It’s Christmas today, and I want to give one more gift before it’s over for another year. Recent events in my life have shown me how it feels to be in the state of charity, if even for just a little while. My last gift of the season is to testify about the glory and power of this love. My gift is to praise the gift, with gratitude.

Charity is the pure love of God, and to be found with it is said to be a very good thing. It is usually described in context with faith and hope, but my favorite description about charity is that it never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:8)

I like the power of that word never. And the reason I have written this article is because I absolutely know charity always works–to heal, to make all things beautiful, to live in the wonderful glorious protection of being one with the love of God–heaven on earth. The way is easy, and free. God gave us everything we need to succeed. We just need to understand how.

I have been studying spiritual healing for a lifetime, and writing about it for a while now. Lately, I have been practicing these concepts consistently, just to prove the truths to myself, always just one more time, and always satisfying myself that charity works to make everything feel better—in relationships, with work, in decision-making, everything.

I see life through the eyes of spirit, so allow me to use my perspective to describe how this looks and works. Just like most of the time people see everything tangibly, and describe it as such (apples, tables, water, etc.), there is another reality going on–the energetic reality of the intangibles (fear, pain, forgiveness, love, etc.). To me, these are just as real as the tangibles, even though they are forms of energy, with unique colors and essences of their own. They exist, whether you can see them or not. The first step to finding the state of charity is faith in this other reality, which includes God and our familial relationship to Him.

Step two is to get your story out. As I approach any situation, such as a conflict, or anything that is outside the energy of love, I begin by simply asking what energy is here–what is going on? To do that, we usually have to tell the story–what he did/said, she did/said. Bottom lining it is best, because we want to get out of the state of what that story is about and onto the path leading to the state of charity as soon as possible.

From your story, you can see that you have certain feelings, usually pretty intense ones. They can be everything from fear and anger to betrayal, rejection, and hopelessness. Note all of them. They are real. These feelings have caused certain beliefs, and as these feelings and beliefs surface, becoming obvious, you can look back at your life, and see that this is exactly what you have experienced, in every case. Step three is to document the actual beliefs that your experiences and feelings have caused you to accept as truth, (such as people always do such and such to me, or such and such always happens to me, or I believe such and such about life, or I am just such and such a way, etc.)

Step four is where you begin down the road to actually experiencing the state of charity, as you let go of all the darkness created by a lifetime of beliefs that do not serve you. All beliefs that cause you to remain out of love (with self, with others, with life, in any way)—all of that darkness has to go. I believe it is best to allow yourself to remember your very first and earliest encounter where your story caused you to choose this belief/judgment. Starting with the earliest memory makes letting go of all the rest so much easier.

Everything that has offended your loving innocent nature must be verbally forgiven, and again anytime you think of it, speak of it, or re-experience it, as doing so is to energetically re-open the wounds.

To forgive, you take it all right to the healer, Jesus Christ himself. It’s as if we remove it from our own souls and hand it all, physically, to Him. Even though we can’t actually see the energy of all of this stuff, we are literally transferring it out of ourselves and giving it to Him. That is the beauty of this holy gift, freely given, freely available, anywhere, anytime.

Christ taught that we must forgive, giving all to Him, for His care and His judgment, not ours. It does not serve us to carry any darkness, for that is what keeps us from the light. And light is our natural and true state of being—the place where we find charity. Giving all to Christ, through forgiveness, is the actual tool we each have at our fingertips, instantly, to return us to the state of charity.

Forgiveness has very little to do with the rights and wrongs of our experiences at the hands of others, and everything to do with taking care of our spiritual selves by returning to the presence of God, light–pure unconditional love. When you hold judgment of any kind in your soul, your spirit is broadcasting an energetic message of those injustices, which actually attracts more of such to you. Whatever negative energy your spirit is holding onto, it is sending out that message as a truth. This state of being will only bring you more of what is already not working for you! This is a state of trying to control life, taking you out of the state of love, and actually punishing yourself in the process, while doing nothing towards the justice you are probably inwardly seeking. Anytime you are in the energy of judgment (control), you are choosing to hold onto darkness, which automatically keeps you out of the state of charity!

Step four has many parts, including confession and forgiveness of self along with others. We must always admit the part we have contributed to any conflict. There is no conflict without two participants. Even though your part may have been done in ignorance, fear, desperation, or purely for survival, confession and forgiveness is an essential ingredient in the process of reaching the state of charity. Admitting your part can be as simple as realizing that you held in the negative energy for all this time, causing you to continue to attract more of it or to suffer longer. In step four, we spend as much time with our Savior as necessary to feel better. We drop our burdens at His feet, and leave them there. We let His love take it all from us, through all our body and all our time, completely.

Once cleaned by spending personal time alone with Christ, feeling His healing, where we lay down all darkness in us, we then move to step five. This is where we accept His compassion to fill the void. We receive the pure light of Christ flooding into our physical beings. We feel free, as if nothing negative has ever been with us. Love permeates our being, in a world where no judgment enters our thoughts. This is the state of love I call innocence. I recommend allowing this state of pure love to flow through you for as long as you can handle it. Your comfort level may resist at first, but soak it up anyway. This is the truth of who you are–a being of love, one with God. The longer you stay in this state, the more truth will flow into you. Go the distance.

In step five, as you enjoy this oneness with God, feeling that great love in and around you, notice that you have access to all truth, especially as it pertains to your life and purpose. This is where hope becomes your companion. As you hold onto a hope in all truth, perfect divine guidance flows into your soul, and charity is not far behind.

In the state of oneness with God, staying out of judgment in all its varieties (fear, doubt, anger—all forms of control), we live in the state of trusting God to not only teach us, guide us, and protect us, but to do whatever he will with us. We gave all our darkness to God,and now we are giving all our light to Him. We offer all to Him, asking where we should go, what we should do, what we should say, and sometimes how to do it, at least how to start, and usually the rest will come later. We have faith in Him, hope in the good things that come from Him, and know that as we go where that truthful guidance leads, all our needs will be met. In this state of being one with Him, having our answers, we follow those answers, serving others accordingly. When we do so, we feel inner peace, joy and happiness–and this is the state of charity! It is in the act of following divine guidance that the state of charity arrives.

These steps of recognizing, acknowledging, and forgiving bring us into the presence of God. We cannot get to this state without the personal cleansing of forgiveness. Every question is answered while in the state of being one with the pure love of God. When we follow those promptings, aligning our lives accordingly, acting as we are guided, we literally become the hands of God on earth. And that is the state of charity. It works every time.

This is the reason I teach to trust spirit, now. Every need can be met and understood when in the presence of love, and love is ready and waiting, anytime you are. Charity Never Fails! It’s a Merry Christmas indeed.

(Videos of forgiveness techniques are available in the video section of this website. If you could use further assistance in this practice, please contact me via your comments in the reply box below.)