Make a Joyful Noise: Searching for a Spiritual Path in a Material World

By Chariss K. Walker

Through the ages, man has either sought to understand or destroy God for lack of understanding who God is. Some call the knowledge of God a mystery, that which can only be grasped by great or educated minds.
Today, we have thousands of ancient manuscripts leaving signs, including the Holy Bible. There is a myriad of recorded testimony that paints many pictures.
Yet scholars, theologians and historians of every culture and religion argue as to their meaning and relevance.
You may wonder how, if the professionals cannot agree, you are expected to make sense of it all?
In Make a Joyful Noise: Searching for a Spiritual Path in a Material World, Chariss Walker uses liberal biblical references to explain Spiritual Laws, their relevance to your life, and how to put them into practical use without destroying your present convictions.
Terminology is irrelevant. God wants what you want.
When you understand this, you will Make Your Own Joyful Noise!

REVIEWS:
Positive Ideas for a Successful Spiritual Life -- an intriguing book (for) seekers looking for ways to live a more spiritual life. I have rarely enjoyed a book so much, this book is truly a comfort to the soul ~The Rebecca Review

With so many ancient manuscripts, some of which contradict, how can one really understand what God wants? "Make a Joyful Noise" is a fresh message of spirituality; it is definitely worth a read. ~ --Midwest Book Review

Distilling the wisdom of the ages into an easy to understand self-help book. This book is worth reading especially (by) Christians, interested in seeking a clearer path to spiritual growth. ~ --BookReview.com

Are you one of those people thinking about living a more spiritual life but do not know how to go about it? You would benefit from reading this book. The author knows the topic well; it drew me in from the first page to the very end. ~ --Reader Views

I found the information in this book fascinating. Walker writes in an easy to understand manner. It is easy to recommend this book. --Readers Favorite

This is an eclectic collection of thoughts and quotations from the Bible and other sources including various religions. For me, this is the type of book that I like to have on hand to read at different times, especially when I need something to lift my spirits. I believe the author intended Make A Joyful Noise to be a life-changing guide. -- An American Authors Association Review

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chariss K. Walker
• Release date: Mar 15, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301934416

Chariss K. Walker

Chariss K Walker, M. Msc. B.R.A.G. Medallion and Readers' Choice award-winning author, Chariss K. Walker, M.Msc., Reiki Master/Teacher writes both fiction and nonfiction books with a metaphysical and spiritual component. Chariss is a storyteller. She doesn’t use a computer program to write her books. Instead, she sits down at her keyboard and listens to her characters as they lead her through their stories. Those are the stories you read in her published books. Her fiction expresses a visionary message that illustrates growth in a character's consciousness while utilizing a paranormal aspect. Her nonfiction books share insight, hope, and inspiration. Even though Chariss also writes dark-fiction books about insanely dark topics, there is always an essential question of the abstract nature that gives a reader increasing awareness and perception. All of her books are sold worldwide in eBook, and paperback, and many are in audiobook. You can learn more about Chariss at her website: www.chariss.com.

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Dedication

This book is dedicated to you, the seeker.

As a seeker, you are searching and looking for something more than you have found thus far.

It is my prayer that this book will assist you to find the answers to your questions, the love you desire, and the joy your higher-self longs for!

It is my intent that Make a Joyful Noise, a book of hope, is a true blessing to all who read it.

An Introduction

When you have really exhausted an experience you always reverence and love it. The two things that nearly all of us have thoroughly and really been through are childhood and youth. And though we would not have them back again on any account, we feel that they are both beautiful, because we have drunk them dry. Gilbert K. Chesterton (1874–1936)

We often find ourselves traveling on a road that is new to us. We may have been shattered by some life experience or simply have an inquisitive nature, but we have found ourselves at that proverbial fork in the road wondering which path to take. No matter where our journey takes us, the important thing is that we keep going. We seek and search; we love again. We keep putting one foot in front of the other because that is what we do. If we are fortunate, we learn from the steps we have taken and share them with others.

My Story

I knew at a very early age that God was calling me to serve Him. When I was a five-year old, my mother would pinch my arm while attempting to keep me seated during a revival at our local church. As I heard the sweet music, Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling, I simply had to go forward and dedicate my life to God. I was compelled, drawn toward the front of the church to a calling that I knew was for me.

It was not that she did not want me to find salvation or follow my heart. In the shuffle of those going forward to seek salvation and baptism, I was jostled through the crowd and into the baptismal pool for the fifth time that year. My mother had pinched me because she didn't understand. My repeated dedications were beginning to be an embarrassment; after all, I was only a young child.

I had no desire to embarrass anyone; I simply could not remain in my seat. Something far more powerful than my mother was pulling me forward. With tears in my eyes and an ache in my heart to follow Christ, I went forward again and again. I knew that God had a purpose for me even as a child. What I didn't understand was why the ministers could not tell me how to answer that call.

Later on, as a young girl in GA's, I studied all the program steps and diligently prayed for the foreign missionaries. I sat at the feet of our best messengers listening and wanting to learn how to become of service to anyone, to everyone. I studied the stories of Lottie Moon and knew that, like her, I aspired to be of service. In my heart I knew that God had a mission for me, too.

Over the course of school activities and then college, which led to marriage and children, I wondered how God could use me now. I continued to study. I took courses on church history, theology, and world religions at a local seminary. I studied the Bible on a daily basis and taught in-home Bible studies to many families and couples. I prayed and fasted. Still, I longed for a more committed service. I wanted to make a difference, to help people, and to be used by God.

After an unexpected and shocking divorce, then the death of my father, I found my world crumbling. I was diagnosed with an incurable disease and given approximately five years to live. I was only forty-three years old. I felt as if my life was at rock bottom.

I did not know it at the time, but this was really a new beginning for me. The death sentence I had been given was the commencement of a true search to understand life, love, suffering, healing, death, why I was here, and what God wanted from me. It was also the death of the life I had known. I began to get my affairs in order with a last will and testament, taking the necessary steps to secure the futures of my two teenage children.

Then, I did die—to old ways and old thought processes that were replaced with new ideas and concepts. I came out on the other side of a life threatening condition as a new person. I was reborn.

My first name is from the Greek which translates to Grace. I had not used it before. In a dream, I saw that I was under God's divine grace. It became clear that I should take the name I was given at birth as a symbol of God's divine guidance and love. Armed with a new name and the desire to learn all that I could, my search took me through several states and countries. I studied and attended seminars. It was not uncommon for me to read two or three self-help books at a time as I searched for the purpose of life.

It was in this search that I learned of alternative healing methods such as Reiki, Hands of Light, Neuro-Emotional Technique (NET), Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), Affirmations, Aromatherapy, Positive Thinking, Holistic Medicine, Psych-K, Reflexology, and many other modalities that focus on natural cures. All of these methods had one thing in common: respect for the whole person as mind, body, and spirit.

Reiki, and other healing methods, saved my life. I did not die from an incurable disease as I was told. I flourished. Although I had studied the Bible and other sacred texts for the better part of thirty years, the next fifteen years were spent searching for answers and teaching wholeness and wellness. As an ordained minister, I have worked with many others to help them also find the answers to life's perplexing problems. As a Reiki Master/Teacher, I have watched in awe at the amazing work that God can do through a willing and dedicated vessel.

Now, it is time to share this amazing information with others who seek and search for meaning in life, love, happiness, health and wellness, and purpose. This book is a summation of my life's search: the years spent suffering the pain of grief, loss, disappointment, and despair as well as the years spent in study, meditation, service, and healing work. Although I have earned degrees and certifications along the way, this book is born from something that matters even more: life experiences, true insight, and helping others.

