Spiritual Solutions

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 forty 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.

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Herbert Spencer, English philosopher and sociologist said, “We are ever in the presence of an infinite and eternal energy from which all things proceed.”

He was speaking of the fullness of God, or the kingdom of God that is ever with us, this “infinite and eternal energy” which is waiting to be drawn upon, as dramatically illustrated in the gospel of Luke (5:4-7):

Jesus, surrounded by a throng of people, stepped into Peter’s boat and pushed away from the shore, then taught the multitude from his position in the bow of the boat. Finished speaking, he told Peter to put out into the deep and let down his net, to which the response was, “But Master, we toiled all night and took nothing; but at your word I will let down the nets.” This was done, and right away so many fish were caught that the nets were near breaking. They beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and soon both boats were filled brimful with an enormous catch of fish.

The fish were there all the time, but the fishermen had to put out into the deep; they had to avoid shallow thinking; they had to change their consciousness.

We might call this a miracle, but all the remarkable things performed by Jesus – or by anyone else at any time – are done under laws that we may learn and use, as others have done. Fish represent ideas; the sea represents infinite mind. Prosperity and abundance come forth from infinite mind, through a plenitude of ideas. Wherever you are, God is. Therefore, wherever you are there is an answer; there exists abundance, myriads of ideas.

Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you.” It is imagined by some that the Kingdom is found only after much striving and seeking, in some later life, or in some far-off heaven in the skies. But Jesus points to the very vital Truth that the good we seek is already within us. Prosperity originates in mind; and we must let down our nets of faith, believing that we can be channels for the expression of prosperity and ideas. Jesus puts it very candidly: “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matt. 7:7)

To ask is to claim, to demand, or to create the conditions that make the result inevitable. You ask for guidance or for supply or for life by claiming your oneness with the Source and getting into the flow and expecting the results. The supply is there, but we must put out into the deep and let down our nets; we must alter our faulty, self-limiting attitude.

If we will just shove off from the shoreline – the line of depending upon the security of other people or our jobs or our material possessions – and put out into the depths of spiritual inspirations and quiet meditation, we will find unsuspected possibilities flowing forth from within ourselves. Sometimes the deep waters of spirit, the hidden potential, the greater good, have been obscured, frustrated, hindered, and blocked over many years.

If you have a block in your consciousness, keeping you bound in fear or inadequacy or poverty or sickness, put out into the deep right now, let down your nets, and claim your oneness with the “infinite and eternal energy from which all thing proceed.” God is your all-sufficiency in all things. Believe this. Press out from the shallows of human thinking. Believe, and then act believing. Get into the flow of the fullness of God and you will experience new confidence, new creativity, and a movement toward a whole new life of success and fulfillment and self-confidence.

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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Rev. Alan Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-nine years, invites you to enjoy more articles and/or subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, “Spiritual Solutions,” at www.spiritualsolutionsblog.com
 

Feel free to share this article in its entirety with a friend. You may also reproduce and publish this article if you also include this reference box. Thank you!
 

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Today, Wednesday, April 13, is the thirty-first day of Lent. Lent is the period of time during which we can prepare ourselves for the Easter experience.
 
 
Assignment 31
 
There is no need of lack of any kind. The law of God does not take into consideration a deficiency of any kind. There is no normal natural void. There no space in God’s world that contains nothing. Nature abhors a vacuum. There is no true emptiness. The only seeming empty place is in man’s conscious mind when he is unaware of is fullness. We can only be separated from the abundance of God by the width of a thought in our mind.
 
Man has lived so long with a mixed consciousness; it is what the Scriptures call double-minded. “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:8) We have been so filled with double-mindedness that we no longer know what is true and what is untrue. We have named things good and evil, clean and unclean, virtue and vice, until we are saturated in nothingness. We are bored with the things we name good and fearful of the things we call evil – when all the time there is only Spiritual Substance. 
 
Spiritual Substance is the essence of our bodies. It flows through our minds like wine. It is the unchangeable, intrinsic, whole, complete, absolute, essential, and indispensable something that exists; and because of it all that exists came to be. Out of Spiritual Substance as the activity of mind comes all material good, first as ideas and then as all things needful, such as wealth and abundance in the outer.
 
