Spiritual Solutions

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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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!

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POWER

10th Day, Saturday. Read Luke 4:31-44.

Man controls his thoughts and his feelings by the use of his innate power. A quickening from on high must precede his realization of dominion. “Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you.”

Man is the power of God in action. The power to control his thinking is the highest gift given to man. There is a universal, creative force that urges man forward to the recognition of the creative power of individual thought.

The word Jehovah (Christ) is charged with spiritual power far above and beyond any other word in human language.

The power center in the throat is the open door between the formless and the formed worlds of vibration pertaining to the expression of sound. When the voice has united with the life of the soul, it takes on a sweetness and a depth that one feels and remembers. But sweeter and deeper still is the voice of one who has made union with Spirit and can say with Jesus, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”

I cultivate a loving attitude of mind toward everybody, and my voice is rich, warm, and mellow. As I pray and realize spiritual dominion, I feel vital and energetic and my voice is strong and vibrant and brilliant. Through these vibrations I feel the power of unity with the higher self more quickly than in any other way. “All power is given unto me in heaven [mind] and in earth [body].”

In His name I affirm: “All the issues of my life are stirred to action by the quickening Christ power, and I have dominion over my thoughts and my feelings.”

Questions:

1. What must precede man’s control of his thoughts and feelings?

2. What is the highest gift given to man?

3. How does the voice become rich, warm, and mellow?

4. What happens when we pray and realize our spiritual dominion?

The Truth is that I can do all things through the power of Christ working within me. I can act and react in loving ways. I can find harmony and happiness in living with the people in my world.

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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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.

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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 Our thoughts and words are very powerful and go to make up our world reality. Here are some quotes from powerful thinkers to support that idea:

“With our thoughts we make our world” – Gautama the Buddha.

“God’s greatest gift to man is the power of thought, through which he can incorporate into his consciousness the mind of God.” – Charles Fillmore, Keep a True Lent.

“Energy follows thought.” – Annie Besant, Thought Power: Its Control and Culture (1903/1979).

“We become what we behold.” – William Blake.

“Man is a thinking being. The very word ‘man’ comes from an ancient Sanskrit word which literally means ‘to think.’ Through thinking, man has the possibility of knowing God and expressing the wisdom of Divine Mind.” – Eric Butterworth, Discover the Power Within You.

“Man creates his own disharmony”- Hazrat Inyayat Khan.

Let’s have a closer look at some of the words we use and some of the nuances and deeper meanings of them.

When you state something to someone, their first response may be “yes but.” This is their way of negating the opinion or idea that you have expressed. Listen to yourself as you speak. Do you use this phrase? It blocks good communication.

Instead, you can acknowledge what the other person says and state your own opinion by using “yes and.” This will improve the energy of the communication. It acknowledges the person’s point of view as valid for them and secondly it keeps the flow of the conversation in place.

We use disempowering words much of the time. For instance “got to,” “have to” and “must” usually denote a feeling of no choice. Again, listen to your own self talk and the speech of others to get a sense of what is going on at an inner level.

The word “should” is a good one to be aware of, as there is usually some feeling of guilt behind it. Do you ever find yourself saying, “I should go and do so and so”? In back of this is the idea that if I do not I will feel bad.

Then there’s “never,” “forever” and “always.” These come under the heading of gross generalizations. The first thing that can be stated is they are generally “never” true all the time. For example: “She always gets that look on her face when I come home late” and “You never buy me anything nice any more.” These statements reflect the perception of the person generalizing, not the reality of the matter. Again, use awareness with regard to what is going on in any given communication situation.

The word “try” is another interesting little word. You may have seen a demonstration of this when someone is asked to try to pick up a pen. You do not “try” to do something. You either do it or you do not. Another example would be if you ask someone to do something for you and they reply that they “will try” to do whatever it is you have asked. You can be pretty sure with that sort of comeback your request will not be honored.

Watch what words and phrases you use. You will be surprised and delighted at what a difference changing your words can have on your communication with others and your life in general. This really can be quite transformational.

Go ahead and have some fun playing with words. And watch your thoughts behind those words – they are filled with power!

God is Blessing You, Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham
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