When Doubts Threaten Your Dreams with Roger Teel

[00:00:01] This is Josh Rees and you're listening to the Mile Hi Church Podcast.

[00:00:05] Hey, have you ever noticed when you let something go, it works out?

[00:00:09] That's part of the spiritual practice of the power of surrender, written by Ku Blacks and

[00:00:13] and coming to Mile Hi Church to speak on April 26th, in person or online learn more at

[00:00:18] MileHiturch.org.

[00:00:23] I'm message today.

[00:00:24] I offer in great love and from the depths of my personal journey.

[00:00:30] It's called when Doubts threaten your dreams.

[00:00:35] You see, no one is immune, no one.

[00:00:39] When our hearts embrace a cherished dream, along the journey toward that dream,

[00:00:52] Doubts can emerge.

[00:00:55] Very often does, especially when there are disappointments or delays

[00:01:01] or setbacks on that journey. Doubts doubts in our own capabilities.

[00:01:09] Doubts in the support of the universe behind our dream, doubts in the risks we feel called to

[00:01:15] make and support of the dream. Doubts in the dream itself. Doubts.

[00:01:20] Doubts. Even though we know that this is a spiritual universe, even though we know of

[00:01:28] an all-providing God, even though we spend hours in spiritual classes and prayer and meditation

[00:01:36] still doubts can surface and challenge us to the core. Can you relate?

[00:01:45] Indeed. So can I. By the way, have you heard about the horse that doubted everything?

[00:01:54] Yeah, it was a nay, sir. Now, I share that lofty axiom with you because about the time we start doubting

[00:02:08] that's when nay sares around us, start to chime in with their own chorus of limitation and negativity

[00:02:14] and our doubting intensifies. So, our dreams are in peril when these doubts surge forth.

[00:02:25] Now, in our teaching, we come into the understanding that we are spiritual beings

[00:02:34] and we catch that liberating vision and we begin to cultivate a consciousness that can move us

[00:02:41] forward into more of what we are designed to be, to do, to have and to give. And we are spiritual

[00:02:51] beings having a human experience and there are those times when our humaneness rises up to

[00:03:00] challenge us sometimes even bringing us to our knees and this is made more difficult in our lives

[00:03:07] when we start to criticize and second guess ourselves because of the doubts. Why am I so weak?

[00:03:15] Why can I keep my mind on course? Why do I always mess things up? Why do I always have to struggle?

[00:03:21] Am I not worthy of my dream? We do that to ourselves. And this is a critical point. It's a cross road

[00:03:30] on our journey. It's a cross road. We can succumb to the temptation to give up on the dream

[00:03:40] and many do at that point or we can accept that once again we are being given an opportunity

[00:03:53] for yet another leap in growth and that our doubts are actually prepared to school us

[00:04:02] and evolve us if we will let them. Now a key realization in all of this is that a great dream,

[00:04:14] perhaps the very dream that still haunts you or that you're involved in right now.

[00:04:20] A great dream will take us right to the ceiling of our believing. It will take us to the ceiling

[00:04:28] of our believing. We all have a ceiling of our believing. We believe up to a point. Then we are not so sure

[00:04:37] and this is where the doubt creeps in. In the ninth chapter in the book of Mark,

[00:04:46] a frantic father rushes up to the master teacher, the Jesus. He pleads for Jesus to heal

[00:04:54] his son who is having seizures probably up to him. Jesus says to him everything is possible with God

[00:05:03] and he says to the Father do you believe that? Then the father replies in such a vulnerable and

[00:05:10] universal way. The father said, Lord I believe help thou my unbelief. You're saying God I believe

[00:05:23] and I'm at the point where I'm not believing or I'm struggling to believe help me with this,

[00:05:29] help me develop my believing, help me develop and yeah we all believe until circumstances

[00:05:40] or even the magnitude of our dream bring us to the ceiling to the place where we now struggle

