Good Morning Garden

Take God As Your Partner

Why not organize the business of living in a big way? Why creep along, as some people do, from one tiny stepping stone to another, instead of striding out boldly? Why be content with poor health, uninteresting work, or restricted conditions, when many other people have already risen above these things?

There is a way out of limitation that never fails. It is this, take God for your partner. If you will really make God your business partner in every department of your life, you will be amazed at the quick and striking results that you will obtain. Of course, if you want God to be your partner, you will have to include Him in every corner and every phase of your life.

Most people would be thrilled to be able to go into partnership with some great industrial or financial magnate; they would feel that their future was assured. But here is a partnership with Infinite Wisdom and Infinite Power awaiting you.

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing (John 15:5).

God is waiting on us to turn to him for limitless wisdom, vision and discipline. Once we bring ourselves into partnership with God, all these things will be available to us through God. When aligned with God’s will and empowered by God’s spirit, we will have the creator of the universe as our business and/or life partner and advisor. Then we can be sure that our garden will bear fruit and that fruit will be good for us and all those we love.

In partnership,
Stan

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And… there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud…(Exodus 19:16).

These are dramatic expressions of the change of consciousness as we move away from the common things of life to the higher things.

In these days of the Exodus, the conditions of the outer world answered very quickly to man’s thoughts because people believed it was possible. Moses took his people across the Red Sea by the power of thought, and he was able to do that because in those days people believed in the power of thought. They believed that God could take them across the Red Sea dry shod, and He did.

Moses had the true knowledge of God from his father’s people, the Hebrews. It was the historical mission of the Hebrews to teach that God is not a limited, corporeal being, but incorporeal, infinite, divine mind.

Moses saw clearly the unity of God and man, and the unity of man and man. He got more than a flash of what we call the cosmic consciousness. That was his illumination. Then he realized that he must give this to humanity.

As has been said many times in the Good Morning Garden, thought is the most powerful force in the universe next to God. It is also the way we communicate with God. Our thoughts become our words and deeds and they shape the reality in which we live. When we change our thoughts we alter our consciousness for good or ill. That is why the Bible places so much emphasis on prayer, contemplation of God and right thinking.

By thinking, I am,
Z gardener

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THE TENTH COMMANDMENT

Thou shalt not covet…any thing that is thy neighbour’s (Exodus 20:17).

There are several phrases concerning coveting. You are not to covet your neighbor’s house, nor his wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is his. Much of the evil in the world is caused by wanting something to which one is not entitled. Moses knew what covetousness does to us in what we call today the unconscious or the subconscious.

Coveting affects the soul of man. Even if your coveting never leads you to take anything that does not belong to you, it undermines and ultimately rots your soul. It shuts you off from God. Why? Because to covet something means that you do not understand the Law of Being. You do not understand that whatever you are getting or lacking is the outpicturing and expression of your consciousness. Until you understand that you cannot be saved.

Anything the world has ever conceived, God has in abundance. God’s supply is infinite, and to envy someone else because he seems to have more is to deny your own contact with God.

All that we could ever want or dream of wanting is available to us through God. To access this abundance, we must believe in God and follow God’s will. However, even then, it will only come to us when we are ready for it in our consciousness and in our actions. Also, it will only come to us when it is for our best good.

Z gardener

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The True Witness
THE NINTH COMMANDMENT

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor (Exodus 20:16).

First, the obvious meaning is very important although it is only the beginning—do not tell lies about people

We have to apply this principle of not bearing false witness right throughout our lives. It is very important to practice because whatever you say about another person will happen to you, yourself. If you lie about another person—that is an unpleasant word but I am using it because is the right word—someone will lie about you. Jesus says so in the seventh chapter of Matthew, verses one and two:

Judge not, that ye be not judged.
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

However, the fundamental meaning of this commandment, “Thou shalt not bear false witness,” Is that you always express what you are. You cannot be one thing and express another. Emerson says, “What you are shouts so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.” We are always witnessing to what we are. So again, “Thou shalt not” really means “You cannot”—you cannot permanently bear false witness.

The true witness is the full expression of God’s man. You will be bearing true witness to your neighbor when you are regenerated in soul. What does regeneration mean? It means the building of a new soul, not correcting the old one. When you change the soul, automatically the flesh changes, the skin changes, the blood vessels and the nerves and the bones change. But regeneration must begin with a change in the soul, not with anything in the outer world.

