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Posts Tagged ‘Faith’

Bluebeard Draws the Line

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on January 25, 2012| 1 Comment »

 
            We make spiritual progress by putting God into every corner of our lives. Most people on the spiritual path are willing to give God a generous portion of their lives, but there is often one little corner where they do not wish the divine Light to shine.
 
Bluebeard, you remember, kept open house, with the exception of one little room – and there he drew the line. His current wife, or any of the neighbors could go all over the premises and welcome, until they came to that one little room, the Bluebeard chamber, that was forbidden. Yet that one little locked-up room contained the tragedy of the house.
 
The contents of the Bluebeard room need not be anything that we usually call horrible. There may just be selfishness, laziness, spiritual pride, or any of the more “respectable” but very deadly sins. There may be an old grudge or bitter remorse.
 
Open every door of your soul to God. Have no place where the light of His presence does not shine.
 
The secret things belong unto the Lord our God… (Deuteronomy 29:29).
 
That which we seek to hide from God is usually that thing which is blocking us from God’s promise. Although God knows all, our attempt to hide it has the same effect of Adam and Eve’s hiding from God. It separates us from God although not from God’s love. Our Father would have us open our secret places to can receive all his love and forgiveness so our communion with God and ourselves is total.
 
When we pry open resentments, insecurities and weaknesses, God’s light will shine in on them and reveal their solutions. Then our spiritual health can benefit from God’s healing grace and forgiveness. No matter how certain we are of the correctness, fairness or need for our hurtful ways, we must reveal and abandon them if we are to receive all of the love, peace and joy God has promised.
 
So today, let each us us fling open the shutters of our secret rooms and fly freely with God to our gardens.
 
Flying freely,
Z gardener

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Triumph Over Danger – Psalm 91

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

 
Read Psalm 91.
 
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
 
Here the lion stands for a difficulty of which we are so afraid that it seems to us a very lion in our path, rushing at us in the open. How different, on the other hand, is the attack of the adder, or snake; for it creeps upon us in the dark. And here we are promised that our complexes, dragons though they be, shall be dissolved by the realization of God. There is nothing that can be done by any form of psychotherapy that cannot be better done by the Practice of the Presence of God.
 
The last three verses are in themselves a glorious psalm of ringing joy and triumph.
 
Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him. There is nothing hypothetical or contingent here. The statement indicates the fixed decision – I will deliver him. And why? – because he has set his love upon me.
 
I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. In the bible the “name” of anything means the nature or character of that thing. Now the nature of God is perfect, omnipresent, all-powerful good, boundless love; and to “know” this is to be set on hand above all our difficulties.
 
The last two verses gather up all the implications and promises of this wonderful poem, and present them to the fearful or doubting heart as a song of triumph. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.
 
There is no threat, syndrome, demon, habit or weakness that God can not overcome. No danger, enemy or challenge too great for God’s love. All we have to do is know and have faith in God’s omnipresent power and love. Neither height, nor depth nor powers, principalities or even death itself can separate us from this love if we have faith and realize God is within us. The way to realize God within us to seek and follow his will. That is our part of the job!
 
Realizing God,
Z gardener

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Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on January 23, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Our Assurance
Read Psalm 91.
For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. This is one of the loveliest of all the promises in the Bible. For tender beauty it stands alone. He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways – and it is meant for you and for me. It might have seemed appropriate enough that some exalted Being should be given an escort of angels to surround him, to support him, to keep him in all his ways. But the Bible is the book of Everyman, and this promise is given to you and to me.
This beautiful promise is true and legions of angels do keep us in their protection. However, if we ignore God’s will or natural law, we can obviate the protection of these supernatural beings and the angels will cry for us when we stumble.
Angelic protection does mean all things that happen to us can be for our best good. It does not mean that our lives will be free from heartache, challenges and life’s hurts. Even the son of God faced such challenges in his earthly existence.
When we do affirm our belief in God by accepting his will and following his truths, then all of the councils of heaven walk with us to guide our paths and ensure that we walk in our Eden each day.
Resting assured,
Z gardener

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Our Promise – Psalm 91

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

 Read Psalm 91.
A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. This clause has been taken to indicate some kind of favoritism on the part of God, whereas, of course, such a thing is impossible. It means simply that those who pray are saved from trouble that would otherwise overtake them, and that does, in fact, overtake those who do not pray.
Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. In the Bible, the word promise is the name given to a statement of some spiritual law. So, a Bible promise is a statement of the consequences that naturally follow from certain states of consciousness. If Boyle’s law were written in the Bible idiom, it would read something like this: “As I live, saith the Lord, whenever thou shalt double the pressure of a gas, thou shalt halve the volume, temperature remaining constant.” In the language of natural science, our Bible promise would run: “ By meditating regularly on the Presence of God with you, and directing your life in accordance with that fact, you become immune from any kind of danger.”
          And here is the truth of being. Our prayers to, and communion with God, will lead us to that place where God promises safety, protection and divine direction. As we learn to live in this reality, our paths and our gardens will be blessed and will provide all we need to survive and thrive in the peace we seek as happiness.
Keeping the promise,
Z gardener

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Our Deliverance

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on January 19, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Read Psalm 91.
And now the Word of Truth is represented as addressing you with an authoritative assurance that your prayer will be answered, that is some way or other – not necessarily in the way that you expect – you will be rescued from your difficulty.
Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wing shalt thou trust: His Truth shall be thy shield and buckler. You are to have no apprehension, for your protection is now assured in one of those illustrations from everyday life, in which the Bible abounds. The mother hen, at the slightest threat of danger, gathers the little chicks under her wings, covering them “with her feathers”; thus does God shield you from all danger once you have elected to trust Him. His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. It is the knowledge of the Truth about God and man that makes the demonstration.
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. The arrow that flieth by day and the destruction that wasteth at noon refer to any difficulty of which you are consciously aware. It is, so to say, a daytime problem. The terror by night and the pestilence that walketh in darkness, on the contrary, imply something that, unknown to you, is working in your subconscious mind. Modern psychology has shown that most of our difficulties have their roots in the depth of the subconscious. These are indeed terrors of the mental night and pestilences of the darkness.
When we truly come to understand and believe the truth that our deliverance is ASSURED when we trust in God, then we are freed from the fear, anxiety and danger that threaten us. If we are being fearful, apprehensive and doubtful, then we are not trusting in God’s promise.
This is not easy and it does not mean that we are free to ignore problems or act recklessly believing God will deliver us. It does mean that we are to know that God is in control, is protecting us and will bring all things for our best good if we obey him. Even if that which God brings is not what we wanted or prayed for, we must still look for our best good in it and know that God has sent it for some good purpose.
When we live, think, speak and act in this reality; we can live in the Eden God created for each of us in peace, hope and safety.
Under the wings,
Z gardener

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Our Fortress

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on January 17, 2012| Leave a Comment »

 
Read Psalm 91.
 
Observe that the poem opens by announcing the irresistible power of prayer. Then in order to bring home the fact that this law applies to us, and that by no possibility could we be an exception, it now changes over to the first person and makes us say “I.” It compels us to voice the I AM.
 
I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. The Lord means God. How can knowledge be a presence? Secular knowledge, which is intellectual, cannot; but the true knowledge of God is an actual experience – not a thing of the head, but of the heart – and this is indeed a Presence. As a general rule, people contact this Real Self only vaguely and occasionally. Then, if they pray regularly, the gleams of intuition gradually strengthen into a definite sense of the Presence of God.
 
In Him will I trust. However worried or depressed you may be, however full of doubts and misgivings, still the fact that you are praying means that you have at least enough faith for that. The faith to go on praying in the midst of doubts about results is the tiny grain of mustard seed that Jesus says is sufficient for practical purposes. Declaring in Him will I trust means that you have now determined to trust by ceasing to worry and fear. This is the legitimate and spiritual use of the will.
 
Imagine that you are besieged by an evil enemy and yet you have a fortress near your that could protect you from all harm and fear while providing for your every need. And, also imagine that the owner of that fortress is the most powerful person in the universe. Imagine he keeps calling each day for you to come inside and be at peace and rest.
 
Can you fathom refusing this benevolent offer to come inside the fortress and enjoy the peace and plenty available inside? Would you even think of turning down his hospitality and protection? Of course not.
 
In the same way, God offers us a life that is blessed to overflowing and above all harm. In God’s garden we don’t have to be anxious or fearful, because God will bless and protect us there regardless of or problems. When we truly trust God, we will rise above all our human limitations, fears and negativity. In God’s garden, we abide in God’s Fortress in safety and joy.
 
Fortified,
Z gardener

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The Shadow of the Almighty

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

To abide under the shadow of the Almighty means to live under the protection of God Himself. Eastern people, and especially those with a desert background, such as the people of Palestine, look upon the sun as a danger, even an enemy, from which they need to be safeguarded. Shade is sanctuary, or safety – “the shadow of a mighty rock in a weary land.” The exhausted traveler sinks down in the shade for his long-sought rest.
God is called “The Almighty” in order to impress us with the fact that He really is All-mighty, and can therefore overcome our present difficulty, no matter how big it may seem.
…for with God all things are possible (Mark 10:27).
Consider, however, that the promise is made to “him that dwelleth.” If we only run into the Secret Place now and again, we can scarcely be said to dwell there. God will come to our rescue whenever we pray, but if we seldom think of Him, we may experience difficulty in making our contact in an emergency. By means of daily meditation we dwell in the Secret Place.
We also dwell in the Secret Place when we think, feel and act as God instructs us. Showing love, kindness, forgiveness, tolerance and understanding is dwelling in the Secret Place. We also dwell with God by what we do not do. Avoiding and refusing temptation, declining to harm or speak ill of another and turwing away from doubt, fear and despair are other ways of abiding in the shadow of God’s wings
The fruits of dwelling in the Secret Place are peace, hope, joy and all the other blessings that God promises those who dwell with him. When we abide in God, we walk daily in our gardens filled with beauty, safe from harm and empowered to overcome any obstacle. That is where we belong and where we were created to be.
In the shadow,
Z gardener

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The Secret Place

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

           The Ninety-first Psalm is one of the greatest chapters in the Bible. Like the rest of Scripture, the underlying thought is developed through a series of symbols, and it is by the appreciation of the values lying behind these symbols that the power of this prayer is appropriated.
The way to get the most out of this psalm is to read it through quietly; pausing after each clause to consider the meaning and assenting to this mentally. If you are fearful you will find, after working through the prayer two or three times, that your fear will have gone and that you are now looking at things from a different point of view.
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the almighty. (Psalm 91:1).
The Secret Place of the most High is your own consciousness, and this fact is the most important practical discovery in the science of religion. The error usually made is to suppose the Secret Place of the most High to be somewhere outside of yourself, an error fatal to our hopes, because our success in prayer depends upon getting some degree of contact with God; and since He is only to be contacted within, as long as we are looking without we must fail in our objective. Jesus emphasized this truth, The kingdom of God is within you. Again, he said that when we pray we are to enter into the closet and shut the door, meaning, to retire in thought within our own consciousness. In fact, this doctrine of the Secret Place and the wonders that can happen therein is taught throughout the Bible.
What a glorious truth is contained in today’s message. God is within us and, God’s Kingdom is within us. God is not somewhere else; he is present within us. When we look inside for God’s Kingdom, for God’s presence and God’s consciousness, we are on the true path to oneness with God.
It is when we overcome the idea that self is separate from God, that we become one with God’s consciousness (the Holy Spirit) within us. When we realize we are one with God, then we can live in the Eden created for us.
Seeking God within,
Z gardener

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I Am That I Am

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on January 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »

And… there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud…(Exodus 19:16).
These are dramatic expressions of the change of consciousness as we move away from the common things of life to the higher things.
In these days of the Exodus, the conditions of the outer world answered very quickly to man’s thoughts because people believed it was possible. Moses took his people across the Red Sea by the power of thought, and he was able to do that because in those days people believed in the power of thought. They believed that God could take them across the Red Sea dry shod, and He did.
Moses had the true knowledge of God from his father’s people, the Hebrews. It was the historical mission of the Hebrews to teach that God is not a limited, corporeal being, but incorporeal, infinite, divine mind.
Moses saw clearly the unity of God and man, and the unity of man and man. He got more than a flash of what we call the cosmic consciousness. That was his illumination. Then he realized that he must give this to humanity.
What is “I am”, that God would say to Moses that this is what Moses should call God. Could it be that conscioussness itself is what we truly are as children of God? When as a physical human, one says “I am”, we can only know that because we are conscious of our own selves and our existence.
So, if we are children of God, we are so because God’s consciousness and ours are one. When we rise above self-consciousness and become God-conscious, then God’s full promises manifest themselvesf through us.
Let us today manifest God’s consciousness in all we do, so that we may be one with God and the Holy Spirit, which is God’s consciousness:  the “I Am” in us.
Being all that I Am,
Z gardener

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Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on January 10, 2012| Leave a Comment »

God’s Abundance for Your Need

THE TENTH COMMANDMENT

Thou shalt not covet…any thing that is thy neighbour’s (Exodus 20:17).
There are several phrases concerning coveting. You are not to covet your neighbor’s house, nor his wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is his. Much of the evil in the world is caused by wanting something to which one is not entitled. Moses knew what covetousness does to us in what we call today the unconscious or the subconscious.
Coveting affects the soul of man. Even if your coveting never leads you to take anything that does not belong to you, it undermines and ultimately rots your soul. It shuts you off from God. Why? Because to covet something means that you do not understand the Law of Being. You do not understand that whatever you are getting or lacking is the outpicturing and expression of your consciousness. Until you understand that you cannot be saved.
There is not anything in the world that you ever conceived of that God has not got in abundance. God’s supply is infinite, and to envy someone else because he seems to have more is to deny your own contact with God.
Herein lies one of the great truths. Everything we could ever need for our best good is already ours. To access this abundance, peace and joy, we must commune with the source of all good; God.
To find and commune with God, we must look inside ourselves first. Anything that blocks us from God or separates us from God is sinful and prevents us from our “God granted “abundance in the spiritual and physical plane. When we overcome our internal obstacles to life with God, then we can expect our outer conditions to follow course.
Then we can live in joy and gladness each day; supplied with all we need to live each day in the Eden God created for us.
With God’s abundance,
Z gardener

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