In this field active believing is the magic wand. All outer good stems from the inner push we call desire. Desire means “from the Father.” Every thought and word brings forth a reaction in Spiritual Substance.
 
Out of Spiritual Substance comes the essence that feeds our bodies. It is not the meat and bread that builds the body but the invisible essence. It is not the heat-producing calories or the energy-producing vitamin that is vital to life. It is the invisible Spiritual Substance.
 
Spiritual Substance is love in action, and without love no human being is fully alive. Its absence causes the body to lose its resiliency and the flesh to dry up. Old age is love forgotten. None need be old! Without love, children wilt and die. Spiritual Substance invisible lies back of all matter and form. Spiritual Substance cannot suffer loss, it can never be depleted. It is God! “I have meat you know not of.” (Jesus)
 
 
(This series of Lenten messages was first developed by Unity minister Dr. Sue Sikking, founder of Unity-by-the-Sea, Santa Monica, California, author of God Always Says Yes and Seed of the New Age.)
 
 
God is Blessing You, Right Now!
 
Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham
 
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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-nine years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions, at www.spiritualsolutionsblog.com
 
To subscribe for free weekday inspirational quotes, Rich Words, go to www.alanrowbotham.com
                                                 
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Is prosperity possible, even in a difficult economy? Absolutely! Prosperity for you deals purely with your consciousness. Charles Fillmore, co-founder of the Unity movement, said, “Prosperity is based on the conscious possession of the idea of God’s abundance in the back of all things.”

There is no lack in God or in the Universe. The substance of God is limitless. You are not created outside of the Universe. You are an integral part of it, a dynamic center within it. The free flow of substance within you is the continuation of the divine effort that made you. If there is lack in your life, it is not because you are out of the flow of substance, but because you have lost the consciousness of the flow.

Perhaps you may say, “But the economy of the country . . . and to add to that, my employer is erratic. I didn’t cause it, and yet it certainly affects my life.” That is the wisdom of the world that is foolishness with God. We have been conditioned to believe that our lives are shaped by what happens to us. For instance, the back corner of my car recently got damaged; for quite a while, I was really upset about it. Then I realized I wasn’t making it any better by being upset about something in the outer, and I was able to let the upset go and just arrange to have the car repaired. You see, it’s not what happens “out there,” but what we do or think about these things. Thought is the key. However, thought is not produced by circumstances. The incident is external; the reaction is our own.

The starting point in working for prosperity is to accept the responsibility for your own thoughts. Become an original thinker. Reject all “they say” and “hearsay” reports. Stop listening to all the scare talk on television and other media, the widespread negative thought about the economy. Don’t let these persons or conditions decide how you are going to think and feel. Resolve to center your thought on only those things of “God’s abundance in back of all things.”

We may talk a lot about the importance of “positive thinking.” But we need to get a realistic understanding of it. It is not just saying a lot of pleasant words about things you are really worried about. It is not uttering platitudes, mouthing affirmations, or saying, “Oh, everything will be all right.” Everything will not be all right unless you can get into the consciousness of “all-right-ness.”

It reminds me of a time early in our ministry in Roanoke, Virginia; we were meeting in a civic center at the time. At the end of each Sunday service, we would hold hands and say together Unity’s Prayer for Protection:
 The light of God surrounds us;
 The love of God enfolds us;
 The power of God protects us,
 And the presence of God watches over us;
 Wherever we are, God is.
At the end of the prayer we would always add “. . . and all is well.”
Inevitably, a particular man whose avowed intent was to prevent Unity being established in the city would pipe up: ”And all is not well!”

Positive thinking is “creative thinking,” getting your thoughts synchronized with the creative flow. Creative thinking can include humor, and in the example above once we were able to laugh within ourselves as we waited for the man’s final comment, he gave up his futile attempts to stop us from establishing Unity in the community and we never saw him again.