Make a Joyful Noise is written to bridge the gap between all religions and modern- day metaphysicians, what some may mistakenly label as only mysticism or new age thought. Although new age thought does differ from religion in semantics, there is nothing new about it. This new thought has been with us since the beginning of time and can be documented in many ancient religions and texts that date back to 5,000 BC, including the Bible. It has only come into the light of today's consciousness in the last hundred years and is quickly gaining momentum. Many books have been written and seminars given. More will come because our souls long for understanding and clarity in a day where information abounds, speeding to us with the mere pressing of a button.

The information is now available for everyone if we can only put prejudice, superstition, and terminology aside for a moment. In doing so, we may just discover that the truth of what we seek has always been with us and is tucked neatly within the pages of the very Bible that we read and cherish.

Yes, the message has been with us all along had we only known where to look.

It is no coincidence that you have picked up this book. You are searching and seeking for something that as yet has no name. We continue to learn and grow by stretching ourselves to receive or we die. We die either mentally, emotionally, or physically.

I am not a doctor, a lawyer, a scientist, or any of a hundred other titles and labels that could be pinned on a person’s lapel— and I don’t profess to be. I am a seeker, just as you are. As seekers, we do not pay attention to those who think there is no new information or that a search for more is pointless. As seekers, we know that, although it has all been said before, it doesn't mean that everyone has heard it or understood it. We know that now is the time to hear and to open our hearts. We realize that even though we may have read the Bible from cover to cover many times, there are always new verses to notice each time it is read. There are always new tidbits tucked here and there that speak to an open and receptive heart. It is in openness that we move into a more spiritual union with God.

Life, love, and living are about being open and receptive. It is my hope that this book will bless you and millions around the globe by showing all who read it that seekers continue to learn, accept, and grow in their spiritual walk. May you take those steps now with blessings in love and in light.

For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning. — T.S. Eliot (1888–1965)

PART I - Understanding Spiritual Laws

If you think you can or you think you can't, either way, you are right. Henry Ford (1863–1947)

This section is an explanation of Spiritual Laws, Knowledge, The Energy of Words, and The Right Attitude. However, it is more than that - it involves the reader and encourages self-examination.

1) It helps the reader to examine their own beliefs and define their worldview.

2) It helps the reader to understand why they believe the things they do.

3) It helps the reader to understand where those beliefs originated.

4) It helps the reader to choose which beliefs are relevant to today by examining the beliefs from the past.

I suggest that you keep a notebook handy to record your insights, epiphanies, and research.

Chapter 1: Understanding

Man knows much more than he understands. —Alfred Adler (1870–1937)

When I was a child, I talked like a child; I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me, I Corinthians 13:11. Let the wonderful kindness and the understanding that come from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ help you to keep on growing, II Peter 3:18. Will they not instruct you and tell you? Will they not bring forth words from their understanding? Job 8:10 The Lord looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God, Psalms 14:2

What is understanding? Is it the same as wisdom? Can you know a thing fundamentally without understanding it? How do we gain understanding and knowledge? Once we increase our understanding, how is it put to practical use? These are valid questions that have led you to pick up this very book.

We are told in Isaiah 28:10 that we learn and understand little by little. As we go through the steps of life we first learn to crawl, and then walk, and finally we run. As babies experiencing language, we first learn small syllables—baa-baa and dada—and it takes nearly two years for most to master making a complete sentence.

Precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little. Isaiah 28:10

***

Do you remember how you felt in first grade when you began to learn to add and subtract single-digit numbers? Then how you felt when you were first shown two or three columns of numbers to work with? It looked impossible, didn't it? But it wasn't.

Do you recall when you thought you had aced the math, you could add, subtract, multiply and divide, then along came algebra, geometry, and trig? In the beginning when you were commencing your education, it may have felt as if you were studying a foreign language. Perhaps it seemed difficult and you thought you would never master the rules. As time went on, little by little, you gained understanding and the problems became easier. You felt prepared for something even greater in high school and college.

After years of studying and completing assignments, you had finished all the requirements for graduation; but were you fully equipped for the future?

Was there more to learn? You felt ready for your first job, for marriage, and for what lay ahead. But when you entered life as an adult, you may have begun to realize that you knew the math, English, sciences, and social studies, but the real issues of life, the subjects you needed to know to live life fully, were not part of the curriculum.

As time progresses, you take a survey of your life, looking at your successes and failures. You look at all aspects of your existence even your spiritual life, or lack of, and wonder what you are doing wrong. In Psalms 128:2 we are promised that we will live well and prosper. You may wonder when your prosperity and wellness is coming.

You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. Psalms 128:2

As you examine your life, you may feel that you have been a good person. You may have been fair and honest. You feel that you have followed most of the rules but you are not where you desire to be. You feel as if something is absent and you may even ask, Is this all there is?

***

Life is much like math. Concepts are added step-by-step and line-by-line. For example, you must first know basic math before you can measure and cut wood to build a bookcase or center a picture on a wall. When faced with emotional or spiritual situations you may feel as if traditional education has not prepared you for everyday life. Perhaps you have even studied philosophy and psychology texts in hopes of getting a better handle on your life. You may have what is called head knowledge. Head knowledge knows a thing fundamentally but it has not become part of your way of living. You understand how something works, but you have yet to put it to practical use.

You may have read your Bible, listened to the master's teach, and diligently studied the most recent ideas of religion and theology. Then one day you hear a message that you have never heard before. It nudges your soul causing a stir in the deepest part of you. This message may come from any source; from a paragraph in a book, a line spoken in a movie or play, or even a television commercial. The stirring spreads into your heart and you want to discover more about the message.

As the message resonates within your being, you may feel joy, but you could possibly feel fear or anxiety, even anger, because the message is so different from the familiar teachings of the past. It may even seem difficult to accept at first. You can't help but wonder if there is truth to this message, why you have not heard it before now or why you did not hear it years ago.

For example, consider the story of the woman who was very beautiful and appealing; she was often desired by the men in her town. She had done a great many things she was not proud of doing. She had caused several broken marriages and she was living with a man at the time who was someone else's husband.

One day she heard a message that changed her heart and mind about her current circumstances. A hope welled up inside her and a yearning that she wasn't sure she understood. All she knew was that she wanted to hear more about it so she found the teacher who was spreading the message. Having a great compassion for the predicaments in the lives that good people create for themselves, this great teacher told her that she could change. He told her that she could start right where she was beginning that day.

She listened to what the teacher said and took it to heart; her life was changed forever. She allowed the message that she received to become heart knowledge. With heart knowledge she had the true ability to change her life, not just the head knowledge that it was possible.

As you may have guessed, this story is one version of the life of Mary of Magdalene. What Jesus taught her was that she could live the life of her dreams rather than the life that others dreamed for her to live. What a wonderful lesson and message indeed! Would he do any less for you?

After all, life is really simple; we ourselves create the circumstances that complicate it. —Unknown

***

It has been said that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. As adults we often find ourselves wondering: Does God know me? If He does know me, does He love me? Does He care what happens to me? Does He have a plan for my life? How

Reviews for Make a Joyful Noise

[charisskwalker · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you are looking for answers, this book is for you. Learn to make your own joyful noise by understanding Spiritual Laws and what God wants for you.

[chariss-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you are looking for answers, this book is for you. Learn to make your own joyful noise by understanding Spiritual Laws and what God wants for you.

[sheriawilkinson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Make a Joyful Noise: Searching for a Spiritual Path in a Material World by Chariss K WalkerA thought provoking spiritual read. Told with biblical passages, inspiring quotes and engaging talking points. Beautiful illustrations adds to the uplifting joy in this fascinating book. I highly recommend to those who enjoy a spiritual/religious read.