Spiritual Adaptability

FRI., JULY 3, 1987, 2:28 PM
FARM, STUDY

You are in a familiar place but an unusual time for this period of listening to Me, the Holy Spirit. Your commitments made are certainly acceptable to Me, and your knowing that I have heard and accepted them will help insure that you are faithful to them. Now listen as I take one of your favorite health concepts and talk about its application to spirit.

Spiritual adaptability involves the capacity and willingness to see the potential for growth in new, unfamiliar, changed, and unexpected situations. Further, it involves the ability and willingness to let your spirit direct your thoughts and actions and the decisions that are part of such actions. Examples are needed, certainly.

The “sabbatical” I directed you take from your Presbyterian church was, in one sense, an exercise in spiritual adaptability. Could you feel My spirit in these diverse ways of worshipping and in the different sanctuaries? Could you feel “at one” with people in these diverse congregations? You accomplished that rather well, and you grew from the experience. There will be another opportunity for a spiritual adventure like unto that one in the future.

Social situations, even parties, offer potential opportunities for learning about people’s spiritual paths. Adaptability is necessary to pick upon ideas expressed or experiences described that could be guided on into more spiritually related talk. To recognize, first… then knowing how best to pursue the spiritual sharing without turning the person or persons away. This is knowing beyond the rational and beyond even what you have learned from experience. Yes, I do help with this on occasions. Yes, you can tap into My capacities, also. It takes practice and willingness, mainly.

It takes adaptability to understand and appreciate many passages of Holy Scripture. Some is quite straightforward, and it can be understood by almost anyone and will be interpreted quite uniformly. But other portions of Scripture are purposely vague, ambiguous, or open to more than one interpretation. Without adaptability you pass on over these or just wonder about their meaning. With adaptability you can see what is to be learned, even as others cannot.

It takes adaptability in spirit to hear what I am teaching you in the midst of your own mind’s thoughts. If you had more spiritual discipline, or even mental discipline, you could close these thoughts out and hear only Me. Unfortunately, these you do not have, so you must have adaptability instead. Without some good amount of this talent even I could not “reach you.” Think what you could accomplish with more discipline!

It will take some spiritual adaptability to tell the story of Moses and My burning bush to little kids, keeping it interesting and exciting and yet retaining the spiritual message – God may call on you at any time for service to Him. Be sure and practice this some… yet do it with basic spontaneity.

Whenever you cannot be what you want to be, particularly if you know I want you to be in this way also, you need spiritual adaptability. You would like to be a better, more effective teacher than you are. You know I want you to do this life task well… and yet you hear Me tell you that though you are above average you shall not be superior, as you wish. Can you accept this and yet continue to strive for excellence? That takes spirit… adapting to a difficult circumstance.