Spiritual Solutions

Today, Thursday, April 7, is the twenty-sixth day of Lent. Lent is the period of time during which we can prepare ourselves for the Easter experience.
 

Assignment 26
 
As human beings we are not restricted or limited although we accept limitation on every hand. There is no boundary line for our accomplishment. We belong to the illimitableness of time and Spirit. We think of ourselves as restricted by the limitation of our human concept of ourselves or by the accepted limitation of our physical bodies. In truth there is no limitation.
 
The whole world, as we see it, is the wrong side of the picture. We see only the back of the canvas. The beauty is on the other side, the side which is named the “within.” This inner side is the side of feeling, knowing and true expressing and it is the real of life. How you feel about something is the real of it!
 
We have glimpses of this illimitable, immeasurable essence of our being in our sleeping dreams as well as in our waking dreams and visions. This very age in which we live is conclusive proof of the reality of the dreams of man. Proverbs tells us, “Where there is no vision the people perish.”
 
The very dreams, visions, plans and true desires of our heart are but the urgings of the Indwelling Power and Spirit of our being for expression and fulfillment. Never forbid your Soul the right to dream, for to dream is to conceive as possible a new state of being and it is the first movement of reality; much like the quickening of a child in the womb. The dream is the quickening of that which is to be, brought into reality by believing.
 
There is a realm of pure ideas within us that is to be brought forth through our minds, faith and word. It is from this realm that we bring forth Life and all its implications. This realm was called the Kingdom of Heaven and was the main theme of all the teachings of Jesus.
 
Heaven is within you, the storehouse or treasure chest of your good. It contains all that is expected of you on your earthly journey. All that we are and can ever be is stored in the round tower of your heart. We open the windows of heaven by acceptance, with praise and thanksgiving the invisible abundant mind essence. This essence flows through our minds from ideas to expression. Heaven is the orderly realization of ideas and they must be completed by bringing forth on earth.
 
 
(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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Today, Friday, March 11, is the third 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 3

“God is Spirit.” (Jesus) Spirit means to breathe – which is Life.

I remember years ago, when Kathryn and I were attending a conference at Unity Village, Kathryn became ill and had to stay in her room. One of our Unity ministers brought her some chicken soup, and another of our Unity ministers, John Tant, came to see her and to pray for her. He said for her to affirm over and over, “With every breath I breathe, I breathe the breath of God, I breathe the breath of Life.” It worked, and Kathryn recovered quickly. This is something you can do also to help yourself when you are not feeling well.

God is the life in the body now. Life is an involuntary action. When we interfere with the breathing process or cut off the flow of blood to any part of the body we endanger life. When we give ourselves to Life within we are restored. Whenever we suffer any kind of unpleasant, troublesome, painful feeling, we have ignorantly thwarted Life. Life itself will put it right if we cooperate with this Power and give up our pathetic blunder of trying to live “on our own.”

We try to live life, to force life, to have our way or to do what others expect of us. We cheat ourselves out of life because we are afraid to trust Life! Life is God, the law and power of our being. The inner Life is called the “voice of the Lord.” “Take fast hold of instructions; let her not go; keep her, for she is thy life.” (Proverbs 4:13)

The power within breathes in us, causes the heart to beat and carries forth all functions for the sustaining of the body. We follow the instructions of Life: when we are hungry we eat, when we are tired we sleep. We love and share because we are instructed from within. If we do not follow inner guidance we are sick, poor, and unhappy. Our great sin is to follow what man thinks from outer judgment instead of listening to our own God-given directions. “The wisdom of man is foolishness with God.” (I Corinthians 3:19)

Let us close our eyes, laying aside in our mind all conditions, other people’s opinions, prejudices or beliefs. Let us put aside our own fears, tremblings or beliefs in our own inadequacy. Ask yourself, “What does the inner desire, the longing of my soul insist is mine? Why do I not have it?” Because you do not Feel it as your own! 

You cannot have what you will not Feel. Life is Feeling and feeling is experiencing! Feel as if you held, possessed and were filled with the thing needful. “Ask believing as if you had already received.” We must live every moment with the awareness that God is Life and we are God Living.

