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The Lord’s Prayer – Lead Us Not Into Temptation

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on March 18, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil (Matthew 6:13).

Many earnest people feel that God could not lead anyone into temptation in any circumstances, and that Jesus could not have said what he is represented to have said, and so some other phrasing is sought more in accordance with the general tone of his teaching. All this, however, is unnecessary.

The facts are these; the more you pray, the more sensitive you become, and the more powerful are your prayers. But you also become susceptible to forms of temptation that simply do not beset those at an earlier stage. Subtle and powerful temptations await; temptations to work for self-glory, for personal distinction; temptation to personal preferences other than perfect impartiality. Beyond all other temptations the deadly sin of spiritual pride. Many who have surmounted all other testings have lapsed into self-righteousness that has fallen like a curtain of steel between them and God.

Some old writers were so vividly sensible of these dangers that they spoke of the soul as being challenged by various tests as its traversed the upward road. The traveler was halted at various turnpike bars, and tested by some ordeal to determine whether he were ready to advance any further. If he succeeded in passing the test he was allowed to continue upon his way with the blessing of the challenger.

Now, some less experienced souls, eager for rapid advancement, have rashly desired to be subjected immediately to all kinds of tests, and have even looked about, seeking for difficulties to overcome. Forgetting our Lord’s injunction Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God (Matthew 4:7), they have virtually challenged him to give them difficulties. And so Jesus has inserted this clause, in which we pray that we may not have to meet anything that is too much for us at the present level of our understanding.

One other point needs to be considered. The more we attempt to bring our lives into harmony with God, the more the forces of evil align to prevent that communion. So that each step we take toward spiritual living comes with greater resistance form the evil one.

Remember, that when we have accepted God’s call, the battle for our soul then shifts to corrupting our faith as opposed to supporting our lack of faith. It is said in the old saying “if you can’t beat them, join them”. That is exactly what happens when evil attempts to infiltrate our faith.

So we must constantly be vigilant of our growing faith being used against us by the forces of evil.

To paraphrase another saying ” the price of salvation is eternal vigilance”.

On guard,
Z gardener

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The Lord’s Prayer – How To Forgive

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on March 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee. (Psalm 55:22).

The technique of forgiveness is not very difficult when you understand how. The only thing that is essential is willingness to forgive. Provided you desire to forgive the offender, the greatest part of the work is already done.

The method of forgiving is this: Get by yourself and become quiet. Repeat any prayer that appeals to you, or read a chapter of the Bible. Then quietly say, “I fully and freely forgive X (mentioning the name of the offender); I loose him and let him go. I cast the burden aside. He is free now, and I am free too. The truth of Christ has set us both free. I thank God.”

On no account repeat this act of forgiveness, because to do it a second time would be tacitly to repudiate your own work. Afterward, whenever the memory of the offender or the offense happens to come into your mind, bless the delinquent briefly and dismiss the thought. Do this, however many times the thought may come back. You will find that all bitterness and resentment have disappeared, and you are both free with the perfect freedom of the children of God. Your forgiveness is complete.

How much better we feel when unburdened by the anger caused by those who have offended us, how much our souls are quickened; our steps lightened and our hearts lifted. Its like un-hitching ourselves from a hundred pound anchor we have been dragging. Suddenly, instantly and immediately we move with ease, our souls lifted and our thoughts free to experience gratitude, joy and peace.

Forgive and live in the grace, ease and hope that God intends for all his children.

Un-hitched,
Z gardener

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The Lord’s Prayer – Freedom In Forgiveness

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on March 15, 2011| 1 Comment »

If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you (Matthew 6:14).

Setting others free means setting yourself free, because resentment is really a form of attachment. It is a cosmic truth that it takes two to make a prisoner; a prisoner and a jailer. There is no such thing as being a prisoner on one’s own account. Moreover, the jailer is as much a prisoner as his charge. When you hold resentment against anyone, you are bound to that person by a mental chain. You are tied by a cosmic tie to the thing that you hate. The one person perhaps in the whole world whom you most dislike is the very one to whom you are attaching yourself by a hook that is stronger than steel. Is this what you wish? Is this the condition in which you desire to go on living? Remember, you belong to the thing with which you are linked in thought, and at some time or other, if that tie endures, the objects of your resentment will be drawn again into your life, perhaps to work further havoc. No one can afford such a thing; and so you must cut all such ties by a clear act of forgiveness. You must loose him and let him go. By forgiveness you set yourself free; you save your soul. And because the law of love works alike for one and all, you help to save his soul too.

We all carry the keys to the prisons of our resentment. Only we can put them in the locks and open the doors. No matter how justified our resentment, it still denies us our freedom. May we all swing open the doors of forgiveness today and ask God’s help to forgive all that have hurt us, and ask forgiveness from those we have hurt.

Then we can walk freely in the garden called beautiful that God created for us.

Come, sweet freedom,
Z gardener

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The Lord’s Prayer – Demonstrating Forgiveness

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on March 11, 2011| Leave a Comment »

And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise (Luke 6:31).

The forgiveness of others is the vestibule of Heaven. You have to get rid of all resentment and condemnation of others, and, not least, of self-condemnation and remorse. You have to forgive yourself, but you cannot forgive yourself sincerely until you have forgiven others first.

Of course, nothing in all the world is easier than to forgive people who have not hurt us very much. But what the Law of Being requires of us is that we forgive the very things that are so hard to forgive that at first it seems impossible to do it at all. But the Lord’s Prayer makes our own escape from guilt and limitation dependent upon just this very thing.

If your prayers are not being answered, search your consciousness and see if there is not some old circumstance about which you are still resentful. Search and see if you are not really holding a grudge against some individual, or some group. If so, then you have an act of forgiveness to perform, and when this is done, you will probably make your demonstration. If you cannot forgive at present, you will have to wait for your demonstration until you can, and you will have to postpone finishing your recital of the Lord’s Prayer too.

Brothers and sisters, today let us throw off the chains that bind us to our hurts. Let us each one fully, freely and faithfully release all our negative feelings about those who have; hurt or harmed us; said done or thought things against us; judged condemned or wished ill upon us; and especially let us forgive those we love who have hurt our feelings or disappointed us.

Then let each of us ask forgiveness in a likewise fashion from those we have; hurt or harmed; said done or thought anything against; judged condemned or wished ill upon; and especially form those we love whom we have disappointed or hurt.

Then let us each one forgive our selves as we forgive others and ask God to forgive us in the same way we forgive others.

Now then, let us walk in God’s garden free, fresh and forgiven; new spirits now cleaned of all wrongs and hurts with pure hearts and joyous exuberation. And may God grant this peace, freedom and new birth to us each day as we inhabit the Eden created for us.

Free at last,
Z gardener

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The Lord’s Prayer – Forgive Us Our Trespasses

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on March 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us (Matthew 6:12).

This clause is the turning point of the Prayer. It is the strategic key. Having told us what God is, what man is, how the universe works, how we are to do our own work, what our true nourishment or supply is, and the way in which we can obtain it, he now comes to the forgiveness of sins.

The forgiveness of sins is the central problem of life. Sin is a sense of separation from God, and is the major tragedy of human experience. It is, of course, rooted in selfishness. It is essentially an attempt to gain some supposed good to which we are not entitled in justice. It is a sense of isolated, self-regarding, personal existence; whereas the Truth of Being is that all is One. Our true selves are at one with God, undivided from Him, expressing His ideas, witnessing to His nature. Because we are all one with the great Whole of which we are spiritually a part, it follows that we are one with all men.

Evil, sin, the fall of man, in fact, is essentially the attempt to negate this Truth. We try to live apart from God. We act as though we could have plans and purposes and interests separate from Him. All this, if it were true, would mean that existence is not one and harmonious, but a chaos of competition and strife. But, of course, it is not true, and therein lays the joy of life.

Forgiveness is the gateway to joy. Without forgiveness, both given and received, we deny ourselves access to one of God’s most precious spiritual gifts; joy. Freely given, forgiveness breaks the chains that shackle us to the negative emotions we allow in ourselves. Freely sought, forgiveness releases us from the bondage of guilt for those things we have done or left undone that haunts us.

