. I offer this not as criticism, but as a reflection concerning believing, versus believing in. True belief regarding His goodness and power leads to bringing that power directly into your life in "real-time" as you face life's real challenges.

Now, please consider the following: Beliefs not founded in reality are defined correctly by medicine as insanity. Therefore, consider carefully the reality of your "duel nature." For in that duel nature lies the only sane balance of realities that can establish a foundation for Living Young all your life. You are part spirit and part matter (body); you must serve honorably and rationally the needs of both your body and spirit if you hope to Live Young for a lifetime.

Billions of dollars are spent annually to preserve and lengthen lifespans by focusing upon the physical aspects of our duel nature. Expenditures are made toward a range of healthcare services, treatments, drugs, surgeries, nutrition, and upon various areas of health research. Thirty million will be spent during the next few years on anti-aging research alone. As a result of these expenditures and research some promising discoveries have been made, which demonstrate the ability to slow down, arrest, and reverse the physical metabolic aging processes.

A desire to improve vitality and to extend lifespan has been of interest to just about everyone whose eyes have dimmed, whose hearing has lessoned, whose mind has weakened, or whose body has experienced aging or disease. A time comes when each of us is awakened in some degree with a desire to slow down, arrest, and reverse needless aging processes. However, to truly understand the secrets of Living Young we must go beyond our physical health. The soul of man is part spirit (intelligence) and part matter (dust). To maximize vitality we must address both the spirit and the body of man. Let's speak for a moment about the physical aspect of our duel nature.

Science teaches that the elements used to create humans, plants, and animals in their various forms can neither be created nor destroyed. Elements or matter are building blocks, which are organized into the myriad life forms we recognize. Similar to my son’s legos, matter is inert and has no power in and of itself to act, but all matter must be acted upon in order to take on or to be organized into various forms. Just as my son’s creative genius leads to various lego forms, creative genius has also led to various forms of plants, animals, and people. As Einstein and many other scientists have concluded, the forms of life we know are not random accidents; rather, they are outcomes of purposeful, superior, creative design. Each species multiplies and replenishes according to the genetics or creative plan that is embedded within the DNA that exists inside the nuclei of nearly all living cells.

Science has come a long ways in understanding the biology of each species. It also has recognized that spirit, like matter, can neither be created nor destroyed. It is a part of the duel nature of creation. The spirit or life that exists within an embryo acts to form two cells from one, and then four cells from two, and so forth until trillions of cells are created and diversified into twelve body systems that form a perfect body, one that is capable of surviving, thriving, and producing offspring. How does this happen? Without this intelligence within the cell, no such multiplication of cells could possibly occur. We cannot ignore the bedrock requirements associated with spiritual health, without suffering negative and even harmful physical consequences. Now consider the following process:

A pregnant mother eats plants and animals of the earth to sustain her physical needs. As she does so, the embryo within her womb is nourished by earth’s elements. The spirit or intelligence within the embryo acts upon these elements of matter provided by Mother Earth to form a person, according to a blueprint contained within the DNA of each cell. Mathematically the process is expressed as follows:

A human genetic blueprint + Intelligence that acts upon matter according to a human genetic blueprint + inert elements or matter = a unique human life form.

This repeating pattern or mathematical formula, which includes spirit acting upon matter to create life forms, is seen throughout the whole of nature--within plants, animals, birds, and in everything that creeps upon the earth or lives within the seas. God has placed a pattern of growth within the DNA of nearly every living cell. The intelligences assigned to those cells choose to follow that pattern of operation and are 100% responsible for growth, repair, maintenance, and all inner workings of the cell that enables it to survive and thrive.

Each life form is part dust or matter and part spirit; together the physical and spiritual form the soul of man, plant, or animal and live together as a soul until it is time for the elements to separate to return to Mother Earth from whence they came and for the spirits to return to their home. At my father’s funeral it was impressed upon my soul that the mortal remains I viewed were not the man whom I loved and cherished. Rather, they were merely a shadow of what was once him. What I viewed possessed no intelligence, life, or spirit and utterly lacked my father's personality, wit, humor, and love. He was gone. Only inert matter remained, and even that was rapidly on its way back to the dust.

