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Rick Burnett:  Let's talk about right choices.  This is a topic you've both talked about in the third chapter of Possibility Living beginning on page 35. What are right choices and how can right choices help us?

Dr. Robert A. Schuller:  Right choices means taking responsibility for yourself - that's what it boils down to.  If we are going to live to be 120, we need to take responsibility for our own health.  We cannot put our health in the hands of other people and say, here you're responsible for my health and then go wait for a sickness or an illness to take place.  We have to take personal responsibility today to create prevention, because modern medicine doesn't have a form of prevention.  They have a form of early detection, so that's why you get a mammogram and a colonoscopy and other examinations.  What they are doing is trying to find the symptoms as early as possible so they can treat the symptoms.  What we are doing when we make right choices, is going beyond early detection to actual prevention. This allows you to personally take responsibility for your life and make sure that your body is nourished by taking vitamins on a regular basis, by getting constant chiropractic care at least once a month, if not once a week.  When you get in touch with your body and you take responsibility and start making the right choices, you'll know.  Taking personal responsibility for your life spiritually so that you know that you have to go to church every Sunday and get your spiritual batteries recharged.  When you wake up in the morning how do you feel, is your body all stiff and sore, do you have neck pain, do you have back pain?  How do you feel?  If you don't feel great when you get up, you have to make a choice.  You either ignore it and just go on, or to say why don't I feel happy, healthy and terrific - and take personal responsibility for your life so that when you wake up in the morning you feel happy, healthy and terrific!  That includes making the choices to do your exercises, making the choice to pray, making the choice to take vitamins, making the choice of getting regular chiropractic care, etc.

Dr. Douglas DiSiena: Based upon where we are today is the choices we've made leading up to today.  Where we will be tomorrow is based upon our choices of today.  So, based upon today, we can start today and make right choices and we'll be in a better place tomorrow.  Because tomorrow we will be where and what we're thinking about today. So, if we want a brighter future, then start making appropriate choices today. 

Rick Burnett: What would you say about choosing a prosperous and productive life?

Dr. Douglas DiSiena:  It's a choice we make and what I like about the choice is it takes it out of chance.  It's not by chance that we'll be healthy or sick, it's not by chance that we'll be prosperous or productive, it's by choice.  For so long, Norman Vincent Peale talked about that and Dr. Robert H. Schuller talked about that and now Dr. Robert A. Schuller is talking about it.  It's an appropriate decision that we can make today.

Rick Burnett:  But, you know a lot of people who are Christians and who have religious beliefs, believe that "it will come to me if that's what God wants for me", as opposed to "I choose this or that - I'm the master of my own destiny." 

Dr. Robert A. Schuller: There's a classical interpretation - what we are talking about is an historical and a classic debate that has been raging since the beginning of Christianity which deals with the sovereignty of God and the free will of man.  That's what this question really boils down to in the way you've framed it.  It comes down to the sovereignty of God versus the free will of man.  If God is sovereign and He is all-powerful and in control of everything, then what freedom do we have as an individual and as a person to make choices?  Are we puppets on a string and everything just happens to us as God has designed and willed?  That's one end of the spectrum.  The other end of the spectrum is that God created the world and that we are here on our own and if it's going to me it's up to me, period.  Those are the two theological ends of the spectrum, as far as the sovereignty of God and the free will of man.  I believe that there is an overlap, it is not that one is correct and the other is incorrect.  I believe they are both correct and they both have to recognize the other and there is a tremendous amount of overlap between the two.  So, what happens is we don't know where one stops and the other begins.  In other words, we don't know where the sovereignty of God and His design and destiny for our life stops and our free will begins - because they overlap one another.  So that God's sovereignty in our life and our free will are taking place at the same time.  If this is what's taking place, how do we determine how to live?  The best way to remedy this dilemma of the sovereignty of God and free will of man and determine how we're going to live - because that's what really matters - it doesn't really matter what the philosophy is as much as how do we interpret it and how does that impact how we live as Christians and individuals and human beings.  The way we interpret it in such a way so that we can live productively and healthy and happy is the following one statement by St. Augustine.  You've heard me say it before and I'll say it a million times:  "Pray like it all depends on God and work like it all depends on you."  Praying like it all depends on God - which puts together the whole idea of the sovereignty of God - God is in control; but, then work like it all depends on you, then you seen the overlap in a dramatic way which can be resolved very successfully by simply praying like it all depends on God and working like it all depends on you.  Then, what happens will truly be what God wants for your life. 

Dr. Douglas DiSiena: That was perfectly said - that interchange - that place in the center is where we should be living.  We should be praying all the time - we should live in a constant state of prayer.  I truly believe that when we take the appropriate responsibility, and we depend on God for the rest, we will live a prosperous and productive life.