A problem for many persons is the influence of money on thought. Money is not the “root of all evil.” Actually, the Bible says, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” Money is an important symbol of faith that promotes mutuality. But problems arise when we confuse the symbolic with the real. There is nothing bad about money, but we may imbue money with bad vibrations when we work for the symbols rather than the flow of substance.

The idea of “demonstrating prosperity” is often equated with praying for more money. But if problems are caused by consciousness, the money problems are only postponed but never solved by having more money. Unfortunately, the term “demonstrate” often emphasizes a kind of magic working of divine law. It is best not to pray for money, but to get the awareness of “God’s abundance in back of all things.”

There are three important steps in the orderly process of abundance flowing freely through us: 1. Being, 2. Doing, and 3. Having. There is a tendency to want to reverse the three steps. We reason that if we can just get enough money, then we will be able to do something good, and then we will be somebody. The principle is: What you are in consciousness gives rise to what you can do creatively, which leads to what you will experience.

Here is a helpful test in self-understanding: If you are not as prosperous or secure as you would like to be, ask yourself “Why not?” Make a list. Don’t be too analytical. Just outline the things that seem to be keeping you from your good. Actually, these are alibis. You might spend a few days in this examination.

Then, make a new list. Point by point, restate the reasons in terms of what you think “ought to be” the case. There is always a sense of “oughtness” behind every alibi. How do you think people ought to act toward you? What qualities do you feel you ought to express? Work with these for a month. Always try to satisfy yourself as to the exact state that ought to prevail in mind, emotion, body, and affairs. This is what Eric Butterworth called your “ought-to-be-ography.”

Finally, if you feel these things ought to be true, you intuitively believe that it is the reality. So, go back and rewrite the “ought-to-be’s” in the form of “I AM” statements. These can become your prayer treatment or affirmations, and the basis for some positive thinking. Now you can see that the thought is not just what you wish were true. It is your conviction of “God’s abundance in back of all things.”

Accustom yourself to think that you are surrounded by a divine presence which wishes you good because you are expressing its life. Keep conscious that you are forever in the flow of substance. No matter how things change in the world around you or what happens too you, the flow of substance is constant. All that is required is that you keep conscious of the flow, keep open by positive thought, keep responsive in faith, and keep moving “in the directions of your dreams.”

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham
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Rev. Alan Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-eight years, invites you to enjoy more articles and/or subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, “Spiritual Solutions,” at www.spiritualsolutionsblog.com

Feel free to share this article in its entirety with a friend. You may also reproduce and publish this article if you also include this reference box. Thank you!

If you’d like to receive “Rich Words,” featuring weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at
www.alanrowbotham.com

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Here is the truth about prosperity in just a few words:

 First: God is the source of all prosperity, of all substance, of all affluence. We have the promise: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning.” This is simply a symbolical and theological way of stating that the source of all substance is nonmaterial, it’s in Spirit.

Second: There is no separation between you and God. The Scriptures tell us: “I and the Father are one.” And that’s the truth about you!

Third: God wants you to be prosperous and has already given you all that you can accept as belonging to you. The promise is: “It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” And the kingdom is not “out there” somewhere. Jesus said that the kingdom is within you.

Now, put this into a simple statement of what you must know if you are to be free forever from lack and fear of lack: “God is my abundant supply. All that He has is mine, and He wants to give it to me. I now claim my abundance of good.” Take this affirmation and make it a part of you.

To claim your prosperity as already yours and not off in the future somewhere, it is essential to establish the identity of your oneness with the flow of good. We are all heirs to all God’s Infinite riches, but unless we realize our wealth, we fail to benefit from it. We cannot possibly use what we do not know we have.

Here’s what Wallace D. Wattles wrote in chapter six of his book, The Science of Getting Rich:

“You need not hesitate about asking largely . . . .

“Original Substance wants to live all that is possible in you, and wants you to have all that you can or will use for the living of the most abundant life.

“If you fix upon your consciousness the fact that the desire you feel for the possession of riches is one with the desire of Omnipotence for more complete expression, your faith becomes invincible.