Elements that form our bodies return to the earth, similar to the elements found in a compost pile. Song writers and poets have aptly penned words describing the circle of life. One of my favorite country song writers sings about how the flower that his horse ate, sprouted from his friends grave, to become the bones and sinew of his horse and as he rode his horse off into the sunset, a part of his friend went with him.

Because we are formed from both spirit and matter (body), to Live Young requires that we give proper and rationale care to both the spirit and the body. While we know a great deal about the proper care of the body through science, optimizing the health of our spirits is best described by the sacred writers of holy writ. Such writings teach us that our spirits are eternal and divine and can neither be created nor destroyed, but are capable of growing in intelligence, power, light, truth, knowledge, faith, and love. To not enable one’s spirit fully in this life is utterly irrational and ignores the sane reality of the spirit’s divine potential.

While infants progress, learn and grow rapidly and their youth remains continually renewed as they successfully take each progressive step in their lives, it is possible for us to also live in a similar rapid state of progression. As we do so, each step leads to greater light, joy, and renewal. To Live Young, as an infant or child, is to forever live in spiritual harmony with the Infinite who to us can be as a perfect coach enabling us to take the steps which lead us to greater light, knowledge and spiritual power. Choosing to live and act in harmony with His Spirit enables His perfecting influence and power to mold and shape our yet undeveloped divine qualities. Rediscovering and strengthening the intuitive spiritual capacity we enjoyed as infants is the key to extraordinary spiritual health and is the greatest catalyst possible for enabling greater physical health.

As we most efficiently meet our physical requirements for good health and as we also act in complete harmony with the Infinite, we achieve our ultimate potential for Living Young! If you have not yet read the Living Youngnewsletter, I invite you to do so. The first five volumes focus purely on the physical aspects of health. We will also devote some time to spiritual aspects of health.

Live Young Always,

Jim and Colleen Simmons 

Always

Imagine a good baseball coach who teaches a young boy how to swing a bat. While there are hundreds of coaching points that lead to the perfect swing, a wise coach does not overwhelm a boy by asking too much of him too soon; rather, he begins by building upon his students strengths and then builds upon those strengths as fast as the student progresses. He will move along a path of progression with the boy at a pace that does not confuse, frustrate, and lead to failure. Great coaches know how to pace progress; they know exactly when to challenge a student further and when to maintain current focus.

Now imagine being invited by the world's best coach to come unto Him and to be perfected in Him, not just to swing a bat perfectly, but to perfect your whole soul. That is exactly the invitation the Jesus offered to each of us. Moreover he commanded saying, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." As the Master of truth who cannot lie or deceive, He would not invite, nor would He command such unless He was sufficiently capable to coach, and guide us unto perfection.

As the Master coach He knows how to customize our progression in a manner that we can continually advance, stretch, and grow--without becoming overcome by frustration, failure, and despair. He asks much of us to be sure, and as we heed His voice we grow line upon line and we bring the power and influence of His Spirit from behind the veil into our physical world to help shape and mold us into His perfect image. Each step we take is designed by Him to enable us with greater light, knowledge, and faith until we attain sufficient faith and knowledge to lay hold upon eternal life, the greatest of all God's gifts.

The greatest decision we can make is to accept His invitation to be perfected in Him. We do this by choosing to live so that we can enjoy His perfect influence always. How do we enjoy his fellowship and influence always? In ancient Israel the Law of Sacrifice was introduced to help prepare Israel to enjoy continual fellowship with Jehovah. Then, the law of sacrifice included three types of blood offerings:

• First, a sin offering of an animal was made to atone for a person's uncleanliness or sin. 
• Second, burnt offerings of the flesh of animals were made every morning and evening and the smoke from these offerings ascended continuously to heaven. This continual offering symbolized complete surrender and total devotion to God, paralleling the process of justification and sanctification, or the process of always retaining a remission of our sins. 
• Third, the peace offering indicates that the sacrificer of an animal was at peace with God and could therefore enjoy His fellowship.

The Sin offering preceded the burnt offering, and the burnt offering preceded the peace offering. This order symbolized the atonement, sanctification, and ultimate fellowship with the Lord.

