The Most Powerful Phrase I Know

Ronnie shares a phrase, originally recorded by Swedenborg, that has the power to overcome the negative states we struggle with. He has experienced it's transformational strength, and encourages everyone to use it for their own benefit. -Editor

There is a phrase which has the power to scatter a thousand demons. There is a phrase which can instantly wash the mind of evil thoughts and feelings. There is a phrase which the Lord spoke as a voice from heaven to His servant Emanuel Swedenborg as a gift for our people to free ourselves from the bonds of hell. Would you be surprised if I told you this phrase was beyond our expressing with physical words and that it must be searched for in the heart beyond the shores of our spiritual awareness? Well that might be what you would expect, but actually we are lucky enough to have this phrase written down for us in Emanuel Swedenborg's work True Christian Religion 567.4 where it says these amazing words,

"[I] do not will to do this thing because it is a sin against God."

Now let me give you a moment to test this out. Find some evil thought, feeling or intention in yourself; if you need some help think of something in this article that may have frustrated you and what it makes you want to do. Do you have it? Now think the words, "[I] do not will to do this thing because it is a sin against God."

You may not notice anything at first, but take a look at your thoughts and you may be suprised to find this thing has jumped off your mental radar screen completely. If you want to try, start counting and see how long the thought, feeling or intention takes to reappear. I have had times where the thought, feeling or intention disappeared never to return.

I have found this tool so incredibly useful in my life. The hardest part has been remembering that I can use it. There are times when I was being overwhelmed by something and then a little reminder would pop into my head, and I would say those miraculous words:

"[I] do not will to do this thing because it is a sin against God."

Now similar statements in the Writings just say, "I will not 'do' this thing", but I have found that saying, "I do not 'will to do' this thing" is much more powerful.

One of the interesting things about using this phrase is that its effects are invisible to us. We actually can't watch the process happen. This is because the Lord is changing our very self, the very essence of what we are seeing from. It is almost like trying to watch a new eyeball get installed in yourself. When we use this phrase it can feel as though nothing has changed, but watch the thoughts in your mind before and after and you may be amazed to find that what we did not feel as any change at all was a complete blanking of some evil or false thought.

I have also found that this phrase is almost magical in that I don't need to be totally focused on the words I am using to get the effects. I can just say it and let the Lord go to work. These very words, when they are used, are coming from a new self. Divine Providence 73 says,

"As soon as we [think that an evil is a sin, we do not will it, and we look to the Lord], we are in [spiritual] freedom; for no one has the power not to will evils... unless from a... higher freedom which is from a higher love.... We may come into this freedom provided we are willing to think that there is an eternal life, and that the temporary delight and bliss of a life in time are but as a fleeting shadows compared with the never-ending delight and bliss of a life in eternity. This we can think... because the Lord... continually gives us the ability to do so."

So the Lord has given us a hand hold on our spiritual reality and has given us the power to change the very essence of who we are. All this is possible if we are only willing to be made in His image, that is, receive His new will as our own.

In my spiritual journey I have come to realize that my path is as easy as remembering that Divine power from the Lord can be accessed in a moment, and a peace can return to my mind on command. Sometimes I have found that I need to repeat this phrase every few seconds for a period of time, but for the most part I can get it in one or two tries.

My wish for you is that you might try this phrase out and see what you think. :)

"[I] do not will to do this thing because it is a sin against God."

Ronald Schnarr

Ronnie is currently serving as an assistant to the pastor at the New Church of Boulder Valley. Ronnie is also doing some traveling ministry in Palo Alto near San Francisco. In July he will be heading to the Academy of the New Church high school in Bryn Athyn, PA to teach religion classes for this upcoming year. In recent years Ronnie has helped lead teen camps, traveled in Africa, played rock music, and generally kept it real.