Why You Keep Getting The Same Results

Hi, I'm Julie Hawks.

Welcome to the laws of Peace.

The answers are in the scriptures.

Let me show you how to find them.

Today's episode is called Why You Keep Getting the Same Results and we are talking about the law of intention.

 

Years ago I worked for a company called Allison's Pantry.

I was a sales manager and there were a lot of things that I liked about the job and there were some things that I really hated about the job.

I wanted more than anything to quit that job and do full time energy work and teaching, which is what I do now.

But I needed to replace my income before I could.

So I worked for years doing both and on a regular basis I would pray and I would say, Heavenly Father, please, I want to quit my job.

Can I quit my job yet?

And the answer was always no.

Well, one day, one November, I had a really bad experience it and it was awful.

On that day I decided I said I am done.

I am done with this.

For my birthday, which was the next coming May, I'm going to give myself the birthday present of quitting my job.

I just decided that day.

Well, Fast forward a couple of months.

January rolls around and again I pray and I say to Heavenly Father, please, I really wanna quit my job.

It's the time, right?

The answer I got was, yeah, if you wanna quit, quit today.

And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not ready to quit yet.

I still have some things to do to prepare and get ready.

So over the next few months, I had some really good conversations with my husband about it.

And I put some things in place so that I would be prepared and ready to give up my regular income so that I could be an entrepreneur and take the risk of jumping out there and building a business.

Well, May rolls around and this is the first time since I started doing energy work that I have no appointments on my books.

And I said that to my husband,

Today's the day I'm supposed to quit my job and give my notice, but there are no appointments on my books.

Should I do it?

He looks at me and he goes, Julie, you're going to do whatever you want no matter what I say.

So do what you want.

And of course I already had decided.

I decided that I was going to quit.

I had the intention and I had the backing of my heavenly Father behind me.

He said, Julie, go for it.

So I did and I never had to worry about appointments after that.

The next week the appointments filled in and my income grew and grew.

It has been so fulfilling and so rewarding to make that decision and do something different.

Today we're going to talk about this law of intention, how we apply it to our lives, what it means, and how it can help us to overcome the the results that just keep when the change doesn't happen.

We just keep getting the same thing over and over and over again.

So intention is a focused thought combined with emotion that acts like a signal to bring to you what it is that you want.

When you complete it, when you repeatedly hold a clear picture in your mind of what you desire and you feel as if it's already real, and you let go of the fear and the doubt, you begin to create an internal blueprint and your life starts to follow it.

The more present emotionally and connected and consistent you are, the more the stronger the signal becomes and the more you're creating.

That's the secular part of it, really.

There's four parts to this law.

There's desire.

First of all, do you know what you want?

Second of all, intention, making a decision based on what you want and having a clear why.

Then third, attention.

We need to put our attention on what it is that we've decided.

And then fourth, having faith, releasing, and letting go of the doubt.

Today we're going to focus on the first two; decision and desire what it is that you want.

We're going to start in the Scriptures.

There's a beautiful scripture in Alma chapter 29, verse four that actually talks about desire.

It says "I know that he granted unto man their desires according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life.

I know that he lotteth unto men.

Yeah, he decreeth."

Now decree is a really important word because it means that it's like written in law.

 He decrees unto them decrees which are unalterable according to their wills, whether they be into salvation or unto destruction.

So basically what the scripture is saying is whatever you want, good or bad, that's what you're going to get because your desires shift and change everything.

In fact, President Oaks said this about it.

He said "desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices and choices determine our actions."

The desires we act on determine our changing, are achieving and are becoming.

He just said in the most beautiful way, the law of intention.

Let me re  say that desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices and choices determine our actions.

The desire we act on, determine our changing, are achieving, and are becoming.

So let's go look at this as a story in the scriptures.

Just as a reminder, in the Book of Mormon, there's the story of King Lamoni and his dad.

Now, King Lamoni has just been converted to the Lord.

He's just learned about Jesus Christ.

He's super pumped and excited about living the gospel and keeping the commandments.

And he is with Ammon they're on their way to go save the missionaries that are in jail.

As they're traveling along, they run into King Limoni's dad, who is the king of the king of everything.

He looks at King Limoni and he says, hey, how come you didn't show up to the family party?

And he says, well, because I've been saved.

 I know about Jesus Christ.

I've repented of my sins.

I'm so excited about this.

And we're on our way to save the missionaries.

 

 

Well this makes his dad so angry and upset, so much so that he tries to kill his son.

And Ammon intervenes.

Ammon is about to kill King Lemoni's dad when he says wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

I promise I'll give you half of my Kingdom if you will just save my life.

Just spare my life.

Ammon of course, says, I don't want your Kingdom.

I just want you to let King Lemoni make his own choices.

And if he wants to live the gospel, let him live the gospel and let his people live the gospel.

 King Lemoni's dad says yes.

And then he goes away.

Fast forward a couple of of chapters and now King Lemoni's dad is learning the gospel.

He's hearing about Jesus Christ for the first time.

He's learning about the joy that comes from being a follower of Jesus Christ.

And we're going to start to see his desires shift and change.

First he had a desire to save his own life and he was willing to give half his Kingdom.

In Alma 22, verse 15, he said, I will give up all I possess and forsake my Kingdom to have this great joy.

Do you see how his desires are shifting and changing?

He's willing to give whatever it takes, including his Kingdom, the material possessions that he has so that he can feel joy, which comes from following Jesus Christ.

Then in verse 18, when he's actually praying, he says, I will give away all my sins to know thee and be saved at the last day.

That is a beautiful.

He's had a 180, right?

