Father, Son, Holy Mackerel - Chapter 2

Cher’s fishing expeditions can be counted on ONE FINGER! And it was not with her father, from whom she inherited her lack of fishing interest! It was with her maternal grandfather. He was a carpenter by trade, and in addition to the house that her mother still lives in, he also created his own fishing boat. My wife decided one summer that she would enjoy going fishing with him. But her concept of going fishing was to carry along the transistor radio (remember those?) and crank the music up loud! As you can imagine, her fishing adventure didn’t go too well! Her grandfather determined the music would scare away the fish ~ and Cher was adamant that it would attract them! Needless to say, my wife lost that battle, and lived through one of the most boring afternoons in her memory! Luckily, she has tons more joyous memories of times with her grandfather!

We both get much more excited about fishing for Divine Ideas and we know we have access to an abundance of Divine Ideas! There is NO problem without a solution if we approach it the correct way. But too often, we are like the disciples in John 21:1-6. who fished like crazy - yet came up empty. What does it take to connect with Divine substance which holds everything we need? For the disciples, it took a net, tossed on the right side of the boat. Here’s a spiritual net designed to catch such an abundance of Divine Ideas that you will just have to exclaim, “Holy Mackerel!”

N = Narrow your focus

How often do we get a great idea, then proceed to talk ourselves out of it because of all the ridiculous issues we allow ourselves to get involved in? Here’s an analogy: Whenever I watch basketball, I continue to be amazed at how the majority of these professionals can perform so well at the foul line, with the fans for the opposing team waving their arms, cheering and jeering, making all kinds of disruptive commotion. How do they do it? They narrow their focus. Larry Bird, winner of an amazing number of foul shooting titles, said it best, in his book, Drive: The Story of My Life. He said, “You’ve got to concentrate every time. When I go to the line, I am always thinking, ‘All net. No rim or anything else. Just all net!’” That’s narrowing your focus. You only see what is important, what relates to your successful achievement. Everything else just disappears from your radar!

The best way to narrow your focus is to spend some time in the Silence. This should be your initial response to any overwhelming problem. When you receive some bad news, or run into a difficult situation, or find yourself staring head-on at a problem that appears to be an insurmountable mountain, and you experience the tension building, the worries beginning, the imagination going wild — just stop! Take a few deep breaths, and then put yourself in a place where you can spend at least 15 minutes in the Silence. I literally say (yes, out loud), “Okay God” (I’m talking to my indwelling Spirit), “This is yours! My human self cannot see any solutions, but I will not allow this situation to have power over me. I let go of my hold on it, and give it over to you for divine solutions.” Then I go into the Silence. Invariably, I come out of that time at Headquarters with new ideas. They may seem strange or impractical, but I jot them down and give them thought. And if I don’t have ideas, I simply affirm that Divine Ideas are flowing to me, and I release all worry about this situation. Believe me, the ideas do start coming!

E = Expect Solutions

One of the greatest things about Truth principles is that we don’t hope we’ll get results - we KNOW! And knowing what we know, we must approach our fishing expeditions from that state of expectancy! When you expect something, you set your intention ~ and things just start showing up!

T=Take action!

The John 21:1-6 story shares that in order for the disciples to pull in that record-setting load of fish, they had to do something! Jesus didn’t just snap his fingers and cause the fish to appear. He told them what to do and even though they were a little skeptical (we’ve fished all night right in this area and haven’t had a bite!), they followed His direction, and experienced outrageous success! You can discuss Divine Ideas all day long ~ but to see results, you must take action.

Divine Ideas are constantly flowing to us! But we often get so tied up in the busyness of paralysis of analysis and dealing with the distractions from the world of appearance, that we totally miss the Ideas! When you find yourself feeling depleted, and no solutions seem to be coming, it’s time for you to remember the NET formula.

Fish from the right side of the boat by going to Headquarters, then Narrow your focus, Expect solutions, and Take action! It really represents the Trinity: We go into the Silence and narrow our focus by connecting to Divine Mind ~ that’s the Father; with our state of expectancy, we get an idea ~ that’s the Son; and then we take action, which is the expression of those Divine Ideas ~ that’s the Holy Spirit. And then we take a step back and observe what we’ve created, and we just have to exclaim: “Holy Mackerel!

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