These Prosperity “Laws” Aren’t Working!

Here's a question that came to me recently that's worth discussing:

“Since reading the Jack Rabbit Factor and feeling elated, it seems that our finances have gone down the tubes. I have not been able to pay bills on time, money is taking longer than usual to come in, we have bounced checks, etc. I know right now I am dwelling on the negative,but wondered why this is happening just at the time that I feel I have discovered the answer?”

Here's my reply, somewhat modified:

When you’ve got some big changes that you're aiming toward, this kind of thing happens and tests your commitment to what you’re after. From here until the end of your days, your success and level of prosperity will not come as a result of what happens to you, but how you handle the circumstances you face… and as we know, there will be opposition in all things. (Read more about this in my previous blog entry.)

The Supply is unlimited. We must remember that all things come from Original Substance and nature is abundant. Prosperity abounds! So if we experience “lack”, it is not because there is lack… there is only abundance. In this very moment, you have all you need. It is when we think ahead to future needs that we look at our “limited” supply and worry that it won’t last. (Future meaning 5 minutes from now or 50 years from now, the principle is the same.)

In this moment, we can be grateful.

We have the air we need to breathe, a heart that pumps oxygen to all of our limbs, stores of energy to keep our heart pumping… yes, in this moment we should be calm and grateful that God has supplied us with everything we need here and now. No matter what anticipated troubles may come tomorrow, in this very moment, God has provided abundantly. To worry is to resist a situation that hasn’t even happened yet. As you may have heard elsewhere, that which we resist, persists. Consider Mark Twain's comment, "I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened."

When we worry, we cut off our mind to possible solutions. Prosperity becomes elusive and hidden. We must relax, hope, expect, and look for the solution which, by law, must exist. Every problem has a solution, by the law of polarity.

Challenges are healthy for us, because they enable us to stretch our limits and grow. We can pause and be grateful for the challenge, because it turns our thoughts toward our Father in Heaven. Anything that does that is truly a blessing, for we are promised that as we draw near unto Him, he will draw near unto us.

Let me share a segment from another powerful book that takes a Christian approach to the law of attraction:

“'Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity' is true, for when man reaches his limit, he hopelessly stops his efforts. When he relaxes from his strain, the Law has a chance to reply to his desires, and things begin to change for him…

“The mind is like a sponge. We squeeze it hard with our anxious thoughts, but not until we can release the pressure and allow the sponge to take its normal shape can it become absorbent and receptive again.” (“Working with the Law”, p 82-83, Raymond Holliwell)

Finally, an understanding of the seven laws is imperative when things don’t appear to be going the way you expected. The whole objective is to “think right” when things go wrong… because if you do, you can be sure that success is yours and will soon enough be reflected in reality. Feeling gratitude now, no matter what is going on in your life, is the quickest way to flip the switch and prepare your mind for answers.

(More help available if you’ll pay special attention to laws 2, 4, and 5 already well expounded upon in Hidden Treasures.)

Prosper on!

Path to Prosperity: Do the Challenges Ever Stop?

It is thrilling to discover these principles of prosperity, and it’s especially exciting when you see them work for the first time. From there, you feel empowered and encouraged to think bigger and test the principles on more significant tasks. But when you face a setback, you might be left wondering, “What just happened here? I thought that if I just live the principles perfectly, the rest of my life would be easy!”

I have an answer for this, and I hope it doesn’t burst anyone’s bubble too much… but we were placed on this earth to grow. All life is compelled to grow and expand. That is one of the definitions that helps us determine whether something is alive: does it grow?

In order for us to grow, we must have challenges that stretch us beyond our present limits. We must work our mental muscles and exercise our mind, body, and spirit in order to have the joy and experience the prosperity that only comes through growth and expansion. There are few joys that exceed the feeling of facing a difficult challenge, and overcoming it.

The truth is, that if we ever found ourself without challenges, we would become unhappy and restless.

Remember when you were a child, and your mother tried to teach you how to tie your shoe? Did it work the first time you tried it? Probably not. And it was probably very frustrating, and likely evoked some tears. In that moment, there had never been so great a challenge in your life. You wanted to throw in the towel, give up, and if it didn’t make you cry, it probably made you growl in frustration. However, in time, it became old hat for you and you could do it without even thinking.

Then when you were in sixth grade, your teacher probably assigned you a book report that would take several weeks and had to fill up about 4 pages. You had never done an assignment that big before, and it was overwhelming. In time, and after being required to do a number of similar assignments, it was no big deal. What took several weeks could be completed in a day, because you had experience.

Fast forward to college. Remember those projects that ultimately determined your final grade? Remember the countless hours on the computer? Remember closing off your social life in order to meet that deadline? It was overwhelming, and the stress was unbelieveable. You had never been required to work so hard on something so important! If you were like me, you shed many tears and begged your professor more than once for mercy.

Then for some of you, you started in the work force and had job pressures and bills to pay. Sometimes it was too much to bear. You thought you had it pretty tough until…

You got married and added a spouse to the picture. Now there was work pressures, bills to pay, and a spouse to please. Who knew that being responsible to one other person could stir things up that much? Pretty soon, you get into the routine of things, and even though things are tough, you have no idea what tough means until…

You start having children.

Are there words to describe how complicated things became when kids entered the picture??

Now wait a minute… think back to the time when you were learning to tie your shoe. Oh, if only life were that easy now!!!

But remember, at the time, when you were six and you had to figure out how to pull the string just enough to make a loop and not enough to make a knot, it was as though the world was falling apart and it was nearly more than you could cope with. One day, today's challenges will look like child’s play as you learn to conquer them.

All that I do through my books and website is to provide the tools you need to learn how to succeed in overcoming the challenges you face today. Will challenges in general go away? No. But you’ll be prepared to handle bigger challenges, and you’ll grow in faith, hopefully learning to rely more perfectly on the Lord in all you do.

It seems that life will only get more challenging. WAIT! I didn’t say life has to get worse… or even harder, but it will constantly deliver more and more advanced challenges. As we learn the laws and adopt them into our habits, we become successful at overcoming them more and more gracefully. Every challenge could easily seem overwhelming… but only relative to what we’ve conquered in the past.

Challenges are important because they help us build confidence. Imagine a child who never gained confidence in learning something simple… what if they were required to hold office as president of a large organization! Each challenge is intended to lead us along to receive all that God would have us receive. Each is an opportunity to overcome and gain increased confidence in the partnership we are developing between ourselves and the Lord.

You can get good at handling finances and attracting wealth. Learning to achieve prosperity is a skill that can be improved. Just as you got good at tying a shoe, this is one skill that can become a strength. But don’t get discouraged if new challenges show up. It doesn’t mean you are failing. It means you have grown to a point where the Lord believes you can handle something else. It is an indication of His increased faith in you.

I heard somewhere, “When you are down to nothing, God is up to something”. There is joy to be had in the struggle. As we learn to find peace in each whirlwind of trouble around us, that is success. Then, the prosperity you want begins to flow naturally. Seek peace and the prosperity comes, seek prosperity and the peace will flee.