“Once I saw a little boy sitting at a piano, and vainly trying to bring harmony out of the keys; and I saw that he was grieved and provoked by his inability to play real music. I asked him the cause of his vexation, and he answered, “I can feel the music in me, but I can’t make my hands go right.” The music in him was the URGE of Original Substance, containing all the possibilities of all life; all that there is of music was seeking expression through the child.

“God, the One Substance, is trying to live and do and enjoy things through humanity. He is saying “I want hands to build wonderful structures, to play divine harmonies, to paint glorious pictures; I want feet to run my errands, eyes to see my beauties, tongues to tell mighty truths and to sing marvelous songs,” and so on.

“All that there is of possibility is seeking expression through men. God wants those who can play music to have pianos and every other instrument, and to have the means to cultivate their talents to the fullest extent; He wants those who can appreciate beauty to be able to surround themselves with beautiful things; He wants those who can discern truth to have every opportunity to travel and observe; He wants those who can appreciate dress to be beautifully clothed, and those who can appreciate good food to be luxuriously fed.

“He wants all these things because it is Himself that enjoys and appreciates them; it is God who wants to play, and sing, and enjoy beauty, and proclaim truth and wear fine clothes, and eat good foods. ‘It is God that worketh in you to will and to do,’ said Paul.

“The desire you feel for riches is the Infinite, seeking to express Himself in you as He sought to find expression in the little boy at the piano.

“So you need not hesitate to ask largely.

“Your part is to focalize and express the desire to God.”

If you really want prosperity, it will pay you to be decisive and definite in your thinking. Prosperity, of course, means many things to many people. What does it mean to you? What is it that you really want? Maybe you don’t make your inner desires sharp and clear enough for them to be outpictured in your affairs.

Sit down quietly by yourself and make a specific list of the things that spell “prosperity” to you. Don’t be content to say simply, “I want more money,” because that’s indefinite. Substance must have something to fill, and it is up to you to hold out the receptacle. 

You don’t need to outline how your prosperity is going to come to you, because God has many channels through which He works. You can leave the ways and means to the Divine process. But God cannot help you if you don’t know what you want.

Remember, too, that Jesus gave us clear directions for finding true prosperity when he said: “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.” (Matt. 6:33)

First learn to seek the kingdom of God. It is not far off somewhere in time and space; it exists right here and now, because it is the state of consciousness that you enter when you realize that the real you is one with the Father, one with the creative flow of abundance. And what you seek you will surely find.

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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by Rebecca Fine

In the days of the mighty sailing ships, when brave souls voyaged into the unknown, dependent on the winds and their as-yet incomplete knowledge of geography and navigation, one of the greatest and most dangerous challenges was to traverse the area known as “the doldrums.”

Extending about 30 degrees on either side of the equator, the doldrums are subject to days, weeks, even months of no wind at all. After a long and difficult crossing from Europe to South America, lying becalmed in the doldrums – with no land in sight and with the ship’s supply of fresh water dwindling – was a terrible and life-threatening situation.

But history and legend offer us some fascinating insights into the power of our own thinking and belief. Back then no one had yet figured out how to determine longitude, although latitude was easily calculated. So if you could not see recognizable land, you could only know in what band of latitude you currently were. Exactly where you were in that ring around the earth was, at that time, unknowable.

And so it happened that at times a ship would fetch up off the coast of South America, out of sight of shore, fresh water supplies exhausted and death knocking at the door. Then, with what must have been the sweetest sound those sailors could ever have hoped for, the lookout would suddenly call out that a ship was approaching in the distance.

Once the ship was within hailing distance, the cry went up: “Water! Give us water!”

And the reply would come back, “Lower your buckets over the side.”

You see, although the sailors didn’t know it, they were afloat in a virtual river of drinkable and life-sustaining water flowing from the mouth of the powerful Amazon River, which carries nearly 20 percent of all the earth’s runoff water into the sea with such force that the fresh (or brackish but safe) water flows as far as 100 miles out into the Atlantic.

