Spiritual Solutions

Is prosperity possible, even in a difficult economy? Absolutely! Prosperity for you deals purely with your consciousness. Charles Fillmore, co-founder of the Unity movement, said, “Prosperity is based on the conscious possession of the idea of God’s abundance in the back of all things.”

There is no lack in God or in the Universe. The substance of God is limitless. You are not created outside of the Universe. You are an integral part of it, a dynamic center within it. The free flow of substance within you is the continuation of the divine effort that made you. If there is lack in your life, it is not because you are out of the flow of substance, but because you have lost the consciousness of the flow.

Perhaps you may say, “But the economy of the country . . . and to add to that, my employer is erratic. I didn’t cause it, and yet it certainly affects my life.” That is the wisdom of the world that is foolishness with God. We have been conditioned to believe that our lives are shaped by what happens to us. For instance, the back corner of my car recently got damaged; for quite a while, I was really upset about it. Then I realized I wasn’t making it any better by being upset about something in the outer, and I was able to let the upset go and just arrange to have the car repaired. You see, it’s not what happens “out there,” but what we do or think about these things. Thought is the key. However, thought is not produced by circumstances. The incident is external; the reaction is our own.

The starting point in working for prosperity is to accept the responsibility for your own thoughts. Become an original thinker. Reject all “they say” and “hearsay” reports. Stop listening to all the scare talk on television and other media, the widespread negative thought about the economy. Don’t let these persons or conditions decide how you are going to think and feel. Resolve to center your thought on only those things of “God’s abundance in back of all things.”

We may talk a lot about the importance of “positive thinking.” But we need to get a realistic understanding of it. It is not just saying a lot of pleasant words about things you are really worried about. It is not uttering platitudes, mouthing affirmations, or saying, “Oh, everything will be all right.” Everything will not be all right unless you can get into the consciousness of “all-right-ness.”

It reminds me of a time early in our ministry in Roanoke, Virginia; we were meeting in a civic center at the time. At the end of each Sunday service, we would hold hands and say together Unity’s Prayer for Protection:
 The light of God surrounds us;
 The love of God enfolds us;
 The power of God protects us,
 And the presence of God watches over us;
 Wherever we are, God is.
At the end of the prayer we would always add “. . . and all is well.”
Inevitably, a particular man whose avowed intent was to prevent Unity being established in the city would pipe up: ”And all is not well!”

Positive thinking is “creative thinking,” getting your thoughts synchronized with the creative flow. Creative thinking can include humor, and in the example above once we were able to laugh within ourselves as we waited for the man’s final comment, he gave up his futile attempts to stop us from establishing Unity in the community and we never saw him again.

A problem for many persons is the influence of money on thought. Money is not the “root of all evil.” Actually, the Bible says, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” Money is an important symbol of faith that promotes mutuality. But problems arise when we confuse the symbolic with the real. There is nothing bad about money, but we may imbue money with bad vibrations when we work for the symbols rather than the flow of substance.

The idea of “demonstrating prosperity” is often equated with praying for more money. But if problems are caused by consciousness, the money problems are only postponed but never solved by having more money. Unfortunately, the term “demonstrate” often emphasizes a kind of magic working of divine law. It is best not to pray for money, but to get the awareness of “God’s abundance in back of all things.”

There are three important steps in the orderly process of abundance flowing freely through us: 1. Being, 2. Doing, and 3. Having. There is a tendency to want to reverse the three steps. We reason that if we can just get enough money, then we will be able to do something good, and then we will be somebody. The principle is: What you are in consciousness gives rise to what you can do creatively, which leads to what you will experience.

Here is a helpful test in self-understanding: If you are not as prosperous or secure as you would like to be, ask yourself “Why not?” Make a list. Don’t be too analytical. Just outline the things that seem to be keeping you from your good. Actually, these are alibis. You might spend a few days in this examination.

Then, make a new list. Point by point, restate the reasons in terms of what you think “ought to be” the case. There is always a sense of “oughtness” behind every alibi. How do you think people ought to act toward you? What qualities do you feel you ought to express? Work with these for a month. Always try to satisfy yourself as to the exact state that ought to prevail in mind, emotion, body, and affairs. This is what Eric Butterworth called your “ought-to-be-ography.”

Finally, if you feel these things ought to be true, you intuitively believe that it is the reality. So, go back and rewrite the “ought-to-be’s” in the form of “I AM” statements. These can become your prayer treatment or affirmations, and the basis for some positive thinking. Now you can see that the thought is not just what you wish were true. It is your conviction of “God’s abundance in back of all things.”

Accustom yourself to think that you are surrounded by a divine presence which wishes you good because you are expressing its life. Keep conscious that you are forever in the flow of substance. No matter how things change in the world around you or what happens too you, the flow of substance is constant. All that is required is that you keep conscious of the flow, keep open by positive thought, keep responsive in faith, and keep moving “in the directions of your dreams.”

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

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Here is the truth about prosperity in just a few words:

 First: God is the source of all prosperity, of all substance, of all affluence. We have the promise: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning.” This is simply a symbolical and theological way of stating that the source of all substance is nonmaterial, it’s in Spirit.

Second: There is no separation between you and God. The Scriptures tell us: “I and the Father are one.” And that’s the truth about you!

Third: God wants you to be prosperous and has already given you all that you can accept as belonging to you. The promise is: “It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” And the kingdom is not “out there” somewhere. Jesus said that the kingdom is within you.

Now, put this into a simple statement of what you must know if you are to be free forever from lack and fear of lack: “God is my abundant supply. All that He has is mine, and He wants to give it to me. I now claim my abundance of good.” Take this affirmation and make it a part of you.

To claim your prosperity as already yours and not off in the future somewhere, it is essential to establish the identity of your oneness with the flow of good. We are all heirs to all God’s Infinite riches, but unless we realize our wealth, we fail to benefit from it. We cannot possibly use what we do not know we have.

Here’s what Wallace D. Wattles wrote in chapter six of his book, The Science of Getting Rich:

“You need not hesitate about asking largely . . . .

“Original Substance wants to live all that is possible in you, and wants you to have all that you can or will use for the living of the most abundant life.

“If you fix upon your consciousness the fact that the desire you feel for the possession of riches is one with the desire of Omnipotence for more complete expression, your faith becomes invincible.

“Once I saw a little boy sitting at a piano, and vainly trying to bring harmony out of the keys; and I saw that he was grieved and provoked by his inability to play real music. I asked him the cause of his vexation, and he answered, “I can feel the music in me, but I can’t make my hands go right.” The music in him was the URGE of Original Substance, containing all the possibilities of all life; all that there is of music was seeking expression through the child.

“God, the One Substance, is trying to live and do and enjoy things through humanity. He is saying “I want hands to build wonderful structures, to play divine harmonies, to paint glorious pictures; I want feet to run my errands, eyes to see my beauties, tongues to tell mighty truths and to sing marvelous songs,” and so on.

“All that there is of possibility is seeking expression through men. God wants those who can play music to have pianos and every other instrument, and to have the means to cultivate their talents to the fullest extent; He wants those who can appreciate beauty to be able to surround themselves with beautiful things; He wants those who can discern truth to have every opportunity to travel and observe; He wants those who can appreciate dress to be beautifully clothed, and those who can appreciate good food to be luxuriously fed.

“He wants all these things because it is Himself that enjoys and appreciates them; it is God who wants to play, and sing, and enjoy beauty, and proclaim truth and wear fine clothes, and eat good foods. ‘It is God that worketh in you to will and to do,’ said Paul.

“The desire you feel for riches is the Infinite, seeking to express Himself in you as He sought to find expression in the little boy at the piano.

“So you need not hesitate to ask largely.

“Your part is to focalize and express the desire to God.”

If you really want prosperity, it will pay you to be decisive and definite in your thinking. Prosperity, of course, means many things to many people. What does it mean to you? What is it that you really want? Maybe you don’t make your inner desires sharp and clear enough for them to be outpictured in your affairs.

Sit down quietly by yourself and make a specific list of the things that spell “prosperity” to you. Don’t be content to say simply, “I want more money,” because that’s indefinite. Substance must have something to fill, and it is up to you to hold out the receptacle. 

You don’t need to outline how your prosperity is going to come to you, because God has many channels through which He works. You can leave the ways and means to the Divine process. But God cannot help you if you don’t know what you want.

Remember, too, that Jesus gave us clear directions for finding true prosperity when he said: “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.” (Matt. 6:33)

First learn to seek the kingdom of God. It is not far off somewhere in time and space; it exists right here and now, because it is the state of consciousness that you enter when you realize that the real you is one with the Father, one with the creative flow of abundance. And what you seek you will surely find.

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!

—————————————————–             

 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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