Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for July, 2012

The Golden Key

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on July 24, 2012| Leave a Comment »

            Study and research are well in their own time and place, but no amount of either will get you out of a concrete difficulty. Nothing but practical work in your own consciousness will do that.
Scientific prayer is the Golden Key to harmony and happiness. You need take no one’s word for it, and you should not. Simply try it for yourself, and see.
Whoever you are, wherever you may be, the Golden Key to harmony is in your hand now. This is because it is God who works, and not you, and so your particular limitations or weaknesses are of no account in the process. You are only the channel through which the divine action takes place, and your part is first to get yourself out of the way.
The actual method of working is simplicity itself. All that you have to do is this: Stop thinking about the difficulty, whatever it is, and think about God instead.This is the complete rule, and if only you will do this, the trouble, whatever it is, will presently disappear. It may be big or little, it may concern health, finance, a lawsuit, a quarrel, an accident, or anything else conceivable; but whatever it is, just stop thinking about it, and think of God instead—that is all you have to do.
The thing could not be simpler, could it? And yet it never fails to work when given a fair trial.
…With God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).
Just because something is simple does not mean it will be easy. Changing the way we think is one of the most difficult things we can try to do. It will take commitment, discipline and will. Then, we must apply the new way we think to every situation we face. Yes, this is a lifelong pursuit. But it is well worth it.
What we get in return is every promise made in the Bible. For starters we receive peace, hope and joy. That would be enough, but all of God’s promises come to those who think about God instead of their problems.
Think God,
Z gardener

Read Full Post »

God Is Principle

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on July 23, 2012| Leave a Comment »

God Is Principle
            The seventh main aspect of God is Principle, and this is probably the one that is least understood. What does the word principle mean?
Consider a few generally accepted principles. “Water seeks its own level.” This is a principle. It is not only the course taken by a particular drop of water in a particular locality. It is true of all water everywhere. “The angles of any triangle always add up to 180 degrees.” It makes no matter what kind of triangle one may consider; as long as it is a triangle, this principle holds. These principles were true a billion years ago and they will be true a billion years hence.
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever (Hebrews 13:8).
Prayer is answered because God is principle, eternally manifest in the same way. When we pray rightly we bring ourselves into harmony with His Law of Being. Prayer does not ask God to change the laws for our temporary convenience, but it tunes us in, so to speak, with divine Principle; if God were to make exceptions because we were in great difficulties (which, because of His nature, He could never do) we should never know where we stood. If the law of gravity were occasionally suspended without notice, say, because a very important man had fallen off a roof, you know what would happen to the world.
Each of the seven main aspects is a distinct quality like the elements in chemistry. A chemical element, as you know, is just itself and nothing else. Oxygen is an element because there is nothing in it but oxygen. Water on the other hand is a compound, a combination of hydrogen and oxygen. There are many attributes of God, such as wisdom, beauty, joy, and so forth, but they are compounds made up of two or more of the seven main aspects. Wisdom, for example, is the perfect balance of Intelligence and Love.
Beauty is the perfect balance of Life, Truth, and Love. In any true work of art, you will find that these three aspects are balanced. There are many such relationships and interdependencies —“Thou canst not pluck a flower without the trembling of a star.”
Now that we know the seven main aspects of God, will it change our lives for the better?  Knowledge without action is merely assent.
Personal conviction creates action on the part of those convicted.
May God’s grace open our eyes and ears to the conviction that reorders our lives and manifests these aspects of God in our gardens each day. Welcome to Eden, brothers and sisters.
Convicted to act,
Z gardener

 

Read Full Post »

God Is Spirit

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on July 19, 2012| Leave a Comment »

            The sixth main aspect of God is Spirit. We know that God is Spirit but what does that mean? Spirit is that which cannot be destroyed or damaged. It is the opposite of matter. Matter wears out, but Spirit does not because Spirit is substance. Herbert Spencer defines substance as that which is not subject to discord or decay. Webster says, “that which underlies all outward manifestation…real, unchanging essence or nature…that in which qualities inhere…that which constitutes anything that is.” All this can only apply to spiritual things.
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth
(John 4:24).
You are Spirit. Spirit cannot die. Your true self will never die. You are eternal, divine, unchanging Spirit, in your true nature. The whole universe is a spiritual creation but we see it in a limited way. You have sometimes seen a window made of fluted glass, and you know that if you look at the street through this window everything will be distorted.  Nevertheless, you know that the distortion arises from your seeing wrongly. Our false vision causes us to know ourselves only from a seeming birth to a seeming death; but this is illusion too. This distorted vision of Spirit is really what we know as“matter.” Eucken says, “Reality is an independent spiritual world, unconditioned by the apparent world of sense” – and this is substance.
The real you is not made of matter but of spirit. That is the nature of God in us. Our bodies are the housing in which human spirit abides and manifests itself in the material world.
So, when we limit ourselves to that material world we perceive with our senses, we are in essence, walking blind. Let us today open our hearts, minds and our spirits so God can demonstrate his divine will, universal consciousness and holy spirit through us.
When we we do, we will fully know that God is us and we are children of God. Then, watch in wonder as God’s power manifests itself through us in miracles great and small. At once, our eyes will be opened and our spirits lifted so we can recognize and live in the garden God created for his children.
In spirit,
Z gardener

Read Full Post »

God Is Soul

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on July 18, 2012| Leave a Comment »

            The fifth main aspect of God is Soul. Soul is that aspect of God by virtue of which He is able to individualize Himself. The word individual means “undivided.”Most people seem to think it suggests separateness but actually individual means undivided, and God has the power of individualizing Himself without, so to speak, breaking Himself into parts.
You are really an individualization of God. Only God can individualize Himself in an infinite number of units of consciousness, and yet not be in any way separate because God is spirit. Matter cannot be individualized. It can only be divided. So your real self, the Christ within, the spiritual man, the I Am, or the divine spark, as it is variously called, is an individualization of God. You are the presence of God at the point where you are.
Man may very well be compared to an electric light bulb. The electric current is present in all parts of the circuit, but it shines forth, or one might say, figuratively, becomes self-conscious, in the bulb. So divine Mind becomes self-conscious in you.
Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, ye are gods? (John 10:34).
When you are called upon to perform some task or undertake some responsibility that seems too great for you, realize that you are one with God and the task will become “our business” instead of “my business.”
Think about this for a moment. We are undivided from God by virtue of our soul being God’s way of manifesting himself through our consciousness, or soul. God is not with us; God is us. We are God’s consciousness poking into the physical realm and the metaphysical realm as we experience it.
This means that we can be the channel through which God directly acts and exists in the reality we experience. Humans are the only entities other than God that can consciously conceive, create and build something that begins as a thought in our minds. So, what are we conceiving and building today? Are we conceiving hope, peace and joy? Are we building loving relationships and material edifices that raise up God and man?
Each and every thought and action is a creative act. Let us today affirm our birthright as children of God and build the creations that God desires for our best good. Remember, God is undivided from us and ready to manifest himself through us for good. We are not alone!
God R Us,
Z gardener

Read Full Post »

God Is Intelligence

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on July 16, 2012| 1 Comment »

            The fourth main aspect of God is Intelligence. When you clearly realize that this is an intelligent universe it will make a major difference in you life. In an intelligent universe there cannot be disharmony because all ideas must work together for the common good. Neither can there be any lack. An engine that has been intelligently designed does not have any unnecessary parts and neither are any essential parts lacking.
It is especially important to realize that God is Intelligence because it sometimes happens that when people outgrow the childish idea that God is just a magnified man, they go to the opposite extreme and think of God as a blind force, like gravity or electricity. This means that they have lost all sense of the Love and Fatherhood of God, and such an idea is very little better than a subtle form of atheism.
God is not a person in the usual sense of the word, but God has every quality of personality except its limitation. The human mind cannot imagine personality that is not limited, but this difficulty arises from the limitation of the human mind itself, and of course this does not affect the nature of God. The Bible says, in effect, whatever you think I am, that will I be to you; this means that if we attribute to God every quality of an infinite, intelligent, loving personality, God will be just that to us. So we may say that we believe in a personal God.
Children and young people respond very readily indeed to a prayer for expression of Intelligence through them. If you are interested in a young person at college, pray several times a week that Intelligence will manifest through him and you will be surprised to find how his progress in his studies will increase. Remember also the wonderful fact that when you work for a person the result will be with him for the rest of his life.
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! …(Romans 11:33).
How wonderful it is to have access to a personal God, who will become exactly what we need for our best good. However, we must believe in God if we want access to that God. When we believe, we act accordingly. So today, let us act as if God wants us to be the happiest, most fulfilled person on Earth. Then, watch the mountains move.
Seeking intelligence,
Z gardener

Read Full Post »

God Is Truth

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on July 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »

            The second main aspect of God is Truth. God is not truthful but Truth itself, and wherever there is Truth, there is God. There are many things that are relatively true at certain times and places only, but God is absolute Truth at all times and in all circumstances. As soon as we touch God, who is the Absolute, relative things disappear.
To know the truth about any condition heals it. Jesus said, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32).
You should realize God as Truth when you want information on any subject, or if you suspect that you have to deal with deceit. If you believe that someone is trying to deceive you, claim that divine Truth dwells in the person concerned, and is expressed through him. If you realize this clearly enough he will then speak the truth. When you have to transact any important business such as signing a lease or a contract, spend a few minutes realizing divine Truth and if there is anything you should know it will come out. Of course people may have no desire to deceive you and yet for some reason you may not be given the whole story. I know of several cases where serious misunderstandings were prevented because somebody realized God as truth and so all the facts were brought out. I know also of cases where intentional dishonesty was frustrated in the same way.
Some of the hardest truths to confront are the ones about ourselves. We may shy from these truths because they hurt. However, the truth is the best antidote to things about ourselves that bother us. Hiding from it, lying about it or beating ourselves up over it will only make them worse. When we face the truth about ourselves, we are freed form the burdens our weaknesses cast on us. God already knows our weaknesses. When we face and accept them, then we open the pathway for forgiveness if we but ask.
 
God is truth, and every time we abide in the truth, we abide in God. So today, let’s give ourselves a break in the truth. Then God will heal us and our door to the garden God created will swing open to greet us.
 
Truthfully,
 Z gardener

Read Full Post »

God Is Life

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on July 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The first main aspect of God is Life. God is not just living, nor does God give life, but God is Life. Where God is, there Life is.
When you are sick you are only partly alive. When you are tired or depressed or discouraged, you are only partly alive. Few people express God in an adequate way because they lack the sense of life.
Joy is one of the highest expressions of God as Life. Actually it is a mixture of Life and Love, and the Bible says “the sons of God shout for joy.” When we realize our divine sonship, we must experience joy. Joy always has an expansive effect, just as fear has a contracting effect. When a person says, “I can”, you notice an expansive and forward movement, but when he says, “ I can’t”, there is a retraction. You could not imagine a person saying, “Yes, I can,” with a shrinking gesture, or “No, I can’t,” in an optimistic or forthright way. The body always expresses the thoughts; the thought of Life heals and inspires, whereas thoughts of fear and death contract and destroy.
Realizing divine Life heals the sick. Animals usually respond quickly, because they do not have that strong sense of personal egotism that most human beings do. They never make up their minds that they cannot get well or that “sickness is sent for a good purpose.’ Neither do they give way to discouragement because they have not been healed faster.
For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom and knowledge, and joy…(Ecclesiastes 2:26).
God would that we have life and have it abundantly. How much of life are we missing, putting off or deciding is out of our reach. God’s will is clear, abundant life is already here for us if we but listen to God. God has told us all we need to know to find it, yet we doubt and dither about rather than follow God’s will and way.
When we believe God, accept God’s will and live God’s way, we will find it. If we dither, doubt and run about, we will miss it. Believe God, sieze life and live it to the fullest today and every day. It is God’s will.
Carpe Diem,
Z gardener

Read Full Post »

The Seven Main Aspects of God

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on July 10, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The Seven Main Aspects of God
Have you ever asked yourself the question: What is God like? We are told to pray by turning away from the problem and thinking about God; but how are to think about God? What is His nature? What is His Character? Where is He? Can we really contact Him, and if so, how?
The first and most fundamental thing to realize is that God is not just a superior kind of man. The Bible says that God is spirit and that they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. To worship Him in spirit means to get a spiritual understanding of His nature. To define God would be to limit Him, but we can get an excellent working knowledge of God by considering different aspects of His nature. Of these there are seven main aspects of His nature. Thinking of any aspect you will get your result more quickly and more easily.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead …(Romans 1:20).
As we come to know the aspects of God’s nature, our own true nature is also revealed. Then, let us compare our God-given nature to the aspects of our human-driven nature that we have embraced and made part of our reality. If they are the same, then we are manifesting our God-given nature. If they are different, then we still have work to do.
When there is no difference between our human-driven nature and our God-given nature, we realize and recognize the Eden God has given us here below. It is then that we can walk in that garden each day, filled with hope, joy and peace. Until then, God’s infinite love and bountiful mercy will continue to guide us toward the garden, and his limitless forgiveness will allow us to start anew every day with love and grace… if we but ask.
Seeking God’s nature,
Stan
Author’s note: Each day will follow with one of the seven aspects (mentioned above) explained.

Read Full Post »

Begin Today

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

The first step that the earnest student must take to locate the Inner Light within himself is to settle on a definite method of working, selecting whichever one seems to suit him best, and then giving it a fair trial. Merely reading books, making good resolutions, or talking plausibly about the thing will get him nowhere.
Get a definite method of working, practice it conscientiously every day; and stick to one method long enough to give it a fair chance. You would not expect to play the violin after two or three attempts, or to drive a car without a little preliminary practice.
Get to work on some concrete problem, choosing preferably whatever it is that you are most afraid of. Work at it steadily; and if no improvement at all shows itself within, say, a couple of weeks, then try your method on another problem. If you still get no result, then scrap that method and adopt a new one. Remember, there is a way out. The problem really is, not the getting rid of your difficulties, but finding your own best method for doing it.
…Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, He will give it to you        (John 16:23).
Each person may have a unique way to to find their inner light. Whether through knowledge, works or love, start today. The light is waiting to be discovered and shared with the world. The world needs it and so do we.
Methodically seeking,
z gardener
Author’s note: The author is happy to be back from a wilderness trip in God’s garden, and is recharged for more time in the Good Morning Garden. Z.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts