Spiritual Solutions

PATIENCE

29th Day, Monday. Read Hebrews 11:17-40; 12:1-6.

Patience is a state of mind that beholds the world from the harmony of the Christ Mind, a freedom from personal thinking. It is an attitude of mind characterized by poise, calmness, and a quiet restful trust, especially in the face of trying conditions. It has its foundation in love. “Great peace have they that love thy law; and they have no occasion of stumbling.”

The first requisite in the development of patience is spiritual understanding. The larger our vision of life, the more freedom we feel, and we are spared the friction and frettings that come to those who are centered in personality.

Whether one is patient or not depends on our view of life. If we are selfish and self-centered and live in a material world, bound by our own interests, we lack the qualities that go to make up patience.

We may take the gift of patience and make use of it. We may receive it by faith, and then work it out in every department of our being by daily practice of Truth.

Patience gives self-control. We unfold the capacity to direct our behavior in right ways, a result of spirituality.

I realize that I am feeding my consciousness on divine patience. When my thoughts are in harmony with divine law, they develop my body into God’s beautiful, indestructible temple. “Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith.”

I affirm: “The serene, calm, trustful Spirit now accomplishes all the desires of my heart. I rest in peace.”

Questions:

1. Define “patience.”

2. What is the first requisite in developing patience?

3. What happens if we are self-centered and live in a material world?

4. What does patience give us?

I am patient, for my faith in God assures me that all things in my life are working together for my good.

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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HEALING

24th Day, Tuesday. Read Matthew 9:14-38.

Health, real health, is from within and does not have to be manufactured in the without. It is the normal condition of humankind, a condition true to the reality of our being.

The first step in all spiritual healing is the using of faith, and the next step is to become open and receptive to the stream of healing life. Spiritual healing restores to perpetual health because it erases the error thought and cleanses the mind.

Through the exercise of faith and our word, our spiritual quality is fused into unity with the power of Christ, and the healing is marvelously accomplished.

It is said that the early Christians, before going forth to do their mighty works, commanded the new life in Christ to come forth and to imbue their consciousness with its healing potency to such an extent that it would flow through them and heal all those to whom they ministered.

They discovered that when they repeated over and over the most powerful prayer Jesus ever uttered, the Lord’s Prayer, the hidden Christ within each one of them was called into action. They further discovered that the fifteenth time they realized the prayer the waters of tribulation as well as all manner of diseases began to subside, and that their realization lifted the consciousness of those who were asking their help. All tribulation and disease dropped away.

Experience proves the power of words to bring health. In healing myself, I talk to my body, repeating necessary denials and affirmations. This raises my consciousness to spiritual reality where all healing power originates.

I faithfully affirm: “Through Jesus Christ, God’s vitalizing energy floods my whole being, and I am healed.”

1. What is the normal condition of humankind?

2. What is the first step in spiritual healing? The next?

3. How did the early Christians do their mighty works?

4. How do we raise our consciousness to spirituality?

Quietly, confidently, I turn to God. His vitalizing life and energy floods my whole being. I am healed. Praise God, I am healed.

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.

 If you’d like to receive weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at Rich Words.

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FAITH

6th Day, Tuesday. Read Hebrews 11:1-12.

Faith is the perceiving power of the mind linked with a power to shape substance. It is spiritual assurance, the power to do the seemingly impossible. It is a force that draws to us our heart’s desire right out of the invisible spiritual substance. It is a deep inner knowing that that which is sought is already ours for the taking, the “assurance of things hoped for.”

Faith working in spiritual substance accomplishes all things. This is the faith that co-operates with creative law. Exercised in spiritual consciousness, it finds its abode, and without variation or disappointment it brings results that are seemingly miraculous.

Faith in the reality of things spiritual develops the faith center in one’s brain. When the mental eye is illumined with faith, it sheds a radiance that hovers like a halo around the head and extends in lessening degree throughout the whole body. “When thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light.”

