Hey everybody, I hope y'all are doing good tonight. Sorry it is so late. I was,
it just ended up that this is the time where, because the Lord had been talking
to me about some stuff today, and it was just that at this time of night was when
everything kind of came together. And the Lord said, this is what I want you to
talk about today, because I wasn't planning on talking about this today. So
but he'd been, I don't know, just been kind of investing in me and over
a bit, and then the, I don't know, just it started, the last bits of it kind of fell
into place the last few, I don't know, I think within this past hour. So anyway, I
just felt all my spirit, this, but because of how everything kind of added
all up, I realized, oh this is what he wants me to talk about. Because I was
always operating in this today as well. Looking at, you know, as far as like
forming a business from a place of rest, this is what I was operating in today. I
am, God's, was kind of, I was taking a process through with the Lord, walking
through the process of understanding how I want to build from this point
in my business. In other words, how I want to change and form it. Because you
remember that I've only ever done one-on-one clients for all of these
years. And so when I switched from brick-and-mortar to online, I did the
same thing. Just one-on-one clients. Then this past, this month, April, I've been
transitioning to group. So I thought, okay, let's see how this works. Because I thought,
I don't know how to do this as a group. Because everything just felt so unique
and individual. But I thought that the Lord had told, had just laid it on my
heart, that to do a group. And then I was prophesied to by a stranger from
Switzerland that she just felt that this is what I needed to do. Hey Steph!
That this is what she felt that she was understanding from the Spirit when she
and I were visiting, I don't know, maybe two months ago, that I should step into.
She said, I'm feeling from the Spirit that you should step away from doing
one-on-one and start doing group. Doing multiple people at one time. But I
haven't understood how to do that. So, you know, I just jumped right in. Within
about 15 minutes, I made a decision. You know what? I'm gonna do
a group program. And I don't quite know what it's gonna look like, but here we go.
And so I announced it on Facebook within like 15 minutes of basically, so-called,
coming up with the idea. And I just stepped out in faith and thought, okay,
Lord, hey! I was like, here we go. And I didn't even know fully what the April
Intensive would look like. I almost, I don't even think I fully, yeah, I
basically just had the name, April Intensive, so to speak. And that I'm trying
to remember how much of a skeleton idea that I had. I don't think that I had much
of a skeleton idea other than the fact of, well, I'll do some sessions and I'll
have some teaching and I'll have a Facebook group that everyone will be in
and that's about it. So, I didn't know about everything else. Oh, and then I had
how many people would be in it. I had five and that's how many people were
gonna be in it. And then for a while there, I wasn't even sure if like there
would be added more. I just knew at the beginning, five. And so, now though, I was
wondering, okay, where do I go from here? Because you know that this April
Intensive is start, stop. And I thought, all right, Lord, you know, where do I go from
here? How do you want this to change and form and evolve? What's the next step for
me? And I don't really want to think of it as the next step. I just, it's not
really a step. It's more like, because step also has this idea of you leave one
thing and start another. And it wasn't like that. It was like, how does this, like,
how does this kind of shift a little bit? How does this slowly change shape?
Kind of like, like a rarely word expression, kind of like a goo or
whatever. How does this kind of like, kind of push in over here and poke out over
here and then push in here? And so, it's still the same thing, but it just kind of
slightly looks a little different. But it doesn't ever cut off and start something
new. So, I was just asking the Lord, okay, Lord, how, what is my business going to
kind of like, how is it, how's it going to kind of tweak? And he started giving me
this
So together, I say he started giving me the stuff he did,
but understand that I'm partnering with him in this
because I'm one with him.
So it's like, okay, in the spirit,
he and I, thinking about it, resting in that,
how are we gonna do it?
How's it gonna tweet?
How's it gonna move?
And it doesn't have to,
I don't have to come up with this concrete idea
of this is how it's going to be,
and then this is where we're moving to.
Anyway, I had,
in a way, that was on my heart.
I didn't know that that's what I was gonna be talking
to y'all about tonight,
but he keeps reiterating it to me through various people.
And I was doing it today myself,
and I thought this just seems to be the theme
of the past few days, so boom, here we go.
This is what we're talking about tonight.
And I'm excited because we've laid a foundation
for the past few weeks about rest
so that we have a foundation that we can always go back to.
So that we have, in other words,
we have a structure in which we can start talking
about business and constantly say,
okay, you remember spirit, soul, and body.
Okay, this right here, when we're talking about business,
this is operating from the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil.
This is operating from the realm of the soul
or from the realm of the body
or from the realm of the spirit.
So in other words, we kind of have a structure
that we're able to understand the things
that we'll now be talking about a bit more specifically
in relationship to business.
We have a structure in which to understand it.
So, oh, one more thing to mention is remember
that everything that we have talked about,
including everything that I'm going to be talking about
related to business, where I'm gonna be mentioning things
about using business-specific terms,
understand that whatever I'm talking about
can be applied to all areas of life
because business is strictly a,
and I want to show this to you real quick,
business is strictly a,
I don't know, category,
a section, an expression of life.
It's just an extension of life.
It's as much a part of life as anything else,
as, let's see, finances, relationships,
parenting, marriage, anything.
Self, if you want to refer to it like this,
self-improvement, our relationship with the Lord,
our spiritual growth, all of that
should not be compartmentalized
and us see them as separated from each other.
We do that in the world because remember,
and we've learned that from a worldly perspective
to categorize things because the world
only understands things in relationship to formulas,
in relationship to laws and rules.
And as such, everything seems to be segregated.
Everything seems to be different.
If you start applying formulas
that are just extremely specific,
well then a formula that operates in business
is not the same formula that you'd want to apply to,
I don't know, parenting or relationships
or finances or whatever.
And that's not how it works in the spirit.
The different areas, say for instance,
business versus relationships,
is simply a different expression,
a different way in which our spirit
manifests into the earth
to show a different aspect or facet
of the same spirit.
It just evidences itself differently
but you don't do something different
in order to get that different result.
So let me mention all of this stuff though
before we get into what the main thing
that we're gonna talk about tonight.
Sorry, I'm trying to get my markers here.
And let's see.
Okay.
I hope we can see this.
Do you remember last time when you struggled
getting me in it at the same time?
So I'll see if I can draw it kind of small.
