Spiritual Solutions

You are God’s precious creation. Yet many people have feelings of inferiority, feelings of inadequacy, and a sense of unworthiness. If you have ever had a feeling of inferiority or unworthiness, then let me tell you this, you are not alone. Everyone at some time has these feelings and most persons have this as a plaguing thing that just goes on all the time, a secret fear that people will see what he or she is really like.

There is a need for an attitude of self-appreciation. There is a need for an attitude of self-acceptance, a need to know that you are worthy. It is important to know that if you are worthy to draw breath, you are worthy of the divine flow of life. You are worthy of continuous love. You are worthy of all the forgiveness that life can give.

So, hold your head up high, be open and receptive to the constant flow of God life within you. The divine flow in you is always eager and ready and willing to pour forth in you with the sufficiency of all your needs, and all you have to do is to accept it. You are a child of the Universe, worthy to receive your good.

Many years ago, when I was in the British Royal Navy and serving on a cruiser in the East Indies, as we sailed the Indian Ocean I would look up at the night sky and marvel at the stars which in that deep velvet darkness looked like huge brilliant jewels in the vastness of the Universe.

It’s a sight that has stayed in my mind and prompts me to recall one of the most profound insights of all time that came to the Psalmist:

“When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast established; what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou dost care for him? Yet thou hast made him little less than God, and dost crown him with glory and honor. Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hand; thou hast put all things under his feet.” (Ps. 8:3-6)

Certainly, on the daily, human level, much of this is not true. Some of the time, we are the victim of our circumstances. But there is that of us which is greater than circumstances. There is that in us that stands taller than littleness. There is that which is stronger than our weakness, wiser than our folly, better than our deeds, and holier than our creeds.

The inner world of the self is immeasurable. There is more to you than a body, more than a personality. There is a whole of you that transcends all the parts and cannot be seen by adding them all together. There is always something more. You are better than you think you are!

There is a need for the all-important attitude of faith; faith in yourself, faith in the cosmic flow of life in, through, and as you. Happiness consists in living life from within out, knowing that you are good enough right where you are. You are God’s precious creation!

And remember, God is Blessing You Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

—————————————————–             

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-eight years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions.

Please feel free to publish this article in your blog or newsletter or share it with a friend, as long as you include this resource box.

If you’d like to receive weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at Rich Words.

—————————————————— 

Tweet This Post

You have a healing power deep within your soul!

You are a child of God, a child of the Universe, an individualized expression of the Most High. In God you live and move and have your being; in the Universe you live and move and have your being. God dwells within you; the Universe dwells within you. The whole Universe walks with you; you do not walk the path of your life alone. The Universe is dynamically involved in you; its dynamic flow is always expressing as you. Thus you are always in touch with the flow of healing power.

Once you capture the idea that you are a whole creature, a child of the Universe, the very expression of the Universal stream of life, you will not be satisfied until you find improvement in health. As one example of this dynamic connection, Myrtle Fillmore, co-founder of the Unity movement, after a medical verdict that she only had a few months to live from terminal tuberculosis, got in touch with the flow of healing life and went on to live a full life for more than forty years.

It has been said that God is a circle whose center is everywhere. Know that God is a circle that is centered in you. All the attributes of the Infinite are in focus as you, flowing forth through you. You are in this flow right now. Indeed, you are this flow at the point where you are. Thus you are a child of the Universe, a Son or Daughter of God.

Meditate on this tremendous insight. It means that you are created in the image-likeness of an infinite idea. No matter what other influences may have left their mark on you from the outside, there is that of you that is begotten only of God, which is forever the divine flow from the inside.

You can be healed. You can be healed because you are whole! You have a healing power deep within your soul. Appearances may limit your judgment and your faith but the fundamental Truth remains: you are a child of the Universe, and spiritually you can never be cut off from the stream of life, what Solomon (Song of Sol. 4:15) and Jesus called “living water” and “a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:10, 14)

Early in the morning, take a few moments to “wait on the Lord,” to get yourself plugged in as it were. You can even do this while you are still in bed, before you get involved in the day’s activities. The current of life is within you as always, but you need to consciously get your thoughts on the right side. First, focusing in on your breath, affirm for yourself, “With every breath I breathe, I breathe the breath of God, and I am healed.”