(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.
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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

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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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Today is Ash Wednesday, the first 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 two acrostics:

“Loosening every negative thought”
and
“Loving each new today”

For each day of Lent, starting on Ash Wednesday, through Easter Sunday, I would like to share with you some thoughts first expressed as a series of Lenten lessons by a former well-known and well-respected Unity minister, Dr. Sue Sikking, founder of Unity-by-the-Sea, Santa Monica, California, and author of God Always Says Yes and Seed of the New Age, as well as other books and articles.

Here is the first of those Lenten lessons:

Ash Wednesday

That you are reading this is proof that you are consciously aware and on your way to a complete revelation of your true self and of the One that dwells within you.

 To learn the true message of this Presence, to have full awareness of it and to work instantly and consciously and constantly with this power is the most important assignment of your life today. It is the vital business of existence. To understand your own body, mind, and being is to understand the universe of which it is the miniature.

 This is not scientific research. This is the reverse; not looking at yourself as the physical body, as material and objective; not something to be studied from without, but to begin practicing a new way of learning from within. We shall listen to our own living body and let it teach us the truth of itself.

 Become as a Little Child.
 
Sit quietly and close your eyes. How do you know you have a body? Forget the feeding, clothing and your reflection in the mirror. Forget the important business man or woman you are or the position you hold in life. To Know Yourself is the end of all education and experience, the goal of all human effort. All great things are simple!

We let go of all that has gone before, all preconceived ideas about ourselves. We are letting go of anything contrary to this Truth – regardless of any appearance – or apparent condition or situation. Your body, this moment, is known to you as that which makes you aware of something else!

You feel strength and power, firmness and support; you feel that heart beat. You feel your chest rise as you breathe. Something within you, yet not you, moves in your body. It is Life! Life – we know It only in feeling the effects or signs of Its Presence! Life is God – Life, There is None Else. Be content at this point to feel Life and know it is working within you! This is God, God Expressing as You! Here – Just as You Are!

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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The free gift of God is eternal life. – Rom. 6:23

How freeing it is to know life as a Universal flow! The flow is personalized in you and as you. You are an integral part of the Universe, where each part contains within it all the elements of the whole. Thus there is that of you that is more than your physical body, and the you that transcends the body is what Eric Butterworth called “a time-space parenthesis in the Universal dimension of eternity.” The important thing is that you are a unique individualization of God. What ever else life is, you are in it, you are its livingness, you are here, and you are alive and living. But where did you come from? Where will you go when you die? 

Unless we have a view of life that transcends or at least includes death, we will experience fear and dread about our own life, and confusing bereavement in facing the passing of another. Some persons are so unnerved at the passing of a loved one that their faith is shattered, and they turn away from religion because of the “untimely” death of a friend or loved one. This indicates that they were trying to understand God through their experiences, indicating a very limited concept of God.

The need is to begin with God as the underlying principle, and then to look at trouble from this transcendent perspective. Looking at death through the consciousness of God is to see not a void, but another dimension of life.

Some persons think it is negative to talk about death. However, fear of dealing with the subject could indicate a subconscious bondage to it. It may suggest that our faith does not include the wholeness of life that transcends death. When we get the realization of wholeness then we see death as a part of the wholeness and not a deviation from it.

Life that appears to begin with birth and end with death is like one instant in the movement of a wave in the ocean. In one instant the wave is a particular body of water. In this moment life for you is your body. But life is not limited to your body. If the body should be laid aside by death, it would not be the end of you or of the flow of life projected through you and as you. The wave moves on! Thus, it is not possible to understand life unless we are willing to look squarely into and through this thing called death.

It could be said that death is the other side of life, and life is the other side of death. Could it be that a transcendent self looks out through the eyes of an infant and sees with the unconscious wisdom of a previous life, and that the loved one who passes from our sight may be on the way to an inexorable new birth?

The important thing is to know that you are an eternal expression of the Universal flow, and that there is no beginning and no end to you. Thus, knowing that you are going to live forever, you can let go your apprehensions and anxieties about death, and get on with the business of living your life from within-out one day at a time.

The Psalmist says, “A day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day.” Imagine life between birth and death as one day of livingness. You rise in the morning, launch into the day, experience its problems and blessings, and then, even if you are not satisfied with the day, eventually you relax into a night’s sleep. And what is night? It is the “brief shadow through which we pass from sunlight to sunlight.” It brings rest and renewal. And the morning comes . . . and beginning again.