So think of it as kind of,
think of what is coming from the Lord,
what is coming from the spirit realm here.
Think of it as, oh, well it's,
I just realized that I might be kind of backwards.
Let me see.
Yep, I am backwards.
That's a bummer.
Let's see if I can switch that really quick
because I learned how to do that last time.
Yay, look at me.
Okay.
Okay, remember Steph?
Remember how we learned to do that last time?
Yay for us.
Okay, all right, so say for instance, you know, this is operating
out of the spirit here. Let's see if I can, yeah, appreciate the
encouragement. Let's do this to here. I think that y'all can see if I
put it down here. I just preferred, I thought about hanging this on
the wall and I'll probably eventually do it, but it just feels so stilted and
unnatural for me to be standing instead of sitting because I have a place
that I can hang this on the wall, but I would be standing and then I just felt
so teacherish as opposed to conversational. So when I prefer the
conversational feel. So let's see if I can just write it, draw it all small
enough for you to be able to see. There we go. See if we can get it upright. So say
for instance that this is, you know, that this is God. This is the
life source of everything, right? And so he is shining light down like this,
which is the way that the Lord usually pictures himself in the world.
Oh, total side note that I just find very interesting. You remember that it says
that out of him was created all things and by him all things consist.
Well, it's fascinating that God is pictured, is always described as light
and, you know, in symbolized that light always symbolizes God whenever we see it
referenced in scripture. And I think that it's really fascinating that that is
what he chose because light is what literally everything on earth consists
of. If you break, the scientists say this, scientists say if you
break down literally everything, every object, everything, if you break everything
down, it does not matter what it is, it doesn't matter if it's a person, if it's
an animal, if it's a cup, if it's a rock, whatever. If you break it down
to the very smallest particle of what it is, it's light. Isn't that fascinating? I just
think that's very interesting. So, in other words, by him all things consist.
Light makes up everything. So, again, spiritual laws are being
manifested and expressed in physical laws. I know, isn't that interesting?
So, okay, I just found that fascinating and so I just wanted to mention that here.
There's a lot more that we could say about light and its relationship to word
which comes out of God, but we won't get into all of that. So, light.
Light, you remember, just kind of looks like, as we remember from science class,
just kind of looks like white. It just looks white. White is the
combination of all of the colors. All of the colors together comes into our eyes
and we see it just as white. Then you have to have something like a
prism in order to separate out light into its different parts. So, that is how
we can think of things like business, relationships, finances, whatever.
So, let's just take business, relationships, finances. So, here we go.
I'm having a hard time writing like this. Relationships and then business. Can we
all see that? Yay! Alright, so when light passes through finances versus when it
passes through relationships versus when it passes through business, it's going to
look different. Like, say for instance, that when it passes through business, it
looks, what comes out the other side looks blue. When it passes through
relationships, let's say that it looks red and when it passes through finances,
let's say that it looks pink for you, Steph. Let's say that it looks pink and
I'm having a hard time writing there. So, you see that light is being passed
through all of these. So, think of each of these. Let's write this over here.
Let's think of each of these as filters. Filters of light. In other words, the way
that that light is being expressed and manifested into the world. So, you're
putting, you're passing the same spirit into all of these different areas, all of
these different filters, but as it passes through that particular unique filter on
the earth, it's going to manifest in something that looks different than this,
which looks different than what that light looks like if it's passed through
finances. But, you're passing to and through and operating in the exact same
thing in every single area. But, when it manifests itself on the other side, it's
going to look a little different.
So what the world has done is it has looked strictly, now I'm gonna draw a
I'm gonna draw an eyeball. I don't know this is not a great eyeball but here we
go. When the world looks at it and this is
the world. Can you see that? Yeah. There we go.
Make it look a little more like a real little eyeball as much as I
can. There we go. It looks a little creepy and I apologize.
But we're doing the best we can. Okay so when the world looks at these or looks
between business and a relationship and finances it's trying to find a formula
in order for it to be able to get a particular result. Again according to the
Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. So it's trying to control the
result that it gets. It's taking control into its own hands as opposed to
leaving it up to the Lord for allowing Him to provide the increase. We want to
you know someone who operates according to the Tree of Knowledge of
Good and Evil which we do. Someone who operates according to the Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil in a particular area of life. We're looking
for a particular result and how to get that result. So what we do is we look at
the result and we try to go backwards. We try to back engineer something. So
therefore we think that the formulas that have to work to get blue are
different than the formulas we have to use to get red. Which are different than
the formulas that we have to use in order to get pink. That is how we've
come up with this idea that what you do in business has to be totally different
than what you do in relationships. Which has to be totally different from what
you input if you're wanting to increase your finances. We
think that everything is just totally totally different and it's not true.
Or you know even within relationships you can get subcategories
that the difference between what you in order to get a particular result in
marriage is different than a particular result that you are trying to get in
parenting. Versus a different result that you're trying to get for your own
parents in your relationship to your own parents. Or your relationship with
your friends. Or your relationship with authority. Like a pastor or
whatever. We think that there are different formulas. That there are
different categories etc. And we have to operate very differently in each one in
order to get a particular result. And that's incorrect.
God will provide the results naturally according to the laws that he put into
place. All we have to do is focus on what we input. And we input the exact same
thing in the exact same way into all of these. Every single one. So it makes it
makes it easy. Remember though this is operating according to the tree of life.
Up here this is operating according to the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. Where you're trying to go up as opposed to trying to go down. So again it
makes it a lot easier to operate according to the tree of life. But the
difficult thing for us is the fact that we have to give up control. God's the one
who provides the increase. We can operate from a place of rest. It's easy. We're not
responsible for the results. God is. But it also means that we don't get to
define the exact type of blue that results from our business. Or
the exact type of red. You know in other words the exact hue of red versus the
exact hue of pink. Which pink is a hue of red. But we're not going to get that specific.