The halo that the early artists painted around the heads of the saints was not imaginary, but real. This illuminating power of faith covers our whole constitution, making us master of all the forces centering about spiritual consciousness.

I realize that my faith in the invisible is building a real abiding substance in my mind and in my body. Spiritual ideas grow quickly when planted in the rich soil of my mind, and my body temple changes accordingly.

I affirm: “I have faith in the glorious infusion of the more abundant life of Christ vitalizing me. I am lifted up and healed.

Questions:

1. Define “faith.”

2. How is the faith center developed?

3. Where should we place our faith?

4. What happens when the mental eye is illumined with faith?

Faith is one of my inborn faculties; I need only begin to use it. As I keep it turned in the direction of Truth, my faith grows and develops.

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.

 If you’d like to receive weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at Rich Words.

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The words, “In God We Trust” are emblazoned on every bill of whatever denomination of dollar it might be, but do we really trust in God or do we put our trust in the dollar itself to determine how we view our life experience?

Let me share with you some insight into the early years of the Unity movement revealed in the book Letters of Myrtle Fillmore, co-founder of Unity, as she responded to letters she had received, just to show what it really means to trust in God.

“You may never have suspected it, but this Unity work is a dream that has been nurtured and built from the invisible to the concrete through love and devotion and good hard work. It may never have occurred to you that my husband and I have put ourselves into this thing which God has given us to do, year after year, without personal returns beyond our ‘daily bread’ and clothing. I work here in the Unity buildings every day, and receive a salary, just as several hundred other workers do. I think a very capable business man or woman would not consider working for that salary. But it meets my personal needs; and usually I have a little each week with which to do what my heart prompts. . . .

“I smiled as I read of the state of your finances. I think I’ll tell you a little about mine! You know I am on a salary, just as the other Unity folks are. And sometimes I have a very definite place for all my allowance, before I even begin on my own individual needs. Sometimes I am obliged to draw upon the Fillmore account in order to do something I feel to be important. Usually when I find myself “strapped,” someone who doesn’t know the facts will send me a love gift. Last week I handed out just about all I could get my hands on and was looking for more, because I had places for it. This morning a letter came from a woman to whom I have written a few times, but whom I haven’t seen, in which there was a check for me for two hundred dollars. No particular apparent reason for her sending it; but evidently she and the Lord were aware of my use of money and replenished my purse in that happy way. So the money I had sent forth came back multiplied; I can replace the amount I drew out and still have plenty of “pin money” left.”

It is evident that Myrtle and her husband, Charles, had deep roots in the spiritual principles of faith and trust. What about you? Your faith and trust determine what your world is as far as you are concerned; whether you will make the most of circumstances and release the most of your potential. Without deep roots we merely exist; our lives are shallow. Unless deeply rooted in spiritual principles, we do not and cannot develop into individuals of stature and worth, such as we are intended to be.

George Elliot once said that no human being can live a whole and wholesome life unless rooted to some particular spot in the soil. The spot of soil we allude to also means for us a working philosophy, an orientation of spiritual principles without which we lead superficial lives with only surface roots; and the winds of worldly experience easily bowl us over.

There are two aspects to every strong life, rootage and fruitage, receptivity and activity, relaxation and tension, leaning back and moving forward. But he or she who cannot do one cannot do the other very well. He or she who is unable to rest cannot work effectively either. He or she who cannot let go cannot hold on very firmly. He or she who cannot find footing cannot progress. If one cannot let go, one has nothing substantial to rest on; one hasn’t grown dependable roots and doesn’t know how to surrender, to “let go and let God,” letting go of imaginary boundaries and allowing a greater flow of God’s good. This ability to “let go and let God” creates greater clarity of all that is already ours and who we really are in Truth.

With strong roots you can withstand any wind; and this is what we are urging – building an awareness of your inner resources, an awareness of your divine son-ship, the Christ in you.

Faith and trust go hand in hand; they are not “blind” but are deeply rooted in a conscious awareness of the activity of God within. With trust we become open to all the possibilities available to us in any particular moment and we have a willingness to take the steps needed to change our current life experience. Not only that, but we have the courage to move beyond what we previously thought was possible and we develop a sense of certainty that everything will work out fine even though we may not have proof at this time. Just as Myrtle Fillmore found, we are provided for from within; and this consciousness brings a profound feeling of safety and security even in the midst of adverse circumstances.

I firmly believe that when we accept the idea that we are plenteously provided for from within, and also act as if this were true, something happens . . . the taproot begins to grow, so to speak, and the entire experience begins to unfold. In that consciousness we never know lack, we never feel insecurity, we are never helpless. We are rather like the one described by the Psalmist, “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 he does, he prospers.” (Ps. 1:3)

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-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!

If you’d like to receive “Rich Words,” featuring weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at www.alanrowbotham.com
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Today, Tuesday, March 15, is the sixth day in the Lenten season.
Lent is the period of time during which we can prepare ourselves for the Easter experience.
 
Assignment 6
 
The time has come in our unfoldment when each one must be his or her own high priest. We must search our souls to find out where we are falling short of the eternal good of God. If you are not well and happy, fulfilled and satisfied, you are falling short somewhere in the acceptance of the Presence of God within you.
 
So I ask you again. In what do you believe? That which you believe will come to be and you can loosely say that this is the Law without deviation. What we believe will come to us, if we believe it long enough, strong enough and with enough feeling.
 
What you believe will come to you, and only you have the power to examine your believing. In what must I believe? is the next question. In the Truth that God is in you!
 
Consciously salute God within, even if outer conditions do not testify to the presence of good! Your conscious mind may return to the fears and doubts and they may return again and again to challenge you.
 
You are stepping out on this faith that is God, yet you may be scared and shaking within; but the Father never fails you. All power is in you. Even though things are not exactly right today, remember, Today is both Seed and Harvest time!
 
You may have something in your life that you are harvesting from fears and beliefs of the past, but today is also seed time. If you turn within to your God Presence and call out in faith – believing for just one moment, you are safe. Maybe the triumphant believing left you immediately, but nevertheless, you have set the Law of God in motion and it cannot fail!
 
If you have turned in true believing to God, the Power, you have already moved the Law and the Law will fulfill itself in your life! Once you declare yourself, once you believe with the fullness of your heart and mind, though you slide back, you do not turn away from the Law because it is already set in motion! Faith is believing when you can’t see. Faith is the power that brings everything into Being. Faith is Believing.
 
  (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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This article, Praying for Others, is one that I wrote and published on my blog in March, 2008, as part of a series on Prayer, but I thought it worth reviving and revising a little to bring it to you again for your consideration:

Sometimes we are inclined to try to change one another. We want the other person to become what we would like them to be. We even do that in prayer too. We want to change the other person, to give them our wisdom, and to have them to see it our way.

Whenever I pray for other people, I notice that when a change occurs in me then a change often occurs in the situation I’m praying about. If we are to pray for others we must first pray for ourselves, putting ourselves consciously in God’s presence. When we make that contact within ourselves, within our own hearts, then the situations in our lives are affected in positive ways.

There’s a wonderful story that’s told in three of the gospels. It’s the story about a woman who came pushing through the crowd toward Jesus just to touch the hem of his garment.

Given the crowd around Jesus, many people must have touched him; but he felt the woman’s touch and turned around. He said, “Who touched me?” The woman hid at first; they couldn’t find her. Then she came forward and he told her, “Your faith has made you whole!”

Until that woman touched him Jesus hadn’t been aware of her. He was focused on the consciousness of God’s presence. And out of that consciousness the power came through him to bring about healing in the woman who touched him.

He was a conduit, or contact, for healing.

When we pray for ourselves and feel our oneness with God, we too can be that kind of contact for someone. But the first thing is to pray for ourselves, to put ourselves in a consciousness of God.