Christ became the last great sacrifice that called for the shedding of the blood of animals. All former blood sacrifices pointed to this last great sacrifice. On the eve before Christ offered Himself as the great sacrifice for mankind He instituted the Lord's Sacrament to replace blood offerings. He then taught that the sacrifice required of us today is not of blood but is an offering of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Let's review the covenants we make during the Sacrament that lead us to enjoy His Spirit and fellowship always which is the prerequisite to becoming perfected in Him:

1. Remember: When He instituted the Sacrament, Jesus broke and passed the bread to His apostles and said, "This is my body which is given for you; this do in remembrance of me...." Then He passed the cup for each to drink and said, "This cup is the new testament (a new covenant with Israel) in my blood, which was shed for you" (Luke 22:19-20) The Sacrament is a time to ponder and remember with gratitude the life, teachings, atonement, and perfect ministry of our Lord. The bread is a reminder of His body and the physical suffering He endured for each of us upon the cross. It reminds us that through His mercy and grace we will be resurrected and are given the opportunity for eternal life. The water or wine is a reminder that the Savior shed His blood and suffered intense anguish for us. This began in the Garden of Gethsemane, which suffering led Him to say, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death" (Mattthew 26:38). Submitting to the will of the Father, He suffered more than we can comprehend: Blood came from every pore, so great was His anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of His people. We covenant to remember His sacrifice and our indebtedness to Him. He suffered for our sins, sorrows, and pains, providing remission of our sins if we repent and live the gospel. Remembering Him obligates us to a life of goodness as we serve and bless others. It requires that we live without hatred, enmity, immorality, selfishness, drunkenness, jealousy, dishonesty, and that we ultimately become perfect as He is perfect--attribute for divine attribute. 
2. Witness: As we partake of the Sacrament we witness to God our willingness to live the gospel and to take upon ourselves the name of His Son, even Jesus Christ, to surrender our will to His Son, and to live in such a manner that our thoughts, words, and deeds always reflect our covenant to be like His Son.  
3. Obey: We covenant to always keep the commandments, including what is taught in the gospels, as well as what He asks of us through His Spirit in our daily walk, and it also includes our willingness to live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God. We covenant to obey Him whether it be directly through His voice or through His authorized servants.

Christ commenced his earthly ministry with an ordinance--baptism--and ended His ministry with and ordinance--the Sacrament. Our personal reward for being properly baptized and for partaking of the weekly Sacrament with a sincere heart, with real intent, forsaking our sins, and renewing our covenants with God is the Lord Jesus provides a way whereby we can be forgiven from week to week of our sins and whereby we also discern those things which we need to improve. Simply eating the bread and drinking the water will not bring forgiveness or remission of sins, nor will it qualify us to enjoy the constant companionship of the Lord's Spirit. To maintain this sacred relationship, we must take time to examine our lives and strive with real intent to repent of our sins. As we approach the sacrament prepared and with His divine life ever in mind, we are to come before Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, which is caused by recognition of our dependence upon His power and grace to become perfected in Him. As we remember His tender mercies and the many gifts and blessings received at His hand, our remembrance leads us to love Him purely, which occurs best as we serve the real needs of others. As we do so we become even more purified through His attending Spirit until at last all impurity is overcome.

Summary
Similar to a young boy who needs a good mentor and coach, in order to obtain the ultimate prize of a perfected soul we need our Savior, even Jesus Christ. The weekly Sacrament is the path of spiritual rebirth through Christ that takes away our sins, and the stain of sins, as bit by bit temptations lose their appeal and we become holy as Christ and the Father are holy--attribute for divine attribute. His all-searching eye is upon us and He refines us as silver and gold until at last He can see His perfect image within us. As long as some vestige of sin remains within us and we retain some disposition to do evil we must continue to offer up our continual sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit and continue to recognize our dependence upon Him to guide and prepare us until we lay hold upon sufficient faith and knowledge to part the veil and to take up our abode with Him. Only then does He becomes our Second Comforter and as such He comforts, succors, leads, and finishes our faith by helping us become fully cleansed and made worthy to be introduced to the Father and to become a son or daughter of God's Eternal Family, which is the greatest gift of all. This is the entire meaning of receiving eternal life. We enter and remain on this path by "always" remembering Him.