[00:05:50] in trusting and in believing. And actually this can be a gift if we all let it be, a gift to expand

[00:06:01] because you know that ceiling is flexible. It's been growing as you've moved more into truth

[00:06:08] in life and it will continue to but not a few pull away from it. It's flexible but many simply

[00:06:14] turn on themselves and desert their dream when they reach that ceiling. One thing I can promise you

[00:06:23] is that whatever dreams matter to you, they're going to challenge you to develop a stronger,

[00:06:30] more resilient, more embracing self-worth without a doubt they will. And in so doing you are

[00:06:40] making yourself a vibrational match to the dream and that's essential. And another thing I know

[00:06:49] about whatever that dream is for you is that it's probably bigger than you know how to do

[00:06:54] and it is going to require that you take steps into a greater reliance on the power that has

[00:07:00] created this universe, the power that lives within you, the intelligence that's driving at

[00:07:04] all and is available to you to inspire and enlarge you. You're going to have to do that.

[00:07:10] And that's a beautiful thing. So I think one of the biggest challenges in this arena that I'm bringing

[00:07:17] up today is the silly notion that it's not okay to have fared out in your life.

[00:07:23] So you can take a deep breath and embrace yourself that it's okay when you have fear

[00:07:30] and doubt in your life. It's okay. A farmer plants a field and it soars the seeds

[00:07:42] and inevitably what happens, weeds that start appearing even before the crop appears,

[00:07:46] before the sprouts appear. And the farmer doesn't beat his chest and fall down the ground and

[00:07:52] cry out, I'm a terrible farmer, I'm a failure, no. The farmer here she goes out and pulls the weeds

[00:08:01] and just simply takes care of the environment so that that seed can continue to grow.

[00:08:07] That's what we can do. And I tell you what anyone who has done anything significant

[00:08:13] in their life, anyone who is about anything great in their life will continually have to deal with

[00:08:23] the fear that comes forth in their humaneness. And they'll have to deal with it in this way,

[00:08:30] not by pushing it away, not by denying it but admitting it and calling it out.

[00:08:40] So that doesn't hide in the weeds and sabotage us time and time again.

[00:08:47] You don't think some of the people that have made massive differences in our humanity,

[00:08:52] humanity didn't have fared out. Of course they did. They simply let it be a stimulus to

[00:08:58] expanding to making a deeper call upon that all providing spirit in their life. That's what they did.

[00:09:07] I tell you whatever we push down and don't admit, games increasing power to rip us off

[00:09:13] and to sabotage us in our life. So we call out the guilt. We're not ashamed of it. We're not

[00:09:19] ashamed that there are times where afraid or we doubt the things that matter to us but we get to

[00:09:25] use that constructively, productively. I got to tell you quite honestly in the 43 years I was

[00:09:32] in the formal ministry. I quite regularly felt fear and doubt on the journey. I did because

[00:09:42] I was adamant that we're going to get this teaching more in the world. I was adamant that

[00:09:47] this church was going to continue to evolve and grow. And I assembled a team that was just as

[00:09:53] committed, just as impassioned. And we stretched and we came up with big ideas and big dreams

[00:09:58] and then the congregation flooded us with other big ideas. And I'm sitting there quaking in my boots

[00:10:04] wondering, whoa, but you know we all just came together and we kept going. Another testament to

[00:10:11] the power of you having spiritual community in your life is be here when you're in that space

[00:10:17] and be here when you're also happy for the others who are here in that space. All right, be here.

[00:10:26] So understand this, spiritual maturity is not about eliminating all fear and doubt.