Our purpose in prayer is to unify ourselves with God, to become one with God. Then we can be a conduit or contact for others as well. Imagine a wire, a light, and the power. We are like the wire. The wire cannot do anything of itself but it is the contact for the power to come through to bring the light. So my work, and yours, as the “wire,” is to seek to know God’s presence.

As I make that contact, then the power flows through me to bring light into my world, into the situations in my life, and into the lives of others for whom I pray. And those who are in contact with me are touched by the light.

I must first be in a consciousness of oneness with God before any effect is felt, before any power is transferred through me. It is not through the power of my thinking, because there is no power in my thinking; the power is the power of God.

People often talk about how we influence others by our thoughts, and in prayer they try “to send” their thoughts to others. That is a wrong concept of the role of thought, especially the role of thought in prayer. We do not “send” our thoughts to others; there is no power in our thoughts that we send to others to try to influence them.

The power is the power of God; that’s the only thing that can bring about change. Our work in the role of thought is to get ourselves in the right consciousness, in the right place; to elevate our thoughts first. Then we are able to enfold those for whom we pray in the realization of God’s presence.

There is a role of thought, that is for sure, but it is for us to bring about change in ourselves.

Whenever the “hem of the garment” has been touched, whenever that contact has been made, then we know. It is as though God leaves His footprint, and flowers spring up. Someone is healed, or a situation changes, or a poem is written, or a new insight comes. It comes out of the contact we make within ourselves. We come into that place as we begin to take right thought within ourselves, as we reach for God’s presence within.

When I say “reach,” I don’t mean to say we have to “reach out” somewhere. God’s presence is right there within us all the time. And God’s presence is also right there within the other person for whom you are praying.

So we reach inward for God’s presence, and we think of the things that are of God.

The apostle Paul said it in a very appropriate way, recorded in Philippians 4:8:

“Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” These are the things we are to think about as we raise ourselves into the consciousness of God.

So we build our consciousness first. That’s what thought is for.

Prayer is an act of thought, yes. But more than that, prayer is an act of love. Love frees, love does not bind; love does not possess, love does not say “I wish you to do things this way” or “I want you to do things the way I want you to do them.”

Love doesn’t do that. Love frees you to the law of growth in your own uniqueness.

True prayer is a prayer of the heart, isn’t it? It’s a prayer of love.

In the Buddhist tradition, there are several stories where the savior is represented as a steed that soars across the skies over the ocean of life rescuing shipwrecked sailors.

In one story there are some sailors that have gone on a journey to the Island of Jewel and they have stopped at another island. On this island there is a band of seductresses, and the sailors get caught up with them and stay there.

The problem is that these seductresses are sirens; they are man-eating monsters and consume the sailors.

Every once in a while in the story the steed, which is called Cloud, appears over the island and calls to the sailors to mount upon his back. He flies off and takes them to safety, but they must not look back or else they will fall off.

So Cloud, the steed, does not save the sailors by sending his thoughts to them. He may extend compassion and love to them, but he really saves them by perfecting his own flight.

That’s what Jesus meant when he said, “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto myself.”

We must perfect our flight. Then, as we are lifted up, we also lift up others.

If you want to pray for someone, to help them, to heal them, to bless them, then first reach for God’s presence within you knowing that same presence is in the other person.

Realize that God’s perfection is everywhere present, as much in you as in the other person. God’s perfection is there, God’s abundance is there. It is not absent, it’s already present. Get in a consciousness of that perfection. If you wish, see the person in your mind’s eye as enfolded in God’s perfection.

Then feel the person in your heart, in love. Because it’s the love that really makes the connection. And love does its perfect work. It casts out fear. When we are in love, we are one with one another.

I was reading an article by Bill Moyers about a retreat place for people who have cancer. The place is called Commonweal, just north of San Francisco, on the Point Reyes National Seashore.

He told about his experience there. He said that people were coming together and just loving each other, sharing their stories and being recognized as a person. Not as a person who has something wrong with them, but simply as a person.

They loved each other, massaged each other, touched each other, and told each other their stories.

Bill Moyers said there was such a feeling of love there and healings were taking place there, because of the love and caring.