The Sacrament is a sacred key to this great process, because only through keeping our Sacramental covenants to always remember Him, to always be a witness of Him, and to always obey Him do we qualify to always enjoy His divine and perfecting influence, which is necessary if we are to successfully accept His invitation to be perfected in Him, and if we are to be made ready by Him to pass from faith to a perfect knowledge of Him and His Father. He is indeed, both the author and the finisher of our faith and only through Him  can we come to know the Father, to see His face, and to receive eternal life.

Fasting

How would you like to overcome darkness and sin that binds you, to undo heavy burdens that you carry, to become free of oppression, to break every yoke that is upon you, to receive improved health of body and soul, to have your every prayer answered, to receive continual guidance in things both temporal and spiritual? How would you like God's Spirit and power to go before you, be with you, and also protect you from behind?  Would you like your life to become as a beautiful, watered, fruitful garden? How would you like to have God's grace flow to you continually like a spring of water whose waters fail not (see Isaiah 58:6-11)?

The history of fasting includes receiving the gift to heal or to be healed; it includes examples of overcoming darkness such as alcoholism, addictions, poor character traits, and so forth. Many have overcome bondage and captivity through fasting, and countless people have received answers to prayer and have received direct guidance from heaven while fasting. By praying and fasting often a person can enjoy heaven's guidance and perfect influence always. Fasting is one of the greatest tools God has given man. God promises that even physical health will be greatly improved through fasting.

Isaiah taught his people that God is no respecter of persons and that His promises are for every soul who learns to fast in an acceptable manner before Him. There are many examples in scripture of those who fast acceptably before God; some great blessings have occurred after as little as one or two days of fasting; others have fasted forty days or more. Moses fasted forty days before receiving the ten commandments from God and then commenced another forty day fast immediately after learning of the iniquity of Israel while he was upon the Mount with God. Christ fasted forty days before He commenced His mission. Gandhi fasted for twenty plus days on several occasions as he sought to establish greater freedom for his people from Great Britain. In every culture and every religion there are accounts of individuals who have gained great spiritual insights and power through fasting.

There are both acceptable and unacceptable ways to fast. Fasting for selfish and self-righteous reasons has always been and will always be unacceptable to God. God neither responds, nor do His promises apply to those who fast in an unacceptable manner. How must a fast be conducted in order to receive the promises spoken of by Isaiah? Consider the following principles that are a part of an acceptable fast. When correctly applied these principles merit and result in God's promises toward the fast:

1. Proper Attitude: It begins with the right attitude of work and obedience. We are never tempted above that which we are able to bear and with each temptation a way is made for our escape, that we may be able to bear it, but we must always do our part. A proper fast can enable you with greater power to overcome your temptations and sins and to lay hold of needed blessings. 
2. Determine Purpose of Fast: It is important to determine and recognize the purpose(s) of your fast. This could range from being released from prison, to overcoming specific sins that beset you, to being enabled to meet your temporal needs, to overcoming oppressive relationships, and so forth. Only you know what you or others need and what desires underlie the purpose of your fasting. As you prepare to fast, determine your specific purpose or purposes for fasting. 
3. Begin Fast with Prayer: The Lord is pleased when we reason with Him and present our needs and desires to Him in prayer. This is not to be confused with a demanding spirit; rather, we are to make a righteous offering that is described in scripture as a broken heart and a contrite spirit. With such a heart and spirit we are to articulate and share the purpose, reason, supportive logic, and need for our prayerful requests. God accepts our perfect offering as we express our desires and purposes to Him in faith and meekness. 
4. Bless Others: Isaiah said: “And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday.” (Isaiah 58:10) God's power and blessings are released more fully to us as we seek to lift the burdens of others. 
5. Seek the Companionship of the Holy Ghost: “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearguard” (Isaiah 58:8). "Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am..." "And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought..., and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not" (Isaiah 58:9). How would you like to become filled with His Spirit, power, and grace--insomuch that your life becomes fruitful with goodness that fails not? 
6. Subdue the Natural Man: There are changes that occur in the body during a fast. After certain energy reserves are depleted, body fat then releases fatty acids that form ketones, which are then used to produce energy in place of the more immediate energy reserves that are exhausted. Ketones have an effect upon our psyche that cause us to overcome hunger and to literally subdue the natural man. As your body enters into this state of fasting, it submits more fully to the spirit and as the spiritual man is victorious, we experience greater sensitivity to the influence of the Holy Ghost. Any person who becomes sensitive and fully responsive to God's Spirit is also prepared to receive His power and grace to become as a watered and fruitful garden or as a spring of water whose waters fail not. Goodness will continually flow from the lives of such individuals. 
7. Use of Time: While fasting, during time you would normally spend preparing food and cleaning up, devote that time to studying scriptures, learning, teaching others, and writing in your journal. Pray and ponder deeply the purpose of your fast and become responsive to God's Spirit.
8. Mighty Prayer: If we want the results spoken of by Isaiah, then we must combine prayer with fasting. Mighty prayer occurs as you ask God to help you remember His many kindnesses towards you. As you pause to ask and to remember His gifts to you, the Holy Ghost will fill your mind and heart with grateful remembrance. As you so remember you will feel pure gratitude, which is a natural expression of pure love toward God. This opens the conduit of the Spirit fully in your prayer and you will experience God's reciprocating pure love through the power of His Spirit. 
9. Bear Pure Testimony: As the Holy Ghost becomes your constant companion, such as occurs when we become humble and meek through fasting, our testimonies of God's goodness are more easily, simply, and purely expressed and should be shared with others. 
10. End Fasting in Prayer: There comes an appropriate time to end a fast. When that time arrives, end your fast in prayer. Reflect upon the purpose of the fast and how that purpose was served. 
11. Covenant to Improvement: As you receive valuable insights from fasting, note each insight in your journal and make appropriate plans and commitments with God regarding those insights. Secure the Holy Ghost as your constant companion by covenanting with "real intent" to follow the guidance you receive during the fast. As you maintain your commitment by following through with your plans, God's Spirit will continue to bless and influence your efforts as you go forward. 
12. Become Like Christ: The spirit of a fast helps lead us to increasingly think and act like Christ, and through regular fasting, repentance, and the continual remission of sins the attributes of the natural man slip away to be replaced by the heart and the mind of Christ. This is what it means, in part, to come to know Christ and God. Christ instructed us to become perfect as His Father in Heaven is perfect. We can talk about Christ, teach about Him, and so forth, but until we become like Him through repentance and through a continual remission of sins, we can never come to truly know Him. Coming to know Him is a gentle process of grace that occurs through the gift of His Spirit that attends our fasting, repentance, and a continual remission or our sins; through this process He helps us to become like Him, attribute for divine attribute. Fasting catalyzes this process as we take the insights received while fasting and immerse ourselves in them more fully. 

To realize the promises of the fast described by Isaiah fast in an acceptable manner before God, as described above. As a principle of power fasting changes lives. When the flesh submits to the spirit we gain the insights, strength, and grace needed to subdue the natural man and to become as Christ. He purges and refines us as silver and gold until His perfect image can be seen within us. That image is best reflected through our kindness and actions toward each other and toward the hungry, the poor, the homeless, the naked, the widow and the fatherless, the stranger that comes into our gates, and to our own families and children in their needs. Therefore, to become as Christ and to obtain the promises of the fast, let our souls be drawn out in fasting and in mighty prayer continually and throughout our lifetimes.

Charity

Do you remember what it is like to have your body vibrate at the speed of love, joy, wonder, and accomplishment, or how you felt and how easily you accomplished things when you knew little to nothing of resentment, criticism, guilt, and fear? Did you know that every thought you create is real substance that goes out into the universe to create your future? What you send out, you will get back, both good and evil, and your environment and situation are merely a looking glass of what you have chosen to attract into your life. It is exciting to contemplate that by shaping and molding our thoughts as we desire, we also shape and mold any future we desire. How important is a future filled with pure love?