If we long to be happier, sleep better, love more and fear less, we must practice and accept forgiveness each day. Then we can lie peacefully in our gardens and rise up each day to a world filled with hope, anticipation and yes, true joy; forgiven, freed and fearless.

Peace and forgiveness to all,

Z gardener

Author’s Note: A new brother joins us in the garden today bringing us the blessings of a sweet spirit. He dispenses the truth to those with eyes to see and lifts those around him with his humor and kindness. Welcome to the garden brother.

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The Lord’s Prayer – Our Daily Bread – Part Four

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on March 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »

In speaking of the “bread of life,” Jesus calls it our daily bread. The reason for this is very fundamental; our contact with God must be a living one. It is our momentary attitude that governs our being.

behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2).
The most futile thing in the world is to seek to live upon a past realization. The thing that means spiritual life to you is your realization of God here and now.

Be thankful for yesterday’s experience, knowing that it is with you forever in the change of consciousness that it brought about, but do not lean upon it for a single moment for the need of today. The manna in the desert is the Old Testament prototype of this daily nourishment. The people wandering in the wilderness were told that they would be supplied with manna from heaven every day but they were on no account to try to save it up for the morrow. When, notwithstanding the rule, some of them did try to live upon yesterday’s food, the result was pestilence or death.

So it is with us. The art of life is to live in the present moment, and to make that moment as perfect as we can by the realization that we are the instruments and expression of God Himself.

When we loose the bonds of yesterday and break the shackles of tomorrow, we are then freed to live in the liberty of now. We are released in order to breathe the joy of life, free from past guilt and future foreboding. Our burdens of self-judgement and self-recrimination are lifted as we float unbound in the sublime present. In this state, God feeds us the bread of life and reveals pure joy, peace and grace.

When we conduct ourselves as a child who knows no fear and feels no guilt, then God’s spirit can fill us to a full measure. Then, His love and grace will surround us and flow from us to fill those around us with all that is good. And we, free as a child will live in our gardens filled with grace, peace and love.

Carpe Diem,
Z gardener

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The Lord’s Prayer – Claiming Our Daily Bread

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on March 7, 2011| 2 Comments »

The common mistake, of course, is to suppose that a formal recognition of God is sufficient, or that talking about divine things is the same as possessing them; but this is exactly on a par with supposing that looking at a tray of food, or discussing the chemical composition of sundry foodstuffs, is the same thing as actually eating a meal. It is this mistake that is responsible for the fact that people sometimes pray for a thing for years without any tangible result. If prayer is a force at all, it cannot be possible to pray without something happening. Pray regularly and quietly; remember that in all mental work, effort or strain defeats itself; then presently, the realization will come.

Another reason why the symbol of bread for the experience of the Presence of God is such a telling one, is that the act of eating food is essentially a thing that must be done for oneself. No one can assimilate food for another. In the same way, the realization of the Presence of God is a thing that no one else can have for us.

For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness (Psalm 107:9).

The relationship between God and mankind is summarized by offer and response. God created and offers mankind a wonderful world that provides for all our needs in a place of beauty and peace. It is our job to respond to that offer by living according to God’s will in harmony and joy.

God raises the wheat and bakes the bread. It is our role to take and eat.

Claiming the bread,
Z gardener

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The Lord’s Prayer – Our Daily Bread

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on March 2, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Give us this day our daily bread (Matthew 6:11).

Because we are the children of a loving Father, we are entitled to expect that God will provide us with everything we need. If we do so expect, in faith and understanding, we shall never look in vain.

It is the will of God that we should all lead healthy, happy lives, full of joyous experience; that we should develop freely and steadily. To this end we require such things as food, clothing, shelter, means of travel, books, and so on; above all, we require freedom. In the Prayer all these things are included under the heading of bread; that is to say, not merely food in general, but all things required for a healthy, free, and harmonious life. But in order to obtain these things we have to claim them, and we have to recognize God alone as the source and fountainhead of all our good. Lack of any kind is always traceable to the fact that we have been seeking our supply from some secondary source, instead of from God himself, the author and giver of life.

When we look to God for all our needs, our guidance and our strength, all the things we need for our best good will find us. We will not have to struggle to find them, run from pillar to post to gather them or fight to keep them. Just as Eden was given to us as a gift, it will be reopened to us as an invitation from God. Not by our will, but by the Father’s. To live in our Eden all we need to do is ask God for the key and then follow him like an obedient child.

Following the leader,
Z gardener

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The Lord’s Prayer – Thy Kingdom Come

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on February 24, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Thy kingdom come (Matthew 6:10).

Man, being manifestation or expression of God, has a limitless destiny before him. His work is to express, in concrete, definite form, the ideas that God furnishes him, and in order to do this, he must have creative power. Elsewise, he would be merely a machine through which God worked; an automaton. But man, having the nature of his father, remains a creator. Notice that the word individual means “undivided.” The consciousness of man is not separated from God’s consciousness.

“Thy kingdom come” means that it is our duty to bring more and more of God’s ideas into concrete manifestation upon this plane. That is what we are here for. The old saying, “God has a plan for every man, and he has one for you,” is quite correct.

If only you can find out the thing God intends you to do, and will do it, you will find that all doors will open to you, and you will be gloriously happy. There is a true place in life for each one of us where we can bring the Kingdom of God into manifestation, and truly say, “Thy kingdom cometh.”

Well, there we have it. Our job is to bring God’s Kingdom into the physical plane here below. We must figure out what God intends for us through the creative power he has given us. That is a charge to be pro-active, not passive.

Man is the only entity in the known universe other than God that has been given creative power. No other creature or thing can have a thought and turn that thought into a physical reality as a matter of conscious intent. For example, no other creature thinks of a building and then brings it into physical existence from nothing but thought. Think about that for a moment.

Then, let each of us take on the job God intends. Let nothing on this plane, or any other plane, prevent each of us from accomplishing it, as we discern God’s will for each of us.

Then brothers and sisters, all doors will be open, all things possible and each of our gardens will burst to overflowing with grace, love, peace and joy.

On the job,
Z gardener

Author’s note: Today a new brother joins us in the garden. He is a divinity student and state employee who works daily to preserve and protect the health of our citizens. He also works daily to bring the spirit of God into our state capitol and shares it with those who need it most. He has taken his job assignment from God, and we are blessed that he brings his labor of love into our midst in the garden. Welcome, brother.

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The Lord’s Prayer – Hallowed Be Thy Name

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on February 23, 2011| Leave a Comment »

If we trace the derivation of the word hallowed we will discover a most extraordinarily significant fact. The word hallowed has the same root as holy, whole, wholesome, and heal, or healed; so we see that the nature of God is complete and perfect; altogether good. Some very remarkable consequences follow from this fact. We have agreed that an effect must be similar in its nature to its cause, and so, because the nature of God is hallowed, everything that is projected by that Cause must be hallowed or perfect too. God cannot cause or send anything but perfect good. God cannot, as people sometimes think, send sickness or trouble, or accidents, much less death, for these things are unlike His nature.

Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. (Habakkuk 1:13).

The ramifications of this truth is nothing less than astounding! If God’s nature is perfect, then so is ours. How then, we may ask, does so much misery and strife afflict us? Simply put, it arises from our separation from God, denial of His will and refusal to accept His truth. So the intellectual cynic would respond that, “so, earthquakes and natural disasters are caused by our separation from God, huh? Let those with ears to hear take heed of this. God will turn the wisdom of men into foolishness.

The response to the “foolishly wise” would be to invite them to follow the proscriptions of the Lord’s Prayer for a week and then determine if their garden has become any greener, any more peaceful or any more joyful regardless of their outward circumstances. It is in what the world considers our foolishness of faith that we are made truly wise.

So, let us pray that the “humanly wise” brothers and sisters take the leap of faith, accept the puny limitations of human intellect and reason, and breathe in the miraculous, affirming, good and all loving breathe of Godly wisdom and love. Ahhhhh, what wondrous things we behold when the scales drop from our eyes and we behold true, Godly wisdom.

Being foolish,

Z gardener

Author’s Note: today we are blessed with the presence of two new sisters in the garden. They are both dedicated Mother’s and believers. Welcome to the garden.
Z

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