The sailors, dying of thirst, only THOUGHT they were experiencing lack. The REALITY was that they were afloat in a literal sea of abundance. Exactly what they needed was within their reach the whole time, but the APPEARANCE of scarcity and their BELIEF in that appearance threatened to overpower them.

They could have died – and many certainly did – believing in lack while surrounded by abundance.

In his amazing 1910 forgotten classic, The Science of Getting Rich, Wallace Wattles writes:

“I have said that people get rich by doing things in a certain way, and in order to do so, people must become able to think in a certain way.

“A person’s way of doing things is the direct result of the way he thinks about things.

“To do things in the way you want to do them, you will have to acquire the ability to think the way you want to think. This is the first step toward getting rich.

“And to think what you want to think is to think TRUTH, regardless of appearances.

A couple of months ago, my friend TERESA ROMAIN of Access Abundance [ www.accessabundance.com ] wrote in my ezine, The Certain Way, about how Galileo changed the world by looking at things from a new perspective. By dropping the prevailing attitude that the sun revolved around the earth, he was able to see that the opposite was, in fact, the truth.

The key to finding the truth, she noted, was choosing to cast off the old notion and look at the situation anew, through a new lens. Teresa wrote:

“The path that lies before you is one of unlimited abundance. And it begins by SEEING the abundance available all around you.

“As you begin to experience life through the new lens of abundance, you’ll find that many of the problems you face today will simply disappear. As for the ones that remain, your relationship to them will have changed profoundly, empowering you to take actions that are congruent with and support abundance.”

What old beliefs, what old ways of looking, seeing, and perceiving do YOU need to cast off right now, my friend? If you find yourself “in the doldrums,” how can you take a fresh look today and begin to see the abundance that surrounds YOU so that you are empowered – not becalmed and hopeless?

The choice is always available. If you have chosen unwisely before, remember that every moment is new and the great power lies in your ability to CHOOSE AGAIN, no matter the appearances and no matter what it seems everyone else thinks or does.

Teresa says that this choice “is the path that leads, ultimately, to the fulfillment of your dreams.” Mr. Wattles says this choice is “the first step toward getting rich.”

And, bearing in mind those long-ago sailors, I would add that this choice can be the ultimate choice – for death or for life itself.

That choice, every moment, is yours. Which way do you choose – right now?

The Science of Getting Rich  ©2001 Certain Way Productions.

God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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

Feel free to share or publish this article, being sure to keep this and the above resource box intact.

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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]–>

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In the Second Letter from the book, The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence, we learned again of his early trials in seeking to practice the presence but also that he stayed in faith and continued his practice. He quit all other devotions and practices in favor of a simple attention to God’s holy presence and a silent, secret conversation of the soul with God. It is interesting that when speaking of his soul he speaks of it as having a feminine nature, calling his soul “She.”

Even when his mind wanders from his attention to God’s presence, he finds himself recalled by what he refers to as “inward motions so charming and delicious” that he is afraid to mention them to his correspondent and says he would rather that the Reverend reflect upon his wretchedness than upon the great favors which God does him. It’s rather like any one of us who, upon receiving some kind of good, can’t believe our good fortune and feel that if we delight in it too much somehow it could be taken away from us.

In that regard, let me remind you that nothing is too good to be true. And do not feel that to experience the presence of God in a continual and delightful way is delusional because, as Brother Lawrence says, the soul which thus enjoys God desires herein nothing but Him. And if this be delusion, it belongs to God to remedy it.

Let us now turn to the THIRD LETTER:

We have a God who is infinitely gracious and knows all our wants. I always thought that He would reduce you to extremity. He will come in His own time, and when you least expect it. Hope in Him more than ever; thank Him with me for the favors He does you, particularly for the fortitude and patience which He gives you in your afflictions. It is a plain mark of the care He takes of you. Comfort yourself, then, with Him, and give thanks for all.

I admire also the fortitude and bravery of Mr. ________. God has given him a good disposition and a good will; but there is in him still a little of the world and a great deal of youth. I hope the affliction which God has sent him will prove a wholesome remedy to him, and make him enter into himself. It is an accident which should engage him to put all his trust in Him who accompanies him everywhere. Let him think of Him as often as he can, especially in the greatest dangers.