Religion and science demonstrate that maintaining love and inner peace is more important than diet, exercise, or sleep when it comes to maintaining good health and longevity. Those who possess a loving and peaceful state naturally outlive those who tend toward worry, restlessness, anger, and other forms of stress. From the gospels we learn that love is not evil, proud, rude, self-seeking, easily angered, and keeps no record of wrongs. A person filled with love and peace carries no extra burdens to weigh down the spirit or the body. Moreover, love is light, and darkness flees from light. And, the more love you give to others, the more love comes back to you. Even the darkness of disease often flees a body that is filled to overflowing with light!

From a scientific standpoint, love and peace enable an ideal balance within the autonomic nervous system and within each cell of the body, which leads to longer, healthier, and happier lives. By comparison, chronic stress caused from worry, anger, restlessness, hatred, hopelessness, nervousness, ingratitude, contention, and negative attitude each over-stimulate the fight-or-flight response system. Mental and spiritual disquietude are linked to heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidental death, cirrhosis of the liver, suicide, accelerated aging, and to all degenerative diseases. How can we foster and attain a peaceful and loving state? The short answer you can do today is to go about doing good continually. Let’s look at vital steps you can take toward a long-term solution:

• First, pray to recognize the Lord’s hand in your life and His love for you. As you sincerely ask to know of God’s pure love for you, His Spirit will bring to remembrance your many blessings and your eyes will open to see how He is aiding you in every walk of life, and then you will experience gratitude, which is a pre-requisite for being able to recognize and feel His deep love for you. Ask, pause, reflect, remember, and feel deeply. 
• Second, as you remember and feel the Lord’s love for you, pause to express divine gratitude for each blessing brought to your awareness. Expressing your gratitude is how to return pure love to God. As you so come to know the Lord, you will discover an intimate, sacred relationship built on trust and will come to know that He understands your burdens and will always respond to you with compassion. It is not enough just to know that God loves you; you must pause in gratitude daily to feel His deep love for you.  
• Third, the Lord’s response to us is always filled with love and motivates us to become like Him through repentance and through a continual remission of sins. Through the gift of His Spirit that attends our repentance, He helps us to become like Him, attribute for divine attribute. For example, through repentance we strive to become kind; through His Spirit and grace we transcend mere striving to be kind, to become kindness as He is kindness. With the new gift given, our desire to become like Him increases and we receive more grace (or goodness) for the grace we return to Him through expressing our deep-felt gratitude for the gift of kindness. As God's Spirit invites us to receive other attributes or gifts from Him, the process of striving (repenting) and becoming through grace is renewed again. And as we seek other gifts or characteristics of Christ, we are to immerse our thoughts in that characteristic and convey our feelings to God, self, and others. Righteous feelings generated by obedience toward any godly attribute and expressions of gratitude to God precede the increase of those feelings from the Spirit. As we are obedient and grateful, a magnified portion of the gift or attribute we seek will return to us from the Spirit. By His Spirit, we are taught more perfectly through feeling and thought regarding each gift or attribute we seek. 
• Fourth, as we consecrate the refinement of God-given attributes to Him through loving service to others, we prepare ourselves more fully; and when He does appear to us, we will be like Him. As we magnify any gift or attribute from God we receive a new heart, a pure heart. As we increasingly think and act like Him, the attributes of the natural man will slip away to be replaced by the heart and the mind of Christ. We become like Him as we truly receive Him. (See “Holiness”.) As we become like Him, our attentions turn to the welfare of our fellowman. The way we treat others with patience, kindness, a gentle acceptance and a desire to play a positive role in their lives becomes the indicator of how we are progressing as His disciples. 

Summary

Deep within the center of our beings there is an infinite well of love. As we come to know Christ through a continual remission of sins, the attributes of the natural man will slip away to be replaced by the heart and the mind of Christ. This unlocks the pure and infinite source of love that is within us to flow freely to the surface and to touch all that we see, think, feel, and do. This pure gift of charity is given only to those who seek it, only to those who earnestly pray for it, and only to true disciples of Christ. As we walk this path and overcome ego through loving service, consecration of our refined attributes, and by refusing to compare ourselves to others, we experience true happiness, love, and peace. As we pray daily, study His word, and follow His voice, we remain unencumbered through loving service to others. As His disciples, we restore charity’s circular love as we go about with unfailing compassion, patience, and mercy doing good to the poor, afflicted, and distressed. We love others because He first loved us. This is the reciprocating cycle of charity that never faileth. It is available to anyone who will enable the process described above to see, think, feel, and act as Jesus Christ.

