Spiritual Solutions

Today, Sunday, April 3, is the fourth Sunday in Lent. Lent is the period of time during which we can prepare ourselves for the Easter experience.
 
Here is the message for the fourth Sunday in Lent:
 
 
The Sabbath
 
The Sabbath is the “resting in the Lord,” the time of release and rest while God accomplishes through us His perfect work.
 
Most prayers are lost, unanswered, because we do not keep the Sabbath day holy (whole). Day means a time. When we pray, establishing our oneness with the Power of God within us and everywhere present, then we should relax, rest, until God does His perfect work.
 
As a rule we get up from prayer and meditation and, of ourselves, we try to answer our own prayer. We rush here and there to find people or money or some outer power to fulfill our need.
 
It may be that in such rushing around we get a partial answer to our prayer, but this is not the completion of God and we will find many of our efforts frustrated in the outer world. Most prayers are unanswered because of the prying outer mind of man.
 
Every day is the Sabbath day, so let us learn to keep the High Watch with our good. People of the past have believed this meant physical rest, not touching nor doing any outer labor. But it means much more than this. “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.” (Jesus)
 
The Sabbath is part of the individual’s unfoldment. We learn to wait, to silence fears and doubts. We come to a place where we fulfill the following directions: “I pray, I wait, I clear my mind and God does the work.”
 
True Sabbath consciousness is to have fulfilled the Divine Law in both thought and action. This of course includes inner peace, mental relaxation, and outer physical rest which is a great restorative. Recreation is to re-create, change. Let us “cast our burden” of the personal and the outer.
 
We do not own one paltry thing, no matter how much we have collected and saved. The only treasures are days lived; everything else is a universal loan. Our greatest burden is that we need something; our greatest freedom is to know we have it.
 
 
(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
 
Feel free to share this article in its entirety with a friend.
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THE OVERCOMER

5th (Passion) Sunday. Read John 20:19-31.

An overcomer is one who recognizes the Truth of his being and is renewing his mind and body and affairs by changing his thoughts from the old mortal beliefs to the new as he sees them in Divine Mind. He is one who demonstrates the divine law, not only in surface life but in innermost consciousness. Spiritual power, mastery, and dominion are attained by the overcomer. “He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with me in my throne.”

The way of overcoming is, first, to place one’s self by faith in the realization of sonship, and secondly, to demonstrate it faithfully in every thought and act. One of the laws of mind is that man becomes like that with which he identifies himself. Christ is the one perfect pattern. Everyone desires to overcome all errors. Each should, therefore, be wise and identify himself with the Christ.

No external condition or circumstance can hold man in bondage when he makes mental contact with God.

It was to the overcomer that Jehovah spoke when, through one of the old prophets, He said, “I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten.”

We have many blessings. Begin to praise God for the abundance of all things; your words will crack the omnipresent ethers, and good will flow to you from every direction.

The work that I have to do as an overcomer for the world is to help establish a new race consciousness, a new heaven and a new earth, “wherein dwelleth righteousness.” By being true to my highest understanding of Truth, I never swerve to the right nor left for any reason.

I affirm: “I am an overcomer, through Jesus Christ and I rest in the realization of His grace and power.”

Questions:

1. Define an “overcomer.”

2. How does one become an overcomer?

3. What is one of the laws of mind?

4. What is the work we have to do as overcomers?

I claim my dominion in Christ. I affirm my freedom to express the Christ perfection within 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 SABBATH

4th Sunday. Read Mark 2:23-28; 3:1-6.

The true Sabbath is the consciousness that we have fulfilled the divine law in both thought and act.

The sabbath is a very certain, definite thing. It is a state of mind that man enters or acquires when he goes into the silence, into the realm of Spirit. There he finds true rest and peace. The seventh day means the seventh or perfect stage of one’s spiritual unfoldment. Man had become so lost in the darkness of sense consciousness that he could not save himself, so the Saviour came. When man lays hold of the indwelling Christ, the Saviour, he is raised out of the Adam consciousness into the Christ consciousness. He then enters the seventh stage of his unfoldment, where he finds sweet rest and peace.

The Sabbath as an institution was established by man. God does not rest from His work every seventh day, and there is no evidence that there has ever been a moment’s cessation in the activity of the universe. We do not quarrel with our brother over the observance of the Sabbath. If he says we should worship God on the seventh day, or on the first day, in either case we acquiesce. Not only do we do God’s service in praise, song, and thanksgiving on the seventh day and the first day, but every day. In the true Sabbath our mind is turned to God every moment, and we are ever ready to acknowledge His holy presence in our heart and life. “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.”

I affirm: “I rest in the consciousness of the true Sabbath, and my heart is filled with joy and satisfaction.”

Questions:

1. What is the true Sabbath?

2. What does the seventh day mean?

3. How is man raised out of the Adam consciousness?

4. Does God rest? Explain.

I daily emphasize the Sabbath idea, the idea of serving God in praise and thanksgiving, and in silent prayer.

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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LAW

13th Day, Wednesday. Read Galatians 6:1-10, 16.

Divine law is the logical process by which divine principle, or God, manifests. The inner spirit of the law is the spiritual way of life that Jesus taught and lived.

Divine law is the universal something in us of which we all are conscious, and tells us when we are doing right and when we are doing wrong. It may be defined as the innate knowing of right and wrong, and this knowing may be quickened. The quickening does not come by the study of material things, but by concentrating the mind on the Christ. Man does not make the law; the law is, and it was established for our benefit before the world was formed.

There is a law of spiritual and mental growth constantly at work in the mind, raising man from sense consciousness to spiritual consciousness. The nature of the universe is purity and goodness. Abiding in the Christ consciousness, man aligns himself with divine law. He becomes “the light of the world.”

Today I find I am one with the infinite law of expansion–one with the principle of never-ceasing growth and development toward the fulfillment of God’s perfect idea that is firmly infixed in all creation.

Divine law cannot be broken. It holds man responsible for the result of his labors. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” is the action of true ideas working in my mind and in my body.

I affirm: “My house is set in order, and I press forward toward the goal of perfection.”

Questions:

1. What is divine law?

2. What is divine law in us?

3. Does man make the law? Explain.

4. How does man align himself with divine law?

Father-God, give me the wisdom and understanding to see Your divine law of good at work in every part of my life. Let me walk unafraid through every experience, secure in the knowledge that You are always present.

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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In a recent article, I referred to this scripture found in Proverbs,

“Where there is no vision, the people perish; but blessed is he who keeps the law.” (Proverbs 29:18)

In that article I focused on the first part of the proverb, and today I want to focus on the second half of the proverb, “. . . blessed is he who keeps the law.”

What does it mean, to “keep the law”? The scripture is referring not to man-made law, but to Divine Law.

We live in a Universe of Law, the same law that enabled Jesus to do the great works attributed to him. He said, “I came not to destroy the law but to fulfill it.” Jesus did not abrogate Divine Law, he simply revealed a higher potential of Divine Law or spiritual law that as yet humankind is for the most part unaware of. It’s really up to us to become more aware of spiritual law and its influence in our lives and affairs.

When Jesus said, “I came that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly,” he meant what he said. It’s up to us to have a greater awareness of God and have a greater demonstration of God’s good in our lives, for then we are “keeping” the law and we are truly blessed in every aspect of our lives.

Let’s take a look at a couple of examples in the scriptures which outline an important key to demonstration. The first is one of “keeping the law.” In II Kings, chapter four, there is the story of the woman who came to the prophet Elisha in desperation. She was a widow, and her creditors were threatening to sell her children into slavery. Elisha said to her, “What do you have in the house? And she answered, “I have nothing in the house, except a jar of oil.” He told her to borrow vessels from all her neighbors and pour out into these vessels from the jar of oil. She did this and filled all the empty vessels, and upon Elisha’s further direction she sold the oil and paid her debts and lived on the rest of the income. This was “keeping the law” through the working of the Law of Abundance.

The other example of Divine Law is a promise found in the fourth chapter of Philippians, where Paul says, “And my God shall supply every need of yours according to His riches.”

The Law is: There is abundance. The promise, or blessing, is: And my God shall supply every need of yours. The supply is always equal to the demand. But we must make the demand upon the supply before it can be received by us; in other words, we must provide the vessels by which the oil will be increased. You must create a demand so that the supply that is there can fill it. A need is a demand upon supply; it is a vacuum, and nature abhors a vacuum. Get rid of what you don’t want to make room for what you do want.

My wife and I are in that process as we speak, getting rid of some things that we don’t want so that new good substance can begin moving in. We are creating a vacuum.

Know this: whenever we dare to form a vacuum – whether visualized in the mind or in tangible form – the substance of the Universe rushes in to fill that empty space. This is a fundamental spiritual law. It’s a very simple principle, but it is very important.

Remember this – if you want to make change in your life, you must make room for the improvement. Root out those false beliefs and fears of lack, eliminate those thoughts. Make your demand upon the limitless supply. Blessed are you, for the promise is: God shall supply every need of yours.

Use the substance you have; make room for more to come to you. You are blessed indeed.

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, at www.spiritualsolutionsblog.com

To subscribe for free weekday inspirational quotes, Rich Words, go to www.alanrowbotham.com

Feel free to share this article in its entirety with a friend.

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