Then you can also affirm something like this: “I am in the flow of life itself, and I move easily with the flow. I am free from tension, stress, and strain and I go forward in the flow, unhurried and unworried. I am radiantly and enthusiastically alive.” Finally, affirm, “I am a child of the Universe, established eternally in the healing stream of life. I am strengthened, renewed, restored, and made whole in every way.”

You can be healed! Remember that the healing stream is constant, not present only when you affirm that it is working. The need is not to overcome illness, but simply to open up the way whereby you get into the eternal flow of life. You have a healing power deep within your soul. You have a healing power ready to unfold, right where you are.

Remember, God is Blessing You Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

—————————————————–             

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-eight years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions.

Please feel free to publish this article in your blog or newsletter or share it with a friend, as long as you include this resource box.

If you’d like to receive weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at Rich Words.

—————————————————— 

Tweet This Post

“In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.” (Isaiah 30:15)

In our last newsletter and blog post, we talked about the importance of the open door and the now moment, of clearing your mind of doubt and letting God direct your steps in how you spend each precious God-given day.

In this message, by no means do I want to diminish the importance of the open door and the now moment, but I do want to focus a little bit on the need for quiet, the need for silence, and periods where you can enjoy open areas of consciousness where you sit back and relax and just know your oneness.

We are living today in a period of speed and accomplishment, and we go more places and do more things in less time than at one time would seem imaginable. Without a doubt, it is the spirit of industry and ingenuity that has made our nation great. But I think we have come to the place where we must make a decision whether the machines and technology we have created are going to master us or whether we are going to master them; in other words, to dance to a little different drummer and keep ourselves in tune with the rhythm of the universe.

Whenever you feel that you have so much to do that you can’t possibly get it all done, then that is the very time to stop and take a break. If you go forward at this point, trying to do what you believe cannot be done, it is unwise and possibly dangerous. You have lost your focus, you are out of attunement, and you are out of the rhythm of life. And when you are out of rhythm then you are susceptible to all sorts of problems, accidents or anything else.

In a study a few years ago some specialists said that they were more concerned now, when a person had fallen and broken a bone, with why the person had become out of tune with the universe that caused the person to fall than the actual break in the bone. The idea behind this is that when a person is in tune on the inside with the rhythm of life, then there is always a compensating factor whereby he or she can adjust to the conditions on the outside.

If at any time you find yourself in a hurry, the need often is to pause for a moment; just allow yourself to get still and get yourself in tune, getting the thought of hurry and its related worry out of the mind.

There is a scripture that is helpful in these times: “In returning and rest shall you be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.” (Isa. 30:15 KJV)

Quietness would seem to suggest something soft and easy – but it really isn’t that at all. Quietness is strength. Only the really strong person can be quiet, and only the quiet person is really strong.

One of the great problems of the industrious, ambitious person is that he tends to cram his life full of every activity conceivable, and he prides himself on never having an idle moment. His or her philosophy often is, “Keep busy, get things done, do it now.”

The emphasis on “Do it now” sometimes keeps you in a rush and a bind and in a pressure, whereas sometimes to let things wait for a little while will allow the unfoldment of the divine process. The need is to rediscover the pleasure of the pause, the pause that refreshes.

Sometimes the most urgent need in the midst of a feeling of urgency is to pause and relax. Quite often we make rush and urgency such a habit that we come to a place where honestly we cannot really tell whether we are rushing because we feel things are urgent or whether we feel things are urgent because of the habit of rush.

The reason we feel so tense about things that must be done is that we are not realizing our inward resources through which they can be done easily and well. “Wait on the Lord.” Put off doing the thing so as to dispel the tension that results from urgency, and then let the subconscious mind help you to organize your ideas and solve the problem for you. If you plunge into a thing with the thought, “I must get it done immediately,” you are cutting yourself off from the creative flow, that subconscious creative activity that does much of the work for you.

