Spiritual Solutions

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

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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.

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Yesterday, when I went for my morning walk as the sun was rising, I became vividly aware of the wet grass shining and sparkling like millions of diamonds as they reflected the light of the sun. And the strong, solid trunks of the trees stood like sentinels over the moment.

I was struck by the beauty of the new day and all its possibilities. The early morning sun seemed to be reflected in the smiles and greetings of the people I met along the way, and as I walked I thought about each new day as being a new dawning in each of our lives.

Are you discouraged? Is your life monotonous and humdrum? If so, you are missing a great deal; let’s do something about it. If you look upon life as a routine experience, then today will probably be just another day to you.

Try greeting the new day with a smile. Let the dawning sun be reflected into the faces and the hearts of those with whom you come in contact.

Someone has said, “Nothing on earth can smile but a human being.”

Wet grass and gems may flash reflected light and catch our awareness, but what is this compared to the flash of the eye? Flowers cannot smile; this is a charm that even the loveliest blossoms cannot claim. It is the prerogative of a human being. Love, cheerfulness, joy, these three are like lights in the window by which the heart signifies it is at home and waiting. A face that cannot smile is like a bud that cannot bloom, that dries up on the stalk.

Consider each dawning of a new day as the beginning of new life for you. Know that not a single self-imposed limitation of yesterday can prevail in your new day. The world is yours. You have power within you to conquer every situation. Everything lies before you. As the Bible says, “I have put all things under your feet.” (Ps. 8:6) You stand right now, this very moment, at the threshold of opportunity.

Believe that each morning heralds a new existence for you. Can you think of yourself as being reincarnated each night, invested with new wisdom and strength, empowered with new might to accomplish whatever you set out to do?

Think of yourself as being brought into a new world with the blessing that everything that happens to you during the day is to contribute to your highest good. Think of yourself as having a charmed life, of bearing within you the essence of divinity, the power to do all things.

Have you wanted to meet new friends? You may have thought yourself weary of your old ones. What could be finer than seeing all friends as new friends? Such they will be when you look upon them with a fresh, understanding gaze.

Possibly, by the time you have gone through this day and night has arrived, you will think you could have improved upon your living of today. If that is the case, remember that tomorrow’s dawning will arrive with another fresh opportunity. Just be sure that you do not condemn yourself for your mistakes or failures of today. At tomorrow’s daybreak, another new life will unfold before you.

Do you not rather like this philosophy of a new world dawning every day? Do you not desire to live for an eternity, in order to see what these worlds have in store for you? This is what is necessary in order to live life to the fullest – you must see life in the right perspective; you must approach each day with an uplifted heart. You may think it looks pretty much the same as it did yesterday, that today presents just as many problems, that things look just as hopeless and discouraging, that today there is no clearer path to better things than there was yesterday. If that is the case, then you need to busy yourself with right thoughts.

Dismiss yesterday in your mind as nothing but an experience that held a helpful lesson. Start today with the idea that today is new, created for your use. Let today appear to you as much finer, a better potential for grating you blessing. Try thinking of today as the very best day of your life. Then, be happy and joyful in it. Set your mind and heart on your ability to take a new hold on life.

Your life is enriched to the extent that you live in the present. The present moment is the only time recognized by the spirit within you and the Creator of the universe. You must grasp opportunities right now. You must take a new hold on yourself now; you must enjoy your present blessings now.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Live now, right now. Let this be your new outlook: only the present contains true reality; only the present offers you opportunity. Fill your mind right now, today, with new ideas, ideals, and interests. And remember this: you are greater than any experience that comes to you. You are greater than any circumstance that seems to surround you or fill your life. You have the ability to solve your problem. Live in the world of today.

Remember, God is Blessing You Right Now!

The Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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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.

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Harry Houdini, a great escape artist in the early part of the twentieth century who claimed he could escape through any locked door of a cell, vault or submerged trunk in three and a half minutes, explained some of his escape methods in his memoirs.