Instead of worrying about his life and then worrying about his Kingdom, now he wants to feel the joy that comes from letting go of his favorite sins.

Interesting.

We should remember the righteous desires cannot be superficial, impulsive, or temporary.

That must be heartfelt, unwavering, and permanent.

Now remember that part . We're going to talk about why we're not changing.

Nelly Maxwell said this.

"When people are described as having lost their desire for sin, it is they and they only who deliberately decided to lose those wrong desires by being willing to give away all their sins in order to know God, which is repenting.

Therefore, what we insistently desire over time is what we eventually become and what we will receive in eternity."

So desire and decision are linked, they're together.

 Let's talk about when we have this desire, like I want this, but then we keep going back to the same old habits or we keep going back to our old addictions or we make change for a little bit, but then we fall backwards.

What's going on then?

Does the law of intent not work for that?

Well, there's another scripture.

The scriptures are awesome.

In First Kings 18:21 it says: "how long haul ye between two opinions."

The problem is that we have these competing desires.

We want this and we want that.

Let me give you a couple of examples.

For instance, a mom could say she really wants to work, but she also wants to stay home.

A spouse could say, I really, really want to save my marriage and make it work, but I really don't want to do work to forgive and reconnect.

Someone could say I really, really want to get more healthy.

I want to drop some weight.

I want to have more energy, but I really, really like eating ice cream while I'm watching Netflix and I hate the gym.

Do you see how they have competing desires?

I want the improvement, but I also want to feel comfortable.

That is what messes up the law of intention.

Because then what is the intention and what is the desire?

The universe, God can't bring you what you want if  you're not even clear on what you want.

And we need to get honest about that.

There's a scripture about this in second Nephi verse chapter 31, verse 13, it says this, this is how we get rid of those competing desires.

It said, "I know that if you shall follow the Son with full purpose of heart..."

Full purpose of heart means I don't want two different things.

I want one acting, no hypocrisy saying I really want to drop the weight, but I really, really love the ice cream and no deception before God, which is I say I want this, but I really want this other thing if I'm being honest, but with real intent.

Do you hear the intention here?

Real intent, repenting of your sins and witnessing unto the Father that you're willing to take upon you the name of Jesus Christ.

Isn't that beautiful?

So President Oakes said something really interesting about real intent and what it means.

"Real intent means the person praying is saying to the Lord something like this.

I'm not asking out of curiosity, but with total sincerity to act on the answer to the prayer.

If thou will give me this answer, I will act to change my life."

I will respond again, are you starting to catch this beautiful law of intention?

It's getting straight on your desires and aligning those desires with your heavenly Father and your Savior Jesus Christ and their plan for you.

Which means that we have to be uncomfortable.

So as we repent of a competing desire and as we ask for the Lord to change those desires, then we can get our desires aligned.

Next, we make a decision that what we're going to do with  intention

And then we take action, which means we pay attention and focus on that.

We release the doubt because we know we're already aligned with God's will, which gives us complete confidence.

And then we create a new reality.

It is so powerful, so powerful.

It's so important that we know what we want, that we, you know, the first part of this is desire because how do you know what action to take if you haven't made a decision and you don't know what you really want?

The first question I'm asking you is, and I want you to think about this, 

Is what do you want?

And do you have competing desires?

Can you be honest about that, write it down, figure it out, and then what decision do you need to make?

Then get clear on if that's aligned with God's will.

And that is going to help you set up this law of intention.

As you start doing this and you get really honest with yourself, you're going to find those competing desires.

That's why you're not getting the results.

And so then we apply repent and replace.

That's how we get our desires and our decisions aligned with God's will so that we can act accordingly to create the life that we want.

So let me remind you what repent and replace looks like.

It's a four part prayer.

And instead of just repenting of an action, it's repenting of thinking, feeling, or believing.

It looks like this.

Heavenly Father, please forgive me for thinking, feeling, or believing XY or Z.

Step #2 : I choose to think, fill, or believe.

Number three, I am fill in the blank today.

This looks like what action are you going to take today that shows that you've made a different choice and they're changing your thinking.

And then 4th, I'm so thankful for this experience.

I'm thankful for this experience because it teaches me that as I rely on my heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ will change is possible.

Anything is possible of God, right?

So if we put it back into there, it would look like, dear Heavenly Father, please forgiving me.

Forgive me for wanting to feel comfortable more than I want to change, for not wanting to forgive so and so and believing that if I forgive them that I'm going to lose my ability to be protected.

I choose to let go of the pain that this person caused me because I want to have the connection in the relationship and I want this to work today.

This looks like every time I have a bad thought about this person, I'm going to remember that that just just as as you love them, I can love them and I can truly let this go with the Savior's help.

I'm thankful for this experience because it teaches me that with the Savior's help, I can do anything.

That was just one example.

We could put in their overeating, or we could put in their pornography.

But when we find the belief and the thinking that's in the way and we shift the desire and we ask Heavenly Father to shift the desire through repentance, that shifts and changes everything for us.

If you have any questions about this, then send me a comment, send me an e-mail, text me.

I'd love to have a conversation with you about this.

But repent and replace is truly the way that is going to get us aligned with our desires, our decisions, and our actions so that we can live this law of intention and create the experiences and the life that we need to.

Because our life is meant to be a life of purpose.

We're constantly distracted and living by putting out fires and we're not living deliberately, then we're missing our entire lives.

And it's time to live deliberately.

It's time to decide what it is we want and be intentional about following through and focusing on that so that we can live that life that we were always meant to live.

Thank you so much for being here.

If this has helped you, will you share it with somebody?

Have a wonderful day.