So I didn't think about that. I should have been thinking like okay actually
you pick like one of the main categories of the rainbow. Like like red, orange, and
yellow or something like that. That are very very different. Anyway but well yeah
so anyway I'm just being silly. So I just wanted to mention this really quick. To
know that whatever we talk about from this point forward. Know that even though
we're talking business specific. I'll probably throw in every now and then. Hey
by the way this works for works for relationships. And this is how it
evidences itself in finances. This is how it evidences itself in marriage or
or parenting or whatever. But generally speaking just just know that whenever
we're talking business when I'm talking business specific terms. It's the exact
same thing across all categories. You input it and you operate in relationship
to those things in the exact same way. The difference is when you put it in
business it's going to evidence itself differently on the other side. You don't
have to create that to make it happen. It will naturally happen. Or you put it in
the exact same thing in finances. It's going to it's going to according to the
laws that God put in place.
to place it's going to evidence itself a bit differently. So you wanted to say
that okay and one other thing so in this will this is the segue into what it is
that we're going to be talking about very specifically tonight about how to
start forming your business from a place of rest. You form it by operating
according to flow so that's one of the things in all in that because remember
we're putting the exact same thing into all of these different categories and
the way that you operate in life which will manifest in all as you apply it in
all these different categories what you're putting into in where you're
putting into all of them or where all where you begin to frame up how you will
interact with all of these including how you'll start interacting with
relationships that maybe you're finding a bit difficult and you're trying to oh
what should I do what should I do what should I do you hear that the knowledge
of the tree of good and evil a tree of the knowledge of good and evil what
should I do sorry my computer thinks I'm talking to it okay I have a version kind
of like Siri on my computer and she thinks I'm it's Cortana because I have a
Microsoft anyway she thinks I'm talking to her so I'm gonna turn her off so
Microsoft stops listening to me and but anyway so again understand what I'm
about what I'm talking about here is the way that we operate out of all of it way
I don't get these these artificial intelligence machines to stop listening
to us and recording everything we're saying whatever all of that is that's
that big hyphen saying that they're all listening to us being recorded somewhere
and and so I before I learned about flowing in the spirit which is what we're
gonna be talking about tonight how to operate from the spirit which is in a
place of flow instead of rigidity these things right here operating from this
perspective going up is operating according to rigidity and that's because
oh it's operating oh no where is it oh I don't have it just to sex stuff this is
for you if any of you let me know that you have a different favorite color we
can start using your favorite color and I'll start calling you out I do stuff
okay um so for these right here whenever you're talking about these you have to
write it up here formula is rigidity is operating out of rigidity it is um it's
it's just it's very it feels stable because that's what we're looking for
we're looking for something that's stable but it's the rigidity that results
from formulas create stagnation and stagnation leads to death by the way
rigidity leads to death there's not any life in it but up here light this is
flow in other words actually let me let me go back let me do this a bit
different movement which is flow am I getting out yeah I'm getting out so
we're gonna go down here which is life so you see the difference between
operating according to the knowledge of good and evil versus operating according
to the tree of life that whenever you've got formulas and you have rigidity it
leads to death so in that scientific by the way again spiritual laws are
reflected in in them are manifested in physical laws and scientists say that
that physically if something stops moving meaning like at its very very
core not just like if I stopped moving for just a second you know if I stop
moving remember my cells are still moving but if something litter it's
literally at the very very essence and the very nature of something if it
stops moving if there is no more movement life ceases to exist in that
thing that is the base that is the scientific definition of death is lack
and it's very core is the lack of movement so and you remember that
operating according to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
It's nothing but death. It leads to nothing but death. And it burns.
This is another thing, and I think that I've mentioned this before, but when the
Lord talks about this, and when it's passed through the fire,
when it's passed through the fire, by the way, everything that I'm talking
about here, this is the foundation of what business is itself. This is why it's
important. I know, isn't that interesting? So when God
talks about things passing through the fire, this area here, anything that's a
formula, anything that's rigidity, anything that leads to death, anything
that is of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, when it gets passed through
the fire, it burns as wood, hay, and stubble. Remember that? Remember how it
talks about things, you know, we'll make sure that we keep our minds on
heavenly things, not on earthly things, and that wherever our treasure is,
wherever our heart is, that wherever our treasure is, there will our heart be also.
And he talks about making sure that we invest ourselves in things that when
it's passed through the fire, will not burn as wood, hay, and stubble. That's
anything that operates according to the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. And it's rigid, meaning that it leads to death, meaning that when it
passes through the fire, it can't survive. And the reason that this is the, and
this is a problem, and God always wants to replace anything of death in us,
anything that could lead to death, he wants to replace it with
life because he doesn't want anything in us to be corruptible. He wants every, he
doesn't want anything within us to be able to die. He wants it all to always be
eternal and to always live, to always lead to life. So when these things pass
through the fire, however, remember, that leads to, I'm trying to remember the
biblical description of it, but basically, you know, it passes through as,
sorry, I kind of messed up there, gold, hopefully you can see that, as gold and
gold, I don't remember if it says gold silver in precious stones or something
like that. Steph, do you remember? Gold something, y'all can remind me, maybe
somebody can add it in the comments, and precious stones. That is what, hopefully
you can see that, precious stones, that is what all of this leads to. That is what
anything that we invest in that contains movement and flow and that
generates in life, that again operates according to the tree of life, it will,
when it passes through the fire, it will evidence itself, it will come out the
other side as gold something, remember, and precious stones. That is what it
creates when it passes through. So, and in other words, it won't, it'll be
eternal. Anyway, so the reason I wanted to mention all of this is, again, all related
to movement. So several, a while back, I don't remember when this was, sometime last
fall, I think, I was talking with Jesus and he asked me, it was really
interesting, he asked me, he said, do you know what business is? He asked, do you
know what business is? And he said, or either that or maybe I asked him, Lord
Jesus, what is business? Maybe that's what I, I don't remember which direction the
question was that Jesus asked me and it was a rhetorical question or if I asked
him, but whichever way, he's the one who gave me the answer. So there was not much
talking on my part other than just questions, but he asked, he said, Ashley,
do you know what business is? I said, no, what's business? And he says, everyone
thinks, he said, the world, world, world thinks that business, or I should say
that the point of business is money. And he said, it's not. It's like, that's
interesting. What's the point of business? And so,
that's the world and let's say spirit. He said, actually, the point of business, and
this is how he described it to me, and he's expanded my understanding since
then, but I'm just
going to give you the first way that he described it to me because it was kind
of a stepping stone for me to begin to step into this and understand it and he
said because he was comparing it to what the world thought that business was and
he like I said he's expanded it and fleshed it out for me since then but he
said that business he said the point of business is actually the you write it
down here the movement of money he said that star he said that is the point of
business so when he created business he says this is the purpose that business
has in the world see purpose purpose business has in the world purpose of
business the reason that he created it in other words how the in other words
the contribution that business has in the world that's another really good way
to think of it contribution that business has it's the mood it's to
facilitate the movement of money so it's not the accumulation of money it's to
facilitate the movement of it so that well that's fascinating and since then
he's expanded the movement of money to me so that I could understand more fully
that it's not just the movement of money it's movement of things period so
there's it's kind of like the movement of goods and services really you know so
it's not just money is in currency it's the movement of goods and services the
exchange of helping and facilitating facilitating movement between people at
a particular level like an agreed-upon exchange we're partnering together very
intentionally to exchange something that you have that I can benefit you with
from something with something you have that you can benefit me with so he said
that is what business is because think about business you know it's not just
money because there's I mean like as far as like currency you know like paper
coins all of that it's remember before you know in poor countries or in
countries where the currency isn't very valuable and it doesn't hold its value
very well then what they do is they prefer to rely on bargaining and
exchanging goods and services I've heard that that's what a lot of people are
doing right now during this during this pandemic when everyone is people don't
have as much money and people have more time they're actually exchanging goods
and services so they're not exchanging currency it's hey I'll give you this if
you help me do this friends of mine said that they had that that there that they
are okay so my friends that said that they are that that gave me that that
meet the other day I don't know if y'all all saw that video where I was oh yeah
it was on the Q&A on Thursday that they had given me and that meat he said in
fact it was some of the meat that they gave me was beef and and I thought well
I thought that they told me that they have already that they were to used up
all their beef well they got some more beef because locally all of the butchers
are just are slammed for weeks and because people are butchering their own
cows instead of going out and getting meat and all of that and so they're just
slammed for weeks so you can't in that area you can't find butchers that have
the time to be able to and butcher your cow so they're finding my friend and
they're asking hey if if you help us butcher our cow and show us how to do it
and help us with it and all of that then we'll give you some of our meat as a
percentage so he's like sure I'll do that so they're exchanging goods and
services and either he's doing that with all kinds of stuff he told me and
they're making some things and you know like food items and so people are
bartering for that they're I don't know they've got
Some eggs that they're getting from a neighbor and I haven't found out yet if
they've started to exchange goods and services for that instead of money, but
there's food that they're doing. I think ammo. He actually makes his own ammo and
he's a very serious die-hard hunter. I think he's from, oh he's from Ohio. Yeah
from Ohio and and so he makes his own ammo and so people are exchanging goods
and services for his ammo. They all live out in the country and they're
hunting and they're you know doing whatever and so that's what they're
doing. They're not exchanging money. They're exchanging goods and services.
So business, that's business. That's business. It's an agreed-upon exchange of
something that one person has but that that another person wants to benefit
from. So this is when we're when we're starting a business, when God lays it on
our heart and gives us a vision for a business, this is what we're doing. We're
facilitating the movement and the flow of goods and services. Let me just
write that. That will benefit other people. Let me actually write that in a
different color so that we can kind of separate all of that out. Goods and
services for the benefit or I should say for mutual benefit. That's another thing
it has to be for mutual benefit or it's not a business. It's charity. So it
because it's a one-way valve. Business is a two-way valve. Yeah I've got enough
room. It's a I keep running to these different colors in order to separate
out some of these ideas. It's a two-way valve. So remember that when you're
creating, when you're thinking of forming your business
and you're thinking of how and by forming it I don't mean forming it from
ground zero. You could be talking about forming it from ground zero or you could
just talk about how do you want to change it over time. Like maybe you
it's already going. It already has momentum and you're looking for how you
want to change it. How you want, like me, how do you want to kind of facilitate
some tweaks? How do you want to form it into something different? Think of a
river. Rivers constantly flowing, constantly changing, always a little bit
different. How do you want it to progress? How do you want it to and to form kind
of to create, to express itself in a slightly different form on the earth?
Because again we don't need things to be rigid. We want things to flow and that's
okay. It's just all a journey. So that is what I wanted to talk about you know to
just kind of lay a foundation of what business is and how we're supposed to
approach it. I wanted to mention that as far as actually starting to form our
business. Sorry, I'm trying to think. As far as actually starting to form our
business, one of the things that hinders us the most actually in forming it is
thinking too much. As we're trying to come up with new ideas, as we're trying
to understand how to allow ourselves to flow instead of creating a business and
generating new ideas from a rigid place of formulas. If we're not
wanting to just operate according to the world's perspective that we need to
operate according to formulas, we have to understand that what we're operating in
is a sense of flow. Understanding that the spirit, in the spirit there's
constant movement. The Lord never is staying still. The very essence of
his being is in constant, constant motion. Constant. It never from one moment looks
the same. From one moment to the next. Now God is always the same. He never changes
and yet he's not rigid. He's constantly flowing, constantly moving. Think of a
river. A river never changes the essence of what it is. It's always water and yet
it always looks different from one moment to the next. So you can just kind
of think of it kind of like that. So your business can always be the same but it
can never, but allow it to never be the same from one minute to the next. The
same thing with you and when you're making, when we're making decisions.
Understand we're spirit and it's from the place of spirit that we're wanting
to make decisions and that we're wanting to allow things to flow effortlessly.
Ideas. We don't want to put our...
ourselves, make ourselves so rigid and well it has to be this way. I have to get
to this particular destination. I have to get to this particular goal. We're going
to be talking about that later. I don't know when we'll be talking about that
but talking about how to set goals in your business and what the point of the
goal is and how to start progressing towards that goal. We'll be talking about
that but this is the foundation for that subject. Anyway, so the thing
that can hinder us the most in actually knowing what to do next in our business,
coming up with a new idea, knowing the new direction that we need to take,
one of the greatest hindrances to that is thinking. Remember, we're applying the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There's nothing wrong with thinking.