All of us need to relearn the art of pausing, and it is an art which takes practice and skill. We need to practice the art of pausing, the art of doing nothing. We need to make time and not wait to find time. In this way we can, as someone has said, “Let our souls catch up with our bodies,” and get in tune with the rhythm of the universe. And let us resolve that we won’t be rushed, that we won’t necessarily “Do it now,” for as the prophet of Ecclesiastes puts it, “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.” (Eccles. 3:1)

Remember, God is Blessing You Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

—————————————————–             

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-eight years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions.

Please feel free to publish this article in your blog or newsletter or share it with a friend, as long as you include this resource box.

If you’d like to receive weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at Rich Words.

—————————————————— 

Tweet This Post

This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. – Psalms 118:24

Each day is God’s special gift to you. Great things can happen as you become open to its possibilities.

In the Book of Revelation we read, “Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut.” (Rev. 3:8) You could say that this door represents your eternal relationship with the Infinite, a divine desire to guide you in the complete unfoldment of your inherent potential.

Ralph Waldo Emerson put it this way: “There is no screen or ceiling between our heads and the infinite heavens, so is there no bar or wall in the soul where man the effect ceases and God the cause begins. The walls are taken away; we lie open on one side to the depths of spiritual nature, to the attributes of God.”

All of us experience exalted moments of inspiration, at which times we see greater possibilities for ourselves and resolve to pursue some course of betterment. But often this resolve and this course fade because we do not feel that we have enough to begin. Or perhaps we have just tried something new and are disappointed in the outcome.

If you announce, after a seeming disappointment, “Well, there go my chances of success,” then that is the level of consciousness on which you will be working for the immediate future. Is that what you want to happen? You can close your heart and mind to life this way, but life never closes its doors to you!

No matter what happens in your life, do not forget the promise of the open door. No individual has the power to shut the door to the real source of your good; nothing can stand in your way. Feel the relentless spiritual power within you seeking to lead you to the perfect fulfillment of your uniqueness.

So, how will you spend this precious God-given day?

William James once advised: “Seize the very first possible opportunity to act on every resolution you make and on every emotional prompting you may experience in the direction of the habits you aspire to gain.” When an urge to do or to have something comes to us, we must get into our consciousness that it is but the vanguard of a train of ideas, abilities and substance – all that is needed to make the ideal a reality, the hope a fulfillment. The important thing is to get started; to begin is often half the battle.

Goethe wrote: “Are you in earnest? Seize this very moment; whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”

If we want anything for ourselves we must accept it in our heart and mind now, today. Remember that there is no future tense in the eternal now of infinite mind. There will be no future time in which to know the truth or to make a demonstration. The only demonstration there is, ever was, or ever will be is God’s . . . and that is right now! Determine for yourself that now is the time.

Print that on a card – “Now is the acceptable time!” – and place it where you will be sure to see it every day. Charles Fillmore, co-founder of the Unity movement, used to say that any time is a good time to start doing something about a good idea. Remember that there is nothing futuristic about your oneness with God.

Build on this realization; affirm your unity, your oneness – not as something you might have, but as the very foundation of your life right now!  Affirm your wholeness now. Affirm that you are now in your right place. Affirm that you are right now God’s perfect child and are endowed with all the potentialities to be – right now – what you desire to be.

Whatever may be the problem confronting you, the door is open to the solution to it and to a greater good which no one can keep from you. Clear your mind of doubt and let God direct your steps.

As a final thought, let me share with you this poem by Hazel Thomas Wright:

The Door is Open

Be still and know whatever may betide;
No door is closed but another opens wide;
A door that opens to a boundless view
Of blessings, rich in promise, vital, new;
Blessings more wonderful than you have known.
Dare to step through the door and claim your own!
Keep clear your inner vision, thus to see
The good awaiting you, and constant be.
Face each new venture with a joyful song;
Lift up your head and heart, be valiant, strong,
With God as your protector, friend and guide,
No door is closed but that another opens wide.

Remember, God is Blessing You Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

—————————————————–             

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-eight years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions.

Please feel free to publish this article in your blog or newsletter or share it with a friend, as long as you include this resource box.

If you’d like to receive weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at Rich Words.

—————————————————— 

Tweet This Post

One of the most beautiful thoughts from the writings of the mystic medieval thinkers is the thought of the seventeenth century Carmelite monk, Brother Lawrence, “The Practice of the Presence of God.” But what does it really mean? And where do you practice the presence?

The practice of the presence of God is the consciousness that you live and move and have your being in God. It is taking the time to be still, to turn from the realization of inadequacy, of confusion, of sickness, to turn from the thought of being alone in a heartless universe, to get away from the idea that God is “out there” somewhere; to instead get the realization of your oneness, to know that you exist in God – I am in God, God is in me. Then, there is no separation.

True prayer is the realization that God manifests in you and in me as a presence, and the word “presence” means present here and now. God is always with you!

Practice that presence by turning from the outer sense of separation to an inner realization of oneness, of wholeness. Feel that you are alive and alert in the presence, that you are guided and directed in the presence and that you are free and whole and fulfilled in the presence.

Practicing the presence means to let go of all tendencies to look up or to reach out for something. Just be still and know your oneness. Let yourself feel the activity of this all enveloping presence, this universal essence which we call God that is in you, expressing through you and within you, and which has no other desire for you except to heal and guide you and fulfill you. Just be still and rest in this consciousness. Then you will practice the presence.

The practice of the presence of God is the consciousness that wherever you are, God is; whatever you do, you are in the presence of God. And it is a matter of turning instantly from an experience of conflict, from a momentary sense of insecurity, to a realization of oneness, of wholeness.

Practicing the presence is a beautiful idea, but it is probably like the study of music or any other artistic endeavor – it requires a great deal of practice in terms of the discipline and diligence of experiences of prayer and meditation. To paraphrase Emerson, he says that when you have broken with the God of tradition and destroyed the God of your intellect, then God fires you with His presence. In other words, you must let go of the God of your intellect and of the God of tradition.

Take time in the quiet of your home, perhaps in the early morning hours when you have awakened or the last thing before you go to sleep at night to just get still and feel the sense that you are in the presence, that you are surrounded and enfolded in this consciousness of love and of life and of substance and of intelligence which is God. It is this consciousness that can give one the real sense of preparation for life. It will give you the realization that you can go forth in life without any real concerns or any anxieties, truly confident, truly prepared in every way for all that may come.

Determine that you will no longer practice the absence of God; get the sense that every time you deal with God “out there,” you are practicing the absence of God. Certainly, every time you say as so many people do, “How could God allow this to happen? How could God allow this good person to suffer so?” you are practicing the absence of God. You are thinking of God as something “out there.”

It is important to get the understanding of God as a presence and an activity. God doesn’t will sickness or death or confusion. God is, and as the scriptures say, “Behold, I have loved thee with an everlasting love.” There is a constant support of love and light and guidance forever within you that functions just as constantly as the force of gravity if we allow it, if we work with it, if we practice it.

So take the time right now. Just be still, close your eyes and practice the presence. You don’t have to tell God that you are doing this or what you need – the Father knows what things you have need of even before you ask. God is, and God is an activity in which you live and move and have your being. It is life supporting, loving, healing, harmonizing, ever with and around you, ever expressing as you. Practice it. Be still and know it. The go forth this day knowing that you are in the presence of God, that there is no way that you can be separated and, therefore, you know that this will be a good day.

Remember, God is Blessing You Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

—————————————————–             

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-eight years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions.

Please feel free to publish this article in your blog or newsletter or share it with a friend, as long as you include this resource box.

If you’d like to receive weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at Rich Words.

—————————————————— 

Tweet This Post