Spiritual Solutions

THE ALTAR

1st Sunday. Read Matthew 5:21-26.

The altar represents a fixed, definite center in the consciousness of man. It is a place within where we meet the Lord face to face and are willing to give up our sins, give up the lower for the higher, the personal for the impersonal, the animal for the divine.

The altar, mentioned in Revelation 11:1 symbolizes the consciousness of full consecration that takes place in the temple of worship, the body. “Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.”

The altar to the unknown God is a yearning to know the unrevealed Spirit, and a reaching out of the mind for a fuller realization of its source.

Prayer does not change God–it changes us. Sincere desire is a form of prayer. Deep desire is essential for spiritual growth. It is desire–earnest, intense desire–that draws the whole being up out of mortality and its transient joys into the power to appreciate and receive real spiritual blessings. This is a demonstration, the proving of a Truth principle in one’s body and affairs. It is the manifestation of an ideal when its accomplishment has been brought about by one’s conformity in thought, word, and act, to the creative principle of God.

Kneeling at the altar I take my statement of Truth and hold it steadily in mind until I get my realization, the logic of my mind is satisfied, and there is the lifting up and expanding of soul consciousness.

To this end I affirm: “It is not I, but the Father abiding in me doeth his works.’”

Questions:

1. What does going to the altar signify?

2. What is the altar to the unknown God?

3. What happens when we pray?

4. What part does desire play in our spiritual growth?

Let me remember always that prayer does not change God–prayer changes me. Prayer brings me closer to God, doser to the light, closer to Truth.

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

————————————————————
Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over forty 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
————————————————————
 

Tweet This Post

AFFIRMATION

2d Day, Thursday. Read Luke 7:1-17.

The science of Spirit is the orderly study of truths formulated in Divine Mind according to the operation of universal law. An affirmation is a positive and orderly statement of Truth. By affirmation we claim and appropriate that which is ours.

The Word is the working power of Divine Mind. One will never go down to defeat if in an hour of need he or she positively affirms the almightiness of God-Mind through Christ, and invokes its help in his or her behalf.

I declare that as a child of God I am now entering the Christ consciousness of perfection. This is in itself an affirmation, the highest I can make. Jesus helped Himself into this high state of being by His use of the spoken word. He continually made the very highest affirmations such as, “I and the Father are one,” “All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth.” I am joint heir with Jesus to the infinite good of the kingdom, and by the faithful use of my spoken word I claim my heavenly good.

Faith is the result of many affirmations. Each affirmation helps to build up a substantial, firm, unwavering state of mind, because it establishes Truth in consciousness.

As day by day I repeat and courageously live affirmations of Truth, I come to know that I am opening a channel of intelligent communication with the silent forces at the depths of being; thoughts and words therefrom flow forth, and I realize an entirely new source of power developing within me.

I affirm: “Through Jesus Christ I realize my divine sonship, and I am transformed into His image and likeness.”

Questions:

1. What is an affirmation?

2. What is the result of many affirmations?

3. What is the highest affirmation we can make?

4. What happens when one lives affirmations of Truth?

In time of need I will remind myself and declare: “I am God’s child, created in His image and likeness. I am joint heir with Jesus Christ to the kingdom of God.”

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

—————————————————–             

 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.

——————————————————   

Previous in series Next in series

Tweet This Post

(Lent is a season of spiritual growth, a time for progressive unfoldment. We can best keep Lent by denying ourselves not “things” but negative thoughts and feelings. And, through prayer and study, we can come into a greater awareness of our oneness in God. Charles Fillmore, author of Keep a True Lent, has written material especially to help you observe Lent in this way. You are invited to participate in this Lenten program and to enter the Lenten season expecting definite results. In this day-by-day study, it is suggested that you set aside a definite time for prayer and study when you are least likely to be interrupted. Read the day’s Bible reference and the lesson. Then answer the questions concerning what you have read and use the meditation affirmations. And, most importantly, put the principles of these lessons to work in your life.)

DENIAL

1st Day, Ash Wednesday. Read Matthew 5:1-16.

Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, is so-called from the ceremonial of ashes. Ashes symbolize repentance.

John the Baptist came, saying, “Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Repentance means denial; it is a relinquishment and should be made without too much vehemence. Therefore, I deny out of consciousness old error thoughts, as if I were gently sweeping away cobwebs, and I affirm positively and fearlessly that I am a child of God, and that my inheritance is from Him.

As I follow this rule I find that I am letting go of old mortal beliefs and the Divine within is flaming higher and higher. Its pure white light is infusing all my surroundings with a delightful spirit of wisdom, dignity, and peace. I realize more and more the law of righteous thinking that is bringing me into a consciousness of my perfect dominion.

In Christ it is not difficult to eliminate belief in strife and contention. If petty quarrels, jealousy, uncharitable thoughts come into my life, I overcome them by a quiet but positive denial made in the realization that no error has any power or reality in itself. I turn away from the belief in negation, and my thinking changes. I rid my consciousness of limited thoughts that have encumbered and darkened my understanding. I break down mortal thought and ascend into a spiritual realm, the kingdom of the heavens.

In the spirit of divine love I affirm: “Forgetting the things that are behind, I realize I am strong, positive, powerful, wise, loving, fearless, free spirit. I am God’s perfect child.”

Questions:

1. What is denial?

2. What should follow denial?

3. How should denials be made?

4. How are quarrels and uncharitable thoughts overcome?

I keep a true Lent by denying limiting beliefs of the past and by laying hold of positive ideas that are life-giving. Thus I spiritualize my thinking and transform my life.

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

—————————————————–             

 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.

——————————————————   

Previous in series Next in series

Tweet This Post

It has become something of a tradition for us to share together in a special way during the Lenten season. In alternate years I use resources provided in the book, Keep a True Lent, by Charles Fillmore, co-founder of the Unity movement, or by some writings of Dr. Sue Sikking, former Unity minister and author of God Always Says Yes. This year, we will again focus on the guidelines in Keep a True Lent. I hope you’ll join us in consciousness as we journey forward in spiritual advancement.

Observing Lent The Unity Way

Unity believes that we can keep Lent best by denying ourselves not “things” but negative thoughts and feelings. And, through prayer and study, we can contemplate the victorious Christ and attempt to be more like Him.

Keep a True Lent contains material especially written by Charles Fillmore, co-founder of the Unity movement, to help you observe Lent in this way. You are invited to participate in these special lessons during the upcoming Lenten season, starting this week on Ash Wednesday and every day thereafter through Easter.

The word LENT comes from the Anglo-Saxon word for spring, which is derived from a verb meaning to lengthen. Lent comes in the spring when the days become noticeably longer.

This annual season of fasting, prayer, and penitence has been observed by the Western Church since the first century after Christ, although it has not always been forty days long. In more recent times it has been kept forty days, after the example of Moses and Elijah, and to commemorate the forty days of fasting and prayer that Jesus spent in the wilderness.

The first day of Lent is called Ash Wednesday from the custom that prevailed in the early Church of sprinkling ashes on the heads of penitents on the first day of Lent, in token of repentance for sin.

Ash Wednesday comes forty-six days before Easter. There are six Sundays in Lent, and they are not considered part of Lent, because in the Western Church Sunday is always a feast day. The forty weekdays beginning with Ash Wednesday constitute Lent.

The fifth Sunday in Lent is known as Passion Sunday, because it marks the beginning of Passion-tide, the last two weeks of Lent. These two weeks specifically commemorate the Passion of Jesus, or His experiences following the Last Supper.

The last week of Lent is called Holy Week. It includes Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday.

Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, commemorates Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem when the people strewed palms in His way.

Maundy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter, is a corruption of the Latin word mandati meaning “of the commandment,” and refers to the command “This do in remembrance of me” spoken by Jesus in regard to His breaking of the bread and drinking of the wine at the Last Supper. Maundy Thursday commemorates the event of the Last Supper.

Good Friday, the Friday before Easter, probably known originally as God’s Friday, commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus.

Easter Day, of course, commemorates the Resurrection. The word Easter comes from the Anglo-Saxon word Eastre, the name of the Goddess of spring, in whose honor a festival was celebrated each April. Easter Day always comes on the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or after March 21. If the full moon falls on a Sunday, Easter is the next Sunday. Easter can never fall earlier than March 22 nor later than April 25.

Lent is a season of spiritual growth, a time for progressive unfoldment. When we can blend and merge our mind with God-Mind, the way is open for the Lord to glorify us and to lift us into a higher, purer, more spiritual state.

“Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them,” said Jesus. Truth students everywhere are invited to participate in our Lenten program. Christ is in our midst. Place all burdens on your indwelling Lord and enter the Lenten season expecting definite results.

Fasting means abstaining from; it is abstinence. The place of overcoming is in the consciousness of man. The forty-day fast is an all-round denial of sense demands. In fasting, we as metaphysicians abstain from error thinking and meditate on spiritual Truth until we incorporate it into the consciousness of oneness with the Father.

The desire to excel is in all men and women. It is the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which ever urges us on through earth toward heaven. It should be encouraged and cultivated in the right direction.

As day after day we steadily adhere to our firm resolve to follow the steps outlined for the Lenten season, we discover that we are building on a firm foundation, and are mounting into a higher consciousness. We come to know that Christ is indeed with us and is resurrecting in us His realizations of light, life, and substance

How to Study

1. Before beginning your day-by-day study, we suggest you set aside a definite time for prayer and study when you are least likely to be interrupted.

2. Read each day’s assignment, beginning with Ash Wednesday.

3. Read the Bible reference given at the beginning of each day’s lesson.

4. Answer the questions concerning what you have read.

5. Use the meditation given in the Study Guide.

6. Put the principles of these lessons to work in your life.

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

—————————————————–             

 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.

——————————————————   

Next in series

Tweet This Post

Today, Saturday, April 2, is the twenty-second day of Lent. Lent is the period of time during which we can prepare ourselves for the Easter experience.
 
 
Assignment 22
 
We all live in a world with which we are so familiar that we know it not. How can this be? We are so cognizance of forms, of that which we see with our eyes and touch with our hands that we are completely unaware much of the time of an invisible, knowing Being, and the realization of a Presence that maintains and sustains the length, breadth, and height of any and all forms in outer manifestation.
 
When we realize or become aware of something that fills all and more especially of something that fills us individually, we move into the fourth dimension of life. The fourth dimension is a state of being in which the inner invisible essence of life is so real to us that we are never separated from it. This must be a day by day awareness that we never walk alone or move or think or act without inner guidance.
 
We at all times are capable of managing our life; we can be a King, a ruler in ourselves. This authority we must take if we are to walk the everyday path of life in sureness. We all know there is always an answer. We know that our troubles, challenges and difficulties are the most precious things in the world. They are life! They are our assignments for development, the ground in which we grow.
 
Only by day by day living can we reach our goal of accomplishment, which is the Joy of Living! Let us meet life on the path where we find it. To be in the midst of life is to fulfill life; it is the advancement of life.
 
What comes to you is not important, but how you meet it is the thing. When a storm is coming at sea everything is latched down to ride out the storm. A good skipper is one who has come through many storms.
 
Never apologize or have shame for the experiences of life. There is no self-justification or self-condemnation. Everything is fulfilled in thought and feeling. Do not accept evil, accept experience. All challenges of life are to walk through, not to break you or beat you down.
 
A problem comes again and again not that you may overcome it by force, but that you shall know the nothingness of it and the reality of yourself. Move into life, give yourself to life, and let life take you over. Don’t sit in the ashes of life. Get up and build a new fire!
 
 
 (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
 
——————————————————————–
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.
——————————————————————–
 
 
 

Previous in series Next in series

Tweet This Post

Today, Saturday, March 19, is the tenth day of Lent. Lent is the period of time during which we can prepare ourselves for the Easter experience.
 

Assignment 10
 
Are you free? You answer, “Yes, I am free. I do as I please, go wherever I desire. I live in a free country.” I ask the same question again, for I don’t believe there are very many free souls. The chains that hold us are so finely forged they are almost invisible but are strong enough that ten thousand wild horses could not break the smallest link.
 
Freedom is of the mind and soul, this is the highest and most prized freedom. Are you able to think clearly without being hampered by the feelings of others: employer, employees, loved ones, friends, members of groups, those of other religious convictions, political parties, or even the entangling web of the outer world?
 
Can you control your feelings? I do not mean hold them in by force until you are about to explode. Can you withdraw your feelings? If you can, you have freedom!
 
Freedom is the power to sustain or refuse to sustain any idea, situation, or condition. Do you feel to withdraw your feelings is a cold, calculating disinterest? It is not! It is refusing to let outer conditions and people make you a prisoner in your own daily life. No one has the power to stop you, but you have the power to let them stop you!
 
Are you one that cannot live without the approval of others? Even strangers? Then you are not free!
 
A Power has been given to you to complete every project in life. You cannot have a need, an idea, or a plan that is truly yours by feeling and desiring, that cannot be completed. The perfected good comes with the true desire just as the bush, blossom, and fruit come with the seed. But in the mind we must plant a seed of desire in the soil of believing.
 
Remember, your feelings, your desire, your inner need to bring forth are the God Power in action. People and conditions are only incidental and part of the environment through which you bring forth – much like hard clods of earth makes a strong plant.
 
There is nothing as powerful as a God idea that is ready to come through, we are told. So, be free to live, to love, and to express your own perfect self-projects.
 
(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
——————————————————————–
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.

——————————————————————–

Previous in series Next in series

Tweet This Post

Today, Friday, March 18, is the ninth day in the Lenten season. Lent is the period of time during which we can prepare ourselves for the Easter experience.
 

Assignment 9
 
We speak a great deal of love, we think a great deal about love, but do we know love? Love is God in action! Love is selfless. Love thinks only of the beloved. Love is blind to all faults, all shortcomings, for love sees God, which is good.
 
Love is the great unifying, harmonizing, drawing power in the universe. Love draws loved ones, friends, experiences, money and happiness and holds the soul and body together. Love in the secret of all healing! If you want more of anything in life . . . Love More!
 
Let’s take a test to see how much we really love. This test is in I Corinthians 12 (Moffat). You may grade yourself. How many are true of you?
 
“Love is very patient, very kind. Love knows no jealousy. Love makes no parade, gives itself no airs. Is never rude, never selfish, never irritated, never resentful. Love is never glad when others go wrong. Love is gladdened by goodness, always slow to expose, always eager to believe the best. Love is always hopeful. Love never disappears!”
 
How did you come out? Remember the words of Paul, “I may speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but if I have no love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal; I may prophesy, fathom all mysteries and secret ore, I may have such absolute faith that I can move hills from their places, but if I have no love, I count for nothing. I may distribute all I possess to the poor, I may give up my body to be burned, but if I have no love, I make nothing of it. I will show you a more excellent way. Make love your aim, then set your heart on spiritual gifts.”
 
Jesus said, “Love one another.” He did not say that you need “like” them; but it is imperative you’re your sake that you love them. To love is to sustain them as they are where they are! Do all in your power to give them freedom to be. This is Love!
 
(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
——————————————————————–
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.

——————————————————————–

Previous in series Next in series

Tweet This Post

Today, Saturday, March 12, is the fourth day of Lent. Lent is a time of preparation for the Easter experience.

I like to think of the word “Lent” in the form of the acrostics:

“Lessening Every Negative Thought”
and
“Loving Each New Today”

Assignment 4

As human beings we are lost in seeking. We seek here and there and everywhere for “something” that will give us a sense of well–being and a release of power that will make us capable of adjusting in every phase of life.

We seek with our sense mind in the outer world of forms and things. Since we seek with sense-instruments, we can only bring the results of what we call material existence into our consciousness.

We are all seeking peace of mind, power, and authority in our own experience and in our own soul! Some have ignorantly used this power and authority over other human beings. They become dictators – and the world is full of little ones and big ones. They do not understand that all power is Self Rule and no man was given dominion over another, but only over the lesser creatures.

All are seeking God, their own true power, their God-self, at the point where the power moves – and that is within the individual! We are God contained and have power to “live and move and have our being” in complete awareness of the Presence.

This power is not in us, but We Are this power. This Power is Omnipresent. It is the Life of all creation of which we are the highest. We are the Highest because we are visible and yet capable of comprehending and merging with the Invisible which we are also.

We can contain, embrace and include all power because we are contained, embraced and included as this power. God is “built-in” every one of us.

There is nothing to heal, to destroy, to change by applying God. There is nothing to be handled, manipulated or managed by the Law of God. We cannot maneuver God, for God is changeless. God is Law! God is All! God Is!

We must know God in expression. We are God moved and God movement, God is Being. God is being You and God is being Me. To be is to know I Am God! “To be” is to be God! To recognize every feeling as God is to know there is no separation. We must be self-aware and we shall be God-aware.

There is nothing to change but something to know. To know is to be aware of by feeling. Feeling is not the touch of the hand but an inward movement, an impression on the innermost “sensitive state” of our Being!

(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

——————————————————————–
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.

——————————————————————–

Previous in series Next in series

Tweet This Post

Today, Thursday, March 10, is the second day of Lent. Lent is a time of preparation for the Easter experience.

(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.)

Assignment 2

 Life is the movement of Spirit. Spirit is the breath of life. Life is the movement of a ceaseless energy in and through all manifestations. “Life is a vital force lying back of, in, and through all created form,” it states in Webster’s Dictionary. In man, mediating between body and soul, all that appears in contained, retained and sustained by this One vital force. Man calls this One power “God.” (Romans 13:1)

 Man has believed he is a separate entity or being, completely cut off, functioning in the instrument he calls his body. This is man’s “sin.” Sin is man’s separation, his missing the mark, his unawareness of his true being which to know aright, the Scripture tells us, “is life eternal.”

Man’s ignorance of the Life that is the fullness of his being has caused all outer conditions that are adverse to his true unfoldment and expression. His troubles and woes, his sickness, and his wars are the result of his not knowing. “There is none else, there is no God besides me; I girded thee, though thou hast not known me.” (Isaiah 45:5) “You shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32)

 How shall you know the Truth? Only where God is can you find Him! God is the Life in your body, the Spirit that indwells you. You can find the Source of Life by turning within and thinking and feeling in your own body and mind.

 Life is the Power. Repetition of the word will make your mind aware, but you must dwell on what life is, and what you are. You are Life in Action! All Power is in You! Feeling is knowing.

Your own feeling is the secret. What you feel deeply is yours and will affect you and every part of your life. To Know, You must Feel! We are so near to the Life-giving mystery that we call “God,” that we can feel it in every breath we draw, the beat of our heart, the warmth of love – yet we are far away from it, unless we Feel It in our own body as Life and Know it as God, the Only Power! We affirm, or make firm in our own consciousness, our true self.

 God is Blessing You, Right Now!

 Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

 ——————————————————————–

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.

——————————————————————–

Previous in series Next in series

Tweet This Post