February 23, 2026 • 29 mins
Are you in your own way? What in your life no longer serves you or your progress in life? Why not use the season of Lent to review and eliminate old ideas that no longer align with Scripture or your Spirit’s eternal lessons journey.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_01 (00:02):
Would you take serious life advice from Willie
Nelson?
SPEAKER_00 (00:06):
Well, let's hold on to that thought.
What if I told you that there'smore to it?
That there are benefits andresources from heaven that are
available to help you in thislife.
And you've never heard aboutthem.
Are you curious?
Well, join Gordon Merrill as hedigs deeper into making heaven
real in this life.
SPEAKER_01 (00:35):
Welcome back to Making Heaven Real.
If you've been following closelyover the last couple of weeks,
you've been a part of ourcontinuing study as we're kind
of circling the compass and alsocircling around the illustration
of an aeronautical airfield.
(00:57):
And we started out at north,went to west, south, and east,
and started out by comparing howmost airfield approach patterns
are counterclockwise because thepilot seat's normally on the
left, and that gives them thebest view below and the
(01:17):
airfield, and the bestout-of-the-cockpit information
to make the best decisions for asafe and appropriate landing.
So over the last several weeks,we've been looking at the
cardinal direction points fromthat same perspective and from
(01:40):
that same counterclockwiseapproach.
From a spiritual perspective,looking at the fact that yes, we
are spirits in a human form,sent here for the human
experience, and sent here tolearn, grow, and mature.
(02:02):
We've also looked at howdifferent sets of people and
different cultures look at thesecardinal directions and the
significance associated withthem.
We started out with north andintrospection and challenges,
(02:25):
which for most of us who arehere because of having a
devastating loss and grief,there's nothing much more than a
of a challenge than that.
And definitely a time ofintrospection is required after
that.
(02:46):
Then we flew on around towardsthe west and found reflection
and endings.
But as a part of that ending, wealso found that several cultures
look at movement to the west asa movement from the outer world
or the things around us into ourinner world and our spirit and
(03:11):
our spirituality.
Moving on around, we ended up atthe South.
Warmth, growth, life.
And also encouraging withenlightenment and understanding,
representing the journey intotruth and goodness from the
(03:32):
south with the warmth.
This week we go on around to thelast of our cardinal positions
being East.
And I think a lot of that isvery special because the East in
a lot of cultures depends on thesymbolism of new beginnings,
(03:57):
enlightenment, hope, butprobably more importantly, or at
least as important, divinepresence.
East is associated with therising sun, and it represents
light, dispelling darkness,renewal, rebirth, fresh starts.
(04:24):
Spiritually, the East can be thesymbol of hope and renewal,
which gives us a chance toembrace new opportunities, seek
higher awareness, looking fornew things or a new way of
looking at things to energize usand help us set the intentions
(04:49):
for our day.
The East is the universal symbolof light, renewal, and divine
connection.
One of the things I think isalso interesting that this comes
up at this particular time onour calendar.
(05:13):
Because in preparation forEaster, many religions observe a
period of Lent.
And Lent, by definition, is aseason of spiritual renewal.
Kind of goes along with ourdiscussion of East.
(05:37):
A lot of what you'll see withLent is taking a serious look at
your life.
Taking a serious look at yourspirit?
Taking a serious look at thethings you've learned or the
things that you hold asimportant.
To see if they're stillimportant.
(06:01):
Do some of the things thatyou've learned or been taught
over and over growing up, dosome of them just really have no
more meaning or importance orneed in your life now?
(06:23):
Things that are not directlyassociated with your spiritual
growth or your human experienceas a spirit to learn, grow, and
mature may no longer hold reasonor purpose in your life.
(06:46):
And that's where the season ofLent is very important because
we can kind of move those out,brush those aside, get rid of
those to make room in our heartand life for those new things
that will provide betterdirection, better meaning,
(07:11):
better support in our growth andour learning.
So Lent is a very good time.
And Lent is also a very goodtime to match with this
particular discussion.
Because when we're lookingtowards the East and we're
(07:32):
looking for divine knowledge,and we're looking for wisdom to
emerge from our search, thatgives us the ability to grow, to
change, to self-discover, andput those things in the space
that we just cleared out andmade by getting rid of those
(07:54):
things that no longer havepurpose or meet our need.
We started a bit way back at thebeginning in some of the early
episodes talking about you don'tknow what you don't know, and
you don't know it because nobodybothered to teach you about it.