[00:10:37] That's a superficial spirituality. It's about using them to deepen us and expand

[00:10:45] our arena of believing and so you can be good to yourself when it gets tough sledding, be good

[00:10:54] yourself. There's in advanced thinking nowadays there's a philosophy called

[00:11:03] integral philosophy that's gaining a lot of steam and the basic essence of that the motto is

[00:11:08] transcend and include. So in integral philosophy it's not about saying there's a bad part

[00:11:15] of life and a good part or there's a bad part of oneself and a good part that and the bad part needs

[00:11:22] to be eradicated and eliminated or hidden. No, integral philosophy says that's a part of our

[00:11:31] humaneness because we are spiritual beings and we're having a human experience and what integral

[00:11:36] philosophy says is what we get to do is draw bigger circle around that. So yes we admit that we

[00:11:41] included and it's not all bad and it's not a symbol of our ineptitude or inadequacy but we draw

[00:11:52] arena that transcends that and includes it. That means this spirituality includes all you are.

[00:12:00] All you are if you will accept that and then I found a doctor in his palms at one point

[00:12:08] wrote that trained thought is more powerful than untrained thought. Meaning I interpret that that

[00:12:19] higher frequencies rule lower ones. That doesn't mean the lower ones aren't there and sometimes

[00:12:29] in our humaneness these frequencies are fearing doubt arise and yet we have the option of going

[00:12:35] to a higher frequency of kindling of activating a higher frequency that will not only transcend

[00:12:41] that lesser frequency but will rule the day and has the power to take us forward to build a

[00:12:49] sub rather than to tear us down. So my prayer is that today you'll go forth feeling

[00:12:57] freer and feel great about yourself and great about your dreams and that you'll have some things

[00:13:02] I want to offer three of them in your back pocket for those times when the weeds appear in the garden

[00:13:08] or when the fear or the doubt arises. So the first one is take a spiritual stand in the midst

[00:13:17] of your fear or your doubt. Take a spiritual stand and the Bible that's written and having done

[00:13:23] all to stand. I mean there are times we've done all we know how to do and where to whit send and

[00:13:30] I was a standard truth just take a stand and I want to offer you a stand you can certainly

[00:13:38] offer your own but I want to offer you a possible stand that could be tremendously empowering

[00:13:44] not just right now but all your days because here understand this about a stand. A stand is an

[00:14:02] unwavering commitment. It means it's not up for grabs. It means you take a stand with that and no

[00:14:09] matter what comes along in your life that stand is your ultimate place, your ultimate power.

[00:14:16] In the stand I want to offer you is simply this. I am a person of faith.

[00:14:25] And if I should consider that taking that stand maybe you already lived by that or something similar

[00:14:31] but to stand with that, to make a decision this day that could change how you deal with the rest of your

[00:14:36] life and that is I am a person of faith. And what that means is fear and doubt will come around

[00:14:44] and what I'm going to do is return to that higher frequency of thought and remind myself that I am

[00:14:51] a person of faith and I'm going to stand here until the inspiration and the guidance and the

[00:15:00] not a puppet to my fears and doubts. I am a person of faith and to take that stand is enormously

[00:15:12] powerful think of it since it you have that capacity to make that determination and thus you're

[00:15:21] not going to get blown around by the winds and the storms of life you'll have deep roots,

[00:15:26] the storms will come but you'll have deeper roots. I am a person of faith. Next,

[00:15:34] after taking that stand I invite you to connect with the presence because as we're in the

[00:15:41] throws of fear and doubt the most important thing is not to go down the rabbit hole of those doubts.

[00:15:46] Not to get fixated on the doubts not to start telling elaborate stories about the doubts

[00:15:52] and letting them become more dramatic and more fearful but as I say okay there's doubt going on here

[00:16:01] and I'm going to activate a higher frequency because I know there's a power in this life.

[00:16:06] It's the power for good. It's an infinite love and a divine intelligence and it created me.

[00:16:12] It created everything. Nobody here created themselves. Something to do.

[00:16:18] And still a part of you it's breathing you. It's a part of your it's giving you the

[00:16:22] pure awareness of consciousness with which to dream to imagine to choose and that power

[00:16:29] has never deserved a do and we get the shift focus shift state and activate a higher frequency

[00:16:38] as we deal with that we don't try to sweep it under the rug or make ourselves wrong

[00:16:42] we come you and with a mighty presence of the living spirit we get still we don't spend enough time

[00:16:49] and still in this gang and especially in this society that barages us with countless stimuli but

[00:16:58] we have the capacity to be still in no and to connect with something deeper and when we do that's

[00:17:05] something that that experience begins to empower us it can provide courage and confidence

[00:17:12] in the midst of fear and doubt it can begin to show you there's more remind you that you're made

[00:17:18] of something great and there are resources and options and everything is possible if you'll stay the course

[00:17:28] gotten affirmation here that may be good to have in your back pocket long with these three steps

[00:17:34] let's bring that up gang. In fact let's share this spiritual awareness affirmation together all right

[00:17:41] wherever I am and whatever I face I am immersed in the love power and peace of God

[00:17:51] and infinite spiritual support is mine to express and preserve. I am peace confidence and joy

[00:18:01] for God is the wonder working power within me that has helped me so many times to have that

[00:18:13] spark to a higher frequency of consciousness so you take a stand and you tune your awareness

[00:18:23] to the presence connect with the presence the third thing is keep moving forward anyway

[00:18:32] keep moving forward anyway keep taking creative action inspired or guided action not

[00:18:41] action but inspired action and unwavering action it's harder to get a body at rest moving

[00:18:51] than if that body is moving then the forces can begin to direct it and when you and I stay in

[00:18:58] action we don't let our fears and doubts shut us down but we start doing whatever we can however we're

[00:19:05] excited life can move us where we need to be show us what we need to know. I want to share with you

[00:19:14] an incident in the life of a colleague I knew years ago Reverend Jane Claypool now this happened

[00:19:20] earlier in Jane's life in 1965 when she was 33 years old at the time and she was newly widowed

[00:19:30] for the second time and she sat in her lawyer's office very numb and she was then shocked when

[00:19:41] he said that they had found an additional $260,000 in the estate and she said that can't be

[00:19:51] that her husband didn't have that kind of money but they told her that it was in Canadian stocks

[00:19:58] 10,000 shares valued at $26 a share that's $260,000 and she was stunned she was stunned why

[00:20:06] hadn't her husband told her that he'd had this windfall she could barely take it in that perhaps

[00:20:12] she wouldn't even have to work if she didn't choose to the rest of her life and that they had

[00:20:20] a comfortable life she was a teacher and he had earned a great income and they spent most of their

[00:20:27] money on books education traveling and some hobbies so for the next month as this

[00:20:35] information had stunned her she continued teaching but she again began to explore

[00:20:43] to try to figure out what to do with her life at that point now she was attending a science

[00:20:49] line in spirit church at the time and the message of this incredible teaching was beginning to

[00:20:56] get in and take root in her that her life could be whatever she believed and conceived it to be

[00:21:04] and so a new dream emerged for Jane quit teaching and become a writer by a house and take a summer trip

[00:21:15] and so she's owned that soon after that determination she received a letter from the lawyer with

[00:21:22] the final accounting of the estate and he admitted that they had miscalculated in those 10,000 stocks

[00:21:27] were worth 26 cents not $26 dollars thus it was $2600 not $260,000 well at one level the

[00:21:40] industry was solved but then she writes the rest of the story from her words then I remembered my

[00:21:50] dreams I wanted a house a trip to Europe and a new career as a writer in the last month I had

[00:21:57] come to believe I could have those things I had mentally claimed them I had dared to dream

[00:22:04] but now the doubts were surging forth and my dreams were in danger I wasn't attached to the money

[00:22:11] but it had come to count on the dreams then in a flash a new and higher thought came to me

[00:22:21] I'll do it anyway I'll do it all anyway I said once I claimed the right to my dreams I felt

[00:22:31] entitled to them despite the new information I used the money I got from Dix Life Insurance to make

[00:22:38] down payment on a house spent part of the estate on a 10 week trip to Europe from my daughter