Understand, there is nothing wrong with using that tool
because remember, it's our consciousness. God created it. It is a good thing that
we can allow to be part of the decision-making process but
remember that it should not be our source. Remember the difference between
the tree of the knowledge of operating according to the tree of life versus the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil is what is the source. We can use the tools
that are down here in the soul and the body such as thinking, consciousness, mind,
brain, whatever. We can use those things. They're not bad. God created them and
there's nothing wrong with them. In fact, Jesus used them when he was on the
earth. His brain was fully functioning and he had to learn to, his
little body and his little brain had to learn Hebrew, he had to learn language,
and he had to learn to use his brain, etc. There's nothing wrong with that.
It's not a problem. The problem is that the thing is if we use that as our
source from which one we make all of our decisions is, well, what is
logical? Again, what's a formula? What do I think will work? If we
want to get away from that, we can, you know, again, training wheels.
We can use the training wheels sometimes but what we're doing is
we're trying to learn how to operate from a place of rest which is spirit,
constant flow, constant movement. Instead of thinking, we need to
stop thinking about things so much instead of just letting the
essence of who God is and who we are with him to just effortlessly flow
through us. Just let it flow. So it's a get along with the Lord and it's what
the world sometimes refers to as brainstorming. So if you go to
business courses and they talk to you about the importance of brainstorming,
you know, how to come up with good ideas for your first book or how
to come up with ideas for what you want to do for your business or
whatever. They, for a lot of different things, they always talk
about brainstorming and that is a soulish way of understanding that of
what's happening in the spirit. Allowing the creativity and the essence of
who you are in the spirit and who God is in the spirit to just kind of flow
through you and to allow things to flow through you and to throw through your
mind unhindered. Hey Amy! What hinders them is when we stop and we grab
a hold of something too much in thinking about it that we begin to try to control
it. We begin to try to grab on to something so we don't forget it
or so that we try to harness it. Harness it like a formula. Nothing wrong
with thinking. There is nothing wrong with taking something that's flowing
through you and do what I won't describe right now but what's
called in quantum physics is popping a quiff where we take something and we
collapse it and we make it reality. Even if it's just reality in our
mind and it hasn't evidenced itself in physical reality yet, there's nothing
wrong with that. That's fine but remember where we need to be, what we need to be
relying on is our life source. We can't allow something to be
flowing through us and stop and we can stop and culminate on and ruminate on
that idea and think about it.
What would that be like if I did that? And what would my business like it be
like if I do that? Remember not to squelch things too quickly and
automatically disregard them like, oops, that won't work. Or I tried that last
time. I tried that ten years ago. I tried that yesterday. You know, don't and there
might have been other factors that were involved at that time that didn't allow
it to work. And it could have been that you were operating according to the
tree of knowledge of good and evil instead of operating according to the
tree of life at the time. And that's why it didn't work last time is it had the
wrong source attached to it. So don't immediately stifle something just because
the idea came to you and you're thinking, oh yeah, but I'm gonna filter it through my
logic. I'm like and immediately disregard it. Just let it hang out there for a
while. Okay, well what would my business look like if I added that
element to it or if I added that factor to it? And then kind of like let it hang
out. Think about it as long as you want to. Just kind of massage it. Think of it
kind of like it not a static hard object that you're trying to that you're taking
as this solid thing and you're looking at from all kinds of different angles.
Allow that thing to be kind of gushy, kind of fluid. Who knows what that might
look like? And and then just kind of once you finish thinking about it just kind
of like okay I'm just kind of kind of put it over here. And then allow other
thoughts to come through. Okay well what about this? What about this? Allow the
process to feel very fluid. To feel like I don't know where I'm going and I don't
feel like I'm going in a straight line. I don't really know what's happening. Just
allow all of that. Let the things flow through you in the spirit. What feels
good? You know what doesn't feel good? Don't create judgments about it. This is
very important. Do not create judgments about about any of those things because
that again is one of those things that's going to stifle the creativity process.
And by judgments I mean like make very definitive
decisions and verdicts about it. You're frustrated. Are you saying that you are
currently frustrated or are you giving me an example of what it feels
like in that moment? Let me know Amy. But yes it does feel like frustration in
other words. You know where you're creating a judgment or you get an
idea early and you just kind of get frustrated because things feel chaotic.
They feel confusing. You can't get anything definitive. Remember anything
that is too definitive. Anything that is too rigid. Don't you know don't mess with
that. Don't stifle ourselves by thinking okay well that's too rigid. Or by
thinking you know well that just won't work. You know when we get frustrated
is when there is we're insisting that something should not be the way that it
currently is. Oh you're currently frustrated. Okay well you can let me know
why you're currently frustrated and then maybe I can answer you on here or tell
you at least how it can how it operates within what it is we're talking about. Oh
just ignore you. Okay all right will do. Sorry I thought that that you were
requiring an interaction there. But yes if you want to reach out to me at some
point and we can absolutely talk about that. If you you might just want to just
be frustrated and not talk about it but if you do just feel free to reach out.
So I just wanted to mention that in the creative process in meaning in the
spiritually creative process where you are processing things with the Lord
where he is wanting to give you some new ideas. Don't filter them through
something that through those old ways of thinking in which things have to be very
definitive. They have to be very they they have to fit according to a specific
formula. They have to fit according to and and in the end it gets it gets very
rigid. That hinders the ability of forming ideas and allowing yourself to
be flexible enough to flow with the Lord in forming and creating in a business or
for or forming a new expression of your current business. So I wanted to mention
that. So just allow things to flow through you instead and understand that
thinking about things too much nothing wrong with thinking absolutely apply
your brain but where you're thinking
and over-analyzing, that hinders progress because it's rigid and it is creating,
and anyway, so it is hindering a flow. It is creating an obstacle. So I wanted to mention
that. What are some other things? Okay. Wanted to also explain something that can feel very,
oh, can feel very frustrating, like what Iggy was talking about. Very frustrating in this process
where we want a definitive answer and we want it fast. We want to make a change in our business
or we want to start a business and we want to know exactly what it looks like, etc. I have
been in this process of trying to understand my business and all of that, and I'm telling you
what, it has been my focus. This and spiritual shifts that the Lord has taken me through,
but it has been one of the strongest physical focuses. I say physical meaning like
manifest into the physical world is what I'm thinking, is what my approach to it has been
for, I don't know, past two years and possibly longer, but anyway, just really focused on it
for the past few years. I don't have a family and meaning like I don't have a husband and
children yet, and so imagine how much of my brain power has been available and emotional and mental
to just focus on it. Now, yes, part of what was hindering it was a lot of trauma and healing that
I was having to go through, relationships and past experience in business. Shifts the
Lord was spiritually taking me through that I now am able to understand and have the words to be
able to speak into others, which is part of what these teachings are, but still there has been a
tremendous amount of exhaustion. So, I've taken what most people go through over a period of
multiple years, even a few decades, into a shorter amount of time and it has just felt
highly pressurized. One of the things that can feel very frustrating is when you kind of feel
like, here's a picture that might kind of help, where you feel like a piece of a puzzle
that's still in the box or like some idea, like say something in business or how you want the
business to change or whatever, and you feel like, I feel like there's this thing that I want to
understand or this thing that I want to get an answer to, a thing that I kind of want to hang
on to and or get a bit more of a definitive idea about and want it to stop being so vague.