In one very famous incident, he was challenged to get out of a state-of-the-art bank vault in London. All his clothing was checked before he went in the vault. But it was in his contract that any time he was going to do an escape exhibit; he was able to kiss his wife goodbye because he never knew if he was going to get out again. On this particular occasion as he kissed his wife goodbye, his wife passed a little wire from her mouth to his. So when he went down into the bank vault he had a piece of watch spring in his mouth and, when everyone left him to try to get out, he took the watch spring and started to pick the lock on that vault door.

Usually he could hear the clicks as he worked on a lock but this time after working on it for one minute, he didn’t hear any clicks. He was puzzled. He kept trying, but still no clicks and time was passing quickly.

He got to two minutes and thought, “I’m going to fail this; I only have a minute and a half left. All the press is here, it’s the height of my fame and here I am; I haven’t been able to do it yet.” Usually he would do it in half the time.

It got to three minutes and he was no closer. He was sweating profusely, so he reached in his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his forehead and attempt to open the lock in the last thirty seconds. As he pulled out the handkerchief, he accidently leaned against the vault door – and it opened! It wasn’t even locked. The people who put him in there had forgotten to lock the door.

But in his mind even though the door was not locked, until he leaned against it by accident, it was locked.

When we are facing obstacles in our lives we are often in that same state of mind; we think we are locked in to a particular state of being. And yet all we have to do is keep moving forward and push on that door, and we find that it wasn’t locked at all.

Freedom is always present, but we have to be willing to push the door; we have to discover that we can move through that obstacle, through that barrier, or under it, or over it, or around it. We have to keep moving forward.

In the year 1985, twenty-five years ago, I became a naturalized citizen of the United States at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home in Virginia.

We drove our car up to Monticello from Roanoke, Virginia, where we lived and worked as ministers of Unity Church of Roanoke Valley. Forty-two members of our church rented a bus to take them to the ceremony; they all had little flags to wave for this very special occasion.

In the process of applying for citizenship, taking the required tests, and then attending the naturalization ceremony, I had some trepidation; I thought after all that preparation I may not get accepted as a citizen because I had lost my green card.

On becoming a naturalized citizen you have to surrender your green card, or alien registration card, before you can become a citizen. I could not find that card anywhere; it was not in my wallet in its usual place, and I scoured the house but couldn’t find it.

I said to Kathryn, “Well, let’s just go anyway. We’ll just go up there and see what happens. They may not take me, but we’ve got to follow through on this process.” So we went up there and there were people from a great many different countries coming into citizenship. Everyone was in line, getting their papers in order. The Daughters of the American Revolution were helping process the people and I saw everyone handing in their green card.

I got up there and the person before me said, “Have you got your green card?” And I responded, “I’m sorry, but I have mislaid it or lost it somewhere.” She said, “Oh! Well, don’t worry about it; if you find it you can send it in to us.” After all that concern it was so easily resolved.

Our fears often keep us from enjoying the freedom that is naturally ours. Things happen, but we need to know that our freedom can never really be taken away from us because the true freedom is within us.

We often think that things have to be let go of in order to have freedom; we can’t have freedom if we have sickness, we can’t have freedom if we’re tied to a certain job, we can’t have freedom if we’re not getting along with our spouse, or whatever it might be. We relate freedom to escape, of escaping from something.

True freedom is not escape; true freedom is finding spiritual resources within ourselves; we can change our attitude, we can change the way we think about something, and then the situation itself can change.

Victor Frankl, the Viennese psychiatrist, talked about his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp. He said it was amazing in these awful and debasing conditions that the people would not surrender in their minds; they were able to think the thoughts that they wanted to think. He said it was amazing, that there were people who were kind to everyone and would give their last crust of bread to someone else, or would share a kind word or a smile, in the midst of those conditions. They determined what they were going to think; they were not going to let circumstances determine what they thought.

We too can recognize that, in any condition, we can choose the thoughts that we think and we can choose the attitudes we have. We don’t have to be controlled by circumstances or by people; we can choose what we want to think.

The freedom is where you are, not somewhere else. There is a freedom that you can have now, and that’s the freedom I believe Jesus was talking about when he said, “If you know the truth, then the truth will make you free.”

You can make your choice of how you will think about a situation, and that choice can be better or bitter; it’s up to you. The gift of choice that each of us has is a great gift of God.

So let’s be creative in thinking about our freedom. Let’s think about it as freedom to be, freedom to draw on those spiritual resources in the midst of whatever we are facing. When you are facing something, don’t try to escape from it, decide to be strong, decide to understand, and decide to find a way that is transcendent. You’ll move right on through the situation; and find yourself free.

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.

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It happens to all of us. Perhaps you may be looking forward to attaining some goal or moving toward something you want to accomplish and things don’t go just as you planned; obstacles come up, you have setbacks, you have discouragements, you have disappointments.

We have to know how to meet those things.

When obstacles come into our lives there are two end results: either it defeats us or it strengthens us. We want any obstacles that come into our lives to strengthen us, and the best way to have those obstacles strengthen us instead of defeat us is to be prepared for them from the very beginning.

Sometimes we bring obstacles into our experience because we don’t do any planning. When we plan we are able to control the obstacles that come into our lives instead of having them control us.

Obstacles come to us from two directions: From the results of our own thoughts and actions, from within, or from outside in our environment.

It’s really a matter of how we look at things; it’s a matter of our viewpoint and our attitude.

The first major obstacle that we face in any situation is to eliminate the negative beliefs that we bring to our current needs. We want to attain something, but we bring those old negative beliefs with us which block us from attaining something new. So we have to identify them and eliminate them.

We must remember that the inner thoughts always condition our outer world. And if we want to change our outer world we have to start with our inner thoughts. We have to eliminate the negative thoughts and bring in the positive thoughts to move toward the goals we want to achieve. Even in the most difficult of challenges we have to do this.

Even a cancer patient has to participate in his or her healing by growing as a person.

Dr. Bernie Segal, who is a cancer surgeon and is founder of the Exceptional Cancer Patients Inc. in New Haven, Connecticut, said that “When a person grows, the cancer doesn’t.” In other words, we have to learn to love ourselves, to recognize ourselves as being valuable and important and in control of our lives.

One of Dr. Segal’s patients, after her cancer went in remission, had this to say: “I realized that I lacked love; it was like emptiness or a space within me, and what happened was that I grew something to fill that space. It was only after I realized this that the cancer went into remission.” She realized that she was able to begin to love herself.

We all have to love ourselves as God loves us. We are expressions of God at the point of His creation, so we are valuable, we are unique, we are wonderful, and we are filled with His presence. But we have to see that. Another patient said, “I was not able to help in bringing about my healing until I realized how negative I was about myself.”

If you’re having difficulty identifying the feelings or beliefs that you have, beliefs that you need to change or beliefs that you need to have, think in terms of yourself at this stage as the perfect you. What would you be like if you had already attained that which you want to attain? What would you be like if you were already that perfect you? Take a typical day. How would you act on that day? What kind of thoughts would you have on that day? What kind of interactions with people would you have? How would you feel about yourself on that day? Then compare the thoughts that you would likely have if you were your perfect you with the thoughts you’re having now. And if there is something to change, then you know where the change needs to take place.

Several years ago our daughter Bonnie attended a seminar on how best to discipline children. The instructor was an ex-nun who had seven children of her own and had to find a way to deal with them. Her basic philosophy consisted of three basic beliefs which she taught the children. But she also taught the adults who were in the seminar to adopt these beliefs for themselves and then to teach them to their children. The beliefs were simply these:

1. I like myself.

2. I have the ability to think for myself.

3. There is a solution to every problem.

If we would adapt those things to our own lives we can face any challenge and we can come through successfully.

I like myself. That’s our basic teaching, to realize that we are children of God, that we are unique and wonderful beings, that we inherit all the good of the kingdom, that we are worthy. When we like ourselves we can survive anything, we can move through any challenge.

I have the ability to think for myself. We don’t need to have others think for us. We can make our own decisions about things. If we have a healing challenge and people are treating us like sick people, we don’t need to accept ourselves as a sick person. We don’t need to be victims of our world. We can see ourselves in a different way; we can think things through for ourselves.

There is a solution for every problem. The constant attribute found among geniuses in a study that was done at Harvard University some years ago on genius and problem-solving was that every one of them looked at every problem as though it had a logical, workable solution. If we approach every problem in that way, we’ll find that solution. The solution is always there, waiting for us to find it.

But in all things, no matter what we’re facing, if we would know that we need to put our faith in God instead of putting our faith in the obstacle then we can face any challenge. We can move through it successfully, we can know that God is in charge and God will see us through. Just know for yourself, “God will see me through.” Take your attention off the problem and onto the solution.

Let me remind you again to focus upon faith in God as I share with you these words of a past Daily Word:

“I am faith-filled, fearless and free. I know that God is always with me, my help in every need. I am not afraid of any person, circumstance, or condition, for I know that God’s power undergirds me and is the one power over all. My faith enables me to triumph over negation and claim the spiritual victory that God has prepared for me.” The scripture is from Matthew 21:21, 22, “If you have faith and never doubt . . . even if you say to this mountain ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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 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.

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ZEAL

14th Day, Thursday. Read Luke 10:30-42; 11:1-4.

Zeal is the affirmative impulse of existence; its command is, “Go forward!” Zeal is the mighty force that incites all things to action; the eternal urge behind all things. To be without zeal is to be without the zest of living. Zeal and enthusiasm incite to glorious achievement in every ideal that the mind conceives.

Zeal should be tempered with wisdom. Some persons get so fired with zeal when they first tackle a job, that they quickly grow tired, and fail to carry it through to completion. The need is for control, equalization.

Watch the pull of a giant locomotive; note how it slowly but steadily moves forward, almost by inches at first but gradually increasing until its mile-long train swiftly disappears in the distance.

“The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up” means that the zeal faculty has become so active intellectually that it has consumed the vitality and left nothing for spiritual growth. Excessive zeal in religious forms of worship eats up the purely spiritual. When we become very zealous in observing the rites of the church we are prone to forget the church itself, which is Christ.

The divine command is, “Take time to be holy.” I am quick to do the bidding of Spirit and use a portion of my zeal in establishing God’s kingdom within me. I do not put all my enthusiasm into helping others; my own unfoldment is of great importance to me. I love to aid my brother, but I do not allow that idea to rob me of the power to demonstrate Truth for myself.

I affirm: “My zeal is tempered with wisdom, and I maintain a perfect balance within and without.”

Questions:

1. Define “zeal.”

2. What part does zeal play in achievement?

3. Can zeal become excessive? Explain.

4. For what purpose should a portion of zeal be used?

Father-God, I pray for zeal to motivate me to achievement, and for wisdom to keep me steady, strong, and true to divine principle.

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

—————————————————–             

 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.

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IMAGINATION

2nd Sunday. Read Acts 10:9-35.

The imagination is that faculty of mind which images and forms. Everything that is manifest was first a mental picture and was brought into expression by this forming power. Man accumulates a mass of ideas about substance and life, and with his imagination he molds them into shape.

Those who look to the Holy Spirit for guidance find that its instruction is given to all who believe in Christ, and the command is to make all things after the pattern shown Moses on the Mount as found in Exodus 25:40.

The Spirit of truth projects into the chamber of imagery pictures that, rightly understood, will be a sure guide for all people who believe in the omnipresence of mind. The imagination will carry out any idea or set of ideas that the I AM reflects into it, hence theories are not to be trusted. There must be evidence in works. This is accomplished by the working power of the world.

With my imagination I lay hold of perfect ideas and clothe them with substance. My body is the product of my mind. In my communication with God, the imagining power of my mind is playing an important part. It receives divine ideas, and in dreams and visions reflects their character in the consciousness. According to the Scriptures this is the opening of the heavens and the seeing the “angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”

With my imagination fixed on Spirit, I affirm: “In the quietness and confidence of Spirit, I see myself as God sees me, His perfect image and likeness.”

Questions:

1. Define “imagination.”

2. How was everything that exists brought into expression?

3. How do we lay hold of ideas?

4. What part does the imagining power of the mind play in our communication with God?

I allow my mind to run to positive imagery. I see my life as it is meant to be–good and beautiful.

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

—————————————————–             

 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.

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Here’s a great blog post from Karl Moore at http://www.karlblog.com – Enjoy!

William James (1842 – 1910), was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher, who said:

“If you would be learned, you will be learned … if you would be rich, you will be rich … but work for whatever it is you want exclusively and don’t at the same time wish for a thousand other things.

“We become what we make our minds to become. It is nobody’s fault that the great majority of the people never make up their minds to become anything at all.”

How true is that?

We are what we make our minds up to become, but it is so easy to be distracted with a million and one different things, especially with the Internet. We are bombarded with new ideas, new information, and new opportunities every day.

But we need to learn to focus and stop ourselves from suffering from information overload.

How many people go through life plodding along, and at the end of it realize they have achieved nothing at all? Don’t let this happen to you!

James went on to say:

“There is no more miserable a human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision.

“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.”

Once you decide to take action and focus on what you want to become, then you will be well on the way to fulfilling your life’s calling.

At the end of your life you’ll be able to look back and have no regrets.

James said:

“Act as if what you do makes a difference… It does.”

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

—————————————————–           

 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.

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Man is created by God without limitations; he is a limitless creature. His only limitation is his own faith, his own vision, his own acceptance of the truth of his identity.

The only limitation is in thought. Finding himself having to do something he thinks he cannot do, a man or woman has mesmerized himself or herself with bondage, lack, failure. The only law for you is freedom and success, your joy and your perfect expression; your only limitation is that of your own thought.

Jesus tells us, “Whatsoever you shall ask in prayer believing, you shall receive.” “Whatsoever” expresses all substance, ideas, creation; it connotes limitlessness. In Psalm 34:10 we read, “Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.” This is another blanket promise.

Again, Jesus says, “Fear not, little flock, for it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” How could it be expanded further than that? Life is consciousness, and if we are conscious of limitations in life, then so it will be for us. But if we believe with the poet, “No pent-up Utica contracts our powers but the whole boundless universe is ours,” then our whole lives are boundless and limitless. Master Chunyi Lin, in teaching the ancient art of Qigong says what he calls the “password” to universal energy as being, “I am in the universe; the universe is in my body. The universe and I combine together.” Or as Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.”

A good illustration of the limitlessness of life is the water faucet. The supply of water is without limit, relatively of course, but you are given the power to regulate the amount that flows through the faucet at any given time. You can turn it off completely, or you can permit a trickle or a great flood to rush through. You cannot see or touch your own spiritual faucet, but it is the great reality, the control valve of your beliefs and ideas.

To turn off your faucet is to affirm, “Life is miserable; there is no justice; people are evil; things never work out; God is remote if he exists at all.” There are people like this, wallowing in their world of bad luck, and evil exists for them in a very real sense in their conceptions and beliefs.

To turn the faucet on just a little is to believe that it is a terrible world and you have so many problems, but at least there is a little relief through prayer, a refuge however slight and temporary against the woes of the world. In this sense prayer is thought of as a brief pause between problems and worries, and thus it becomes.

But, to turn your faucet wide open and to keep it that way every moment, every hour every day, is to say to yourself and to believe, “There is no power but God; I can of myself do nothing but through the power of God in me I can do all things; all around me there is good and nothig but good. I walk safely, unafraid and untouched, through the valley of the shadow of evil, but evil can never be to me more than a shadow, never a substance. All that I need is with me for complete security, happiness, health, peace, strength and prosperity.”

No matter what circumstances may be ours to face, there are no limitations. Turn on your spiritual faucet. Believe in the limitlessness of God. No man on earth has the right to tell you that God cannot do what needs to be done in your life, your mind, your body. Anyone who does tell you it cannot be done is speaking of his own consciousness of life, not yours, and is the false prophet against whom Jesus warned man.

When facing some challenging situation we should never limit God by thinking what cannot be done, nor should we limit ourselves with thoughts of impossibilities or belittle things that can be done through us. Certainly you might feel that you alone cannot do a certain thing. Jesus had that feeling too, but he knew and proved that through him God could do all things. There is a creative process which is the reality in us.

There is a wonderful message for us all in Jesus’ thought, “It is not I, but the Father.” This is as we submerge the thought of the personal self in its limitations and go to the thought of God as boundless, all-powerful, free, that we become aware of the infinite power and process of God working in and through us in a dynamic way.

Instead of dwelling on personal weaknesses, shortcomings, lack, think rather of strength, perfection, and dauntless courage, and of the great resource of God within you, in the midst of you. Acknowledge that God working through you can do all things and that you can therefore do what needs to be done.

Give the limitless spirit that God has given you a chance. Prove that it will open to you the realm of perfect life and peace and achievement and supply. As the Bible says, “Prove me now, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour out for you an overflowing blessing.”

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

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The year 2010 can be the best year you have ever known if you will have it that way. To make it so, you do not need to draw up a long list of good resolutions, although these are fine if you can keep them. Whether you have already made some resolutions or not, I suggest you adopt a policy of great expectations instead of good resolutions.

A spiritual law as exact as the laws of gravity, electromagnetics, and atomic fission, stands in back of this phenomenon of great expectations. Jesus stated it in the gospel of Matthew in this way: “Go; be it done for you as you have believed.” (Matt. 8:13) and “According to your faith be it done to you.” (Matt. 9:29) In the J. B. Phillips’ translation we read: “Everything will happen as you have believed it will.” Could you not characterize these statements as saying that convinced expectation is a forerunner of a certain outcome?

What are you expecting in 2010? Your expectations will have much to do with what the year will bring you.

God made you in His image and after His likeness; therefore, it follows that you are creative, even as God is creative. You create your own circumstances through your thinking, feeling, believing, and expecting faculties of mind. Many of the great men of the world have known this. Thomas Carlyle put it this way: “Man makes the circumstances and, spiritually as well as economically, is the artificer of his own fortune.” Disraeli said, “Man is not the creature of circumstances. Circumstances are the creatures of men.”

Behind every outward circumstance stands an unseen, invisible thought, feeling, or word – an expectation of good or ill. The Bible tells us: “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” (Prov. 4:23, KJV) The “heart” here means our deepest inward convictions and beliefs about what we think we are worthy of having, in the outer, as a part of our life experience.

The word to be stressed as yo make your own blueprint of your expectations for the upcoming year is “great.” Great expectations! Make those expectations large, if you would experience the largeness of God’s abundant giving. All the good and great desire for more health, wealth, and happiness, is really His own spiritual desire to fulfill Himself in and through you – in a joyous, rich, and expansive way of life.

Remember, only a happy new you produces a happy new year!

I would like to share with you a prayer, coming to you straight from my own heart. I pray that this year may be a truly happy year for you, a year filled with rich and wonderful belessings. I pray that it may be a year in which you walk in close companionship with God, a year in which you know and feel God’s loving Presence enfolding you and your loved ones. I pray that this may be a year in which the good is magnified in your heart and in the heart of every person, a year in which all of us may come to see more clearly our oneness with one another. I pray that, in the words of Psalms 65:11, “Thou crownest the year with thy goodness.”

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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We are standing on the threshold of a new year, a year filled with possibilities, new potential for you to explore, new songs to sing, new dreams to bring into visibility. But do you have the power to see it through? That’s the question I’d like to put to you today.

Sometimes it’s hard to get started in a new direction. We need that push forward through the inertia to get moving in a certain direction. When we think about our dreams and our goals and our visions and our purposes and begin to pray about them, they come alive to us. We begin to see what we want to achieve.

But we must go further than that. Let me illustrate by referring you to the scripture in Exodus 14:15, where we find Moses and the people of Israel on the edge of the Red Sea having escaped from Egypt and bondage. Here they are, faced with the Red Sea before them and no way to get across, the Pharaoh and his army in back of them approaching rapidly. What were they to do? They were panicking and Moses told them to stand still, that was the first thing, to “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.” In other words, to pray, to get still. I’m sure he was praying pretty hard right then. What was going to happen? It was a scary moment. You’ve been in those moments, between a rock and a hard place.

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