Spiritual Solutions

(Note: This is the third lesson adapted from the series “Steady in
the Wind,” by Ann Strong, of www.thrivingcoaches.com. Ann kindly
gave me permission to adapt and use parts of the lessons in my blog
and newsletter. I believe you will find much value in applying the
twelve life principles covered in this course. Enjoy!)

WELCOME TO:
Lesson Three: Commanding

Please listen to the audio first by clicking on the link below, and
then let’s read the lesson together.

Lesson Three: Commanding

In this lesson, we will cover commanding, or claiming, decreeing,
and the power of the word, which involves setting a certain
standard for ourselves. You might use commanding or claiming with
establishing personal boundaries or determining business priorities
or your relationship with God or health or success, etc.

Commanding is NOT:
- Demanding things of other people.
- Insisting God do certain things for us.
- Treating ourselves badly.

Commanding IS:
- Clarity.
- Expectancy.
- Holding firm.
- Collecting evidence.

CLARITY
When commanding, you have clarity - knowing something holds
fundamental importance for you. You don’t waiver, settle or get
confused. You simply, clearly and matter-of-factly hold a certain
standard.

EXPECTANCY
When commanding, you hold absolute positive expectancy for your
desired outcome.

HOLDING FIRM
When commanding, you do not stop short of whatever you choose to
command or claim.

COLLECTING EVIDENCE
When commanding, you collect large and small pieces of evidence
that what you have commanded is on its way until you have whatever
you commanded. This is also known as “pressing your claim.”

HOW COMMANDING APPLIES TO
LIVING STEADY IN THE WIND
When you use commanding or claiming to set and hold a certain
standard in your life or work, the wind becomes irrelevant. “Wind,
what wind?”

EXCEPTION NOTE
Occasionally, as with visioning, you may command or claim something
with sincere clarity and expectancy, holding firmly and collecting
evidence and still not get what you command or claim.

This happens because we most often ask for what we want from our
personality self and it may not always serve our highest interest.
We then don’t get what we want because our Higher Self intervened.

This rarely happens with commanding, because commanding or claiming
seems to come from a deep place within us. Commanding may naturally
come from our Higher Self.

CLAIMING YOUR GOOD
In Isaiah 45:11 we read, “Concerning the work of my hands, command
ye me.”

In other words, the resource is within us, but we’ve got to claim
it, command it.

If it is success we desire, we can claim it by affirming something
like this: “I am a radiant, all-wise, all-loving, all-conquering
child of God. Infinite wisdom guides me; Divine love prospers me;
and I am successful in all that I undertake.” This is claiming our
good.

If it is health we desire, we can know: “The life in me is God in
me. This life is perfect, whole, and harmonious. I am well and
strong and vital.”

No matter what the desire or need may be, we need to claim this
good as ours. If we don’t lay claim to it, it is likely that we
will be claiming something less, something limiting.

Claim your inheritance, claim your wholeness, claim that you are
one with success! This prayer of affirmation is staking our claim.

WHAT ARE YOU CLAIMING?
What are you claiming? “Claim your good and press your claim.” As
children of God we have a rich inheritance of good and our good is
seeking us as we are seeking it.

All we need to do is stake our claim, mentally of course, and then
press our claim by working for right and positive attitudes of
expectancy through which the good may manifest in our lives. 

This concept points up something of the unique nature of humankind
- the power of claiming. One of the things we discover as we enter
into a deeper study of ourselves in relationship to Truth is that
most of us have a sense of inferiority to the extent that we are so
much quicker to claim error for ourselves than good. “Just my
luck,” we say, or “Everything happens to me,” or “Just when things
are going good for me, something always goes wrong.”

It is Job who says, “You shall decree a thing and it shall be
established.” To decree is to decide and to determine by law. So,
the question is what are you decreeing? What are you claiming?

Words backed by feeling are the most powerful force in the
universe. Speak words of health and happiness. Thank God for their
fulfillment. Pause a moment every now and then to say and feel,
“The presence and power of God in me is accomplished through the
perfection of my speech, the truthfulness of my words.”

PRESSING YOUR CLAIM
How do we then press our claim? Even though we have affirmed the
Truth and claimed our good, we still have to contend with the
claim-jumpers of negative thoughts. Through reshaping our thinking
and speaking to conform to that which we have affirmed, we press
the claim.

Let’s be very careful as to what we claim as our own for the
chances are excellent that sooner or later we will possess that
very thing. Stoutly affirm the Truth about yourself; claim it as
God’s gift to you and press your claim.

As you faithfully practice affirming the Truth, you will be given
definite evidence of the response of the law of creation to you.
Claim it. You will find that the character and quality of the
things and conditions in your life are slowly but surely being
altered for the better.

AN EXAMPLE OF COMMANDING
Ann Strong gives an example of her first experience with
commanding, which happened in the spring of 1986. She was living in
a suburb of Philadelphia and needed to move.

She decided to move into Center City Philly, even though she didn’t
know a soul there. A Denver native, she didn’t know much about big
cities. She rented an expensive, delightful, little apartment that
seemed to be in a relatively safe part of the city. Then she
learned about parking.

Parking in the city was extremely tight. She said she could rent a
space in a garage a couple of blocks from her apartment, but it
would have cost $100-$125 a month.

On the other hand, she could get an inexpensive resident parking
sticker and park on the street in a designated area of several
blocks close and not-so-close to her apartment.

She said, “I thought the parking sticker option issued straight
from heaven. Turns out the parking authority did not in any way
resemble heaven, but I did get my sticker!”

People from the suburbs told her horror stories of driving around
for hours on a Saturday night, unable to find a parking space
anywhere in the designated area. They told her to get a safe space
in a garage.

Right then and there she issued her first command (without having
any idea that’s what she was doing). She said to herself: “I have
this parking sticker. I will always find a good space quickly, less
than two blocks from my house. I will always feel safe. I will do
my part by paying attention.”

“And,” she says, “I did. I always got a great parking space. I
amazed my friends - the suburban ones, the new ones I made in the
city and the ones who came to visit. Then I got a reputation as
someone with incredible parking karma.

“Today, still known for my unfailing parking karma, I enjoy good
parking wherever I go.” She said that her grandma, who knows
nothing of karma, has commented several times over the years, “Ann,
you always get the best parking.”

What works for parking also works in many and varied circumstances.
Don’t limit yourself.

PRACTICE COMMANDING
THIS WEEK AND BEYOND
Commanding doesn’t take place in a week. However, you can begin
this week.
   - Review some of your major successes, looking for evidence of
     commanding or claiming.
   - Can you find an aspect of your life or work in which you used
     commanding?
   - Look at your current life and work situation. Where would you
     like to use commanding? Begin.

CONTINUE PRACTICING VISIONING
Write out and track at least one vision this week.

CONTINUE PRACTICING DEEP LISTENING
At least once this week, set aside time for deep listening within
and at least once this week, practice deep listening with another.
Begin to integrate both into your natural, regular routine.

CONTINUE PRACTICING YOUR OBSERVER ROLE
Two or three times this week, continue consciously observing
yourself as you talk with others and record your observations in
your evidence journal. Is observation becoming a natural part of
your life and work?

Next week, you will receive Lesson Four: Commitment. Until then
have fun commanding or claiming, visioning, listening deeply and
observing.

God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham
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Rev. Alan Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-six years,
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