The prayer that heals is the prayer of the heart, the prayer of love.

When we pray from the heart then we are one with the other, and one with God. When we pray with the heart then we are in the “secret place of the Most High.” Only love can enter there, because God is love.

It is the mansion of miracles.

Remember that Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions.” It is the creative house of life, the creative house of the Spirit within you; it is that secret place of the heart where we are all one and where there are no differences.

So if you want to pray a prayer that will help someone, pray the prayer of the heart, pray the prayer of love.

“In my Father’s house are many mansions.” No one is left out; that’s what Jesus meant.

No one is ever left out of our Father’s heart. When we pray the prayer of the heart, no one is ever left out. No one is shut out in prayer. I never pray only for myself, even when I pray for myself.

Whenever you pray, whether it is for yourself or another, no one is ever shut out. You always lift others. You always make contact, if you pray the prayer of the heart. And something changes. The hem of the garment is touched.

As you lift up your life, you also lift up the lives of others.

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

Special thanks to those of you who have sent tithes or love offerings for “Spiritual Solutions.” I am very grateful for your generosity.
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Are you bogged down in the belief in sickness and impotence? Then right now bring yourself to the present moment, and become aware that you can use your God given dominion over all things. God’s spirit of life, dynamic energizing life, dwells within you. It is there, and you have only to call it forth, put it into action, and you will begin to manifest perfect health in spirit, mind, and body.

Perhaps you have allowed yourself to be handicapped by fear and indecision. The first thing to do is to take your mind off the problem and perplexities and fix your faith in God. When you place your affairs in the Father’s loving care, all anxieties cease. Worrying incapacitates us for meeting life’s crises.

Use your faith, declare your dominion now. In II Corinthians 6:2 we read, “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” And Jesus said, “Do you not say, ‘There are four months, then comes the harvest’? I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for harvest.” (John 4:35)

Instead of having faith that sometime in the future your healing might take place, you can exercise your faith now, give thanks that your healing is already taking place and accept it now. “This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Ps. 118:24)

God is ever with you. Let Him quicken your mind, put the proper tools in your hands and lead you in the right decision. Through the guidance of the indwelling power of God you will be able to say the right word and do the right thing in every situation that may confront you.

If you seem to be weighed down by some circumstance, a steadfast faith in God will help you to lift up your head and to face the situation unafraid and confident. God’s omnipotent power is yours. God’s love surrounds you. His light is within you to guide you.

Perhaps you’ve allowed yourself to be fettered by hatred, resentment or suspicion. Turn your eyes instead upon the blessings of life and the blessedness of other human beings. If you feel that you’ve been treated unfairly, misused, or abused, it‘s time to exercise forgiveness. Then put it out of your mind. The only reality in any situation is the thought we have concerning it, the way we feel about it. This is the law of life.

“Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely . . . think on these things.” (Phil. 4:8) Put the unpleasant thoughts right out of your mind by thinking of God’s goodness and greatness and love. Bless the person who has seemingly injured you. Behold the Christ in him or her.

Could it be that you have neglected the power of prayer? Prayer is the open sesame to the joys and riches of the kingdom, and yet we fail to use it.

Many marvelous answers to prayer have been outlined through the spontaneous faith of persons utterly unlearned in theology, psychology or metaphysics.

Remember the woman who came to Jesus for healing, hoping to push through the crowd to touch the hem of his garment without speaking or even being blessed by him? She probably knew nothing about the working of faith, but she had the secret of prayer. She had absolute faith, the courage to act, and the simplicity to accept. She used the necessary means. She believed if she could but touch the master, the healing would follow. And, confident in that faith, she pressed on, touched him, and was healed.

Simplicity of faith is the thing that always gets an answer, sometimes in the form of immediate, even seeming miraculous results. Sometimes, it may come slowly. Sometimes we lose patience and our faith grows weak. If we become faint hearted and fall back in our faith, then we must try again. Long years of wrong thinking, of imperfect practice, have often made deep grooves in the brain. It takes effort and continued practice before change.

Don’t be discouraged. Never give up. Keep faith in the latent powers within you. Remember those who have overcome insurmountable handicaps, and keep constantly in mind that you too can overcome. And you don’t have to wait. Whether your faith is small or great it is the key to riches of which you never dreamed. Remind yourself that “now is the acceptable time.”

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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In a poem called “The Explorer” one verse goes like this:

“There’s no sense in going further – it’s the edge of cultivation,”
So they said and I believed it; broke my land and sowed my crop,
Built my barns and strung my fences in the little border station
Tucked away below the foothills where the trails run out and stop.
Till a voice as bad as conscience ran interminable changes
On one everlasting whisper, day and night repeated so:
“Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look beyond the ranges,
Something lost behind the ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!”

God has endowed man with the gifts of life, of wisdom, of creativity, of judgment – and with the tools of the material world around him. We are told, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be.”  (I John 3:2)

Why? Because we are involved in a great experiment to see what we can make of ourselves. Despite the tremendous developments of the world around us, the only world that has meaning to each individual is the world within him or her. And he or she is the only one who can explore that world!

In the creation of humankind, each person is made just a little different from others. There are no carbon copies, so no one experiment by one person can give a stock answer that will benefit everyone. Each person must undertake the experiment for himself, to see what he can do with this thing that is within him – this thing called life, his life, his very own special gift from God, his own uniqueness.

We seem to be made up of flesh and blood, a hank of hair, a few clothes, and certain conditions and surroundings. We seem to be very much the product of our environment.

But while we are thinking these thoughts, along comes an Emerson or an Einstein, a Schweitzer or a Jesus, and all the world marvels at such people and says that they are not made of the same kind of stuff that you and I are made of.

This is where we are wrong, because in reality an individual will never discover anything outside himself greater than he himself is inherently. When you hear the words of great persons, or hear great symphonies, or see masterpieces of art, these experiences are awakening within you that which has always been there, something within you that corresponds to what the masters have done and are doing. In a sense, they are giving you back to yourself. This is one of the many adventures of self-discovery in the great experiment of life.

If you actually believe in a power greater than you are, you come to know that you, as a human being, have nothing to do with the processes of life whatsoever. You live, but you did not create your own life; you think, but you did not create your own mind; you are spirit, but you did not make that spirit.

All at once we are confronted with a thought so stupendous that it almost staggers the imagination: There is something in me that is greater than I appear to be! And that something really isn’t myself, as a mere human being, at all. It is something which is God expressing Himself as me, something which is me as God sees me, something which is limitless, all-powerful, all-knowing. And because this something is spirit, it is always experienced to the extent of my realization, my faith, my vision.

St. Thomas Aquinas once said that there are only three really important endeavors in life: to have faith in the right things; to hope for the right things; and to love the right things. That is our job – and to press on in the expansion of our consciousness, to increase our faith in the infinite power that resides within us as the self that is yet to be.

(This article is adapted from an 1976 essay by Rev. Eric Butterworth, The Explorer)

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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Would you like to be free from fear of all kinds – to dissolve these fearful imaginings and have a sense of inner peace? Of course you would. I’m sure that from time to time we all have felt the pangs of fear. Some of us have wrestled through tedious hours and days and weeks, sometimes even years, with some dread fear.

We might instantly have freed ourselves from this fear if we had understood the total unreality of fear, and the absolute power and presence of God that is everywhere, evenly present throughout the Universe.

Our fear seems very real to us, but we must let go of the destructive thought of fear. And the only way to dissolve it or get rid of it or let it go is to replace it with faith in the Infinite presence and process of God.

We can and must overcome this fear because it is within our power to do it. No one else can do it for us; it all depends on the kind of thoughts we entertain. Do we give a thing the power to hurt because of the fear thought we hold about it, or do we give it the power of good by holding faith thoughts? We cannot hold both fear and faith thoughts at the same time. Our mind is our own, and it is up to us to decide the kind of thoughts we want to hold. It takes less energy on our part to hold the right kind of thoughts, thoughts that build us, than it does to hold fear thoughts that tear down.

What is fear? Fear is faith in some negative condition or thing. But fear is not of God. God did not make anything for us to fear. Fear has no reality; it has no power of itself. The only power that fear has is the power you give it, like conjuring up fanciful, imaginary beliefs about it. There can be nothing to fear unless we ourselves give something the power to harm.

In order to overcome fear we must increase our faith in God. When we are fearful we are having faith in the negative or the “evil” side of life. Our faith must be built on a firm foundation of good, with God as the only presence and power in the whole Universe. Faith moves mountains of doubt and fear.

Faith must be put into action in every thought, word, and deed. It is this active faith that is the remedy for all fear. Celia Walters says in one of her books:  “The remedy for fear is action. Are you afraid to do the thing that you know ought to be done? Then go ahead and do it. Your fear will vanish like a shadow in the doing.”

When you feel the fear rising up within you, flow with it, experience all the sensations it brings, even welcome it as a friend that you know very well; demand more, tell it to do its worst, then go ahead anyway and do the thing that is yours to do. The fear then has nothing to hold on to, and will vanish into the nothingness that it is. This is putting faith into action. So how do we put our faith into action? Simply by doing the thing that we think we are afraid to do.

Why did Jesus stress the importance of faith? He knew that faith in God is an unbreakable connection. Always, Jesus looked beyond appearances to the truth of God’s good. Let us have an unwavering faith in God. Our faith keeps our vision high in the face of every challenge or change and enables us to greet each day with joy and courage. Let us pray today as Jesus did, with a thankful heart, a steady faith, and a sure knowledge of our oneness with God.

And remember these words of Paul, in his second letter to Timothy, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Tim 1:6,7) This statement tells us plainly that God didn’t instill fear within us. Fear is of our own making. We want to remember this often, to remind ourselves that we have the power within us to wipe our fear away, to dissolve all vestiges of fear consciousness, and to express the power of love and wisdom and intelligence and faith in all of our affairs.

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.

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In this series based on selections from the book The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence, we last week presented the first of Brother Lawrence’s Letters.

In the First Letter he emphasized the importance of making the sense of God’s presence habitual. In other words, so that it becomes a natural part of our being.

In seeking to become wholly God’s, he renounced in mind everything that was not God and began to live as if there was none but God and he in the world.

 Even though he encountered many difficulties in his practice, he continued it.

 Now we turn to the Second Letter.

To the Reverend _________

Not finding any manner of life in books, although I have no difficulty about it, yet, for greater security, I shall be glad to know your thoughts concerning it.

In a conversation some days since with a person of piety, he told me the spiritual life was a life of grace, which begins with servile fear, which is increased by hope of eternal life, and which is consummated by pure love; that each of these states had its different stages, by which one arrives at last at that blessed consummation.

I have not followed all these methods. On the contrary, from I know not what instincts, I found they discouraged me. This is the reason why, at my entrance into religion, I took a resolution to give myself up to God, as the best return I could make for His love, and, for the love of Him, to renounce all besides.

For the first year I commonly employed myself during the time set apart for devotion with the thought of death, judgment, heaven, hell, and my sins. Thus I continued some years, applying my mind carefully the rest of the day, and even in the midst of my business, to the presence of God, whom I considered always as with me, often as in me.

At length I came insensibly to do the same thing during my set time of prayer, which caused in me great delight and consolation. This practice produced in me so high an esteem for God that faith alone was capable to satisfy me in that point.

(At this point the narrator inserts a footnote, as follows: I suppose he means that all distinct notions he could form of God were unsatisfactory, because he perceived them to be unworthy of God; and therefore his mind was not to be satisfied but by the views of faith, which apprehend God as infinite and incomprehensible, as He is in Himself, and not as He can be conceived by human ideas.)

Such was my beginning, and yet I must tell you that for the first ten years I suffered much. The apprehension that I was not devoted to God as I wished to be, my past sins always present to my mind, and the great unmerited favors which God did me, were the matter and source of my sufferings. During this time I fell often, and rose again presently.

It seemed to me that all creatures, reason, and God Himself were against me, and faith alone for me. I was troubled sometimes with thoughts that to believe I had received such favors was an effect of my presumption, which pretended to be at once where others arrived with difficulty; at other times, that it was a willful delusion, and that there was no salvation for me.

When I thought of nothing but to end my days in these troubles (which did not at all diminish the trust I had in God, and which served only to increase my faith), I found myself changed all at once; and my soul, which till that time was in trouble, felt a profound inward peace, as if she were in her center and place of rest.

Ever since that time I walk before God simply, in faith, with humility and with love, and I apply myself diligently to do nothing and think nothing which may displease Him. I hope that when I have done what I can, He will do with me what He pleases.

As for what passes in me at present, I cannot express it. I have no pain or difficulty about my state, because I have no will but that of God, which I endeavor to accomplish in all things, and to which I am so resigned that I would not take up a straw from the ground against His order, or from any other motive than purely that of love to Him.

I have quitted all forms of devotion and set prayers but those to which my state obliges me. And I make it my business only to persevere in His holy presence, wherein I keep myself by a simple attention, and a general fond regard to God, which I may call an actual presence of God; or, to speak better, an habitual, silent, and secret conversation of the soul with God, which often causes me joys and raptures inwardly, and sometimes also outwardly, so great that I am forced to use means to moderate them and prevent their appearance to others.

In short, I am assured beyond all doubt that my soul has been with God above these thirty years. I pass over many things that I may not be tedious to you, yet I think it proper to inform you after what manner I consider myself before God, whom I behold as my King.

I consider myself as the most wretched of men, full of sores and corruption, and who has committed all sorts of crimes against his King. Touched with a sensible regret, I confess to Him all my wickedness, I ask his forgiveness, I abandon myself in His hands that He may do what He pleases with me. The King, full of mercy and goodness, very far from chastising me, embraces me with love, makes me eat at His table, serves me with His own hands, gives me the key of His treasures; He converses and delights Himself with me incessantly, in a thousand and a thousand ways, and treats me in all respects as His favorite. It is thus I consider myself from time to time in His holy presence.

My most useful method is this simple attention, and such a general passionate regard to God, to whom I find myself often attached with great sweetness and delight than that of an infant at the mother’s breast; so that, if I dare to use the expression, I should choose to call this state the bosom of God, for the inexpressible sweetness which I taste and experience there.

If sometimes my thoughts wander from it by necessity or infirmity, I am presently recalled by inward motions so charming and delicious that I am ashamed to mention them. I desire your Reverence to reflect rather upon my great wretchedness, of which you are fully informed, than upon the great favors which God does me, all unworthy and ungrateful as I am.

As for my set hours of prayer, they are only a continuation of the same exercise. Sometimes I consider myself there as a stone before a carver, whereof he is to make a statue; presenting myself thus before God, I desire Him to form His perfect image in my soul, and to make me entirely like Himself.

At other times, when I apply myself to prayer, I feel all my spirit and all my soul lift itself up without any care or effort of mine, and it continues as it were suspended and firmly fixed in God, as in its center and place of rest.

I know that some charge this state with inactivity, delusion, and self-love. I confess that it is a holy inactivity, and would be a happy self-love if the soul in that state were capable of it, because, in effect, while she is in this repose, she cannot be disturbed by such acts as she was former accustomed to, and which were then her support, but which would now rather hinder than assist her.

Yet I cannot bear that this should be called delusion, because the soul which thus enjoys God desires herein nothing but Him. If this be delusion in me, it belongs to God to remedy it. Let Him do what He pleases with me; I desire only Him, and to be wholly devoted to Him. You will, however, oblige me in sending me your opinion, to which I always pay a great deference, for I have a singular esteem for your Reverence, and 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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