Dr. Robert A. Schuller:  There is almost a tension that takes place between the sovereignty of God and the free will of man.  When you create that tension, it's actually a good thing.  The best illustration of that I know is a violin string.  If you take all of the tension off of a violin string and try to play it - it is silent - there is no music.  If you create that tension between the sovereignty of God and the free will of man and suddenly our lives begin to sing! 

Rick Burnett: On page 40 you talk about choosing to pray effectively - let's talk about effective prayer.

Dr. Douglas DiSiena:  For one thing, I know that God calls us to have a prayerful life.  There are many different ways we can pray.  We can pray for other people, we can petition for our own needs and God wants to hear our needs.  I think that God the Father wants to meet our needs just like we as parents want to meet the needs of our children.  We all love our children dearly and want to give to them what is appropriate for them to have.  Sometimes, people may pray for a Ferrari that goes 200 miles an hour - well maybe God in His wisdom knows that if we had that Ferrari we'd crash it and kill ourselves.  God knows our future, He knows our past and He knows our present, therefore God is going to give us exactly what we need for today.  So every single day we should pray for our needs.  Also, we shouldn't just pray for our needs, we should pray to know what God's will is for that day and for our life.  When we pray effectively, we need to pray without ceasing.  That means a consistent, constant communication with our Father, so that we know on a day to day basis we have faith that our needs will be met which takes a tremendous amount of stress off our life.

Dr. Robert A. Schuller:  I might add, that form of prayer is not a "get down on your knees and fold your hands and close your eyes" kind of prayer.  Obviously, you can't do that "without ceasing."  It really is a prayerful state of mind.  It is a state of mind - the awareness of the presence of God.

Rick Burnett:  In the book you talk about choosing to hear and obey the Spirit's leading. I'd also like you to talk about that even for people who are non-Christians - what do you mean by obeying the Spirit's leading?

Dr. Robert A. Schuller:  Basically, again what we have to do is make the right choices.  What happens is the Spirit will open doors and suddenly we have to make the choice rather to walk through that door.  It's usually something that is rather challenging - something that we wouldn't normally do.  Suddenly the doors open and we have an opportunity to walk through the door or to stay stuck in the rut of doing "the comfortable."  So, I think the real question is how do we know when the Spirit is leading?  How do we know if it's just some fantasy that I made up in my mind?  The best way to understand that is to get counsel from people you admire and trust.  Read the scriptures.  There is a set of things you want to determine:  1) is it contrary to scripture?  If this idea you have in your mind is contrary to scripture, then you can know it is not from God; 2) if you get counsel from people and they say the really wouldn't recommend you act upon your idea, then your idea is probably not from God.  On the other hand, if your idea is not contrary to scripture and if people say it sounds like a really wonderful thing, then you have to go into prayer and ask God why you're not taking action.  Is it fear - 90% of the time that's what it is - then you have to pray for courage to move forward and you finally have to take the steps.  That's what courage is - courage isn't elimination of the feeling of fear.  Courage is in spite of the fear and feelings, you do what is right.  It's like the four spiritual laws - that's probably one of the most circulated pamphlets that's ever been shared with the world.  Twenty-five years ago there were a billion of them in circulation; today there are probably six billion of these pamphlets in circulation.  In that pamphlet you have a picture of a train.  It's a steam engine - you have the engine, you have the coal car and you have the caboose.  Each one of those cars are labeled.  The engine is labeled FACT, the coal car is labeled FAITH, and the caboose is labeled FEELING.  The point of this illustration is that feelings cannot pull the other two cars.  Only FACT, the engine, has the power to pull feelings and the other parts of our emotions.  In other words, we have to tie on to the FACTS, fuel it with FAITH, and then be willing to go!  So, if you follow your feelings, the fear, you're just going to go nowhere, because feelings don't have the power to do anything.  If you follow the FACTS with FAITH you're going to go where the Spirit of God leads you.  So, you have these feelings of fear, but the facts are saying go, you have to tie your car to that engine of FACT, follow the facts and allow the Spirit to lead and you will succeed.

Dr. Douglas DiSiena:  Also, sometimes God says NO, sometimes God says SLOW, and sometimes God says GO.  When God says GO, you have to listen and go or you'll miss a wonderful opportunity for your life.

Dr. Robert A. Schuller: I always say when God says GO, put on your track shoes!!

Rick Burnett:  Another choice you talk about is choosing health as a lifestyle.  It's easy to choose health when you're well, but how do you do that when we're not feeling good?

Dr. Robert A. Schuller:   I think one of the best illustrations on choosing health recently is from a women who had multiple sclerosis.  I met her this past Christmas at a Christmas party.  She was standing up talking with everyone and I met and was talking with her husband.  He was telling me that his wife was in a wheelchair five years ago with M.S.  He pointed her out to me and I said well she's not in a wheelchair now.  He said, that's right, she chose to get out of that wheelchair.  He introduced her to me and she is just an incredible person.  Five years ago she couldn't dress herself, she was confined to a wheelchair.  Today, she is walking, dressing herself, and dancing with her husband.  She stood up on this hard floor at this party with me and my wife - she'd been standing there long before I began talking with her - an she stood there for a couple of hours talking to us.  Finally, I said I was getting tired and wanted to sit down - and she was still going strong.  She made the choice to get well and get out of that wheelchair.  You may say how can it just be a choice?  The choice was instead of fighting the disease, which she'd been doing up to that point, she decided to support life.  She threw all of her medication away, although I'm not encouraging people to throw their medication away, unless you know exactly what you're doing because there could be some severe consequences.  But, she knew what she was doing, and she prayed.  She decided she wasn't going to use medicine anymore, she was going to use vitamins and she was going to pray.  She talked about prayer over and over again and how important that praying was.  She also started exercising - she started a trainer - she worked out four days a week and she continued to build her muscles and strength.  Today we walks with a slight limp - that's the only indication that there was ever anything wrong with her.  It's a choice - she chose life instead of fighting the disease - she changed her lifestyle. 

Dr. Douglas DiSiena:  I assume that she is continuing that type of lifestyle.  It's one of those things that it becomes the way you are.  It's just like what we were talking about earlier with prayer.  Prayer is not just about being in need.  Prayer is about a lifestyle.  Health is about a lifestyle.  It is a lifestyle that we choose to either partake in or we don't.  Many times, when people consult with me on their very first visit - we haven't done anything yet and they are just in the office - many times they will tell me that they are already beginning to feel better.  That is because of a decision they made to start on the road to their own personal pathway to wellness.  That's what it is - it's amazing what a decision does to our bodies.  That choice that we make - there is something internal that happens to us which turns the loop and we begin to make proper choices as a lifestyle.

Dr. Robert A. Schuller:  What happens to a lot of people who try to support life and fail is that they expect immediate results.  What we have to realize is that when you start supporting life, what you're doing is allowing the self and your body to replicate in such a way that they will slowly create "a new you."  If you start taking vitamins today, it's only going to change the cells that are replaced in your body today.  So there won't be much difference in one day.  What happens is instead of an overnight reaction which is what you get with drugs which masks the symptoms, it takes weeks or months and usually up to six months before your body makes a noticeable change.  So everyday when you wake up you have to ask yourself what am I replicating these cells with - am I replicating them with positive thoughts, with prayerful thoughts, with the proper nutrients and health; or, am I replicating them with negative thoughts and without prayer.  Every moment of every day your body is replicating those cells.  You have to ask if you want to replace them with fat cells and not work our today, or do you want to replace them with stronger muscle cells.  Then you wake up and decide to exercise because you want a more fit body instead of a weaker body.  You decide to take your vitamins because you want to "vitaminize" those cells instead of killing those cells with junk food. 

Rick Burnett:  You also talk about choosing the right foods.  How do we make that mind change? 

Dr. Douglas DiSiena:   Well, it's like a buffet line.  There are all kinds of decisions you can make on a buffet line - some of those decisions may be good ones and some may be bad ones.  For example, if I see some salmon on a buffet, there is nothing better that I could be tasting.  At some point in my life, I made a decision and transformed what tastes good to me.  There may be nothing else in the buffet line that I want - they may have potatoes with butter about ½ an inch think floating on the top and that doesn't look good to me.  The salmon looks good.  So, for me personally, it's a transition that I've made where what is good for me, tastes good to me, and I now crave that which is good for me.  Initially, I would have had a battle with myself when I went through that line, but I've been living this lifestyle long enough now, that it's not a battle any more.  I thoroughly want to eat only that which is good for me.  Once you've lived this kind of lifestyle long enough - that's what you'll come to.

Dr. Robert A. Schuller: For me, I simplify it by asking if the food is "live" or not.  "Live" simply means that it hasn't been cooked.  As a result of that the enzymes in the food are still there.  As soon as you cook it, the enzymes are gone.  Without the enzymes, your body doesn't really know what to do with that food.  It's not transferred into energy nearly as quickly or as well.  So, those enzymes are very important.  So, I always recommend eating something "live" with every meal.  That's a choice you can usually make.  So, what we have to realize is we make the choice and we choose the best food that is available to us.  For example, if you have a choice of white bread or wheat bread, then you should choose wheat bread.  If you have a choice of hot dogs or salmon, choose the salmon!  If you have a choice of ice cream or fresh fruit, choose the fresh fruit.  It simply comes down to making the best choice you can.  Rarely, or only once in a while will you be left with no choices.  That is very rare! 

Dr. Douglas DiSiena:  All those food choices you just mentioned - the more we "mess" with the food, chances are the worse it is for you.  The closer the food is to the way God made it, the better it is for you!