I feel like there's this thing spiritually out there that I can't quite grasp a hold of and I
want it to be defined, identified and be able to have a placement. I want to understand where this
the dadgum thing goes, right? It can feel like this piece of a puzzle that's still in the box
and you can't find a place for it yet and it feels like that kind of a frustrating thing,
where something is vague but you have this kind of piece and you have no idea where it goes.
You feel this unsettled aspect of your identity or your spirit or the way that you want your
spirit to manifest. You feel like, I don't feel like I'm living my full life. I don't feel like
I'm living my full self and that state can feel very frustrating. You feel like this
vague sense of unsettledness and restlessness and things can feel very disjointed, etc.
So I wanted to mention that to God, the purpose is not the destination.
The purpose of your business, by the way, is not this beautiful thing that we have that's formed,
that's defined, that we call a business. It's not how you serve other people. It is not how you
serve your clients. That is not the purpose of your business. That is a byproduct and it's
wonderful. That is not the purpose of your business. The purpose of your business is the
journey that you take in your relationship with the Lord. That is the purpose of your business.
That's the purpose of the relationships that you have. It's the purpose of when you're a parent
to a child. It's the purpose of your finances. It is not the destination and we have focused,
I am prime example of this, we have focused too long on the idea
of a destination. That God isn't pleased until we arrive at a particular place and he's just
enduring us until we get there. That he's just having patience for us, those poor little things,
having patience for us until we get there, until we figure it out, until we finally get that
business idea, until we finally know how to start, how to begin to execute it in a way that
in our minds we interpret it as, oh, things are finally starting to come together. You know,
we have that phrase of things are finally starting to come together. That is not the point.
The point of my business, the thing that God has put on my heart, is not the April Intensive
and it is not what it is that I'm eventually going to go to and how things are going to
look on the outside. The point of all of this is me flowing with the Lord and taking this journey.
The whole point is the journey. The whole point. In fact, one time I asked the Lord,
God, what is written on what's written on my scroll, on my scroll of my life? If you could
show me a picture, Lord. I asked the Lord for a picture. Lord, can you show me what's written
on my scroll? I was hoping he was going to show me more than one page and more than one thing
and he didn't. Jesus opened a scroll and he showed me and all that I had was a road
and it kind of curved. Well, I don't know if it's gonna, yeah, I think hopefully it's
going to show you exactly the way that it occurred for me, but it curves like this.
It had no beginning and no end. He said, actually, that is what is on your scroll.
My first thought was I was disappointed. I was like, okay, Lord, I don't even know where you're
saying that I've come from and I don't even know where it is I'm going. So, in other words,
do you hear my problem? I couldn't measure my progress. How much do I lack and how far have I
gotten? That is a major problem. Hey, Holly. That was a major problem. So, God was showing me,
Ashley, I can show you anything in your book, anything in your scroll and I am showing you
a journey. I'm showing you that what I have with you and I right now, what is written on your
scroll of all things isn't a business. It's not a relationship. It's not a spiritual mature point
to which you can get. It's a journey. It had no beginning and no end. That's all that he showed
me. I asked, Lord, that's so discouraging. Can you show me some hope? Where am I going? At least
show me where one day I'm going to end up. He didn't. He was like, Ashley, this is it.
It was kind of like a dirt road. I don't know if it was dirt, but that's
what it looked like in the picture. It's like this dirt road and it kind of had some edging
to it. I don't know. Maybe it was grass or something on either side, but that was it.
I was so discouraged, but over time, over the next several months, God began to show me, Ashley,
the beauty is in the journey. I always felt that a journey meant I hadn't arrived.
If I was still on a journey, I was in a place of lack. If I was on the journey, I hadn't gotten
there yet. Therefore, I was subpar and I was below a standard measure. God had to say, no,
Ashley, the journey is the point. The journey is you and me dancing together. That is what life is.
That is what informing your business is part of that. It is this journey that we're taking
together. You and I going through the thought process. How are we going to form it? What's
it going to look like? It's going to be constantly changing as the days or weeks or months or years
go by. It's going to always look a little bit different. He said the process, Ashley,
or he said the point of your business, Ashley, is you and I moving together and it evidencing
itself through this model or this filter through which the world refers to as business. By the way,
when you and I dance together, as I flow out of you and you flow out of
and you know into and out of you and you flow into and out of me and sometimes
it's you and sometimes it's me and then sometimes it's you again and it's me but
it's you and it's me but it's you and it's just constant. He said, Ashley,
that's the whole point. That is it. So if you're in the middle of it because
you're still breathing then you're in the middle of the whole point.
You're a terrible dancer. No, you're not. See, that's the thing. We have this standard.
Again, what would make it terrible? The fact that I haven't arrived yet and
God said the point isn't an arrival. He said the arrival is what it is we're
doing. The arrival is the fact that we're willing to participate in the dance with
them. Not that we get somewhere and that we're not there yet. He said it's we're
just participating in the dance. So it doesn't matter if we're still in the
brainstorming process of our business. It doesn't matter if we're still in that
okay well this is what the world would refer to as the first stage. God's like
who ever came up with that dumb idea that this is the first stage? It just is.
There's no first, second, and third with the Lord. There's just now. There's just
is and so so just know that that's the good thing. That wherever it is you are
is where you're supposed to be and it's good. So it's the fact that we what
God delights in is the fact that we participate with them. That we're
willing to flow in and out. Think of it kind of like a
Rubik's Cube. I talked about earlier about a puzzle. Think of it
kind of like a Rubik's Cube where things are constantly shifting.
