The Gift of Drawing on a Higher Power
There I was sitting in the back of a rubber raft with a sick old lady in a gaudy floral patterned bathing suit and I just knew this was not going to end well.
Hello, my friend, I’m Dr. Brad Miller and you’re on the Pathway to Promise Podcast. This is episode #3 Drawing on Higher Power
The older lady in the gaudy floral bathing, suit sitting next to me was trouble. Her name was Eilene and she was a nice enough lady but in this circumstance she was trouble.
My wife and I and our two teenage sons like to go white water rafting on our vacations.
On this particular trip, we were on a river in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee our family of four and two other couples, a couple of newlyweds, Eilene, her husband and our college student guide, a petite young woman, nine in all on a rubber whitewater raft.
Somehow, I ended up sitting on the very back of the rubber raft next to Eilen, who was not a small woman, in her gaudy floral bathing suit.
She was wide-eyed and obviously scarred bragging, loudly and nervously, about the medications she was on. It was obvious that this was a woman who was not physically or emotionally ready for something as taxing and strenuous as a four-hour whitewater rafting trip.
I just had this sick feeling that something was about to go terribly wrong.
The woman had terror in her eyes as we pushed off the bank of the river. It wasn’t more than five minutes into our trip that we ran into our first patch of white water.
Immediately Eileen absolutely panicked and instead of digging her paddling into the water, as we had been instructed, she raised her paddle up and in the air wailing about and screaming at the top of her lungs. I managed to duck the first swing, but she just came back around with that paddle and on the second time around and this time caught me right in the chest, knocking the breath out of my lungs. In almost the same motion she lost her balance and slid backward, she was going into the river. But being a nice lady, she decided to take me with her by grabbing my life jacket with a death grip which took us both back into the river. Fortunately, there were giant rocks underwater for me to land on and Eilene was courteous enough to land on top of me, with all her weight, smashing my legs into the rocks again.
What little I could see, through the blinding pain in my legs, was the pink and blue floral pattern on the backside of Eileen’s bathing suit right in my face. It was even better because Eilene was panicking, thrashing about, trying to get to the surface kicking me several times in the process.
I was literally stuck between a rock and pink and blue floral pattern place…underwater. I started taking on water. I really thought it was all over for me right then and there. I thought this was it this is how I got taken out by a crazy old lady in on a rubber raft.
Well, I guess it was just instinct that I did what had to be done. I put one hand on a blue flower and one hand on a pink flower and I pushed with all my might to get Eilene to the surface. She popped up and the other people managed to pull her up and into the raft safely.
I, on the other hand, was still pretty beat up slipped back under the water. My energy was spent, I was hurt and helpless and out of breath. My strength was gone. This was it.
All I could do was pray. I’ll tell you how this turned out in a bit.
Sometimes when we are in the middle of adversity in the pain of our present circumstance we feel very much drained, out of energy, helpless our strength gone…we feel powerless.
Hello, my friend, this is Dr. Brad Miller and this is the pathway to promise podcast. My life is dedicated to helping people achieve transformation in their lives in a timely manner.
I believe that every single person has a God-given promised life of peace prosperity and purpose which we achieve by following a proven pathway, which along with the proper people helps us a chain attain our promised life.
This is episode 003 of the pathway to promise podcast is the second in our series of foundational teachings about the four gifts that God gives to us to help us attain our promised life.
In episode 001 I shared my story about how my daughter’s wedding led to the creation of the pathway to promise podcast. In episode 002 we talked about God’s Gift of taking bold action. In episode 004 and 005 we will talk about God’s gifts of love and self-discipline.
This is foundational episode 003 which is all about God’s gift of drawing on a higher power.
The foundational principle of drawing on a higher power stems from a verse of Scripture from the bible. The apostle Paul wrote these words in 2 Timothy 1:7 “I (God) did not give you a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power love and self-discipline”
The second foundational gift of God in the pathway to promise process after the bold action is the gift of drawing on a higher power.
Power is the source of energy which we draw on to achieve our promised life. It is a power greater than ourselves that you have to have to achieve meaningful change.
This is the inner change you have to have to achieve outer change. You might say this is the c the engine which drives the vehicle which takes you through the wilderness of your problems and adversities to your promised life. Nothing truly moves without power.
Great figures from the Bible, Moses, Paul, Jesus all had extended periods of prayer and fasting which energized them to get through their wilderness experiences to achieve their promised life.
Many highly successful contemporary authors and leaders including Tim Ferris and Oprah Winfrey credit meditation as crucial to their achievements.
The means by which you can draw on a higher power to find your promised life are often called spiritual disciplines. They include such practices as prayer, fasting, meditation, reading scripture, study, worship, unplugging from social media or television. It is these spiritual practices or disciplines which connect you to your higher power, the source of finding your promised life.
Let’s go just a bit more detailed on one spiritual discipline which you will find helpful on your pathway to promise….it the spiritual practice of journaling.