A little lifting up of the heart suffices. A little remembrance of God, one act of inward worship, though upon a march, and a sword in hand, are prayers, which, however short, are nevertheless very acceptable to God; and far from lessening a soldier’s courage in occasions of danger, they best serve to fortify it.

Let him then think of God the most he can. Let him accustom himself, by degrees, to this small but holy exercise. No one will notice it, and nothing is easier to repeat often in the day these little internal adorations. Recommend to him, if you please, that he think of God the most he can, in the manner here directed. It is very fit and most necessary for a soldier, who is daily exposed to the dangers of life. I hope that God will assist him and all the family, to whom I present my service, being theirs and

Yours, etc.

FOURTH LETTER

I have taken this opportunity to communicate to you the sentiments of one of our society, concerning the admirable effects and continual assistances which he receives from the presence of God. Let you and me both profit by them.

You must know his continual care has been, for about forty years past that he has spent in religion, to be always with God, and to do nothing, say nothing, and think nothing which may displease Him, and this without any other view than purely for the love of Him, and because He deserves infinitely more.

He is now so accustomed to the divine presence that he receives from it continual succors upon all occasions. For about thirty years his soul has been filled with joys so continual, and sometimes so great, that he is forced to use means to moderate them, and to hinder their appearing outwardly.

If sometimes he is a little too much absent from that divine presence, God presently makes Himself to be felt in his soul to recall him, which often happens when he is most engaged in his outward business.

He answers with exact fidelity to these inward drawings, either by an elevation of his heart toward God, or by a meek and fond regard to Him; or by such words as love forms upon these occasions, as, for instance, My God, here I am all devoted to Thee. Lord, make me according to Thy heart. And then it seems to him (as in effect he feels it) that this God of love, satisfied with such few words, reposes again, and rests in the fund and center of his soul.

The experience of these things gives him such an assurance that God is always in the fund or bottom of his soul that it renders him incapable of doubting it upon any account whatever.

Judge by this what content and satisfaction he enjoys, while he continually finds in himself so great a treasure. He is no longer in an anxious search after it, but has it open before him, and may take what he pleases of it.

He complains much of our blindness, and cries often that we are to be pitied who content ourselves with so little. God, saith he, has infinite treasure to bestow, and we take up with a little sensible devotion, which passes in a moment.  Blind as we are, we hinder God and stop the current of His graces. But when He finds a soul penetrated with a lively faith, He pours into it His graces and favors plentifully; there they flow like a torrent, which, after being forcibly stopped against its ordinary course, when it has found a passage, spreads itself with impetuosity and abundance.

Yes, we often stop this torrent by the little value we set upon it. But let us stop it no more; let us enter into ourselves and break down the bank which hinders it. Let us make way for grace; let us redeem the lost time, for perhaps we have but little left. Death followed us close; let us be well prepared for it; for we die but once, and a miscarriage there is irretrievable.

I say again, let us enter into ourselves. The time presses, there is no room for delay; our souls are at stake. I believe you have taken such effectual measures that you will not be surprised. I commend you for it; it is the one thing necessary.

We must, nevertheless, always work at it, because not to advance in the spiritual life is to go back. But those who have the gale of the Holy Spirit go forward even in sleep. If the vessel of our soul is stil tossed with winds and storms, let us awake the Lord, who reposes in it, and He will quickly calm the sea.

I have taken the liberty to impart to you these good sentiments, that you may compare them with your own. It will serve again to kindle and inflame them, if by misfortune (which God forbid, for it would be indeed a great misfortune) they should be, though never so little, cooled.

Let us then both recall our first fervors. Let us profit by the example and the sentiments of this brother, who is little known of the world, but known of God, and extremely caressed by Him. I will pray for you; do you pray incessantly for me, who am, in our Lord,

Yours, etc.

God is Blessing You Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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 Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-six years, invites you to enjoy more articles and/or subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions or go directly to the Spiritual Solutions Blog

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