Sometimes you shift this way. Sometimes you shift this way. Sometimes
you shift this way again. Sometimes you shift that way. It's just kind of like
this movement. There's like this process to it as opposed to the
idea that well there just is a destination and God is just
enduring and we're just enduring with him until we get there. Absolute bogus.
Oh you're absent in the dance? No not at all because your heart
is there. Your heart is there with him and it's allowing him to
sometimes take the lead and then sometimes you'll take the lead
and sometimes he takes the lead. He just wants us to step into it with him
and not ever abandon him. Total side note but there was a time that I was
frustrated with the Lord and so if any of this rings true for y'all and kind of
resonates with y'all let me know and I can have a lot bigger subject about it
and I can tell you the story that he took me through when I went
through this but when I was battling my very severe chronic depression, anxiety
and PTSD I was so mad at the Lord. I was so mad and that for me is extremely
unusual. Oh my word. I'd never experienced that with the Lord and I
knew and I was finally allowing myself to be mad with him and he told me, he
said, Ashley and I don't I don't think I've mentioned this to y'all in this
group. In fact, I know I haven't. I told him or he told me, he said, Ashley I
understand that you're struggling and that you're mad at me because you think
that I've hurt you. He said, whatever you do though, he said,
Ashley you can be mad at me. You can struggle with the fact that you're mad
at me. You can struggle with the fact that you think I've disappointed you.
That I'm not there. That you can't see me. You can't hear me. You can't whatever and
he said, I said, you can struggle Ashley. That's fine. I understand that. I can hold
space for you to do that and then he said this. He said, however, whatever you do
and he said this very kindly. It wasn't harsh or like you better. It was just
Ashley, whatever you do. This is like a person in a relationship talking to
another person in a relationship. You know, like hey we're in a relationship together
and he said, what I want from you, what I need from you, he said, do not allow or do
not, sorry I'm trying to remember the exact words because the way he said it
was really sweet. He said, you can struggle with me. He said, but whatever
you do, he said, don't shut me out. That's what he said. He said, whatever you do, don't
shut me out of this struggle. Don't be mad. Turn your back on me and deal
with it. He said, let me be there with you while you're struggling with me.
Don't, in other words, the God of the universe asked me. He said, whatever you
do, don't abandon me and it was just so sweet and remember and here's another
thing about all of this because I'm talking about this because I know that
that there's a reason why all of y'all are here in this in this April Intensive.
Really? Oh, that's great. I want to hear this story, Holly. Oh, yeah, so
remember, Jacob, when... remember that Jacob wrestled with God and, you know, he
wrestled with the angel and the angel told him, he said, well, you've wrestled
with God. And here's what was so fascinating about it. So Jacob wrestled
with the angel all night. All night. And the angel told him, you know, touched his
hip, stopped... it stopped Jacob and Jacob... and still Jacob held on to him and
said, I will not let go until you bless me. And the angel said, I... he said... sorry,
I'm trying to remember. He said, you have wrestled with God and... and I think he
said, you've wrestled with God in one. He said, and I want... he said, so therefore
your name will be called... is it will no longer be called Jacob, which is called
deceiver. No longer be called Jacob, but it will be called Israel because you
have wrestled with God in one. You've struggled against God. He named his
firstborn son, which is what he called the nation of Israel, he named his
firstborn son Israel by... which means he who struggles with God. God could have
named his firstborn nation anything. But he named him, he who struggles with God, so
that everybody who said the name Israel, whether it be Israel themselves, whether
it be any other nation that did or did not follow the Lord, which they were all,
you know, were not the firstborn chosen nation of Israel, chosen firstborn
chosen nation of God. Or whenever God said the name Israel, whenever it was
repeated in Scripture, when God called them out, like, you know, he called them by
name, he calls all of us by name. Whenever he calls any of us by name, names are
very, very precious to the Lord. And when he called them by name, he wanted the
name of all the names he could have chosen, of all the things that he could
have declared them to be. Every single time he said their name, he wanted it to
say, he who struggles with God. And what that means is that it was so very
precious to him. Of all of the aspects and characteristics of our
relationship with God, what he wanted to highlight every single time his
firstborn son was called by name, he wanted to highlight the fact that when
they're mad at me, when they believe that I have pained them, they will still
continue to struggle it out with me instead of abandoning me. Of all the
characteristics of their relationship with God, that is what he found to be so
important, that every single time that their name would be spoken, every single
time he called out to them and he called them by name, that was the name,
he who struggles with God. He could have talked about how
much he hoped that they would love him, how much he hoped that they would hope
in him, how much he hopes that they would believe him. Remember, we've learned how
important that belief is to God. And of all things that he focused on, he named
them, he changed Jacob's name. Instead of just keeping it the same, he changed his
name to he who struggles with God. It's that important to him, that if we are
pained by him, if we believe, God, you have hurt me. I can talk y'all
through that story, if that resonates with any of y'all and y'all
want to hear it, because there's actually multiple stories of that. Anyway, I think
some I've shared with y'all and some I haven't, but anyway, and they're very
extreme, by the way, very extreme situations. I almost walked away from God
many, many years ago. In the space of about 10 minutes, I literally almost just
laid down the gauntlet and was like, so the Lord walked me through that.
But out of all of the things, it was the fact that he says that he
doesn't want us to abandon him. So it's very, very important. So don't
get down on yourself. Don't get frustrated. Don't get disappointed. Don't
get discouraged. Whatever you do, do not judge
yourself.
because you're struggling with the fact that you're mad at God and that you're accusing Him.
The fact that you don't shut Him out and the fact that you're struggling with Him as opposed to
turning your back and just being mad at Him, that hurts God so bad. The fact that you were
still willing to struggle with Him is an element of a dance. He wants you to flow with Him though
instead of struggling with Him, but there's still an element in which you're flowing
and that's very important to Him. So very important where He named the
nation of Israel after that and it was not a curse. It was a good thing.
Attribute of someone who stays close in the middle of conflict. Exactly. He's glorified in the struggle
and our relationship with Him is glorified in the struggle. He enjoys that.
