Good Morning Garden

There exists a mystic Power that is able to transform your life so thoroughly, so radically, so completely, that when the process is completed your own friends would hardly recognize you, and, in fact, you would scarcely be able to recognize yourself.
It can lift you out of an invalid’s bed, and free you to go out into the world to shape your life as you will. It can throw open the prison door and liberate the captive.
This Power can do for you that which is probably the most important thing of all in your present stage: it can find your true place in life for you, and put you into it.
This Power is really no less than the primal Power of Being, and to discover that Power is the divine birthright of all men.

…. The kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21).
…. Seek ye first the kingdom of God… and all these things shall be added…(Matthew 6:33).

Just imagine a power so great that nothing can stop it from accomplishing anything which the mind of God can conceive. Now imagine that this power is available to each of us every day. That power exists and is available to us when we seek first the will, consciousness and spirit of God in our lives. This is not power you can will to any end, but can only be accessed through love of God and devotion to God’s laws and precepts. When using this power we are not free to act any way we chose but must submit to God’s will and follow God’s rules. When we do these things, we will experience the ultimate power and the peace and gladness that accompany it.

Seeking the power,

Z gardener

Read Full Post »

The principal reason why prayers are not answered is because in our hearts we limit the power of God. The Bible constantly tells us that the people got into trouble because they limited the Holy One. When you say, “There is no way out of my difficulty,” what can it possibly mean except that you cannot see a way out? When you say, “It is too late now,” what can that possibly mean except that it is too late for you?

When you pray you are turning to the power of God and surely you will admit that God is omnipotent, and therefore nothing can be too difficult, or too late, or too soon for Him. You will surely admit that infinite Wisdom takes action when we pray and so our own limitations do not matter—unless we think they do.

Children often find themselves completely overcome by a difficulty that a grown-up person easily solves. What to the child seems an impossibility is quite easy to his father, and so even our greatest difficulties are simple to God.

Infinite Wisdom knows a beautiful and joyous solution to any dilemma. Do not limit the power of God for good in your life.

…Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? … (Isaiah 50:2).

One of the most difficult tasks we face in our spiritual journey is to accept the unlimited power of God. Human nature constantly attempts to put boundaries on all we perceive in order to analyze and understand it. This works well for managing our physical existence, but is the enemy of spiritual reality and our growth therein. Our tendency to quantify and put boundaries and limits on God is problematic because it is vanity and replaces God’s truth with our perception of the truth. It also denies the unlimited power of God. So at its core, it reflects lack of faith and makes us an obstacle to God’s will. To overcome this human trait, we must accept God’s will and deny our limited perception of truth. Then we facilitate God’s will instead of being an obstacle to it and this gives us access to unlimited potential.

Rebuking limitation,

Z gardener

Read Full Post »

You form certain beliefs, for one reason or another—and then you have to live with them. When you were growing up, well-meaning people told you many negative things by way of warning, thereby implanting fears; and these fears are with you today, consciously or subconsciously. Other problems you brought here with you when you were born.

You meet your fears dramatized. The things that we fear in our hearts have a way of coming to us in the guise of other people’s acts; of business conditions; of a breakdown in some part of the body.

Thank God it is not necessary as a rule to delve into the recesses of the subconscious and dredge for these things. In the spiritual teaching, as given in the Bible, we learn that by beating the symptoms spiritually (not, of course, covering up symptoms, but beating them) the fear or false suggestion that caused the symptom disappears too, and the patient is free.

Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace… (Job 22:21).

Again we see the principle of cause and effect in our lives. As within, so without. Any thought we give our attention to and imbue with our feelings will manifest itself in our lives. And, yes, there are things to fear in the world. But that does not mean we have to adopt those fears and make them our own. In fact, when we rebuke fear and refuse to engage in it, that which we fear will not be drawn to us nor will we cause it to manifest in our lives. Then, If that which we refuse to fear does happen, it will be turned to our best good and will only make us better. When through faith, we master fear and doubt, we will throw off the heavy yoke and will experience peace and life in the Garden that God created for us. Faith, hope and love are the antidotes to fear.

In love, with faith, through hope,

Z gardener

Read Full Post »

It happens to some students of prayer who are especially zealous, giving much time to study and meditation, and making more than average progress, that a time comes when their ordinary daily work begins to seem dull, tiresome, and really not worthwhile. Such a person may actually have a very important and interesting position, which most people would consider ideal; but now he is no longer content or happy. He would like to throw up business life altogether and devote all his time to his spiritual development.

