Do not quench the Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:19
The voice of the Spirit of God is as gentle as a summer breeze— so gentle that unless you are living in complete fellowship and oneness with God, you will never hear it. The sense of warning and restraint that the Spirit gives comes to us in the most amazingly gentle ways. And if you are not sensitive enough to detect His voice, you will quench it, and your spiritual life will be impaired. This sense of restraint will always come as a “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12), so faint that no one except a saint of God will notice it.
Beware if in sharing your personal testimony you continually have to look back, saying, “Once, a number of years ago, I was saved.” If you have put your “hand to the plow” and are walking in the light, there is no “looking back”— the past is instilled into the present wonder of fellowship and oneness with God (Luke 9:62 ; also see 1 John 1:6–7). If you get out of the light, you become a sentimental Christian, and live only on your memories, and your testimony will have a hard metallic ring to it. Beware of trying to cover up your present refusal to “walk in the light” by recalling your past experiences when you did “walk in the light” (1 John 1:7 ). When–ever the Spirit gives you that sense of restraint, call a halt and make things right, or else you will go on quenching and grieving Him without even knowing it.
BOTTOM LINE:
Suppose God brings you to a crisis and you almost endure it, but not completely. He will engineer the crisis again, but this time some of the intensity will be lost. You will have less discernment and more humiliation at having disobeyed. If you continue to grieve His Spirit, there will come a time when that crisis cannot be repeated, because you have totally quenched Him. But if you will go on through the crisis, your life will become a hymn of praise to God. Never become attached to anything that continues to hurt God. For you to be free of it, God must be allowed to hurt whatever it may be.
Utmost For His Highest Aug 13
Beware of bartering the Word of God for a more suitable conception of your own. From Oswald Chamber’s Disciples Indeed, 386 R
During the prior post, I stated the following from the urbandictionary.com definition of “wokey.”
“Relax if you’ve been offended by the definition. Tomorrow (sorry I got busy) I’ll print a recent newsletter from the other camp that may well be offended by the prior’s camp definition. And understand that will be the last I’ll allow any more political rhetoric. Period.” So, what follows is one of the best examples I’ve read from the other camp. This is very, very lengthy (1903 words), and deserving of your Utmost contemplation as you seek God’s heart for you in this, once again, “pivotal election.” It seems like I’ve been hearing that “pivotal word” ever since the 1960 election! Perhaps consider reading this document when you’re not at all pressed for time.
This is important stuff, especially in light of the above quote. I want to say after all this info on Allen Cohen, what hasn’t he done or been involved in? For me, that is the one underlying foundational question you and I must answer after we read and reflect on his life’s journey to date. What one piece is missing?
Alan Cohen, M.A., from his roots as an Orthodox Jew, he took a mind-expanding tour of the teachings of Jesus, Ram Dass, Zen, Jung, the Esalen Institute, (becoming the center of practices and beliefs that make up the New Age movement, from Eastern religions/philosophy, to alternative medicine and mind-body interventions, from transpersonal to Gestalt practice) Einstein, authoring 31 popular inspirational books, including the bestselling A Course in Miracles Made Easy, the award-winning A Deep Breath of Life, and the classic Are You as Happy as Your Dog? He’s a contributing writer for the New York Times #1 bestselling series Chicken Soup for the Soul, (just research the history of that business venture until its July 10 ’24 restructuring, after its April 23, 2024 announcing its $636.6 million loss in 2023) and his books have been translated into 32 foreign languages.
Alan’s work has been featured on CNN, Oprah.com, USA Today, The Washington Post, and Huffpost. He is included in the book, 101 Top Experts Who Make Our Live Better. He is a featured presenter in the award-winning documentary Finding Joe, celebrating the teaching of mythologist Joseph Campbell. Alan is the founder and director of the Foundation for Holistic Life Coaching.
Alan Phillip Cohen (born October 5, 1954) is an American businessman, best known for his ownership of the Florida Panthers hockey team and his founding of several generic pharmaceutical companies, most notably the Davie, Florida-based Andrx Corp. Cohen in 1984, founded the drug distribution firm Best Generics Inc. and sold it to Florida’s Ivax Corporation in 1988 for $10 million although he stayed on as President until 1990. In 1992, he founded Andrx Pharmaceuticals Inc., which he led as CEO to its inclusion in the Nasdaq100 in 1999. In 1996, the company went public at $12 and its stock eventually soared as high as $400 a share split adjusted. In October 2000, he left the company to purchase the Florida Panthers. In 2002, he created Abrika Pharmaceuticals Inc.[2] in Sunrise, Florida. Four years later, he sold it for $235 million to Actavis Group, an international generic drug company in Iceland. He was also the majority owner of the NHL’s Florida Panthers from 2001 to 2009.
Since 2003, he has been racing and breeding horses on his Arindel Farm in Ocala, Florida. One of his horses, Wait A While, competed in a Breeder’s Cup race at Churchill Downs in 2006. She went on to become United States Champion 3 year old filly in 2006.
Other books written by Alan P Cohen include:
A Course in Miracles Made Easy: Mastering the Journey from Fear to Love 2015 12 Editions
Why Your Life Sucks: And What You Can Do About It. 2002 14 Editions
A Deep Breath of Life: Daily Inspiration For Heart-Centered Living 1996 7 Editions
The Tao Made Easy: Timeless Wisdom To Navigate A Changing World 5 Editions
The Dragon Doesn’t Live Here Anymore: Living Fully, Loving Freely 1981 16 Editions.
Alan also writes a monthly newsletter titled “Easeletter” which I’ve included next verbatim for your greater understanding of who Alan P Cohen represents after his introduction from my Brave search engine you’ve been given above. The following document was featured in its May 2024 “Easeletter” edition titled:
Who Will Win the Election
It’s been a wild election year, and will likely continue to be so. Lots of people are fearful, distraught, and angry. The country appears to be divided into tribes, the rift between them growing deeper daily. Some marriages are tottering over political differences, and violence has broken out in certain sectors.
I would like to take a very different approach to predicting who will win. The real election is not between two people, but between two irreconcilable states of consciousness. We are each choosing between fear and love, doubt and trust, illusions and truth. The ego tricks us into believing that our choices are material, while they are more fundamentally spiritual.
The idea that we elect leaders by casting votes in a booth is true only at the surface level our lives. We more accurately vote with our consciousness. The leaders who get into office reflect the predominant state of mind of the masses. The laws of metaphysics supersede the laws of the nation. In the past few decades, we have seen two elections in which the winner lost the popular vote, but won the electoral college vote. On a spiritual level, the leaders perfectly represent the consciousness of the nation. Thomas Jefferson rightly noted, “The government you elect is the government you deserve.”
If you are fearful, angry, or upset, you will elect a President who operates from fear, anger and upset. You can tinker with human-made laws, but you cannot override the rock-solid Law of Attraction. If you are connected to Spirit and recognize that God is running the universe, you will elect a President with integrity. If enough people remain connected to Source energy, the balance will be tipped in favor of Source.
Every president is a mirror of the spiritual evolution or devolution of the nation. The election of Barack Obama as the first African-American president demonstrated that our nation emerged from a long, dark mentality of racism. We evolved to that landmark moment, and we got the government we deserved by Right of Consciousness. Other presidents have represented more immature states of the country’s mind. When we elect a woman president in this election or any subsequent one, we will know that we are growing beyond sexism. You can always tell what you believe by what you are getting.
Your strongest vote to obtain leaders of good consciousness is to work on your own consciousness. Then you become a force for healing, and your vote goes far beyond that of one person. Mahatma Gandhi said, “The pure love of one person can offset the hatred of thousands.” Margaret Mead echoed, “Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.” If you are reading this, you are likely in that group that is a subset of the whole population, but whose influence extends far beyond that subset.
The only way to win the election is to achieve a state of mind that transcends the upset in which the masses are embroiled. George Bernard Shaw said, “Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, and the pig likes it” The real pig is a swine state of mind. If you stoop to the state of mind that motivates people to elect bad candidates, you are contributing to elect that candidate. Pig-minded candidates are elected by pig-minded thoughts. Refuse to participate in those thoughts, and you are voting for a candidate with character.
Regardless of who gets into office, you and I must occupy the office of right thinking. Only those who think in alignment with Spirit change the world for the better. A Course in Miracles tells us, “Seek not to change the world, but choose instead to change your mind about the world.”
I would therefore like to suggest some lessons from the Course as affirmations to guide us through this election season:
I could see peace instead of this.
I am not a victim of the world I see.
I am affected only by my thoughts.
Heaven is the decision I must make.
I place the future in the hands of God.
Whenever you affirm a true idea, you are voting in ways far more powerful than the button you press on election day. Those who remain at peace will win the election, and those who get upset will lose. No matter who gets into office, you and I are each in charge of our experience. We need to pay more attention to our mindset than our TV set. Let us vote on a daily basis by remaining in the light no matter where others choose to go.
As stated above following this post’s Utmost introduction, Beware of bartering the Word of God for a more suitable conception of your own. From Disciples Indeed, 386 R.