I just wanted to point that out just because we're based off of
the comments that seem to be where some people were kind of
struggling and so I can understand that when we feel we're asking God for a result,
we're asking God for an answer, we're asking Him for definitive information or definitive guidance
about our business or what we think of in the world as next step. I just wanted to mention
what God is looking for is He's looking for a process and it's this dance. It's this,
I don't really know what's going on or what's happening now or it may go this way, it may go that
way and not getting frustrated, not looking, not measuring things by how much time has passed.
How long have I been in this dance? How long have I been confused? How long have I been frustrated?
Allow the dance to happen. The frustration is the requirement that it be rigid
and we've got to let go of that rigidity. Again, frustration is resistance. Frustration reveals
a resistance. It reveals that there is something in us that we're not letting go of and it's
requiring release. Then when we finally release, we're able to more effortlessly allow
ourselves to be led in the dance and we can finally start receiving. So anything in
which we start locking down is evidence of some area in which we are creating a resistance
against the Lord. Let's see if there's something else. I think we're about done here.
I was like, what is that word? I have down here, be fluid and let God rearrange constantly.
So we need to allow ourselves to not get married to an idea because God, what's important is that
we're always in relationship with him and we're always keeping our eyes on him. We think that
when something stops moving and it becomes a formula, it becomes, what's the word,
not dependable. There is that element of dependability, but that's the second thing.
There's a step right before dependability where it becomes predictable. There you go. When it
becomes stable, then it becomes predictable, which means that we begin to feel that it's
dependable. Remember, God always wants us to depend on him, not on the fact that, well,
my business has gotten to a particular point where I can now forecast and therefore I can
depend on it. Nothing wrong with being able to forecast, nothing wrong with that. But remember
that too much forecasting means that, or too much dependability on forecasting means that we're
trying to create a formula out of something instead of allowing the spirit to flow through us
and flow through the business and then therefore we don't know what's going to happen. We don't
know where it's going to go and we need to allow that to happen because then there's more life
that'll come out of a business. There's more profit, sometimes monetary profit, but absolutely
more life, more life in yourself, more...
life and that's flowing from the spirit from that's manifesting from heaven into
earth through the business and that will that will manifest as greater life in
the clients as well. Your clients in the benefits that your clients receive and
the benefits that you receive out of a business which are more than just
monetary because remember God's the one who provides for us. Hopefully that
made sense if that did not make sense let me know because I realize it's
really late for some of you on the East Coast it's even later than it is for me
but I think I think that is it.
Okay this was very interesting but let me see it may not even be may not even
be something to mention at this time I think just a second. Okay I don't know if
this is necessary I'm just gonna kind of drop this in here and who knows y'all
might just think well that's just kind of out of the blue but it might resonate
with some of you. Remember that we can mute God we can mute him by believing we
can't bring something to him. We can mute him so if we're looking for an answer
from him if if we are if we're frustrated that he's not answering us
that he's not giving us direction we've cried out to him we felt like God I have
been waiting. God I have been willing. God I have I've sacrificed. I've allowed
myself to be moldable. I have stepped out in faith. I've done X Y & Z and we and
we're not getting information from the Lord and we're not getting maybe an
answer that that we're wanting meaning like we're getting we feel like we're
getting no answer or whatever. We can actually mute God by believing that
there's something that we're not that we can't bring to him. Like we think that
there's this exchange again we were we're falling back into this whole idea
of an exchange program that I have to give God this in other words God I have
been giving you all of these things and you're not following through on your end of the
bargain. You're not you're not what this is not an effective exchange program God.
God's like it's not an exchange program. It's not an exchange program. I will give
to you because I'm a good father and I want you to rest and rely on that that I
am going to give you the direction. I am going to give you the answers that
you're looking for in how to in how to form your business next and I
want you to participate in the ideas. I wanted you to participate in the
decisions so work with allow your spirit to work together with his spirit to co
labor and co create and co decide what that is and that's that's the process
that's how you can begin to form your your business with the Lord. I'm not sure
how all of this is might be hitting y'all I don't know if some of this y'all
are gonna think actually this is just so high-level this is so this is so this is
so contextual that I don't really know exactly how to how to apply it you can
let me know if there are some if there's some ways because it's gonna hit
some of y'all differently some of you you're just gonna go yes that absolutely
resonates I know exactly you know what you're talking about I know exactly how
to apply it now I'm gonna take it with the Lord there's some of you that might
be like I just have no idea so you can you can ask me questions and then that
it's gonna let me know where there might be kind of some some gaps that it felt
like it left in in in your understanding there's nothing wrong with that doesn't
mean that you're less smart than somebody else all it means you because
what understand what we're all taking we're all bringing to the table is our
different perspectives based on our different backgrounds what it is that
the Lord has taught us up to this point etc there there's no there's no lack
there's no problem it just means that this and then also I'm explaining things
to you maybe at a place where I could understand them but maybe I don't know a
while back I wouldn't have been able to understand it like this and I'm
forgetting that I'm forgetting everything that had to transpire and
form in my mind to get me to the point where I can understand the way that I
just explained it but I've forgotten that I actually started from way back
here and it had to be explained to me a bit differently back here before I could
flush it out to the point where now I can understand it up here so if I have
made too far of a leap and you're still trying to understand this back here just
let me know and then I'm asked me some questions and that I can kind of fill in
the gaps
I'm sure that other people have that same question. So, it helps me grow as a
as a teacher as well. Helps me understand, okay, you know, how to better explain
this thing to people because everyone's gonna come at it a bit
different. So, I hope all of you have a wonderful night. It was good to get to
see all of y'all and hope to, you know, that y'all sleep well, you rest
well. Remember, total side note, remember that your spirit does a lot while you're
sleeping. An awful lot. Especially because your consciousness and your
meaning like, you know, your soul and your body or especially your body really
it's going to sleep and doesn't require as much focus especially because that's
where we're putting all of our focus during the day. Our spirits actually can
do quite a lot while we're while we're asleep and you can begin to ask the Lord
to reveal to you during your conscious hours what it is that you were doing and
was happening and and how your spirit was changing and and doing things in the
spirit realm while you were asleep. I remember that's where a lot of our
dreams are manifesting of what is what's happening in the spirit manifests in our
consciousness and our soul in what we refer to as dreams. So, anyway, you're
welcome Holly. So, I will talk to you all later. Bye.