The healing of this problem is first to know that a great many people have to meet it. It is not at all uncommon or peculiar to one person; and those who have it always come through it and find themselves happier than ever before because this particular difficulty only happens to wholehearted and zealous people. Such people usually spend too much time in prayer and meditation, and become waterlogged.

Having come through that stage they always find themselves more interested in their business than ever before; they do much better work, and at the same time they progress much faster in their spiritual lives, and have a great deal more power in prayer than they ever had before.

I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. (Job 42:2).

All of us should pray to have this dilemma. What a blessing to be so consumed with our spiritual lives that we lose interest in material things. However, taken too far, even this can be a problem. All parts of our lives are important and should be kept in balance. One way to do that is to channel our spiritual fervor into our material lives so that this too may be used to accomplish God’s will in our lives. That is what is meant when the author refers to living in the Eden God gave us. Let us each use our spiritual lives to till the garden in which God placed us.

Tilling the soil,

Z gardener

Read Full Post »

Think of God. Review some of the things that you know to be true about Him – His perfect goodness, infinite intelligence, all presence, limitless power, unbound love, and so forth. Claim that God, who is all those things, is with you – and believe it.

Read a few verses of Scripture or any spiritual book that helps you.

Say silently that you forgive everyone who may seem to need it; without exception or mental reservation – and mean it.

Claim that God is now inspiring you, teaching you, and healing you. Claim that He is giving you the greatest of all gifts – HIMSELF – because having Him you will have everything else too.

Give thanks in advance for the peace of mind, the harmony, and the spiritual growth that is yours – and mean it.

Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High (Psalm50: 14)

The act of believing is one of the most powerful things a human can do. It is from belief that nation’s rise, that creativity springs forth and that fear and doubt emerge. In the truest sense we are what we believe we are, and we will become what we believe we shall be. But one may ask, “How do we get to the point where we believe in something like God that we can’t prove exists”?

There are many ways to achieve belief. For some, they use a mental version of the scientific method. The scientist develops an hypothesis, tests the hypothesis and draws a conclusion based on the results. We can do the same by developing the desire to believe in God, then test the desire by acting according to God’s will and then draw our faith from the results. You can be sure that if you follow the will of God as described in the Bible, your desire will grow into a belief. There is a much simpler way that works for many. They just choose to believe and faith follows. Regardless of the path we choose to believe, once on the path, we must claim all that God has promised…and mean it. If we build it, he will come.

Claiming all God’s gifts,

Z gardener

Read Full Post »

Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom and instruction, and understanding (Proverbs 23:23).

All you have of Truth is what you understand of it – and what you understand you always demonstrate. It naturally follows from this that the only way to improve yourself and your conditions is to gain an increase in understanding. And the only way to gain an increase in understanding is to make practical use of the Truth you already know. Knowledge that you do not actually use is only intellectual knowledge and is barren, and even that fades out in time through lack of use.

You will never demonstrate or progress on mere theories that you have not put to the test. You will never demonstrate or grow spiritually on what is in a t extbook or a lecture until you have begun to put such knowledge into practice. It is far better to have a thimbleful of spiritual knowledge and use it than to have a whole mountain of correct spiritual doctrine most of which you have never made work.

To have truth, we must seek it. To have understanding, we must apply truth in our lives. To demonstrate God’s power in our lives, we must practice it. Seek, apply, practice; then repeat.

If we are to live in the Garden God gave us, we must follow the instructions in the operating manual (the Bible) that he sent to us . When we do follow these instructions, we will know the truth, we will understand it and we will be empowered to live in the Eden God gave to us here and FOREVER with God in heaven.

Making it work,,

Z gardener

Read Full Post »

Why has not your prayer been answered? Perhaps it has. Strangely enough, it often happens that we receive an answer to our prayer and do not recognize it. Some of us have had demonstrations in our possession for weeks or months and have not known it. This mistake is caused by outlining. We have unconsciously decided that the demonstration must take a particular form, and because that form does not appear, we think we have failed. Actually we probably have an even better demonstration than we expected, but for the moment we are blind to it.

If a boy prayed for a man’s hat (because he thought it would look well on him or make him grown up) he would not get it; since divine Wisdom knows that he could not wear it. He would get a good hat of the sort that would be useful to him. We often pray for things for which we are not really prepared; but if we pray scientifically this will not matter, since Creative Intelligence will send us the thing that we really need.

Seek God for his own sake, for the joy of being with Him and demonstrations will take care of themselves.

I will be glad in the Lord (Psalm 104:34)

We have all heard the old saying, “be careful what you pray for”. Prayer is powerful and as such should be handled properly. If, when we pray, we ask for God’s will, then all the things we need for our best good will come to us. If instead, we pray that our will be done, then we may be disappointed that our prayers are not answered, or that the answer was no, or that the answer was not for our best good. When we submit ourselves and our prayers to God’s will, then we can be sure that they will be answered and our lives will be blessed by them.

In prayerful submission,

Z gardener

Read Full Post »

The Unforgivable Sin

The Bible mentions the existence of an unforgivable sin, and this has greatly frightened innumerable Christians.

Let us be absolutely clear upon one point. There is no sin that a human being can commit that God will not forgive but there is one sin that he cannot forgive until we make it possible. This sin consists in shutting ourselves off from fresh inspiration or guidance from God. If your mind is already made up about everything appertaining to God; if you decide that you now know all the truth, and that you could not be mistaken; then it will not be possible for the Holy Ghost to open your eyes to error and lead you into higher truth. Naturally, as long as this is your state of mind, no help or improvement can come to you; and in that sense only is your sin unforgivable – unforgivable while it lasts. When you do change your attitude, enlightenment will come, and the sin will be destroyed.

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with me (Revelation 3:20).

In the broadest sense, the unforgivable sin is the one which we will not admit. To be forgiven, we must confess that our actions have been wrong, repent of those actions, and ask for forgiveness. None of these things can happen if we refuse to admit our action was wrong. I

In this season of Lent, let us all look honestly at ourselves for those things which we still need to change. Remember, to be fully forgiven, we must be fully repentant. When we do this, we will be cleansed of all our doubt, guilt and shame. Then we will rise from the ashes of sin to live as joyful spirits in communion with God and man. Then we will enter the Garden washed clean and made new. Then we will be as a child full of awe and excitement.

In awe,

Z gardener

Read Full Post »

People sometimes accept the idea that a change of thought, plus turning to God in prayer, will transform their lives into harmony and freedom. The logic of this principle appeals to them, and they set to work upon it in earnest. Then, after a few days, they say, “Nothing has happened after all,” and they drop back into their old negative thinking.

That is extremely foolish. The results of many years of general negative thinking are seldom corrected in a few days. No one who goes upon a new physical diet or medical regimen expects to reap the advantages in so short a time. You must keep up the new way of thinking and refuse to be discouraged by seeming failures at first.

The right motive for adopting right thinking is that it is right, and that wrong thinking is wrong; and we should do right whether it seems to pay dividends or not. Of course, it does pay dividends – fabulous dividends – but it usually takes a little perseverance in the face of preliminary slowness.

And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13).

When we apply the same discipline to our spiritual endeavors that we apply to other aspects of our lives we will soon find ourselves living in the Eden God gave us to inhabit. When we seek God with the fervor of love’s first blush, when we rebuke negative thought as we would consistently discipline a child and when we accept the reality of God as we do the existence of gravity, we will find that place where joy and gladness reigns. If we are to live in that Garden, we must create it in our spirit, consciousness and will. Then it will bloom in our lives.

Tending the blossoms,

Z gardener

Read Full Post »

God intended us to have dominion over our lives, to be the captains of our souls.

Of course, in the ship of life, you cannot make port unless all sails are set. You must pursue the spiritual life wholeheartedly. You cannot expect to reach port if you are faithful in your prayers and meditations for a time, and then for a time you forget God.

You are the captain of your soul when you can say with Jesus,

I and my Father are one (John 10:30).
…the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works (John 14:10).

When we pursue our spiritual life with all the vigor and commitment within us, we will reach the port that God charted for us. When we take our hand off the tiller, or fall off the wind or veer from the course, we lose our way and slow our progress. So, let us keep a steady hand on the tiller mates. Let us keep our sails full and may God carry us all to the home port he has given to us and to our Garden that waits for us there.

Along the Lee Shore,

Z gardener

Read Full Post »