Postscript: Imagine what will happen within our circles of influence as each of us cherish, watch over, and love one another as we want to be loved! Each utopia that has existed upon this earth, where man lived to the age of a tree or was translated, occurred through the process described above. Wherever a critical mass of disciples of Christ truly walk this path, Zion or Utopia is there established, and this is the only process by which it is established. It is not a stretch of the imagination to desire, seek, and receive the pure gift of charity, or to receive the other perfect attributes of Christ. By so doing you will enjoy greater health, happiness, and longevity. You will also help to establish the long-awaited Zion and will enjoy a spirit of peace and love throughout your lifetime. Most gloriously, by so doing you will qualify to meet the fountain of infinite pure love and to see His face, whilst you live!

Eternal Life

When by faith we heed and follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit, we render the veil to bring God's Spirit and power from behind the veil into our physical world. This is the process for enabling God's perfecting influence to help shape important outcomes and events in our lives.

For example, in faith the young shepherd boy David acted with God's power to slay the bear and the lion while protecting his father's flocks. This experience led to certain knowledge, that when one acts under God's influence and power, all things are possible. This knowledge led to greater faith and when David later was moved upon by God's Spirit to confront Goliath, he acted with certitude and in faithful obedience to that spirit. By so doing he rendered the veil yet again to enable God's power and divine influence to shape a victorious outcome for Israel.

Similarly, each time we exercise faith to act upon God's Spirit in our lives we achieve at least two outcomes. First, we render the veil to bring God's Spirit and power into our physical world to shape important events and outcomes. Second, increased knowledge is always a by-product of acting faithfully upon revelation. Thus, as the Lords Spirit leads us along, He helps us grow line upon line in the knowledge we need to become redeemed.

Every saint must attain a fullness of knowledge if they are to be redeemed, and the path required to attain this knowledge is the same for saints of each dispensation. It is marked by faithful obedience to God's Spirit. Faith acted upon today is always rewarded by increased knowledge that leads to even greater faith tomorrow. It is a step-by-step process that yields sufficient faith and knowledge necessary to lay hold upon salvation.

Whenever we fail to heed the Lord's voice or to keep His commandments, our faith grows dormant and and the Lord ceases to reveal Himself further to us until we repent, forsake our sins, and covenant with "real intent" to follow Him. Our journey in added faith and knowledge renews only as "real intent" to follow Him renews. As we follow Him with renewed faith our knowledge continues to grow, line upon line, until one day we lay hold upon sufficient faith and knowledge that the veil is parted and we are permited to see His face and to take up our abode with Him.

The path to the Father and to become an eternal member of God's Family is through Jesus alone. As we exercise the faith necessary to see and know Jesus, and to take up our abode with Him, He then finishes our faith, introduces us to the Father, and by so doing becomes the author and finisher of our faith.

Why do we need a Second Comforter to finish our faith? As we take up our abode with Christ it is for one purpose; it is to provide the succor and comfort we will need as we face a critical test of faith. As our Second Comforter, Christ prepares and succors us to help enable us to pass this customized and ultimate test that qualifies us to be made clean every wit and to be introduced by Jesus to the Father.

Each step of faith we take in life is greater than the previous; therefore, every step is as if we are starting all over again. We experience doubts and fears and must find our way through them as we have done previously in order that we may act in faith, render the veil, and gain further light and knowledge.

The path doesn't ever become easier; rather, each step is designed to help us grow further in faith and knowledge. We therefore must remember, as we seek to overcome doubts and fears, that as we act with certitude all Goliaths become mere illusions. Why? Because every time we act in faith and obedience to God's Spirit, we render the veil and bring his Spirit and power into our physical world. As we do so, whatsoever the Lord asks of us becomes possible to us, until we lay hold upon eternal life.