Spiritual Solutions

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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“I have unshakable faith in the perfect outworking of every situation in my life, for God is in absolute control and all things are working together for my highest good.”

This affirmation, coined by my wife Kathryn many years ago, has helped countless people find confidence, hope, and positive outcomes in all kinds of circumstances and situations in their lives. It is my prayer that, if you use it consistently and faithfully and expectantly, you also will experience positive results in your own life.

The former Unity minister and author, Eric Butterworth has said, “This that we call faith has been much misunderstood. The Anglo-Saxon word from which we derive the word ‘faith’ means ‘to live by.’ Faith is not a theory that we hold to, but a power that holds us. It is a level of thinking by which we actually become a part of the all-accomplishing Infinite Mind.”

On this level of thinking, our mental capacity is expanded, somewhat as sunlight unfolds a flower into full bloom: capacities hitherto undreamed of are released, and the way is open to confidence, creativity, and success.

Faith is a willingness to work in the dark, to walk a trail that the heart can see but the eye cannot. It is knowing there is an ocean because you have seen a brook, that there is a Universe because you have seen a star, that there is a Father of all humankind because you have seen a man.

Faith gathers up your life, pulls it together, places foundations under it, indicates horizons around it, and points it toward goals that are definite and worthwhile.

George Santayana gave us these classic words:

“O world, thou chooseth not the better part!

It is not wisdom to be only wise,

And on the inward vision close the eyes;

But it is wisdom to believe the heart.

Columbus found a world, and had no chart

Save one that faith deciphered in the skies;

To trust the soul’s invincible surmise

Was all his science and his only art.

Our knowledge is a torch of smoky pine

That lights the pathway to but one step ahead,

Across a void of mystery and dread.

Bid, then, the tender light of faith to shine

By which alone that mortal heart is led

Unto the thinking of the thought divine.”

Faith is the acceptance of the greatness of God. We do not make God great by our faith in Him, but we become great by accepting God’s cosmic greatness, by lifting ourselves to a level of consciousness of thinking in which we act from strength instead of weakness, in which we see possibilities instead of problems.

Have you ever wondered what your life would be like if everything you tried or reached for turned out in fulfillment of your expectations? It would be a little different from the way it is now, since most of us expect so little! Most of us go through life holding a small tin cup into the Niagara of God’s plenty.

Our faith is generally shakable and most often decidedly shaky. We prepare for problems and are rarely disappointed. We are in tune with the indefinite instead of the Infinite; we are practicing the absence, instead of the presence, of God.

It is human and normal to have doubts, to question, to not always understand why something has happened or is happening. There will appear to be limits: You are too old or too young; there is too little time, not enough money, and so forth.

The world will always give you tuition, but you must take time to cultivate “in-tuition.” Jesus said, “In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Unshakable faith is a perception that is born of intuition; intuition will always reveal a way, a means, and a magical solution to the seemingly impossible.

“Fact thinking” may reveal many closed doors, but “unshakable faith thinking” shows us where the keys are. Fact thinking reveals empty vessels; unshakable faith thinking reveals upturned receptacles waiting to be filled by divine action.

You can create a vacuum for the Spirit to rush in; create a receptacle. Reach inward to the desire in your heart; form a picture of it in your mind, a picture not of emptiness but of possibility. It will be an attracting force to draw your desire to you. See it as accomplished. Believe, and let that believing consciousness go out ahead of you to lead the way.

Amazing things will happen, whether or not a “miracle” takes place in terms of an immediate demonstration. The important thing is that you will be different. You will see differently. Something will unfold in your life, making the whole process of faith a reality to you.

As George Santayana wrote, “. . . the thinking of the thought divine.” Let this unshakable faith consciousness become a whole way of thinking. This kind of faith thinking will lead you into the greatness of life that you envision for yourself and that you can live by.

Affirm for yourself, “I have unshakable faith in the perfect outworking of every situation in my life, for God is in absolute control and all things are working together for my highest good.”

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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THE NEW RACE

35th Day, Monday. Read Revelation 21:1-7; 22:1-7.

“These things shall be! a loftier race

Than e’er the world hath known shall rise

With flame of freedom in their souls,

And light of knowledge in their eyes.

* * *

“Nation with nation, land with land,

Unarmed shall live as comrades free:

In every heart and brain shall throb

The pulse of one fraternity.”

The time is ripe for the advent of a new race, the advent of the spiritualized man. This will be brought about, not by a miracle or the fiat of God, but by the gradual refinement of the man of the flesh into the man of Spirit.

The true overcomer is qualifying himself to become a member of this superrace. It is well for such a one to cultivate the childlike spirit and let go of all tense striving, even for spiritual things. In the realization of protecting, providing love, all the strain of fear and anxiety will be removed and life in abundance will then find easy entrance into the consciousness, bringing strength and health and eternal youth and life.

Spiritual harmony in man depends largely on the right relation of the inner and the outer realms of his consciousness. Expression is the law of life. Whatever is expressed becomes manifest. I realize that as an overcomer, I am working also for the whole world, establishing a new race consciousness, “new heavens and a new earth.”

I affirm: “The redeeming law of God is awakening with me, and I am a new man in Christ Jesus.”

Questions:

1. How will the advent of a new race be brought about?

2. Who will qualify to be a member of this new race?

3. What should the true overcomer do?

4. Upon what does spiritual harmony in man depend?

I never cease to grow and progress. Each day I am inspired through Christ in me to come up higher and nearer to His perfection.

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

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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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SPIRITUAL SUBSTANCE

31st Day, Wednesday. Read Matthew 13: 3-9, 18-23.

There is a kingdom of abundance of all things, and it may be found by those who seek it and are willing to comply with its laws. Substance exists in a realm of ideas and is powerful when handled by one who is familiar with its characteristics.

Spiritual substance is the source of all material wealth and cannot suffer loss or destruction by human thought. It is always with us, ready to be used and to make the consciousness potent and fertile. In this connection Jesus said, “I have meat to eat that ye know not.”

Just as the earth is the universal matrix in which all vegetation develops, so this invisible Spirit substance is the universal matrix in which ideas of prosperity germinate and grow and bring forth according to our faith and trust.

I know that any seed words that are planted in omnipresent Spirit substance will germinate and grow and bring forth fruit “after their kind.” Just as the farmer selects the best seed for planting, so I must choose the words that will bring forth the rich harvest of plenty.

To gain control of Spirit substance I grasp it with my mind; that is, lay hold of the idea back of it. Right thinking is necessary in using my mind constructively to bring about right results.

I affirm: “Divine substance flows in all its fullness into my consciousness and through me as prosperity into all my affairs.”

Questions:

1. How may the kingdom of abundance be found?

2. Where does substance exist?

3. What is spiritual substance?

4. How can we gain control of Spirit substance?

If I have a need of any kind, I open myself to the substance of Spirit. I give thanks that there is abundant supply for every need.

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

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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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DIVINE JUDGMENT

30th Day, Tuesday. Read Luke 6:37-49.

Human judgment is the mental act of evaluation through comparison or contrast. Intellectual man always judges his fellow man. Divine judgment is of spiritual consciousness. When we awaken to the reality of our divinity, the light begins to break on us from within, and we know the Truth; this is the quickening of our judgment faculty. This faculty may be exercised in two ways: from sense perception or spiritual understanding. If its action be based on sense, its conclusions are fallible and often condemnatory; if on spiritual understanding, they are safe.

The judgment faculty discerns Truth and balances the faculties in righteousness. In the Scriptures judgment is often applied to the action of Divine Mind in its work of judging, especially to the experiences that come to man through the working of the law of justice. Man redeems this faculty by placing it in the Absolute, by declaring and realizing that its origin is in God and all its conclusions are based on Truth. This gives a working center from which the I AM begins to set our thought world in order.

I do not judge others as regards their guilt or innocence. I consider myself and how I stand in the sight of the Father. I begin reform with myself. The judgment seat of Christ is within me, and a judging, or discerning between the true and the false is going on daily in me as an overcomer; I am daily reaping the results of my thoughts and my deed.

I affirm: “My judgment is just, because I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father.”

Questions:

1. What is human judgment?

2. What is divine judgment?

3. How is our judgment faculty quickened?

4. How do we redeem our judgment faculty?

As I cease to misjudge other persons, I find that I am not misjudged. I find that there is no criticism or condemnation in me, for me, or against me.

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

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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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THE IDEA

23rd Day, Monday. Read Luke 5:141.

In the Scriptures ideas are symbolized by fish. An idea is the original, primary, or unlimited thought of Being: in God-Mind, the eternal Word or Logos. In the idea are involved all the potentialities of that which is to be evolved through man. The idea itself becomes the evolving power through which it makes itself manifest.

Ideas are catching. We are all heavily charged with ideas. When ideas are released they spring forth and pass from mind to mind, being “recorded” as they fly; when they are expressed the whole race is lifted up–because true ideas are charged with the uplifting Spirit. We bring divine ideas into manifestation by making ourselves one with them, becoming conscious of our indwelling Christ Mind and our oneness with the Father.

As the son is to the father, so is the idea to the mind. Mind is one with its ideas, so the Father–God-Mind–is one with its offspring, the idea–the Son. Mind is coexistent with its ideas, and there is continual interaction and communion. The Father and the Son are one–are coexisting, interacting, and intercommuning in will and purpose. It was from the grand idea of divine life that Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead.

Spiritual inspiration in me is an inflow of divine ideas; activity of a spiritual character; understanding that comes from God. It is the inbreathing of Spirit. The breath of God infused into me has endowed me with super-life. “He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit.”

I affirm: “In the presence and power of the Christ idea in me, I proclaim my perfection.”

Questions:

1. Define “idea.”

2. What happens when ideas are released?

3. How do we bring divine ideas into manifestation?

4. How did Jesus heal the sick and raise the dead?

I am in touch with God’s infinite storehouse of divine ideas. I use these divine ideas in my daily living.

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

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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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FOURTH DIMENSION

22nd Day, Saturday. Read John 21:1-17.

The fourth dimension is that which embraces and encompasses the other three; it is realization, the doing away with time and space and all conditions. It is the process in which forms lose their apartness and become one under divine law. The human mind, with its limited reasoning faculties, is bound by time, space, and conditions. By itself it can get no further into the spiritual realm than reason will take it; but when we invoke the aid of the Christ in us we go beyond reason into the realm of pure realization; then we have attained the consciousness of pure be-ing, the fourth dimension of the being.

The one way to enter the realm of the fourth dimension, or of realization, is through scientific prayer, commonly named “the silence.” First, I take with me the word Jehovah and go within and hold it steadily in mind, until the word illumines the whole inner consciousness. I am now functioning in the fourth dimension, and the way is open for concentrating on the prayer I have in mind for the special demonstration.

I fix my attention powerfully on the consummation of an idea until the idea has nucleated a certain amount of thought substance, and I am assured that it will be followed by that silent power of thought which, working throughout my whole being, is bringing forth the thing desired.

When my thoughts radiate with the speed of spiritual light, they blend with creative Mind (called by Jesus “heaven”), and that which I ask for is done.

I affirm: “The illuminating power of Truth awakens and quickens my consciousness, and I discern clearly.”

Questions:

1. Define the “fourth dimension.”

2. What binds the human mind?

3. What happens when we invoke the aid of Christ?

4. How do we enter the realm of the fourth dimension?

Through Christ within, I clearly discern spiritual things. I know that there is no limit to the width of my human horizon when I realize my divine potential.

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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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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The sounds and signs of Christmas are all around us.

So in this special season of the year, I’d like to share with you some of my own Christmas memories and insights.

The first Christmas tree was a small tree that was brought home by Martin Luther in Germany. He brought the tree home because he had seen it out in the snow and the snow was glistening all around it; he brought it home as a symbol of life. He tied candles on that Christmas tree because he said

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It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again! 

At any time in life, at any place in your experience, you can make a new start.

Most of us, at some time, have felt that our life is at the end of things, that somehow everything that was steadfast and good has sort of crumbled around us.

I have counseled with many people who have experienced these feelings of despair, discouragement and loss. I, too, have felt those feelings at certain times in my own life.

This experience is not, as we often think when it happens to us, peculiar to ourselves. It is common to many persons. It is also through such experiences that we often come to new beginnings.

Whether you are facing discouragement or despair, or you simply have a strong desire to take as new hold on life, I want to give you the encouragement and the vision which will make a new beginning possible for you.

Napoleon Hill, celebrated author of the book Think and Grow Rich, made an important point in regard to our approach to any situation or problem we encounter. He says that we must use “accurate thinking.”

We may relate this to Jesus’ admonition to “seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness,” where righteousness refers to right use of thought, or “accurate thinking.”

Human logic, looking at the facts, says “there is no way that I can ever recover from this or have a good life.” Through human logic, the need is to get the facts.

In spiritual logic, the need is to know the Truth or get back to the principle. Then we can think through things in a spiritually logical manner.

Using Spiritual Logic

One of the great fundamental principles of Truth is that “There is only One Presence and One Power in all the Universe, God, the good, omnipotent.” God is where I am, and God is what I need – no matter what the circumstance.

So to what extent can we really make a new beginning?

Walter Malone, in his poem Opportunity, expressed a great truth when he said, “At sunrise, every soul is born again.” In other words, we are always at the threshold of opportunity.

Do you grasp the opportunity of taking a new lease on life at the beginning of each new day?

In order to do this, you may have to change your entire viewpoint.

You may need to reconstruct your faith, your philosophy of life.

You may need to get a whole new concept of God, of what and where God is, and of yourself and your relation to God.

You may need to discipline your thinking in a way you’ve never done before.

You may need to see your world, your life, your environment and your associates in an entirely new light.

Always, the need is for spiritual logic. The key to accurate thinking is to use spiritual logic, to return to the principle, then starting with the principle think things through to a logical conclusion.

You may say, “I can’t do this because I know my limitations.” But do you know your strengths? The limitations are simply concealment of strength. What you have done is never a valid measure of what you can do.

What is the principle? It is that you are created in God’s image-likeness, and you have been given dominion over all the earth. You can be all things through the power of God within you, for “with God, all things are possible.”

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 and blog at Spiritual Solutions. You can access his recently published mini-book at Miracle Power You Can Use Today.

For weekday inspirational quotes, go to Rich Words.

Feel free to pass along this article to your friends or to publish it on your blog or website, as long as you also include this reference box in any and all communications. Also, I appreciate your comments and suggestions at any time. Thank you.

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