Spiritual Solutions

There’s a story from when Charles Fillmore, co-founder of the Unity movement, was still alive and at Unity Village. It’s told that a young girl who was working there came to him and said, “Oh, Mr. Fillmore, I dreamed last night that I became so spiritual that I could fly.” He responded, “Well then, that’s all very well but are you so spiritual that you can pay the rent?”

Charles Fillmore was very focused on his Christianity being practical Christianity, on applying the truths of being to every aspect of our lives.

I want to share with you some of the prosperity truths that are recession, depression, and inflation proof. You will enjoy using them often. Let me share two with you now, starting with a quote from Charles Fillmore right here at the beginning. He says, in his book Prosperity, “The law of supply is a divine law. This means that it is a law of mind and must work through the mind.”

In other words, prosperity, health, well-being, all of those aspects of our life which we equate with prosperity, must come through our prosperous thinking. And our mind can be trained to think prosperously in simple and delightful ways that will bring satisfying and delightful results into our lives. <!–[if !vml]–><!–[endif]–>

Those are some of the ideas I want to share with you.

I. God as Source

Do you enjoy dancing?

I want to teach you a new dance. It’s a dance that has four steps in it; it’s called “A Bun Dance.” Abundance, do you get it? A-bun-dance.

So this is the dance of abundance.

Remember that Jesus said “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)

We’re talking about abundance, and truly the basic secret to unlimited prosperity is that God is the source of our supply. That’s the basic secret underlying all of our prosperous thinking, that God is the source of our supply. And it’s the first step in our dance of abundance. Whatever your needs are, God can supply. And God has provided many channels through which our desires and our good can flow; we are not restricted to any particular channel.

So there is one source, but many channels. It’s well to remember that, because you may often think of the channel of your good, of your prosperity, as being your job or a particular avenue through which your money comes. And that’s not true at all. Our source is God, and many channels are available to us as we open our minds and hearts to the realization of God as our source. Many channels open up for God’s good in all its aspects to flow into our lives.

When the Hebrews had left the bondage of Egypt and they were drawing close to the Promised Land, Moses reminded the people that God was the source of their good. He said, “You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the power to get wealth.” (Deut. 8:18)

Charles Fillmore, co-founder of Unity, again in his book Prosperity, says, “We must not fix the avenues through our supply is to come. . . Trying to fix the channel through which our good must come is one of the ways in which [we] cut off our own supply.”

I suggest you form an affirmation for yourself as a basic foundational concept, that “God is the source of my supply.” Say that for yourself right now, really knowing that deep within yourself, “God is the source of my supply.” Now add to it in a personal way in terms of your own need, something like this: “God is the source of my supply, and he is consistently opening new channels of prosperity to me. I am open and receptive to my highest good now!”

We hear Jesus saying these words in Matthew 25:34, “Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” When Jesus was talking about the “kingdom” he was speaking of a state of being or as an essence; he said “The kingdom of God is within you.”

In Unity and New Thought, the kingdom of God is often spoken of as “substance,” that which stands under. The word “substance” comes from two Latin words “sub stare” which means that which “stands under.” In other words, substance is that which stands under every visible thing. It is a mind essence, as it were. And Jesus called that “the kingdom of God” - “The kingdom of God is within you.” We mold that substance, and we bring the kingdom or substance into visibility by the thoughts that we think, by the direction of our thoughts and feelings, whatever we focus our minds upon.

Charles Fillmore, again in his book Prosperity, says “The inexhaustible mind substance is available at all times and in all places to those who have learned to lay hold of it in consciousness. The spiritual substance from which comes all visible wealth is never depleted; it is right with you all the time and responds to your faith in it and your demands upon it.”

In Psalms 1 we read these words: “Blessed is the one who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; in all that does he prospers.”

So you see, here is reaffirmed the importance of dwelling upon the realization that God is the source of our supply. The essence of that supply is substance and out of that substance comes the supply; for every need in whatever form it might take.

So that’s a basic understanding that we need to grab hold of in order to know the principles of truth. And it is the first step in the dance of abundance: “God is my Source!”

II. Release the Past

 In the book of Numbers there’s a story about when Moses and the Hebrews came to the edge of the Promised Land and were ready to go in there. Moses sent twelve spies ahead to spy out the Promised Land to see if it was really good land and rich in fruits, and also to see what the defenses were and whether the people were friendly.

The twelve spies came back carrying a big pole with lots of clusters of grapes strung over it and bags of pomegranates and all different kinds of fruit, and they said, “Look, this is the fruit that is there.” Two of them, Joshua and Caleb, were very excited about what they saw, but ten of the twelve were very negative. They said, “Although this is a land flowing with milk and honey, filled with good things, the soil is good and the fruit is there, it’s heavily defended. There are strong fortifications, there are walls and cities, and the people there are so big that it made us feel like grasshoppers.” So they were negative about it.

And what did this do? Instead of the Hebrews being joyous about going into the Promised Land, they became negative about it. They said, “Agh, we would have been better had we not left Egypt. We were better off in bondage in Egypt than we are going into this land where there are these fortifications and people who are giants.” So they became fearful and negative. They wanted to hold onto the past, no matter how difficult and how uncomfortable and how awful that past was.

Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? Have you ever found yourself wanting to hold on to the past and not going to the new because of the fear of what that new might contain? That’s a city in our consciousness, and it’s called “Scare City” - or “scarcity.” How many of us live in Scare City?

To dance the dance of abundance your center of consciousness, your center of being, has to be a low center of gravity. You move easy in the dance of abundance. But in the Scare City, where is your consciousness centered? You’re breathing way up high. When we get anxious, we breathe high up in our chest and our shoulders are tense. So that’s when you know you are in Scare City, you know you are filled with fear and anxiety when you are breathing shallowly way up high and when our shoulders are tense.

We have to really center ourselves, take a deep breath and “Ahh!” let go and feel your center down in the area of your diaphragm. We have to lower our center of gravity so that we are moving easily upon the earth and we are also connected to our heavenly realm, the kingdom of heaven or kingdom of substance, in a nice easy way.

So, they were scared; they were rejecting their good, their promised land. We also do that sometimes, we reject our good because we hold on to the past out of fear.

You will remember that Jesus, when people came to him or he met people who were blind or lame or had other problems, would say to them “Do you want to be healed?” Do you want to be healed? We have to ask that question of ourselves. And sometimes the answer is “No, not really. I want to be well but I don’t want to be healed. I still want the sympathy, I still want to be able to complain, I still don’t want to take responsibility, so I don’t really want to be healed.” And if you don’t really want to be healed, you are still holding on to the past, aren’t you? You’re not opening yourself to the new, you’re not willing to let go in order to move forward.

So our second step in this process, after the first step of knowing God as our source, is to release the past.

That includes releasing any grievances of the past. It includes releasing any mistakes or failures of the past, of yours or of anyone else. Releasing the past also means forgiving yourself and others, doesn’t it? Forgiving the past, in order to let it go. We cannot move into our future good if we’re still holding on to the past, the complaints, the unforgiveness, the resentment, the bitterness, the scarcity, the fear, or whatever it might be. We have to let go of all of that in order to move into our promised land.

It also means that we have to stop talking about unhappy experiences, doesn’t it? How often do we go on thinking and talking about that? We carry that stuff on and we get sympathy from others, don’t we? “Oh, I remember my operation. Do you want to see my scar?” or “I remember when I was really sick” or “I was really hard put to scrape by” or “I remember those days when it was so difficult” or “I remember that relationship, and he was such a nasty guy. Do you know what he did to me?” And we keep on talking about this stuff.

So we cannot move into the new without letting go that old experience. Our mind will not have space for the new if it’s fully occupied with the old.

Again, Charles Fillmore has this to say: “Thoughts are things and occupy space in mind; we cannot have new or better ones in a place already crowded with old, weak, inefficient thoughts. A mental house-cleaning is even more rewarding than a material one.” A mental house-cleaning - but don’t forget the material one too.

The material house-cleaning is very good. Catherine Ponder, the author of Open Your Mind to Prosperity and many other prosperity books, recommends that we do a house-cleaning if we’re also cleaning out our mind, because it helps us to associate one with another. We need to let go of some of the stuff we accumulate, to go into our closets and drawers and throw out that stuff, clothes we haven’t worn for a year, books we haven’t looked at for five years that are just collecting dust on the shelves, or old files - keep your income tax records for a maximum of seven years and throw away any from before that. We tend to stack up stuff; how many of us are pack-rats? So Catherine Ponder says to let go of all that stuff, and as you do that you also begin to clean out your mind.

Catherine Ponder has a great affirmation she uses for letting go: “I now let go worn-out things, worn-out conditions, worn-out relationships (sometimes we cling on to relationships that are worn out too, don’t we?). Divine order is now established in me and in my world.”

She recommends the following affirmation for cleansing our mind through forgiveness: “All that has offended me, I forgive. Within and without, I forgive. Things past, things present, things future, I forgive. I forgive everything and everybody who can possibly need forgiveness in my past and present. I forgive positively everyone. I am free, and all others are free too. All things are cleared up between us, now and forever.”

That’s a powerful affirmation of forgiveness, where you truly do forgive everyone and everything. And sometimes, even if we don’t have any forgiveness to do, we hold on to our loved ones emotionally because we want them to do the things that we would like them to do instead of releasing them to their highest good.

The greatest expression of love is to allow our loved ones to become what is theirs to become, rather than trying to mold them and shape them into what we would have them be. To release emotionally, so that we are free and our loved ones are free. So that we are free and those that need our forgiveness are free. So that we are free, and those that have offended us are free from our unforgiveness. This gives us freedom to move into our new experience, into our promised land.

So release the past, that’s the second step in the dance of abundance.

III. Get Definite About Prosperity

 The first two steps in the dance of abundance are, first to know “God is my source,” and second, to release the past.

The third step is to start thinking about how you would like your life to be, to get definite about your prosperity.

In the story I mentioned earlier about the Hebrews on the edge of the Promised Land, Joshua and Caleb got definite about their prosperity in looking at the Promised Land.

Caleb said, “Let’s go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” The people were moaning and groaning and complaining and saying “Oh no, we can’t do that. The enemy’s too big and the walls are too great.”

Joshua then said, “The land which we passed through to spy it out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us he will bring us into this land and will give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey.”

He will give it to us; we don’t have to struggle for it. We have to know and move forward with confidence, that if it’s to be ours, if this new way of life is to be ours God will give it to us. It is there for us.

If you have deep desires in your heart, know that they are of God. “Desire” or “de sire” means “of God.” If you listen to those deep desires and follow where desire, that movement within, leads you then you will come into the fulfillment of your desire. Your desire is also God’s desire for you. You have to know that if it is for your good and for the good of everyone concerned then the desire is for your highest and best.

So begin to look for that highest and best. Begin to write down what your desires are. What do you want for yourself?

In counseling others my wife and fellow Unity minister, Kathryn, and I have very often asked people to write three lists. That has been a foundational thing for us to tell people, because it begins to direct your mind. The first list is what you want to eliminate from your life. Write the things down. The second list is what would you like to see manifest in your life. And the third list is what you are thankful for in your life.

Those three lists are working lists. They change all the time. As you begin to eliminate the things you need to let go of, you add to your thankful list. As you begin to add to the things you want to bring into your life, you add to your thankful list. So your thankful list begins to grow.

These three lists are basic to letting go and bringing into experience that which we would have. To begin to look for the good is one of Unity’s basic approaches; to look for the good, to picture the best.

What do you hold in your imagination? Are you seeing the worst? How often we do that with our children, we imagine the worst and we build up these pictures. Always hold the best, for yourself and for others as well, not being envious of others’ good but giving thanks for it, being happy for them. Because that which you focus on, you attract into your life.

If you focus on the good, you attract good into your life. If you focus on that which is not good, that which you don’t want, guess what you attract into your life? You attract more of what you don’t want. So look for the good, picture the good, speak words that express the good. Speak positive words. Use affirmations.

In the “4T for Prosperity” program, by Stretton Smith, there is an affirmation right there at the beginning. Do you know what it is?

We say our name and we say, “I am ____________ and I am prosperous.”

Say it aloud right now, and put your own name in the blank. That’s a prosperity affirmation, it helps you to look at God as your source, it helps you to focus on the good, to see that God’s good is always available to you. In the 4T program it is recommended that you repeat that a hundred times every day. Try doing that. It will begin to build a new appreciation of God’s good in your life.

Charles Fillmore says, “Substance is first given form in the mind. In laying hold of substance in the mind and bringing it up into manifestation we play a most important part; we do it according to our decree.” And he refers to Job 22, where it says “Thou shall decree a thing and it shall be established unto thee.”

So how often have you talked about that which you did not want and you got it?

Another important facet of beginning to get that which you want in your life is gratitude, an attitude of gratitude for what you have.

You may remember the story of the widow in the scriptures who was in debt and they were going to take her sons away into slavery as payment, and the prophet said to her “What do you have in the house?” She said, “I don’t have anything except a little oil.” He told her to take the oil and have her sons go and get some jars from their neighbors and to begin pouring the oil.

What do you have in the house? What do you have? Be grateful for that which you have, and begin to bless that. Begin to pour it out, begin to pour out the gratitude for what you have. So often we are looking at what we don’t have, and we don’t notice that which we have.

Gratitude is important. Gratitude and generosity are two sides of the same coin, because when you become grateful you want to share that which you have. So the gratitude and generosity are important. When we become grateful then we begin to be a blessing in our world; and we begin to see everything that happens to us as containing a blessing also.

You’ll remember from the scriptures when Jacob was coming home to meet his brother Esau and he’d stolen the blessing from him and he was fearful; he had a dream and he was wrestling, wrestling with a man in his dream. And he said to him, “I will not let you go until you bless me.”

Know that in every situation there is a seed of blessing there. And if you look for that, you will find it. Look for the good that is there. It’s a very ancient secret of prosperity.

IV. Accept Your Good

Finally, the fourth step in this dance of abundance is to begin to accept your good.

There is a story of a young man who was the son of a poor farmer. His upbringing was that he had a hard life and there was nothing he could do to change it and he’d never make any headway. Then he began to study Truth principles and realized for himself that he was a child of God, and that he was heir to the kingdom of God and all of God’s good.

He began to change his feelings about himself and about his future. He established a prayer for himself. It was a simple prayer, just “Lord, I am ready!” Through that prayer he was led into going to college and getting a degree and becoming very successful. But that was his whole life’s prayer, “Lord, I am ready!” 

So if you are ready, say it out loud for yourself right now. “Lord, I am ready!”

If you see God as your source, if you are willing to release your past, if you are ready to look at what you want in your life, and if you are ready to accept your good, then know that wonderful and exciting possibilities are there before you. God will bring ideas into your mind and great good into your life!

 
God is blessing you right now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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