Obviously, all this is not easy to realize when you stand before the casket containing the physical form of one whom you have loved. But perhaps your understanding of life is not yet broad enough to encompass life that transcends birth and death. It is natural to have feelings of sadness, but the sadness can be tempered with the joy of knowing that your loved one is in the flow of life and that he or she goes forward to meet his or her good.

Seek to embrace a larger sphere, and know the Truth of a limitless flow of life. God is life, in whom there can be no beginning and ending. There can be no death in God, and thus there can be no death, in terms of the finality of life, for your loved one.

So what is death? Jesus said of the little girl, “She is not dead, but sleepeth.” Death is no more a reality or finality than sleep. Get this thought of the eternal flow of life that transcends death into your consciousness . . . and you will be free of fear of death, free from the burdens of worry over the passing of time or the deepness of grief over the passing of a loved one.

You can resolve to live each day as if it were the only day of all eternity . . . which in fact it is! Yesterday no longer exists, and tomorrow and the days of the future will simply unfold out of the continuous flow of the experience that is now in its unfoldment. In its complete sense, life simply is. Let us accept it, live it, and rejoice in it.

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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HOLY COMMUNION

37th Day, Wednesday. Read Luke 22:1-23.

“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it; and he gave to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body, And he took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the covenant.”

The first step in drinking of the blood and eating of the body of Jesus is to resolve this whole Scripture back into the primal ideas. The only way to appropriate these ideas is through the very highest activity of mind as in prayer.

The benefit of taking Holy Communion is the establishing of our acceptance of the Christ whose coming we celebrate within our mind and heart. The bread used in the churches symbolizes substance, which we consider the Lord’s body, a body of spiritual ideas; and the wine used symbolizes His blood, which we consider life, or the circulation of divine ideas in our consciousness that will purify our mind and heart and renew our strength, freeing us from all corruption, sin, and evil, and bringing forth in us the abundant, unlimited life of God. Through the appropriation and assimilation of the substance and life in our own consciousness, we blend our minds with the Father-Mind and there is a harmonizing of every fiber of our body with the Christ body, which is life and light. As our mind and heart are cleansed of untrue thoughts and beliefs, and as we feed on living ideas, our body takes on the life and light of our divinity, and eventually will become living light.

I affirm: “God’s pure life and substance are constantly renewing and rebuilding His holy temple, my body.”

Questions:

1. What is the first step in drinking of the blood and eating of the body of Jesus?

2. What is the benefit of taking Holy Communion?

3. What does bread symbolize?

4. What does wine symbolize?

I observe Holy Communion by keeping the words of Jesus Christ before me, by letting His words of Truth grow in my mind, and by following in His footsteps.

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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LIFE

16th Day, Saturday. Read John 4:1-26.

Life is a phase of Being, the expression of which manifests as animation, activity, and vigor. The consciousness of eternal life places one in the stream of life that never fails.

The whole race needs a spiritual quickening of the life principle; its origin is in Divine Mind. Life is the gift of God. “Stir up the gift of God, which is in thee.” To think intently about life is to quicken it into action. To talk about energy, force, power, life, will make the life currents flow swiftly throughout the whole being.

To Jesus the God presence was an abiding flame –a flame of life everlasting that He felt in every cell of His body making Him more and more alive, cleansing and purifying Him until He became every whit perfect.

By mastering carnality Jesus opened the way for all men to attain eternal life. During our higher realizations of Truth we are often conscious of this abiding flame working in and through us.

I now make alive all the cells in my organism by mentally infusing into them the Christ consciousness. This is the new birth, which is transforming my body and raising it to electrical energy. This was carried to its fulfillment by Jesus in the resurrection of His body. The next step in divine evolution is the spiritualization of the body, or the Ascension.

The quickening life in me is now brought into expression by my holding and repeating this statement of Truth:

“I have the Mind of Christ. My words are spiritually quickened and they are alive forevermore. I am filled with the vitality and vigor and health of Jesus Christ.”

Questions:

1. How does life manifest itself?

2. Where does life originate?

3. What was the God presence to Jesus?

4. How do we make alive all the cells of our organism?

Christ within me is my life. Every part of my body temple is filled with the vigor and strength of Christ.

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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By Marlene Buffa

(Taking a quiet sideways glance at life, our guest contributor today, Marlene Buffa, offers insight through her words from experiences. A student of new-thought teachings, Marlene finds practical spirituality around every corner and seeks wisdom through observation of life’s inter-relationships. Sometimes playful, sometimes poignant, always thought-provoking, her writing inspires readers in meaningful ways.
www.wordsofmind.com)

Halloween brings to light our memories and our apprehensions and enlivens our imagination.  Each year we honestly portray ourselves as something other than who we are, and venture out into the night fearlessly asking for what we want from strangers and friends.  The chant, “Trick or Treat!” resounds on neighborhood streets, with a telltale confidence that our abundant rewards, sweet and freely given, fill the largest container we dare to hold.  Life, too, offers us the opportunity to boldly request our desires from others as well as the Universe.  Just as our expectations of creepy “things that go bump in the night” sometimes come to fruition at Halloween, other evidence of things outside of ourselves interjecting with our humanity, finds its way into our daily experience.

Knock Knock
More than just a childhood formulaic riddle, spirit knocking on the door of our consciousness forces us to awaken to new possibilities.  My friend Ann’s condo, replete with sounds and noises from unearthly visitors, resonates with a loud knock, or rap on her wooden front door.  The wooden door is closed and behind a locked metal security door so no one can make contact with the wood, yet the sounds echo throughout her living room – loud enough that her neighbors hear it, too!  Ann gave up going to the door to see her anxious caller because after dozens of times, she found no one there.

Spirit knocks on our door, too.  Many times Spirit is there asking for an invitation to enter our lives, yet finds us not home to answer.  Over and over, we hear the call to a greater life, and either ignore it or find we cannot face the greatness it offers.  We must prepare ourselves equally to knock on the door of opportunity and to answer the call when opportunity beckons us.  Take the initiative to dare for a great life and you may just receive a “treat!” you weren’t expecting!

Bump
From fender benders, to bumper cars, we often equate a bump with a collision in transportation.  We’ve all heard the “bumps in the night” which startle us from sleep yet we dismiss such noises as the house settling or our pets rousting about.  Bumping into unseen forces, we sometimes feel a hovering entity or looming feeling surrounding us, daring to collide with our circumventing comfort zone.  With our bodies as vehicles transporting us on the planet, collisions occur naturally with others and with Spirit around us. 

Nothing to fear, these gentle bumps into our beingness serve to remind us and alert us of the awakened world in which we roam.  Like the bumper in a pinball machine, Life stands there, solid and immovable, waiting for us to bump into it.  We dart off in a different direction, most times not due to any epiphany of understanding, rather from the shock of the bump itself – the bump we created. 

When Life or Spirit bumps into us, it renders a touching reminder for us to awaken to the events and emotions around us while we make our way on the planet.  From the premonitory diversion to avoid an accident, to the gentle nudge into something better, Life reminds us of the power of the Infinite as a gentle teacher. 

Whoosh!
The older we grow, the quicker time passes.  Our perception and vantage point change as time reflects against the accumulation of our experience.  Time, as we interpret it through man-made dials and clocks, remains constant and some say, circular or infinite.  Unseen thoughts, entities and even energies wrap around us, check us out, and whisk away – in an instant.  The indescribable feeling of déjà vu, or the instinctive choices we make, represents our higher selves responding to Life. 

When life streaks by us in our unaware state of the daily banal, we waste precious time in the coma of disengagement.  Awaken from the sleep of drudgery and live the life you want to live!  Too often we “wake up” and we find our children getting married – wondering where did their childhood go?  Could twenty years pass without your conscious awareness of it?  Worse yet – did those years whoosh by without our enjoyment and fulfillment of precious moments?
Halloween reminds us to step outside of our normal persona to experience something new.  With the eerie knocks, bumps and whooshes, we attract that which we fear but know is real.  It’s easy to blame playful ghosts for the pranks they often wield on us, when our true fears lie within us – and we’re too afraid to face them.  As nurturer of our spirits and benevolent guide, Life knocks on the door of our consciousness offering us a deeper existence, bumps into us and diverts us onto a higher path and whooshes by us reminding us it’s never too late to wake up!

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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