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Archive for March, 2012

What Is Seeking The Kingdom?

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on March 9, 2012| Leave a Comment »

 
  Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Matthew 6:33).
 
The principle that Jesus expressed in these words is the basic law that underlies all answer to prayer. Many people know this in theory but are confused about putting it into practice. They think, “I will ignore this problem and think about God instead.” Here there is a subtle mistake, because they are really thinking of their problem as existing in one place, of God as existing in another, and of themselves as going in thought from the first place to the second place. This, of course, is by implication to reaffirm the existence of the problem in its own place, and such a belief will not heal.
 
What we have to do is to seek the Kingdom in the very place where the trouble seems to be. We have to know that in Truth and reality it is not there, because God is there. When we succeed in doing this, the difficulty disappears.
This may sound like a distinction without a difference, but that is not so. By seeking the Kingdom of God where the trouble is, we affirm that God is king over all and not subject to being separated into a different place. The reason is simple; God is not limited by time or space. In the same way our secular lives are indivisible from our spiritual lives. So when we experience a problem in the secular world we should look for God’s presence in the midst of this problem wherein it is overcome.
 
Seeking God in all things,
Z gardener

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A Treatment Is An Operation

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on March 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The word treatment is usually applied to a prayer that is made for some specific purpose, as distinct from a general prayer, which is really a visit with God. You must remember that a treatment is a definite practical action, having a definite object and a definite beginning and end. It is in fact a surgical operation on the soul.

 

             Let us suppose that you decide to heal a certain difficulty by prayer. You know that your difficulty must be caused by some negative thought charged with fear and located in the subconscious mind. You therefore turn to God, and remind yourself of His goodness, His limitless power, and His care for you. As you work the fear will begin to dissolve, and the awareness of the Truth corrects the erroneous beliefs themselves.

 

 Thank God for the healing that you believe will come – and then keep your thought off the matter until you feel led, after an interval, to treat again.

 

 He sent his word, and healed them … (Psalm 107:20).

 

 In common vernacular this is called curing the disease rather than treating the symptoms. The focus of our prayer needs to be on the cause; which is the subconscious thought charged with fear, not the manifestation, not the actual difficulty itself. This is the exact opposite of how we normally react. We tend to focus on the headache instead of its cause. If instead, we focus our thoughts on God’s goodness, power and love for us, then we begin to remove the cancerous fear that is causing our subconscious difficulty. Then, the manifestation of the problem begins to disappear or may even become to be seen as a blessing.

 

 When we follow this method of prayer, the path to joy is reopened in our minds and spirits, wherein our physical selves will always follow. Then we will be healed and fear of free.

 

Fearlessly,

 

Stan

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God Works With Joy

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on March 7, 2012| Leave a Comment »

 
            Don’t pray or meditate as a duty. Realize that prayer is a visit with God and should be joyous.
 
Neither must you pursue your secular activities as necessary duties to be gotten over, that you may return to your prayer. In the light of Truth, there are no secular activities.
 
You must have regular recreation or you will become stale. Recreation, also, is to be enjoyed – as an expression of God – and not as a task to prepare yourself to pray better. An understanding joy in living is the highest prayer of all.
 
…in thy presence is fullness of joy… (Psalm 16:11).
 
Just think about that; joy is the highest form of prayer and communion with God. Anything that separates us from joy therefore blocks our communion with God. Yes, we get hurt, get sick and ultimately die. Yes, we get thrown bad deals and unbearable pain from senseless tragedies. And, yes, we get down, grumpy, frustrated, angry and can feel alienated, ashamed or unworthy. Yet through all the travails of human existence, we are consistently instructed by our faith to be glad and joyful in life.
 
One gateway to that joyful life  is through gratitude. We are to “be grateful in all things”. That is a tall order. But a grateful heart combined with daily forgiveness for those who hurt us, provides us a compass to find our path to joy, regardless. So, when we pray, recreate, work and live, let us be ever-mindful of our blessings and forgiving of others so that we may walk in the fullness of joy, surrounded by the garden created just for us.
 
Gratefully,
Stan

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Don’t Hurry The Chicken

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on March 5, 2012| Leave a Comment »

A city child was spending his vacation on a farm. They showed him a hen sitting on a nest of eggs, and told him that some day a little chicken would come out of each egg. Their child was delighted at this dramatic idea, and every morning he went around expecting to see the miracle.
 
            Days passed and nothing happened. The eggs still looked exactly the same. Not the slightest change occurred in the appearance of things, and gradually his faith waned. At last one day he told himself bitterly that he had been deceived.
 
Next day, however, from habit he went around to the nest as usual, but without any hope; and behold, what was his joy to see a flock of little chickens running about.
 
Of course wonderful changes had been taking place all the time behind the shells, but there was nothing to show for it until the very last moment. Some of our greatest demonstrations come to us like this. In this story it was the spectator who lost faith, and so it did not matter. If the mother hen had lost her faith – well, there would have been no chickens. Give your demonstration time to hatch.
 
And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not (Galatians 6:9).
 
And, let us remember God’s words to Joshua before he was allowed to enter the promised land. “Be ye strong, and of a good courage. Turn neither to the left, or to the right. But be ye strong and of a good courage, and you will prosper whithersoevr thou goest”. If we do this, we will enter our promised land that was created as a garden for us by our loving Father.
 
By God’s strength,
Z gardener

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Your Own Brand

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on March 1, 2012| Leave a Comment »

You cannot claim too much for yourself provided you claim the same thing for all other human beings. In fact, it is our duty to claim all good things and to continue claiming them until they demonstrate in our outer experience. Of course, this law works both ways and therefore you must be very careful not to claim the negative things that you do not want.

 

 On the western ranches the owner of a steer brands it with his name, “Bar A Ranch” or some such cipher. Then if it should wander into strange territory, it will always be returned to him. On the other hand, when an animal without his brand wanders into his corral, he says, “Than is not my steer,” and out it goes.

 

 Many a foolish person puts his mental brand on a steer that he does not want in the least, and is surprised when the animal stays obstinately at home. People say my rheumatism, my forgetfulness, my poverty, et cetera, branding the steers they do not want instead of turning them out of the corral.

 

 When you really want something, brand it deeply with your own name and it will be yours.

 

 … but every one … shall keep himself to his own inheritance (Numbers 36:9).

 

What we brand as ours is important. Yet, how we brand ourselves is even more critical to our welfare and drives what we brand as ours. It also determines our ultimate success. If we don’t really believe we deserve happiness and joy, it will escape us. Whether due to some past or current mistake or weakness; insecurity about our motives or goodness; or lack of self respect foisted on us by others; our negative opinion of ourselves is the foundation of our negative outlook and actions toward life and others. 

 

 That is why we must accept the truth that God loves us unconditionally. That is not to say that we should ignore, gloss over or rationalize our faults. In fact, the exact opposite is true. That is what the season of Lent gives us the opportunity to do. To look inside and identify those traits we need to bury. Yet even with these faults, God loves us and desires the best good for us. It is that unconditional love that gives us the ability and the obligation to claim the best for ourselves and those we love. So, when we claim something, let us be sure that it fulfills God’s wish that we rejoice and be glad in all things.

 

Staking a claim to joy and health,

 

Z gardener

 

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