When we really know these things, we shall be bearing true witness.

On this, the first day of Lent, it serves us well to reflect on this message. This is the time that Christians set aside to change our soul and regenerate ourselves into that person that God would have us be. It is a time for self denial, self reflection and spiritual resurrection. It is a time to repent and to do penance through self sacrifice and giving to others.

In reflection and repentance,
Z gardener

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THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT

Thou shalt not steal. (Exodus 20:15).
Many people will say, “We always knew that we must not steal. If we do we shall have trouble and probably wind up in prison.” All through the ages it is only the smallest percentage of human beings who have stolen. Respect for other people’s property was learned early in the history of civilization. However, this most fundamental law of life means that actually we cannot steal anything except that it cost us more than it was worth.

These ten laws of life are things that cannot be done, and so, says the great prophet in effect, do not waste yourself or your life trying to do these things. They cannot be done. They conflict with the fundamental Law of Being.

When we give up trying to steal, then we shall begin to have our own. We shall come into our own rights, and when we get that, liberation will not be very far off.

The truth is that one can not give away more than they get in return for the giving. We always get back more than we give. The inverse is also true. No one can steal more than they lose in return for the stealing. Anything given in love will always return more love, grace and joy than that which was lost in the giving. And, anything stolen in covetousness will always return more sorrow, fear and pain than that which was was caused by not having that which was stolen.

Choosing the garden,
Stan

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THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT

Read Exodus 20:8-11.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (Exodus 20:8).

This commandment about the Sabbath Day was given to the people at the time of their leaving Egypt and going into the desert, and on the surface it meant what it said for that age. It was a wonderful thing in Moses’day to insist that everyone set aside one day a week to think about God or at least to oblige him to stop his secular activities. No rule can make a man religious, or give him faith, but it can help.

Like all the other commandments, this one is instruction in seeking the presence of God everywhere, particularly where the trouble seems to be. Where there is fear and doubt He brings faith, where there is lack He brings abundance.

But here in this commandment about the Sabbath Day there is a still deeper meaning. When you are praying every day and recognizing that God is working in you and in all your affairs, there will be a sense in which every day will be a Sabbath, because for you every day will be a holy day. One of the most wonderful things about the Bible teaching is that we get rid of the distinction between the sacred and the secular. That is one of the most important steps in the whole history of the soul.

God is present everywhere. For those who understand Jesus’ teaching, it is always the Sabbath Day, and the place whereon they stand is holy ground.

Just as our bodies need rest to recover, rebuild and re-energize themselves, our souls also need rest. The Psalm says, “Be still, and know that I am God”. And, while a day set aside for resting both body and soul is the minimum commandment given for the good of mankind, it does not mean this should be the only time we rest and commune with God nor does it mean we should be a slave to the Sabbath.

At ease,
Z gardener

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THE THIRD COMMANDMENT

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain (Exodus 20:7).

Now this law of life really means you cannot take the name of the Lord in vain. If you try to do so you will fail because when you take the name of God unto yourself and implement it, then consequences will follow. It is a pity more of us do not realize that fact because constantly we are trying to take the name of the Lord in vain.

The name of God is your conviction concerning God. Your idea of God will determine your whole life. If you believe that God is good, God is love, God has all power, God is intelligence, all the conditions of your life will steadily improve. If you believe God is intelligent but not good—I know people would not dare to say that, but people who think that God sends sickness and trouble really believe in a God who is not good—if you believe in a God who has all intelligence, but is not loving, then your idea of the nature of God must work out. Troubles will come to you, and you will not overcome them because you are saying, “God sent this trouble for a good purpose, and I must put up with it.” You will put up with it. Your idea of God cannot be in vain. It will work out for you in accordance with your belief.

There is no one of us who is not limiting God in some respect in his thought and because of that we are going to suffer limitation in some way, for we cannot take the name of God in vain.

Not only are thoughts things, but they are the most powerful things we create. Thoughts become buildings, scientific discoveries, wars and criminal acts. Einstein’s thoughts caused the creation of atomic power and atomic bombs. Hitler’s thoughts caused the murder of six million people. DaVinci’s thoughts created some of our most beautiful art and greatest inventions. All of the good and bad we create begin as thoughts. So, if out thoughts about God are wrong, then all of our outward expression of those thoughts will be wrong.

Creating faith,
Stan

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