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Stake Your Claim

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on March 21, 2012| Leave a Comment »

 
 
In the gold rush days, prospectors went out in the mountains in search of the yellow metal. Often the task was long and arduous with little to show for days of struggle and privation. But when a find was made, the prospector would stake his claim so that others would know that that particular discovery belonged to him. Of course, some claims turned out to be shallow veins of ore and worth little, while other claims eventually made their owners fabulously wealthy.
 
In metaphysics, we often speak of claiming our good, and it is one of the surest ways of bringing the good we desire into our lives. If we want health, then we have to claim every day that divine Life brings well-being to every part of our body. If we want prosperity, then we claim every day that God is the giver of every good gift, ready to supply our every need.
 
Whatever it is we wish to bring into our life, we stake our claim to it.
 
Of course, we often claim negative things for ourselves without fully realizing it. Every time we say, “My cold,” “My headache,” “My indigestion,” we are claiming those things for ourselves. What one claims for himself he will eventually bring into his life.
 
Affirm your divine kinship. All that the Father hath is ours – if we will stake our claim to it.
 
…It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:32).
 
How we feel about ourselves is another way to stake a claim. Do we really believe God loves us unconditionally? Or, do we think we do not merit God’s love so we can not claim it? Guess what, both are right. We can never truly earn or deserve God’s unconditional love, but we don’t have to earn it. It is a gift of God’s grace (unmerited love). Think about this way, did we do anything to deserve our parents love? No, all we did was be born.
 
God love’s us because we are his children, not because we are good. We will always stumble and veer from the path of God’s will. Yet His forgiveness is always available if we but claim it. We claim forgiveness by confessing our failures, repenting and turning away from our mistakes. However, if we ignore our mistakes, or even worse, embrace them, then we are claiming all the misfortune and harm that comes from them. If we say, I can not try to change because I am too weak, then we claim that too.
 
When we claim our kinship to God, then work to live into our inheritance as children of God, we will receive strength and grace to work our claim. We do not become perfect or deserving of God’s love, but we do fully receive God’s presence and protection in all things. We also receive the peace that surpasses understanding and are then able to see and experience the beautiful garden God made for us. And, we can then live in that garden and walk with God each day filled with gratitude, love and gladness.
 
Staking the claim,
Z gardener

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Capitalize Your Disability

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on March 20, 2012| Leave a Comment »

 
Success consists in the overcoming of difficulties. All men and women who have made a success of any kind have done so by overcoming difficulties. There was a time when laying a telegraph line from New York to Boston presented many difficulties. Then there was a time when doing that was easy, but laying the Atlantic cable presented difficulties. Later on, marine cable laying became a routine business, but radio across the ocean presented problems that for a time were insuperable.
 
If you have a personal disability that seems to keep you from success, do not accept it as such, but capitalize on it and use it as the instrument for your success. H. G. Wells had to give up a dull underpaid job because of ill health, so he stayed at home and wrote successful books and became a world-known author instead. Edison was stone deaf and decided that this would enable him to concentrate better on his inventions. Theodore Roosevelt was a sickly child, very shortsighted and nervous. However, he worked hard to develop his body and became, as we know, a strong husky open-air man and big game hunter.
 
The owner of a fashionable dress business in London was the wife of a struggling clerk, who was stricken with tuberculosis. She had never been in business, and had no training, and found herself having to support a husband and two children. She started with nothing but good taste in clothes and a belief in prayer.
 
… To him that overcometh with I give to eat of the tree of life (Revelation 2:7).
 
Who would have ever thought that any of the examples above would “be grateful” for their disability. Yet, each would have missed their destiny without overcoming them. The question is not, “Why has God saddled me with this disability?” The true question is, “What new door can a disability open for me and God’s purpose for me?”
 
Looking for the door,
Stan

 

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When God Does Not Act

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on March 16, 2012| Leave a Comment »

 
We all believe that the love of God is invincible. We all believe that His intelligence, His knowledge, and His power are infinite. We all believe that God cares for us to a degree beyond imagining, and that each one of us is equally precious in His sight. Yet, in many cases healing and harmony do not follow from this knowledge. Why is this?
 
In most cases it is because we have forgotten that these qualities have to be embodied in ourselves before they can appear in our lives. To know of them as existing in God is not sufficient. We must be seeking to express them in our personal lives before they can do anything for us.
 
The only way to know God is to seek to express Him in our lives.
 
It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord … to show forth thy loving kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night (Psalm 92:1-2).
 
This does not mean God only answers prayers for the righteous. It does mean that we must be attuned to God and expressing God’s will and laws in our lives with our best ability to do so. We must believe the truth, accept God’s laws and make them our laws. When our thoughts, words and deeds are driven by our submission to God’s will, then we are expressing God. Then our harmony and healing will become our reality.
 
When we are one with God, we can praise God from whom all blessings flow, as they flow into our lives. Then are hearts will be “grateful for all things” as one who trusts God, even if afflicted with disharmony, ill health, etc. If we stay that course, then we will discover and live in the Eden God created for us.
 
Expressing God,
Z gardener

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The Spiritual Basis

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on March 15, 2012| Leave a Comment »

 
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 thoughts are things, 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)
 
Living on the spiritual basis is a radical departure from the way most humans live and perceive life. That upon which we mentally focus becomes the reality of our physical existence. When we draw near to God and focus on our belief in God, our world changes from the effects to the causes, form the medicine to the cure and from the carnal to the spiritual. This focus on God allows us to walk in grace, joy and peace. It opens us to God’s infinite power and creates the channel for God into our gardens. When we are one with the spirit, all things are possible and God’s love lifts and protects us. Then even when bad things come our way, we are spared our improved by them.
 
Drawing nigh,
Z gardener

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Prayer Is Always The Answer

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on March 14, 2012| Leave a Comment »

 
Prayer is always the solution. No matter what kind of difficulty may be facing you, no matter how complicated your problem may seem – prayer can solve it. Of course you will also take whatever practical steps seem to be indicated, and if you do not know what steps to take, prayer will show you. Prayer is constantly bringing about the seemingly impossible, and there is no conceivable problem that has not at some time been solved by prayer.
 
When we remember that God really is omnipotent, untrammeled by what we call time or space or matter, or the vagaries of human nature, it is easy to see that there can be no limit to the power of prayer. You can pray about a problem and solve it at any stage, but of course, the earlier you tackle it the easier will your work be.
 
… The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much (James 5:16).
 
The key words above are righteous and fervent. Righteous does not mean perfect; it means being a believer who, through faith is striving for righteousness. And, as we discussed yesterday, fervent means charged with feeling; coming from the heart. When we pray in this way, our prayers will be answered even if the answer is no. And when the answer is no, be on the lookout for God’s alternative to your request. It will be coming down the road. And as my Daddy used to say, “If the bible says a train is coming down a dirt road…you better jump in the ditch because it is coming.”
 
Waiting on the train,
Z gardener

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Mental Drudgery Is Not Prayer

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

 
Expect more from you prayers. The power of your prayer depends upon the amount of faith that you yourself have in it. To pray in the spirit that “even if this prayer does not do any good at least it cannot do any harm,” is not, really, to pray at all.
 
Have enough faith in the love of God to believe that a short heartfelt prayer is just as good as a long one. Too long a session of prayer usually means the in your heart you really doubt the love of God, and think that a great deal of effort and toil will be necessary to move Him. Pray quietly and sincerely for a reasonable time – and then leave the matter, expecting success.
 
O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou has done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth (Isaiah 25:1).
 
The intensity of feeling is more important to a prayer than its length. When we feel our prayer and focus on communion with God, we are truly praying. If our faith is strong, the length of the prayer is irrelevant. When we believe God is going to answer our prayer, we do not need to burden God with a lengthy prayer. Not that anything is wrong with a long visit with God. In fact, the more we visit with God, the better.
 
In belief,
Stan

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Is It Selfish?

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on March 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »

 
Is it selfish to pray for yourself? Some people think that it is, and say that you should pray only for others, but this, of course, is a foolish idea.
 
You must pray for yourself constantly. How could it be otherwise? We worship God by believing in Him, trusting Him, and loving Him wholeheartedly – and we can attain to that only through prayer. The sole object of our being here is that we may grow like him – and we can do that only through prayer.
 
The more we pray for ourselves the more power will our prayers have for any other purpose whatever; so praying for ourselves is the reverse of selfishness – it is truly glorifying God.
 
Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me: for I am poor and needy … Rejoice the soul of thy servant; for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul (Psalm 86:1, 4).
 
Not only should we pray for ourselves, we should also pray for all humans. We are all children of God and not one, especially ourselves, should ever be exempted form our prayer life. Prayer is more than just asking God for what we want. It is a visitation with God, being in God’s presence and God in ours. Prayer should be as much a part of our mentality as is our comfort or our destination at the time. Prayer is as essential to our spiritual life as breath is to our physical life. We ignore either at our great peril.
 
So today, let us pray for ourselves and all those other children of God. And being the Lenten season, our prayers for ourselves should always include awareness of our shortcomings and repentance of them. Lastly, be sure to include the willingness to bury the old self and rise anew with the risen Christ at Easter.
 
Lord, have mercy on us all,
Z  gardener

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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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