[00:22:43] my mother and me and I used the rest to fund a year off from teaching to take writing classes

[00:22:51] at UCLA long before the money was gone I had sold a novel and got some articles and poems published

[00:22:59] in magazines though it was not as easy as I expected my dreams did come true over the next

[00:23:05] 35 years I published 80 books mostly for teens hundreds of articles in periodicals wrote teaching

[00:23:14] materials in a column on real estate and established myself as a successful writer and she at the

[00:23:20] time she writes I now write metaphysical books in curricula and give workshops on writing she also during

[00:23:26] that time became a minister in our teaching and founded the Carl's Bad California Center and she passed

[00:23:34] about 10 years ago but her message lives on gang her message lives on as you journey forth with a dream

[00:23:42] I pray you'll embrace those dreams not brush them aside fears and doubts can arise just like

[00:23:51] weeds in a garden but those weeds don't have the power to diminish your faith or deep six

[00:24:02] your dreams so in the midst of it take stand remind yourself what you've decided to be the

[00:24:10] ultimate place and position in your consciousness that nothing will move connect with that presence

[00:24:18] strike a higher frequency of understanding and keep moving forward anyway I'll under oath

[00:24:27] I'll under a said that the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams

[00:24:33] you do what I just said and you'll be putting those fears and dreams in the back seat

[00:24:42] and like pesky kids they may make a lot of noise back there but you're in the driver's seat

[00:24:50] moving forward into the beauty of your precious dreams let's have a prayer together

[00:25:00] it's a message I need to hear and how soothing and real and good it is as we take deep breaths

[00:25:14] and take a moment to embrace ourselves in love and step out of any self criticism

[00:25:24] loving all that we are and all that we are to be and we step into the remembrance as a person of faith

[00:25:37] there's only one power, one presence, one love divine and infinite intelligence

[00:25:43] the creative genesis of all that is or ever shall be one life, one power, one love, one presence

[00:25:49] it is omnipresent here for me omnipotent all powerful offering me all the gifts

[00:25:57] I'm ready to receive for I made in the image and effort of the nature of this divine life spirit

[00:26:06] and thus seated in me is all that is the divine seated in me is a great love

[00:26:14] an expansive imagination, a creative spirit, a forgiving heart seated in me as a fountain of love

[00:26:24] and beauty seated in me is a deep peace and an indestructible joy

[00:26:35] and I and the Father are one forever and always

[00:26:41] I'm restored and renewed in this realization and I speak my word knowing that as a person of faith

[00:26:48] I am strong, I am mighty in the midst, I persevere, I always grow into higher realizations

[00:26:57] that empower me and inspire me and that which I set forth to express and to be unfolds in the

[00:27:05] highest and best ways and not only are my dreams attainable but I rejoice in that which I am

[00:27:11] becoming on this precious journey called life, I rejoice I accept this inward healing and empowerment

[00:27:23] and go forth to do that which I am called to be into, always ready to learn, to grow and to celebrate

[00:27:35] so we give thanks for this truth alive in each of every one of us we bless this wonderful congregation

[00:27:41] I bless its leaders Dr. Michelle Madrono Reverend Joshua, Joshua, I just know

[00:27:50] that these two beautiful souls are guided and inspired along with their ministerial team

[00:27:54] the practitioners, the Board of Trustees all who serve and all of us who are the body of this church

[00:28:00] I just know that it continues to grow and evolve

[00:28:04] and I give thanks that the consciousness at the heart of this church

[00:28:09] is a part of an ever-increasing wave of consciousness, a higher frequency of thought

[00:28:14] that is beginning to crest way out in the ocean and move forth to the shores of human understanding

[00:28:21] that all are one and that the light shines through all, may peace prevail upon her

[00:28:34] we accept this new rejoice for all as well we let it be and become

[00:28:45] and so it is. Thanks for listening to the Mile High Church podcast this podcast is made

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[00:28:58] MilehighChurch.org