Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for May, 2013

What Does God Expect?

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on May 31, 2013| Leave a Comment »

 
As children of the Most High we have a divine heritage and therefore a right to expect that God will take care of us in every way. The Bible is full of promises as to what God will do for His children, but perhaps Jesus put it the most plainly when he said,
 
What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? (Matthew 7:9-11).
 
So you have a divine right to expect all these good things from God. But what does God expect of us? Well, God has a right to expect that we will put Him first in our hearts. Then God expects us to have a lively faith. Faith in itself is a reliance upon the goodness of God.
 
And lastly, God expects us to go to Him in prayer — as a son who knows that even before he has asked, the loving Father has answered.
This is the deal. God calls and we respond. To respond means to follow God’s will in faith; not our own will. When we do this, God promises everything that happens to us will end up being for our best good. Even when we suffer terribly, if we remain faithful to God’s will, it will result in our best good. That’s the deal.
Taking the deal,
Z gardener

Read Full Post »

Accept No Second-Bests

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on May 30, 2013| Leave a Comment »

In the depths of his being man always feels intuitively that there is a way out of his difficulties if only he can find it. The infant, as yet uncontaminated by the defeatism of his elders, simply refuses to tolerate inharmony on any terms, and therefore he demonstrates over it. When he is hungry he tells the world while many a sophisticated adult goes without. Does he find a pin sticking in some part of his anatomy? Not for him a sigh of resignation to the supposed “will of God,” or a whine about never having any luck, or a sigh that what cannot be cured must be endured. His instincts tell him that life and harmony are inseparable.
Refuse to tolerate anything less than harmony. You can have a happy and joyous life. But to do so you must seize the rudder of your own destiny and steer boldly for the port that you intend to make. What are you doing about your future?
 
For not the hearers of the Law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified (Romans 2:13).
    When we lower our standards and accept anything that our inner voice tells us is not acceptable (such as disharmony), we are violating God’s will for us and creating our own world in which to live. That world separates us from God and closes the gate to Eden that Christ reopened for us.
Refuse to accept second-best, negativity and disharmony. Then take the rudder of life and do whatever is necessary to embrace the best good God intended for us, and live in the Eden God created for us.
Taking the rudder,
Z gardener
 

Read Full Post »

Alter Your Life

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on May 29, 2013| Leave a Comment »

 
There is no need to be unhappy. There is no need to be disappointed, or oppressed, or aggrieved. There is no need for illness or failure or discouragement. There is no necessity for anything but an abounding interest and joy in life.
As long as you accept a negative condition at its own valuation, so long will you remain in bondage to it; but you have only to assert your birthright as a free man or woman and you will be free.
Success and happiness are the natural conditions of mankind. It is actually easier to demonstrate these things than the reverse. Bad habits of thinking and acting may obscure this fact for a time, just as a wrong way of walking or sitting, or holding a pen, or musical instrument may seem to be easier than the proper way, because we have accustomed ourselves to it; but the proper way is the easier nevertheless.
Unhappiness, frustration, poverty, loneliness are really bad habits that their victims have become accustomed to bear, believing that there is no way out, whereas there is a way; and that way is simply to acquire good habits of working with the Law instead of against it.
 
Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy Law (Psalm 119:18).
The only person responsible for our happiness or unhappiness is us. Tough truth to face, especially when the actions of others can contribute so much to the outer conditions which plague us. However, the truth is always true; and the truth is, we are in control of how we react to negative circumstances. The other truth is that most of our negativity comes from within, not from without.
Let us examine ourselves carefully and honestly to determine how much we ourselves allow and engender the negative thoughts, circumstances and actions that deny our birthright to be happy and free.
Opening these eyes,
Z gardener

Read Full Post »

You Are Always Treating

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on May 27, 2013| Leave a Comment »

 
You are continually treating your conditions with the thoughts that you hold concerning them. What you really think about anything is your “treatment” of that thing. Many people have the idea that they are only “treating” when they call it “treating.” But no matter what you call it, your thought concerning any subject is a treatment. This is the reason visible conditions are always the expression of invisible thought.
 
If you will begin systematically to treat every side of your life with a series of positive, correct thoughts, and keep to this practice for even a few weeks, you will be amazed to find how much everything will change for the better.
 
…be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…(Romans 12:2).
How we think and what we think has more impact on our lives than any physical aspect of life. If our thinking is positive, affirming and hopeful, then our lives will be that way. Regardless of the outer conditions of our lives, our thinking will determine how we experience life. As a man thinketh; so is he!
Think well,
Z gardener

Read Full Post »

Bluebeard Draws the Line

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on May 24, 2013| Leave a Comment »

 
We make spiritual progress by putting God into every corner of our lives. Most people on the spiritual path are willing to give God a generous portion of their lives, but there is often one little corner where they do not wish the divine Light to shine.
 
Bluebeard, you remember, kept open house, with the exception of one little room – and there he drew the line. His current wife, or any of the neighbors could go all over the premises and welcome, until they came to that one little room, the Bluebeard chamber, that was forbidden. Yet that one little locked-up room contained the tragedy of the house.
 
The contents of the Bluebeard room need not be anything that we usually call horrible. There may just be selfishness, laziness, spiritual pride, or any of the more “respectable” but very deadly sins. There may be an old grudge or bitter remorse.
 
Open every door of your soul to God. Have no place where the light of His presence does not shine.
 
The secret things belong unto the Lord our God… (Deuteronomy 29:29).
Only when we shine the divine light in every aspect of our lives can we find the peace that surpasses all understanding. What rooms are we keeping locked away from God’s light and forgiveness?
Unlocked and open,
Z gardener
 

Read Full Post »

God Says Now

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on May 23, 2013| Leave a Comment »

 
God’s time for your demonstration in now. The time God wants you to be healed is now. The time God wants you to be in your true place is now. The Bible says that the day of salvation is now.
 
God is ready the moment you are. There is nothing to wait for except the changing of your own consciousness. People often make the mistake of saying, “I know my demonstration will come at the right time.” But the only time to be harmonious and satisfied is now. The time to be happy is now and the place is here. Did not Jesus say, The kingdom of heaven is at hand, and by this he meant close by.
 
Do not keep yourself out of the Kingdom of Heaven by inventing postponements, but change your consciousness now, for it can all happen in a moment.
 
…that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed (Romans 13:11).
The only thing holding us back from living in Eden is us. If we are truly ready for our demonstration, we will change our consciousness now. Happiness, satisfaction and peace are near to us, and all we must do to abide in them is draw near to God.
Change the mind to change the world.
Ready now,
Z gardener
 

Read Full Post »

The Spiritual Basis

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on May 22, 2013| 1 Comment »

The Spiritual Basis
 
One is on the Spiritual Basis or he is not, for there is no half-way house in this.
 
You are on the Spiritual Basis:
 
If you definitely give all power to God, in the most literal, practical, and matter-of-fact sense of the phrase.
 
If you really believe that prayer can do anything.
 
If you really believe that your happiness and well-being are vitally important in the eyes of God.
 
If you realize whatever ideas and beliefs you accept must be expressed in your surroundings, and in all your relationships and activities.
 
If you try to see the Presence of God everywhere.
 
If, in short, you understand that you are in a mental universe, that things are thoughts, and that one’s life history is fundamentally the expression of his belief about God.
 
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you (James 4:8)
Thoughts are things, and are more powerful than bullets or words. Everything created by mankind, wrought by mankind or caused by mankind was first a thought. God created everything that was created in the same way. As children of God, we can create no other way. Even our perception of reality is thought, as is our sensory experience of reality. Thoughts are more powerful than “reality” itself.
So, what we believe, see, realize and give power to, all arise from, and have their existence in, our thoughts. Understanding and living according to this reality is living in the spiritual basis. This is where we find our Edens that God created for us, and in which he waits for us. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.
Drawing nigh,
Z gardener

Read Full Post »

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on May 21, 2013| 1 Comment »

Our Deliverance
 
And now the Word of Truth is represented as addressing you with an authoritative assurance that your prayer will be answered, that is some way or other – not necessarily in the way that you expect – you will be rescued from your difficulty.
 
Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wing shalt thou trust: His Truth shall be thy shield and buckler. You are to have no apprehension, for your protection is now assured in one of those illustrations from everyday life, in which the Bible abounds. The mother hen, at the slightest threat of danger, gathers the little chicks under her wings, covering them “with her feathers”; thus does God shield you from all danger once you have elected to trust Him. His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. It is the knowledge of the Truth about God and man that makes the demonstration.
 
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. The arrow that flieth by day and the destruction that wasteth at noon refer to any difficulty of which you are consciously aware. It is, so to say, a daytime problem. The terror by night and the pestilence that walketh in darkness, on the contrary, imply something that, unknown to you, is working in your subconscious mind. Modern psychology has shown that most of our difficulties have their roots in the depth of the subconscious. These are indeed terrors of the mental night and pestilences of the darkness.
Fear, anxiety and other forms of apprehension demonstrate a lack of faith that God is protecting us and ensuring our best good. As easy as it is to let these emotions control us in times of hurt, when facing fearsome situations and even heartbreak; God’s word is clear. “Do not be afraid. Rejoice and give thanks for all things.”
 
Being thankful,
Z gardener
 

Read Full Post »

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on May 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Our Fortress
 
Read Psalm 91.
 
Observe that the poem opens by announcing the irresistible power of prayer. Then in order to bring home the fact that this law applies to us, and that by no possibility could we be an exception, it now changes over to the first person and makes us say “I.” It compels us to voice the I AM.
 
I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. The Lord means God. How can knowledge be a presence? Secular knowledge, which is intellectual, cannot; but the true knowledge of God is an actual experience – not a thing of the head, but of the heart – and this is indeed a Presence. As a general rule, people contact this Real Self only vaguely and occasionally. Then, if they pray regularly, the gleams of intuition gradually strengthen into a definite sense of the Presence of God.
 
In Him will I trust. However worried or depressed you may be, however full of doubts and misgivings, still the fact that you are praying means that you have at least enough faith for that. The faith to go on praying in the midst of doubts about results is the tiny grain of mustard seed that Jesus says is sufficient for practical purposes. Declaring in Him will I trust means that you have now determined to trust by ceasing to worry and fear. This is the legitimate and spiritual use of the will.
When we trust in God, we become one with God and serve as an open channel for God’s will to manifest itself in our lives. This is when we will be able to rise above worry, fear and anxiety: in communion with God and protected in God’s fortress.
 
Trusting God,
Z gardener

Read Full Post »

The Shadow of the Almighty

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on May 17, 2013| Leave a Comment »

 To abide under the shadow of the Almighty means to live under the protection of God Himself. Eastern people, and especially those with a desert background, such as the people of Palestine, look upon the sun as a danger, even an enemy, from which they need to be safeguarded. Shade is sanctuary, or safety – “the shadow of a mighty rock in a weary land.” The exhausted traveler sinks down in the shade for his long-sought rest.
 
God is called “The Almighty” in order to impress us with the fact that He really is All-mighty, and can therefore overcome our present difficulty, no matter how big it may seem.
 
…for with God all things are possible (Mark 10:27).
 
Consider, however, that the promise is made to “him that dwelleth.” If we only run into the Secret Place now and again, we can scarcely be said to dwell there. God will come to our rescue whenever we pray, but if we seldom think of Him, we may experience difficulty in making our contact in an emergency. By means of daily meditation we dwell in the Secret Place.
It is this writer’s prayer that each of us seek this dwelling place in the shadow of God’s love. When we find it, and abide in it, wherever it may be, it will be the Eden God created for us.
Seeking Eden,
Z gardener

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »