Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Faith’

Confusion of Duties

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on October 9, 2012| Leave a Comment »

It cannot be your duty to do anything that is beyond your reach or your strength at the moment.
It cannot be your duty to do anything that sacrifices your own integrity or your own spiritual development.
It cannot be right to be hurried, or sad, or discouraged, or angry, or resentful, or antagonistic, under any circumstances.
If you have not time for prayer and meditation, you will have lots of time for sickness and trouble.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this the the whole duty of man (Ecclesiastes 12:13
It is just this simple; anything that sacrifices our integrity and/or spiritual development can not be for for best good.
If we are being hurried, or sad, or discouraged, or angry, or resentful, or antagonistic, under any circumstances, it is not for our best good.
If we make time for these things, but leave out prayer, we will not find our best good.
So, let us respect God’s will and commandments today, and enter the Eden God created for us and for our best good. That is our whole duty.
Peace,
Z gardener

Read Full Post »

Holy Cows

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on October 5, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Most people have certain sections of their lives where, for various reasons (mostly unknown to themselves), they do not wish to make any change. These places are set aside and surrounded with an aura of spurious sanctity like the sacred cows of the East, which are considered too holy to be touched. But if you really mean business about regenerating your soul and body, there must positively be no sacred cows in your life.
Nothing is truly sacred but your own Indwelling Christ and the process of His awakening.
…Awake thou that sleeepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light(Ephesians 5:14).
How many negative sacred cows are we harboring and nurturing? The hurts we will never forgive, the condemnation so fervently believed, the guilt so deserved that we refuse to let them go. Just as the burning ember must be flicked away, these sacred cows must immediately be dispatched. Yet instead we hold them close and let them burn us time and again.
Let us free ourselves today from these burning coals of negative thought. Whether we started the flame that caused the burning ember, or it came from another, we are the only ones who can put it out. Today, we can be liberated from burning negativity by refusing to give it a place to burn us. Through forgiveness and prayer, we can not only extinguish the flame of negativity, we can flood it with living waters that turn the ugly burn into a beautiful lake. And by focusing on love, hope and joy, we can plant a garden by that lake that returns us the the Eden God intended for us.
Turn or burn,
Z gardener

Read Full Post »

Flee Desolation

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on October 4, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The moment you catch yourself thinking a negative thought, you should reject it instantly. Do not stop to say“good-by” to the error but immediately switch your attention to the presence of God. Indeed, we may say that when error presents itself to consciousness, the first five seconds are golden.
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains;
Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house;
Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes(Matthew 24:15-18).
Jesus teaches this lesson in his own graphic way. The holy place is your consciousness and the abomination of desolation is any negative thought, because a negative thought means belief in the absence of God at the point concerned.
It is impossible to forget this illustration once we have taken it in.
Negative thoughts are like hot cinders that land on your jacket. If it is flicked off immediately, it causes no harm. If not, it burns a hole in the jacket. So, let us avoid negative thinking\ and when they do come, flick them away immediately.
Flicking away,
Z gardener

Read Full Post »

Consistent Building

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on October 3, 2012| Leave a Comment »

…be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…(Romans 12:2).
This is Paul’s admonition.
Many people understand this in principle, but they fail to demonstrate because they do not carry it out logically in practice. During prayer, they carefully build up the new mental structure, but as soon as their time of prayer is over, instead of faithfully preserving that structure intact they promptly knock it down again by negative thinking. Obviously, a bricklayer could work hard in this fashion year after year without ever accomplishing anything.
If you are failing to demonstrate, it is probably due to the same cause—building followed by wrecking. We are transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Negative thinking is the metal equivalent of acid or rust. Pessimism, cynicism, doubt and anxiety, like rust slowly eat away at our mental and spiritual structures. Hate, anger, revenge, harsh judgements and condemnation, like acid quickly dissolve our mental house and lead to catastrophic breakdowns of our happiness, peace and joy.
Hope, optimism, faith and anticipation strengthen and reinforce our mental constructs. Love, hope, tolerance, acceptance and joy build new and even stronger mental states that renew us and those around us. Practicing positive mental activity is the antidote to our fears and is the path to true peace.
Building peace one thought at a time,
   Z gardener
Author’s note: A new sister joins us today in the garden. She devotes her life to teaching others in a spirit of joy. We are blessed to have her in our midst. Welcome sister. Z.

Read Full Post »

Priming the Pump

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on October 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »

            An Understanding faith is the life prayer. It is a great mistake, however, to struggle to produce a lively faith within yourself. That can only end in failure. The thing to do is to act as though you had faith. Act out what you wish to demonstrate, and you will be expressing true faith. This is the right use of the will, scientifically understood.
…Verily I say unto you, if ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done (Matthew 21:21).
This statement of Jesus is perhaps the most tremendous spiritual pronouncement ever made. Jesus knew the law of faith and proved it many times. We shall move mountains when we are willing to believe that we can, and then not only will mountains be moved, but the whole planet will be redeemed and re-formed according to the Pattern in the Mount.
Acting on our faith is where the rubber meets the road. It is in acts that we find faith’s fruition. Forgiving those who hurt us, showing tolerance to those with which we disagree, facing the truth when it is the hardest and speaking it when its most difficult are all ways to act on our faith. Showing compassion to the despised, making ourselves vulnerable and refusing to yield to wrongheaded social pressures are other ways to act on our faith. When we act according to God’s will, our faith becomes real.
In faith,
Z gardener

Read Full Post »

Register Joy

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on October 1, 2012| 1 Comment »

            The principal revelation of the Jesus Christ teaching is the omnipresence and availability of god, and the belief that God not only transcends His universe but is everywhere immanent in it—that He indwells in it.
If you really believe in the existence of God you should be happy and cheerful. God has all power, and God is good; so life must be good too.
Meet the world with a smile. You owe this to God, to your fellows, and above all, to yourself.  If you go about with a face like an east wind, what can you possibly expect to attract from the world? We all know people who carry a fixed, frozen, mirthless, almost professional, smile. Such a smile is just a permanent wave in the face.
Smile, even if it takes a little effort, and keep it up until it becomes spontaneous, as it will. In the graphic language of Hollywood, register joy, and hold it!
For ye shall go out with joy… (Isaiah 55:12).
We instructed by the Bible that “this is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it, ” and that we are to be “thankful for all things”. This is not meant like the ubiquitous “have a nice day”. It means that God created an Eden for us to inhabit in joy, and that is his desire for us. It is God’s expectation that we should be filled with joy and peace in all circumstances. If we are to live according to God’s will, then we must fulfill the purpose for which we were made. It is our part of the job to live happily according to our created purpose.
Have a joyful and glad day,
Z gardener

Read Full Post »

Making Your Own Fortune

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on September 27, 2012| Leave a Comment »

You think, and your thoughts materialize as experience, and thus it is, all unknown to yourself as a rule, that you are actually weaving the pattern of your own destiny, here and now, by the way in which you allow yourself to think, day by day and all day long.
Your fate is largely in your own hands. Nobody but yourself can keep you down. Neither parents, nor wives, nor husbands, nor employers, nor neighbors; nor poverty, nor ignorance, nor any power whatever can keep you out of your own when once you have learned how to think.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).
Only we can separate ourselves from the love of God. And only we can control what we think. If we are to live in the Eden God created for us, we must think, feel and act in communion with God. Prayer and following God’s will are the two pillars upon which this communion stands.
Praying and obeying,
Z gardener

Read Full Post »

Bear Hugs Kettle

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on September 25, 2012| Leave a Comment »

There is an anecdote of the Far West that carries a wonderful lesson. It appears that a party of hunters, being called away from their camp, left the campfire unattended, with a kettle of water boiling on it.
Presently an old bear crept out of the woods, and, seeing the kettle with its lid dancing about on top, promptly seized it. The boiling water scalded him badly; but instead of dropping the kettle instantly, he proceeded to hug it tightly—this being a bear’s idea of defense. Of course, the tighter he hugged it the more it burned him; and the more it burned him the tighter he hugged it; and so on in a vicious circle to the undoing of the bear.
This illustrates perfectly the way in which many people hug their difficulties to their bosoms by constantly rehearsing them to themselves and others.
Whenever you catch yourself thinking about your grievances, say to yourself sternly: “Bear hugs kettle,” and think about God instead. You will be surprised how quickly some long-standing wounds will heal.
Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord… (Psalm 25:15).
How hard is it to let go of our difficulties? On our own, it is nearly impossible. However, with God’s help we can let go of them and let God handle it. That does not mean the problems will all evaporate. It does mean that we can rise above them with grace, joy and gladness in our hearts. We can turn our difficulties into blessings with God’s help.
So, let us release the boiling kettle of grievances we clutch, and hug God ever so close. Then our arms will be around the solution instead of the problem.
Hugging Heaven,
Z gardener

Read Full Post »

Change From Within

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on September 24, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Man is a mental being, and to know this is the first step on the road to freedom and prosperity, for as long as you believe yourself to be primarily physical, a superior kind of animal, you will remain in bondage—in bondage, that is to say, to your own habits of thought, for there is no other bondage.
Since you are a mental being, you will see how foolish it is for you to endeavor to improve your conditions by altering your environment while leaving your mind unchanged. To attempt this is to foredoom yourself to disappointment. Mind is cause, and experience is effect. If you do not like the experience or effect that you are getting, the obvious remedy is to alter the cause and then the effect will naturally alter too.
Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. (Matthew 23:26).
The happy corollary to this truth is that when we change within, everything in our reality yields to that change. Think we can’t change the world? Well, we can by changing our minds. It may not have a direct impact on people in China, but it will most certainly impact our universe. And that changed universe could very well affect the entire world. Simply look at the impacts individual humans like Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, Gandhi and Albert Einstein caused by what was within them. Control the mind and control our reality. Change the mind; change the world.
Mind tending,
Z gardener

Read Full Post »

Quarantine Your Troubles

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

When you are praying or “treating” about a particular thing, you should handle it, mentally, very carefully indeed. The ideal way is not to think about it at all except when you are actually praying about it. Moreover, to talk to other people about it is exceedingly likely to invite failure.
When a new problem presents itself to you, decline to consider it except in the light of Truth. I call this “putting a subject in quarantine.” Even an old long-standing problem can be “put in quarantine” today, if you mean business and will resolutely break the habit of constantly thinking over that problem.
Whenever you think about any subject, you are treating it with your thought – either for good or evil.
The lip of truth shall be established forever… (Proverbs 12:19)
Paul’s letter to the Phillipians says it well. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are  honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,  whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good  report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think  on these things.
We are what we think. If we limit our thinking about negative things to prayer about them; we will not only rise above them, we will resolve them with God’s help.
Thinking truthfully,
Z gardener

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »