Good Morning Garden

There is one thing that means more to us than all the other things in the world, and that is our search for God and the understanding of His nature. Our aim is to learn the practice of the presence of God. We practice the presence of God by seeing Him everywhere, in all things and in all people.

Some years ago I coined the phrase “mental equivalent.” For anything that you want in your life—a healthy body, a satisfactory vocation, friends, opportunities, and above all the understanding of God—you must furnish a mental equivalent. Supply yourself with a mental equivalent, and the thing must come to you. This expression “mental equivalent” is borrowed from physics and chemistry. We speak of the mechanical equivalent of one kind of energy in another kind of energy. They have to find out how much coal will be needed to produce so much electricity, and so on. In like manner there is a mental equivalent of every object or occurrence on the physical plane.

The secret of successful living is to build up the mental equivalent that you want; and to get rid of, to expunge, the mental equivalent that you do not want.

I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways (Psalm 119:15).

The most sure way to develop the mental equivalent of that which we want in our lives is to follow God’s advice. When we surrender our will to God and obey God’s commandments, we are on the path to the mental states required to attract that which we seek. Then we are “meditating in thy precepts and respecting unto thy ways”. Following our own desires and will takes us in the opposite direction mentally and physically.

Seeking equivalence,
Z gardener

When you set out to solve a problem by means of prayer you should take all the ordinary normal steps in addition. Do not simply pray and then sit down and wait for something dramatic to happen. For instance, if you are praying for a position, you should pray for it as well as you know how each day, and then go out and visit agencies or prospective employers, write applications, or insert advertisements in suitable periodicals.

If you want a healing, treat about it in whatever way you usually find to be best and, in addition, take whatever material steps seem to be appropriate.

If your business is not prospering, have a checkup to discover if you are managing it efficiently. If you find weak points, as you almost certainly will, you must correct them forthwith.

We certainly cannot expect to go on breaking the laws of the plane on which we live, and expect prayer to compensate for this foolishness.

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might… (Ecclesiastes 9:10).

Albert Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. This is also true in the spiritual plane. When we pray for God to deliver us from some circumstance, we must be willing to change our actions that created the circumstance. If someone else or something else is responsible for our situation (which is usually not the case), then we must be prepared to do that which is necessary to contribute to and/or support the change for which we pray.

Doing the work,
Z gardener

Author’s Note: Today we are blessed to have three new visitors in the Good Morning Garden. Each are successful businessmen, loving husbands and fathers who live their faith by example and bring light to all they touch. Welcome to the Garden brothers.

Z

And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
For He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes
(Matthew 7:28-29).

It is always so. The message of Jesus Christ is utterly revolutionary, for it turns our gaze from the outside to the inside, and from man and his works to God.

He taught as one having authority. The greatest glory of the Spiritual Basis is that you begin to know. When you have obtained the smallest demonstration by means of prayer, you have experienced something that never leaves you. You have the witness of Truth within yourself, and this is the only authority worth having.

Just think; how wonderful it is to KNOW that our spiritual beliefs are as real as the Sun, moon and stars; to know that God is present with us and in us; and to know that all God’s promises are the truth and the only real authority and power.

Knowing,
Z gardener

Read Matthew 7:24-27.

Therefore whosoever heareth these saying of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock (Matthew 7:24).

One of the oldest symbols for the human soul is that of a building, sometimes a dwelling house, and sometimes a temple. The first thing that has to be done by the builder of a house is to select a sound foundation. On the shifting sands of the desert it is impossible to build anything at all, and so when the desert dweller intends to put up a permanent structure he looks about for a rock. Now the Rock is one of the Bible terms for the Christ, and the implication is very obvious. Christ is the one and only foundation upon which we can build the temple of the regenerated soul with safety. As long as we are depending upon something less than that Rock—upon will power, upon so-called material security, upon the good will of others, or upon our own personal resources—we are building upon sand, and great will be our fall.

What a great joy it is to know that we do not have to depend on our being perfect to ensure our spiritual welfare. As our lives shift, evolve and change, there is one eternal and dependable source of truth, power and light. When we base our priorities, plans and actions on the sure rock, we can always be sure the outcome will be for our best good. Regardless of our weaknesses, fears and flaws, we can be sure that our spiritual shelter will be solid when it is built on God’s will and words. Those who depend on themselves, others or wordily priorities for spiritual safety will find themselves rebuilding their spiritual homes after every storm.

Rock steady,
Z gardener
Author’s Note: This writer will be out town until Monday and will continue the Good Morning Garden then. Have a blessed and safe weekend. Z.

Read Matthew 7:21-23.

We are all willing to do God’s will sometimes and in some things, but until there is a complete dedication of one’s whole self, there cannot be a complete demonstration. “There is no home for the soul in which there dwells the shadow of an untruth,” said George Meredith.

Never is it more true than in the life of the soul that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. We must not allow any consideration whatever, any institution, any organization, any book, or any man or woman, to come between us and our direct seeking for God. Centers, churches, schools, all fill a useful purpose in providing the physical framework for the distribution of right knowledge, but the actual work must be done by the individual.

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven (Matthew 7:21).

“Easier said than done'”, is the phrase that comes to mind from today’s message. Many proclaim with words that they are the children of God, yet their actions and thoughts do not reflect their words. Words and appearances do not make us a child of God. God did that when he created us. We live into that creation when we accept and follow God’s willI. When God calls, and we respond with faith, love and obedience, then we are living as God’s children.

Shine on,
Z gardener

Read Matthew 7:15-20.

If man really were left without a simple practical test of religious truth, he would assuredly be in a sad plight; but happily this is not the case. Jesus, the most profound, and at the same time the most simple and practical teacher the world has ever known, has provided for this need, and has given us a universally applicable test for truth.

It is as simple and direct as the acid test for gold. It is the simple question—Does our religious truth work in our lives? This test is so staggeringly simple that most clever people have passed it over. Truth heals the body, purifies the soul, reforms the sinner, solve difficulties, pacifies strife. There is no such thing as undemonstrated understanding.

If you wish to know how you really stand spiritually, look about you at your environment, beginning with the body. There can be nothing in the soul that is not demonstrated sooner or later in the outer, and there can be nothing in the outer that does not find some correspondence in the inner.

By their fruits ye shall know them (Matthew 7:20).

What fruit is our religious truth bearing in our lives. Is it healing our bodies, purifying our souls, reforming our sinful actions, solving our difficulties and/or pacifying our strife? If so, then we can have full faith that we are in fact demonstrating religious truth. If not, then we must determine why not. Either we are following our own desires or something other than religious truth; or we are not truly thinking, feeling, living and practicing what we believe.

Toward the light,
Z gardener

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it (Matthew 7:13-14).

There is only one way under the sun by which man can attain salvation, in the true sense of the word, and that is by bringing about a radical and permanent change for the better in his own consciousness.

For countless generations humanity has been trying in every other conceivable way to compass its own good. This change in consciousness is the strait gate that Jesus speaks of here, and, and he says, the number of those who find it is comparatively small.

Now why should man be so reluctant, apparently, to try to change his consciousness? The answer is that the changing of one’s consciousness is really very hard work, calling for constant unceasing vigilance and a breaking of mental habits. Entering the strait gait is, however, worth much more than whatever trouble or effort it may call for.

If you make a qualitative, change in consciousness, which is what happens in prayer, then not only is the effect of that change felt in every department of your life, but it is with you through all eternity, for you never can lose it. Thieves cannot break in and steal.

As soon as you obtain this spiritual consciousness you will find that all things indeed work together for good to those who love God.

There a e few other reasons we don’t chose the narrow gate. It requires that we overcome the self(s) that separate us from from God and each other. The narrow gate entails rising above selfishness, and requires tolerance, patience and usually involves self-sacrafice of many ilks. Deferred gratification and taking the hits in the short term are ready companions on the pilgrim’s way to the narrow gate.

Narrowing Up,
Z gardener

The most mischievous thing in life is man’s reluctance to perceive his own dominion. God has given us dominion over all things, but we shrink like frightened children from assuming it, although that assuming is the one and only escape for us.

Jesus, who knew the human heart, and understood our weakness in this respect, commands us,
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened (Matthew 7:7-8).

Is not this the Magna Carta of personal freedom for every man, woman, and child on earth? Is not this the decree of the emancipation of the slaves of every kind of bondage, physical, mental, or spiritual? We have no business to accept ill-health, or poverty, or sinfulness, or strife, or unhappiness, or remorse, with resignation. We have no right to accept anything less than freedom and harmony and joy, for only with these things do we glorify God, and express His holy will, which is our raison d’etre.

We are to reorganize our lives in accordance with this teaching, continuously and untiringly until our goal is attained. That this attainment, that our victory over every negative condition is not merely possible but is definitely promised to us, finds its proof in these glorious words.

Now, Brothers and Sisters, it is time to grasp this truth and live life as God intended. Not stooped and weary, but free and flying into the garden God created for our dominion. Not imprisoned by creation, but ruling it.

Seeking Interior Dominion,
Z gardener

Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law of the prophets (Matthew 7:12).

Here in the sublime precept that we call the Golden Rule, Jesus reiterates that great Law in a concise summing up. This repetition follows upon his wonderful statement of the fatherhood of God. The underlying explanation for the existence of the great law is the fact that we are fundamentally all parts of the Great Mind. Because we are all ultimately one, to hurt another is really to hurt oneself, and to help another is really to help oneself. The fatherhood of God compels us to accept the brotherhood of man, and spiritually, brotherhood is unity.

Brothers and sisters, there is no true separation between God and us or between each human. Separation is contrary to God’s law and is is what we understand as sin. Separation form God and separation from each other are illusions that enslave us to our perceptions and self-centered deceptions.

Touching unity,
Z gardener

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 7:11).

We are the children of God; and if children, then sons, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, as Paul says. At the present time we find ourselves full of limitations and disabilities because we are spiritually but children—minors. Children are irresponsible, lacking in wisdom and experience, and have to be kept under control lest their mistakes should entail serious consequences to themselves.

…That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
But is under tutors and governors…(Galatians 4:1).

But when the fullness of time is come, he realizes that it is the voice of God Himself that is in his heart, making him cry: “Abba Father.” Then at last he knows that he is the son of a great king, and that all his Father has is his for the using, whether it be health, or supply, or opportunity, or beauty, or joy, or any other of the thoughts of God.

Let us be thankful each day for the Holy Spirit that guides, counsels and advocates for us. And let us pray that we, as obedient children of God, will have eyes to see and ears to hear that guidance and counsel: and that we have the spirit and will to seek that advocacy.

Aging in grace,
Z gardener