(08:16):
But we also talked about some ofthe things that you may have
been taught may not becompletely, totally
representative of the originaltext of Scripture.
Those are some things you mightwant to look at seriously during
this time of Lent, or seriouslylook at during this time of
(08:38):
facing the east.
If it's not serving a directpurpose for your spirit to
learn, grow, and mature, it maybe time for some house cleaning.
(08:59):
It may be time to put that asidefor a little bit.
Just like the East has all ofthe metaphors and the pictures
of the sun coming up in the eastand the sun rays having
associated with that pictures ofdivine blessing and guidance and
(09:19):
shining light and all of that.
I mean, if nothing else, look atthe picture for making heaven
real.
We have a single person on apath where heaven is sending a
light and illuminating theirpath and providing them
guidance, direction, andknowledge.
(09:46):
So when it's Lent, when you'rereviewing things during the days
of Lent, when you're figuringout what things don't serve a
purpose anymore, let's push themaside and make room for those
things that do directly affectour path as a spirit to learn,
(10:12):
grow, and mature.
So we know that there's allkinds of things about East that
allow that to happen for us,that provide us with that
opportunity.
You know, if you look at it fromthe element perspective, East is
linked to the element of air.
(10:35):
Interesting.
We're talking about airplanesand air approaches, and here we
have the direction of eastlinked to the element of air.
But not just air.
In several cultures, it'sassociated with intellect,
communication, and even thebreath of life.
(10:59):
Those are the kind of thingsthat we want to focus on as
we're trying to get the bestconnection possible so that we
can produce the best outcomepossible for our spirit on this
life plan.
(11:23):
East is also a reminder ofconstant cycles of life, the
chance for renewal and the hopefor a brighter future.
Those three statements rightthere, I think, encompass a lot
of what we've been talking aboutfrom the very beginning.
Unfortunately, a lot of us arehere because of the constant
(11:43):
cycles of life and one cyclethat took somebody from us.
But there's the chance forrenewal.
And there's also the hope for abrighter future.
And that hope is really wrappedin the idea of allowing our STC
(12:05):
to guide us, to navigate for us,to take care of things for us.
So, yes, the East is a symbol ofnewness.
It's a symbol of divine help.
It's a symbol of light.
(12:25):
It's a symbol of renewing.
All things that we are reallyimportantly focused on right
now.
With this current season of Lenton the calendar, also fits right
in perfectly with our view ofthe cardinal direction east.
(12:53):
So, what has gotten us to thispoint?
We've reviewed navigation usingan airline or airplane and
airfield analogy through all ofthis.
We've discussed how navigationand assistance and safety is all
(13:16):
taken care of for most airplanesby air traffic control or ATC.
We've directly compared that tonavigation and control and
safety for our spirit with ourspirit team or STC.
(13:39):
We've reviewed all four cardinaldirections.
North with its introspection andchallenge, West with its endings
and reflection, but alsopointing us to our inner world
and our inner spirit.
South with its warmth, growth,and life.
(14:01):
And now we're looking at Eastand how it helps so much with
direction, self-discovery,growth, with the divine
knowledge and wisdom that emergefrom the East.
We've looked how we navigatethis compass counterclockwise.
(14:24):
Because that gives the best viewfor the pilot.
Now what we're looking at withthe STC is not so much going
counterclockwise, but we're alsolooking at how it's providing
information, navigation, andsupport with the best view for
the pilot.
(14:47):
But I think one of the pointsthat we've made that I think
encompasses a lot of thisdiscussion is the pilot, no
matter whether it's to acontrolled airfield,
uncontrolled airfield,controlled by STC, or visual
flight rules and flightfollowing or not.
Because the pilot must always bealert, must always be engaged,
(15:14):
must always be looking over hisshoulder for a frame of
reference.
Your eyes are always outside thecockpit.
Your eyes are always looking,scanning the horizon, you're
looking for other traffic in thearea.
You're always alert.
I think that's one of theconcepts that's kind of a little
(15:35):
underemphasized in our spiritjourney.
We need to be alert.
If we're learning and maturingand growing, the best way to do
that is to be alert.
I know my grandfather years agotold me if you want to learn
(15:57):
something, find somebody who'sawesome at that task.
And crawl in their pocket untilyou know it.
The only way that has anysupport or substance is because
you're alert.
You're watching, you'relearning.
(16:18):
One of the other things aboutnavigation in an aircraft is
you're always realigning yourtools.
An aircraft especially hasregularly scheduled mandatory
maintenance schedules.
And all of your navigationdevices have regularly scheduled
mandatory realignment andrecalibrations.
(16:45):
But if we're traveling with ATCand we're flying an aircraft,
ATC knows our flight plan.
And if you're trying if you'reflying a instrument flight rule
IFR flight plan, they keep trackof you from takeoff to landing
and watch everything in themiddle.
(17:08):
They'll navigate you aroundstorms, they'll navigate you
around other traffic that may ormay not have a radio.
They're there to take care ofyou, watch you, and make sure
that you have the best, safest,most expeditious route to your
destination.
(17:28):
For us, STC is the same thing.
They know your life plan forthis lifetime in its entirety.
They have it in front of them.
So if you're headed for anobstacle, they'll either work to
(17:51):
remove the obstacle completely,or they'll fly you around it.
They're there to take care ofyou, to keep you safe, keep you
on course, and arrive you safelyat your destination.
(18:12):
But what if you're an airplaneand you're in flight following,
and all of a sudden you decideto go do your own thing.
So you call ATC and say, Yeah,I'm gonna vector off to the west
and uh I'm gonna just dropflight following.
They'll let you.
(18:36):
But what ends up ends uphappening?
You don't have the navigationsupport.
They don't know where you'regoing now because you've dropped
your flight plan.
They'll still monitor yoursafety.
(18:57):
But without flight following,they're not gonna talk to you
unless there's an emergency.
So what happened there?
You as a pilot made a free willdecision to brush them aside and
do your own thing.
(19:19):
Now we've talked several timesabout the effects of our free
will decisions on our life.
We started out with a very boldstatement that the only way we
can limit God in our life is byour free will decision to not
allow Him full control.
(19:43):
We've also discussed how freewill decisions that you make
will have downstream effects notonly on yourself, but also in
others.
And how those free willdecisions can trigger
far-reaching effects downline.
(20:08):
For the purpose of thisdiscussion, I think the one that
we're most concerned about ishow our free will decisions can
also limit our chances tosuccessfully complete this
life's plan.
If RSDC knows everything that'son our life's plan and
(20:29):
everything that's on thesyllabus, quote unquote, for
this particular class, which isthis lifetime, if we suddenly
decide we're not going to cometo class for a couple weeks, or
we're not gonna turn in anassignment for a couple weeks,
when the time runs out for theclass, we may not have fully
(20:51):
completed everything that'srequired to pass the class.
That's part of a free willdecision to deviate from our
life's plan, just like we made afree will decision to deviate
from the flight plan filed withATC.
(21:20):
So while we have yeast thatgives us the ability to connect
with divine intervention andconnect to enlightenment and
connect to the inspiration thatwill help us to go forward.
Are we getting in our own way?
(21:44):
If we are spirits in human formthat are here for a human
experience to learn to grow andmature, who's in control?
Is our spirit in control of whatwe're doing this time around?
Or is the human?
(22:10):
2007 there was a song that wasreleased, and it's called I
Release, I Let Go.
Some of the lyrics there applyto this so well.
It says, I release and I let go,I let the spirit run my life,
and my heart is open wide.
(22:33):
No more struggle, no morestrife.
With my faith I see the light.
I am free in the spirit.
How freeing would it be to letgo and let the spirit or our
spirits or our STC take controland run a life force?
(23:04):
Now quick example I think willmake a lot of impression on this
point.
Years ago when I was workingwith the Air Force, we were on a
mission in Florida during theheight of the wildfires down
there.
So smoke was so heavy and sothick, a lot of times certain
(23:25):
areas didn't hardly even seesunshine.
You couldn't see the sun peeringthrough the thickness of the
smoke.
When we completed that part ofthe mission, we had to fly from
there back to another state,which was home base at the time.
(23:46):
But the smoke was thick.
I'll never forget sitting in theback of that aircraft.
Thankfully, there was a pilot upfront who was a Delta pilot, had
instrument flight rating, wasable to file an IFR flight plan
with ATC.
(24:07):
We took off for that airport andsaid, vector this direction at
this speed and this altitude,and we took off.
It wasn't two minutes afterleaving the airport that we were
in smoke so thick and so dense.
(24:27):
I could no longer see the wheelon the landing gear outside the
window.
No idea where we were going, hadno way of navigating by anything
we could see.
We were in smoke so thick wecouldn't tell if we were about
(24:49):
to run into somebody.
But what got us through thatentire process safely is because
the pilot was trained in lettinggo and letting ATC control where
he went, how he went, whatdirection he went to keep him
(25:13):
safe.
Not only did he keep him andeverybody in the airplane safe,
thankfully, but brought us toour destination safely.
(25:40):
But because it was an Air Forcemission and because it was an
instrument rated pilot,commercial pilot, ATC was able
to navigate us safely.
So what if we let go?
What if we let our spirit team,our STC, navigate us, point us
(26:09):
in the right direction, keep ussafe, and deliver us safely to
our destination.
Now, I started the episodeasking if we would take life
advice from William Nelson.
Well, in 2022, Willie Nelsonwrote a song, Energy Follows
(26:34):
Thought.
And part of those lyrics go,imagine what you want, then get
out of the way.
Remember, energy followsthought, so be careful what you
say.
The next part is if you hearspirits talking, their wisdom
(27:00):
cannot be bought.
Apply it to your thinkingbecause energy follows thought.
So now if we are going to takeaway any wisdom or direction for
our life from Willie Nelson,this would be where we would
(27:21):
would have to come from.
You know, we've heard of thesaying for years, get out of
your own way.
We talked about that brieflywhen we talked about Lent.
What kind of things have welearned years ago that no longer
apply that are getting in ourway?
(27:45):
What kind of things do we needto brush aside and say, nope,
this no longer applies?
We have to look at those thingsthat will help our spirit to
learn, grow, and mature whileit's here.
Who better to do that and guideus through that than our STC,
(28:11):
who has the entire plan in frontof him?
So can you even imagine, asWillie Nelson suggests, what
would happen and how much youcould accomplish on your
spirit's life's plan if we couldget our spirits' way and hear
(28:37):
our spirits talking to us.
That would definitely makeheaven real in this life.
SPEAKER_00 (28:45):
We hope you learned something new about God's love
and his resources during ourtime together.
Please like and subscribe so youdon't miss out.
You can find our social medialinks and our contact info in
the show notes.
When you're commenting, pleasereference the episode number.
Join us next time as we againsearch out the ways of making
(29:06):
heaven real in this life withGordon Merrill.
Would you take serious life advice from Willie
Nelson?
SPEAKER_00 (00:06):
Well, let's hold on to that thought.
What if I told you that there'smore to it?
That there are benefits andresources from heaven that are
available to help you in thislife.
And you've never heard aboutthem.
Are you curious?
Well, join Gordon Merrill as hedigs deeper into making heaven
real in this life.
SPEAKER_01 (00:35):
Welcome back to Making Heaven Real.
If you've been following closelyover the last couple of weeks,
you've been a part of ourcontinuing study as we're kind
of circling the compass and alsocircling around the illustration
of an aeronautical airfield.
(00:57):
And we started out at north,went to west, south, and east,
and started out by comparing howmost airfield approach patterns
are counterclockwise because thepilot seat's normally on the
left, and that gives them thebest view below and the
(01:17):
airfield, and the bestout-of-the-cockpit information
to make the best decisions for asafe and appropriate landing.
So over the last several weeks,we've been looking at the
cardinal direction points fromthat same perspective and from
(01:40):
that same counterclockwiseapproach.
From a spiritual perspective,looking at the fact that yes, we
are spirits in a human form,sent here for the human
experience, and sent here tolearn, grow, and mature.
(02:02):
We've also looked at howdifferent sets of people and
different cultures look at thesecardinal directions and the
significance associated withthem.
We started out with north andintrospection and challenges,
(02:25):
which for most of us who arehere because of having a
devastating loss and grief,there's nothing much more than a
of a challenge than that.
And definitely a time ofintrospection is required after
that.
(02:46):
Then we flew on around towardsthe west and found reflection
and endings.
But as a part of that ending, wealso found that several cultures
look at movement to the west asa movement from the outer world
or the things around us into ourinner world and our spirit and
(03:11):
our spirituality.
Moving on around, we ended up atthe South.
Warmth, growth, life.
And also encouraging withenlightenment and understanding,
representing the journey intotruth and goodness from the
(03:32):
south with the warmth.
This week we go on around to thelast of our cardinal positions
being East.
And I think a lot of that isvery special because the East in
a lot of cultures depends on thesymbolism of new beginnings,
(03:57):
enlightenment, hope, butprobably more importantly, or at
least as important, divinepresence.
East is associated with therising sun, and it represents
light, dispelling darkness,renewal, rebirth, fresh starts.
(04:24):
Spiritually, the East can be thesymbol of hope and renewal,
which gives us a chance toembrace new opportunities, seek
higher awareness, looking fornew things or a new way of
looking at things to energize usand help us set the intentions
(04:49):
for our day.
The East is the universal symbolof light, renewal, and divine
connection.
One of the things I think isalso interesting that this comes
up at this particular time onour calendar.
(05:13):
Because in preparation forEaster, many religions observe a
period of Lent.
And Lent, by definition, is aseason of spiritual renewal.
Kind of goes along with ourdiscussion of East.
(05:37):
A lot of what you'll see withLent is taking a serious look at
your life.
Taking a serious look at yourspirit?
Taking a serious look at thethings you've learned or the
things that you hold asimportant.
To see if they're stillimportant.
(06:01):
Do some of the things thatyou've learned or been taught
over and over growing up, dosome of them just really have no
more meaning or importance orneed in your life now?
(06:23):
Things that are not directlyassociated with your spiritual
growth or your human experienceas a spirit to learn, grow, and
mature may no longer hold reasonor purpose in your life.
(06:46):
And that's where the season ofLent is very important because
we can kind of move those out,brush those aside, get rid of
those to make room in our heartand life for those new things
that will provide betterdirection, better meaning,
(07:11):
better support in our growth andour learning.
So Lent is a very good time.
And Lent is also a very goodtime to match with this
particular discussion.
Because when we're lookingtowards the East and we're
(07:32):
looking for divine knowledge,and we're looking for wisdom to
emerge from our search, thatgives us the ability to grow, to
change, to self-discover, andput those things in the space
that we just cleared out andmade by getting rid of those
(07:54):
things that no longer havepurpose or meet our need.
We started a bit way back at thebeginning in some of the early
episodes talking about you don'tknow what you don't know, and
you don't know it because nobodybothered to teach you about it.
(08:16):
But we also talked about some ofthe things that you may have
been taught may not becompletely, totally
representative of the originaltext of Scripture.
Those are some things you mightwant to look at seriously during
this time of Lent, or seriouslylook at during this time of
(08:38):
facing the east.
If it's not serving a directpurpose for your spirit to
learn, grow, and mature, it maybe time for some house cleaning.
(08:59):
It may be time to put that asidefor a little bit.
Just like the East has all ofthe metaphors and the pictures
of the sun coming up in the eastand the sun rays having
associated with that pictures ofdivine blessing and guidance and
(09:19):
shining light and all of that.
I mean, if nothing else, look atthe picture for making heaven
real.
We have a single person on apath where heaven is sending a
light and illuminating theirpath and providing them
guidance, direction, andknowledge.
(09:46):
So when it's Lent, when you'rereviewing things during the days
of Lent, when you're figuringout what things don't serve a
purpose anymore, let's push themaside and make room for those
things that do directly affectour path as a spirit to learn,
(10:12):
grow, and mature.
So we know that there's allkinds of things about East that
allow that to happen for us,that provide us with that
opportunity.
You know, if you look at it fromthe element perspective, East is
linked to the element of air.
(10:35):
Interesting.
We're talking about airplanesand air approaches, and here we
have the direction of eastlinked to the element of air.
But not just air.
In several cultures, it'sassociated with intellect,
communication, and even thebreath of life.
(10:59):
Those are the kind of thingsthat we want to focus on as
we're trying to get the bestconnection possible so that we
can produce the best outcomepossible for our spirit on this
life plan.
(11:23):
East is also a reminder ofconstant cycles of life, the
chance for renewal and the hopefor a brighter future.
Those three statements rightthere, I think, encompass a lot
of what we've been talking aboutfrom the very beginning.
Unfortunately, a lot of us arehere because of the constant
(11:43):
cycles of life and one cyclethat took somebody from us.
But there's the chance forrenewal.
And there's also the hope for abrighter future.
And that hope is really wrappedin the idea of allowing our STC
(12:05):
to guide us, to navigate for us,to take care of things for us.
So, yes, the East is a symbol ofnewness.
It's a symbol of divine help.
It's a symbol of light.
(12:25):
It's a symbol of renewing.
All things that we are reallyimportantly focused on right
now.
With this current season of Lenton the calendar, also fits right
in perfectly with our view ofthe cardinal direction east.
(12:53):
So, what has gotten us to thispoint?
We've reviewed navigation usingan airline or airplane and
airfield analogy through all ofthis.
We've discussed how navigationand assistance and safety is all
(13:16):
taken care of for most airplanesby air traffic control or ATC.
We've directly compared that tonavigation and control and
safety for our spirit with ourspirit team or STC.
(13:39):
We've reviewed all four cardinaldirections.
North with its introspection andchallenge, West with its endings
and reflection, but alsopointing us to our inner world
and our inner spirit.
South with its warmth, growth,and life.
(14:01):
And now we're looking at Eastand how it helps so much with
direction, self-discovery,growth, with the divine
knowledge and wisdom that emergefrom the East.
We've looked how we navigatethis compass counterclockwise.
(14:24):
Because that gives the best viewfor the pilot.
Now what we're looking at withthe STC is not so much going
counterclockwise, but we're alsolooking at how it's providing
information, navigation, andsupport with the best view for
the pilot.
(14:47):
But I think one of the pointsthat we've made that I think
encompasses a lot of thisdiscussion is the pilot, no
matter whether it's to acontrolled airfield,
uncontrolled airfield,controlled by STC, or visual
flight rules and flightfollowing or not.
Because the pilot must always bealert, must always be engaged,
(15:14):
must always be looking over hisshoulder for a frame of
reference.
Your eyes are always outside thecockpit.
Your eyes are always looking,scanning the horizon, you're
looking for other traffic in thearea.
You're always alert.
I think that's one of theconcepts that's kind of a little
(15:35):
underemphasized in our spiritjourney.
We need to be alert.
If we're learning and maturingand growing, the best way to do
that is to be alert.
I know my grandfather years agotold me if you want to learn
(15:57):
something, find somebody who'sawesome at that task.
And crawl in their pocket untilyou know it.
The only way that has anysupport or substance is because
you're alert.
You're watching, you'relearning.
(16:18):
One of the other things aboutnavigation in an aircraft is
you're always realigning yourtools.
An aircraft especially hasregularly scheduled mandatory
maintenance schedules.
And all of your navigationdevices have regularly scheduled
mandatory realignment andrecalibrations.
(16:45):
But if we're traveling with ATCand we're flying an aircraft,
ATC knows our flight plan.
And if you're trying if you'reflying a instrument flight rule
IFR flight plan, they keep trackof you from takeoff to landing
and watch everything in themiddle.
(17:08):
They'll navigate you aroundstorms, they'll navigate you
around other traffic that may ormay not have a radio.
They're there to take care ofyou, watch you, and make sure
that you have the best, safest,most expeditious route to your
destination.
(17:28):
For us, STC is the same thing.
They know your life plan forthis lifetime in its entirety.
They have it in front of them.
So if you're headed for anobstacle, they'll either work to
(17:51):
remove the obstacle completely,or they'll fly you around it.
They're there to take care ofyou, to keep you safe, keep you
on course, and arrive you safelyat your destination.
(18:12):
But what if you're an airplaneand you're in flight following,
and all of a sudden you decideto go do your own thing.
So you call ATC and say, Yeah,I'm gonna vector off to the west
and uh I'm gonna just dropflight following.
They'll let you.
(18:36):
But what ends up ends uphappening?
You don't have the navigationsupport.
They don't know where you'regoing now because you've dropped
your flight plan.
They'll still monitor yoursafety.
(18:57):
But without flight following,they're not gonna talk to you
unless there's an emergency.
So what happened there?
You as a pilot made a free willdecision to brush them aside and
do your own thing.
(19:19):
Now we've talked several timesabout the effects of our free
will decisions on our life.
We started out with a very boldstatement that the only way we
can limit God in our life is byour free will decision to not
allow Him full control.
(19:43):
We've also discussed how freewill decisions that you make
will have downstream effects notonly on yourself, but also in
others.
And how those free willdecisions can trigger
far-reaching effects downline.
(20:08):
For the purpose of thisdiscussion, I think the one that
we're most concerned about ishow our free will decisions can
also limit our chances tosuccessfully complete this
life's plan.
If RSDC knows everything that'son our life's plan and
(20:29):
everything that's on thesyllabus, quote unquote, for
this particular class, which isthis lifetime, if we suddenly
decide we're not going to cometo class for a couple weeks, or
we're not gonna turn in anassignment for a couple weeks,
when the time runs out for theclass, we may not have fully
(20:51):
completed everything that'srequired to pass the class.
That's part of a free willdecision to deviate from our
life's plan, just like we made afree will decision to deviate
from the flight plan filed withATC.
(21:20):
So while we have yeast thatgives us the ability to connect
with divine intervention andconnect to enlightenment and
connect to the inspiration thatwill help us to go forward.
Are we getting in our own way?
(21:44):
If we are spirits in human formthat are here for a human
experience to learn to grow andmature, who's in control?
Is our spirit in control of whatwe're doing this time around?
Or is the human?
(22:10):
2007 there was a song that wasreleased, and it's called I
Release, I Let Go.
Some of the lyrics there applyto this so well.
It says, I release and I let go,I let the spirit run my life,
and my heart is open wide.
(22:33):
No more struggle, no morestrife.
With my faith I see the light.
I am free in the spirit.
How freeing would it be to letgo and let the spirit or our
spirits or our STC take controland run a life force?
(23:04):
Now quick example I think willmake a lot of impression on this
point.
Years ago when I was workingwith the Air Force, we were on a
mission in Florida during theheight of the wildfires down
there.
So smoke was so heavy and sothick, a lot of times certain
(23:25):
areas didn't hardly even seesunshine.
You couldn't see the sun peeringthrough the thickness of the
smoke.
When we completed that part ofthe mission, we had to fly from
there back to another state,which was home base at the time.
(23:46):
But the smoke was thick.
I'll never forget sitting in theback of that aircraft.
Thankfully, there was a pilot upfront who was a Delta pilot, had
instrument flight rating, wasable to file an IFR flight plan
with ATC.
(24:07):
We took off for that airport andsaid, vector this direction at
this speed and this altitude,and we took off.
It wasn't two minutes afterleaving the airport that we were
in smoke so thick and so dense.
(24:27):
I could no longer see the wheelon the landing gear outside the
window.
No idea where we were going, hadno way of navigating by anything
we could see.
We were in smoke so thick wecouldn't tell if we were about
(24:49):
to run into somebody.
But what got us through thatentire process safely is because
the pilot was trained in lettinggo and letting ATC control where
he went, how he went, whatdirection he went to keep him
(25:13):
safe.
Not only did he keep him andeverybody in the airplane safe,
thankfully, but brought us toour destination safely.
(25:40):
But because it was an Air Forcemission and because it was an
instrument rated pilot,commercial pilot, ATC was able
to navigate us safely.
So what if we let go?
What if we let our spirit team,our STC, navigate us, point us
(26:09):
in the right direction, keep ussafe, and deliver us safely to
our destination.
Now, I started the episodeasking if we would take life
advice from William Nelson.
Well, in 2022, Willie Nelsonwrote a song, Energy Follows
(26:34):
Thought.
And part of those lyrics go,imagine what you want, then get
out of the way.
Remember, energy followsthought, so be careful what you
say.
The next part is if you hearspirits talking, their wisdom
(27:00):
cannot be bought.
Apply it to your thinkingbecause energy follows thought.
So now if we are going to takeaway any wisdom or direction for
our life from Willie Nelson,this would be where we would
(27:21):
would have to come from.
You know, we've heard of thesaying for years, get out of
your own way.
We talked about that brieflywhen we talked about Lent.
What kind of things have welearned years ago that no longer
apply that are getting in ourway?
(27:45):
What kind of things do we needto brush aside and say, nope,
this no longer applies?
We have to look at those thingsthat will help our spirit to
learn, grow, and mature whileit's here.
Who better to do that and guideus through that than our STC,
(28:11):
who has the entire plan in frontof him?
So can you even imagine, asWillie Nelson suggests, what
would happen and how much youcould accomplish on your
spirit's life's plan if we couldget our spirits' way and hear
(28:37):
our spirits talking to us.
That would definitely makeheaven real in this life.
SPEAKER_00 (28:45):
We hope you learned something new about God's love
and his resources during ourtime together.
Please like and subscribe so youdon't miss out.
You can find our social medialinks and our contact info in
the show notes.
When you're commenting, pleasereference the episode number.
Join us next time as we againsearch out the ways of making
(29:06):
heaven real in this life withGordon Merrill.
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