There are many ways to journal let me share with you a one practice I use which you will find helpful. Take out your notebook, bound journal or electronic planner app and open it up. I’m going to call this your tablet, because in the bible the ten commandments where written on two tablets and that was the source of power which changed and motivated Moses.
This is called the SOAP plan. S.O.A.P. And here’s how it works.
You open your tablet to write in and then open up a Holy Book to read from. The Holy Book I prefer is the Bible, but of course, there are many powerful Holy books from nearly every faith tradition. Using your Holy Book get a plan to read daily a passage. I use the youversion.com bible which has a number of Bible reading plans on the application.
Here’s the S. O.A.P. Plan:
In your tablet write the letter S:
The letter S, to spell out the word soap, is for Scripture. This is where you write out the passage of Scripture and even better yet speak to Scripture allowed. When you write something out, particularly something spiritually powerful, the very act of writing it helps to imprint the message into your mind.
Now in your tablet write the letter O: The O to spell out the word soap is for observation.
In your tablet write a few lines observing what you have learned my reading and writing the scriptural passage. What do you think was the intent of the writer? What is the context of the passage? What is the message that is being conveyed by the Scripture? These are a few of the questions which can guide you in your observation of the Scripture.
The letter A in spelling out soap is for the application. So in your tablet put the letter A: now write a few lines in your tablet about how the scriptural passage has application to your personal life. How does the Scripture apply to your Marriage and family life? How does the Scripture impact your work life? Is there application of this Scripture to your health or your business?
The letter P completes the spelling of the word soap and stands for prayer. In your tablet and write P: and the word prayer. Prayer is the language you can use to communicate with your higher power. Swing your tablet right a prayer that communicates what you learned from the Scripture and its application for you. This can include adoration and worship of your higher power. Confession of anything that is breaking the relationship between you and your higher power or other people. Thanksgiving for the good things and blessings in your life. Asking for your higher power to give you direction and discernment. When you are finished writing take a moment to listen and reflect on what you have journaled.
This is the soap process of journaling which I use to connect to my higher power. I also like to think of it as cleaning up my life with soap.
I know if you regularly apply spiritual disciplines particularly the practice of journaling through the soap method and you will feel the power of something greater than yourself in your life which will change you for the better. This is an important part of the transformation journey which is the pathway to your promised life. This is the way to gain strength and power to change your life even when you feel like you have none.
Speaking of feeling powerless are you curious at all about what happened to me when I was underwater in that river sinking fast, helpless, with nothing to do but pray. My prayer was answered by a power greater than myself. I was blessed with a strong athletic 18-year-old son. He reached into the river and with one giant heave dragged me into the raft. There I coughed up some sweet tasting river water and caught my breath. I was a bit beat up, but none too worse for the wear and forever grateful for the strength and power of my son to save me that day. I was able to complete my pathway on the river day because I drew upon a higher power and that made all the difference.
The pathway to promise podcast is all about making a difference in your life about helping you find a way to navigate great adversity to your life like depression, divorce, disease even the death of a loved one. I truly do believe that God has promised you a life of peace, prosperity, and purpose which you can find when you connect up with the right people and the right plan or pathway.
If you would like to find out more about the pathway to promise podcast I suggest you head over to our website drbradmiller.com. At drbradmiller.com we have a free gift for you it’s a guide entitled “the four-minute way to frame your day for success” it’s all about a simple process to begin and end your day in an effective way. There are lots of other great resources there as well.
I’m so pleased that you join me today on episode three of the pathway to promise podcast and I know it when you draw on a power greater than yourself you will be transformed to the better. If this podcast is added value to your life it would be an honor if you would subscribe to this podcast through iTunes, Stitcher or whatever way you are listening to me today. It would be even more awesome if you would give us the pathway to promise podcast a five-star rating (if you think it deserves it) it be very cool if you would write a line or two in the review field. He would also be just amazing if you would share about the pathway to promise podcast through your social media and personal connections, I bet you know someone for which the pathway to promise podcast would be helpful. We Will be here every week.
This episode number three on drawing on a higher power is the third of the five foundational episodes of the pathway to promise podcast. Episode one was my story of preparing for my daughter’s wedding which led to the creation of the pathway to promise podcast. Episode 002 was all about God’s gift of bold action for your life. Episode 005 is about God’s gift of living with self-discipline. Right now though let me invite you to go on over and play Episode 004 about the God’s gift of the energy in loving relationship. It’s available right now on the pathway to promise podcast and you don’t want to miss that episode.
My friend, it has been a privilege and an honor to spend some time with you on the pathway to promise podcast. I am absolutely passionate about helping people transform their lives for the better in a timely way. It is my earnest hope that we can go on this pathway to the promised life together. Until next time this is Dr. Brad Miller encouraging you to keep your promises because there is power in a promise kept.
The Four Minute Life Planning Guide
The Four Minute Life Planning Guide