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Posts Tagged ‘Faith’

Be Specific!

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on May 11, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Man has dominion over all things when he knows the Law of Being and obeys it. Do not put off your study of the law any longer. Take stock of your life this very day. Write down the things you really wish for. Be specific, not vague. Then write down underneath the conditions that you wish to remove from your life. If you do this candidly, you now have an extremely valuable analysis of your own mentality. In course of time this will tell you a great many things about your self that you do not at present suspect, and as your knowledge of spiritual Truth increases, you will be able to handle the new knowledge about your self in a surprising way.

Having forgotten your main points in front of you, work on each one separately with all the spiritual knowledge you possess. Remember, it is not really very important how much of this knowledge you have so long as you make use of all that you do have. Repeat this treatment every day for a month, and by the end of that time it will be very unusual if a change for the better has not manifested itself in your conditions.

For those unfamiliar with spiritual treatment, an effective method of working is this: Claim gently but definitely that the great creative Life Force of the universe is bringing each of the needed changes into your life in its own way, in it own time, and in its own from. Do not try to dictate the exact form in which the new conditions shall come about. Do not be tense or vehement. Do not let anyone else know that you are doing this. Do not look impatiently every day for results.

Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do (Deuteronomy 29:9).

This advice compels us take an inventory of our hopes and needs. This is very practical advice that is applied by every successful business person. A George Harrison song says “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there. How can we know where we are going if we don’t know where we are, where we have been, and what we need to get to our destination.

So, each of us should take this inventory and then pray for God’s help to guide us to our destination and our destiny. If we work on this each day, just as we would work on our business each and follow the truth revealed by God’s word, then we will find our garden and the joy it holds.

Taking stock,
Z gardener

Author’s prayer request – Please pray unceasingly that God’s mighty hand will continue to push this oil slick away from our coastal shores and will continue protect our gardens. Thank you

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Making Your Dreams Come True

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on May 10, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Most people indulge in some form of daydreaming. There is no harm in this so long as such daydreams are positive and constructive in character. You are always thinking, when you are not asleep, and you know that it is in the selection of your thought that your destiny lies.

Do not let your daydreams take the form of an escape from actuality. A daydream is an evasion when it consists in fantasying something pleasant that nevertheless you believe could never happen. Such a daydream debilitates the whole mentality.

Some people daydream about all sorts of unpleasant things. They rehearse imaginary quarrels, imaginary injustices, accidents, and misfortunes, and because they do believe that such things could happen, and because thought is creative, they actually bring them upon themselves.

See to it that your daydreams are concerned with such happenings as you would really like to find in your life. Know that anything good is possible; remember the creative power of thought; and your daydreams will come true.

A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways (James 1:8).

When we use our imagination, it is like creating a script for our future. If we focus these imaginings on beauty, truth and peace in our lives, they will express themselves in that reality, if we believe our daydreams are possible. Imagination focused on doubt, fear and other negative emotions will fill our futures with problems created by us. To free ourselves of this negative yoke, we must trust and obey God, discipline our thoughts and effectively manage our imaginings, words and deeds. We must perceive and believe that we exist in the Eden God created for us. Then we will make our dreams come true and those dreams will ensure that our lives are spent in our gardens.

Author’s note: Please welcome a new sister to the garden. She is a delightfully free spirit on a life-long spiritual journey, and she works in the community of faith each day helping others on their journey. Welcome to the garden!

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Protecting Our Garden

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on May 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »

The Good Morning Messages have been suspended because the author working to support local, state and federal response to the oil spill. The picture of the author on the profile page was taken on one our our beautiful barrier islands that are part of a National Park wilderness area.

Please pray unceasingly that God’s mighty hand will spare us from this calamity. And please pray that peace, comfort and strength be given to all those affected. The messages will resume when the author has finished the work to be done. With God’s help and your prayers, we shall overcome.

Peace,
Z gardener

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No Buts

Posted in Good Morning, tagged on April 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »

When the devil has been unmasked a number of times, his final refuge seems to be the harmless-looking word but. Students of the teaching of Jesus Christ who would not be deceived by any of the familiar devices, constantly surrender their principles, and therefore their demonstration, to the little word but.

“Of course I know that God in the only power – but—.”
“Of course I know that God in omnipresent – but.”
“Of course I know that God is love – but.”
“Of course I know that there is no hurry because I am in eternity – but.”
“Of course I know that John or Mary must be the living expression of God, just as I am – but.”
If truth is true, there are no buts.

And they all with one consent began to make excuse (Luke 14:18).

When we refuse to let fear overcome our faith, when we reject compromise of our principles for expedience sake, when turn from culture’s expectations to God’s, then we are experiencing living without excuses. Then, we are freed from the bondage of fear, guilt and regret. Then, we are lifted and strengthened to accomplish God’s will. Then, the scales are lifted from our eyes and the mud from our ears so we can see and hear God’s garden created for us. The garden that exists all around us each day. Then, we will become the person God created us to be and the East Gate will swing open so we can re-enter the Eden that Jesus unlocked for us.

Then is now, when there are no buts.

Stan

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The Goodness of God

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on April 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Read Psalm 18.

In verse 29 the Psalmist, thinking of some of the times in the past when he has been given power to overcome difficulties and to advance on the path, says, For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall. Everyone has found himself at some time confronted with a difficulty that seemed like a high and insurmountable wall, but faith in God enables one to clear the obstacle notwithstanding.

Next the Psalmist reminds us that the way of God is perfect. God will put you upon your high place. In other words, he will raise you consciousness so that you will automatically demonstrate. Then the author praises God and thanks Him for His goodness. Thanksgiving, as you know, is one of he most powerful forms of prayer.

Finally he says that God gives great deliverance to his King; and that He sheweth mercy to His anointed, to David and to his seed forevermore. God intends us all to be kings through the exercise of spiritual power, and our power to go on increasing – like the seed of David – through all eternity.

“God is great, God is good, let us thank him…” How many times we have said or heard that prayer? How many times have we prayed to God when facing seemingly impossible circumstances and been delivered? How many times has God kept us safe from harm and made us better for the experience. How many times have we added up all God’s answered prayers and thanked God for all our blessings? And when we look to our future, how many of us believe and thank God for the assurance of spiritual power, mercy and future deliverance forever?

When we stop to add it up, we surely will be overcome with gratitude and praise for the God that never fails us and ensures our welfare forever. If we do this each day and say our prayers of null and praise, then we will spend our days and nights in the garden God created for us. And when facing difficulties, obstacles and challenges, we will “run through a troop and leap over the walls”, that threaten to rob us of our faith and its rewards. God is indeed great and good.

Leaping and running,
Z gardener

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The Kindling of God

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on April 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Read Psalm 18.

In verse 28 the Psalmist moves to another phase of the teaching. Thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.

Many similes have been offered by religious teachers to illustrate the relationship between God and man. One of the best known and most helpful is to think of man as a spark from a great fire, which is God. The spark is not the whole of the fire but is part of it, and therefore of the same nature, and possesses, potentially, all the characteristics of the parent fire. It can ignite many things upon which it falls, thus producing another fire essentially of the same nature as the original fire.

A prayer for those in the garden today.

May the spark of the divine,
Kindle within us the flames of God’s Holy Spirit;
That we may shine God’s light,
On all the world around us, and
Cast the creator’s embers on those we touch;
Igniting in them that same Holy Spirit!
All this Father, that we may see and be
Your fire and light here below. Amen.

Seeing and being,
Z gardener

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Living to His Glory

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on April 23, 2010| Leave a Comment »

If you seem to yourself to be lacking in certain necessary qualities, seek that aspect of God which will meet your lack. If you seem to lack strength, ask God to give you what you need. Remember you can build any quality into your mentality by meditating upon that quality every day. You have created your limited self by thinking and you can destroy it at any moment by thinking a new pattern.

Why do we not change from day to day, and week to week, from glory to glory, until our friends can scarcely recognize us for the same man or woman? Why should we not march around the world looking like gods, and feeling it; healing instantaneously all who come to us; reforming the sinner; setting captives free?

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound (Isaiah 61:1).

The good news is that God’s help is always available to help us replace our weaknesses with strengths. However, in order to seek God’s help in attaining the qualities we need but lack, we must first be able to honestly identify those weaknesses. That is really hard. It means we can’t lie to ourselves or hide from our flaws. Tough stuff.

But it also means we can’t be overly critical of ourselves either. Self pity, self righteousness and self recrimination all prevent us from making accurate assessments of our weaknesses. Any of these attitudes will cause us to deny a weakness that exists or exaggerate their seriousness. They can and will lead us to seek the wrong relief or to deny that we need help.

When we honestly come to grips with our weaknesses, seek God’s help and follow God’s will, we will receive the relief we need from God. Then, we will be able to preach to, bind up and free those held captive by their weaknesses. Then we can heal ourselves and those we touch. Then, we can live in and nurture the gardens God gave us.

Thinking anew,
Stan

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Successful Concentration

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on April 22, 2010| 2 Comments »

I do not give exercises to develop concentration. Concentrate on what you are doing at any time, that is the best exercise I know.

I remember when I was a boy about twelve years old somebody gave me a perfect peach of a jackknife. It probably weighed a quarter of a pound and there was a little saw in it, a little screwdriver, a corkscrew, a thing for getting stones out of horses’ hoofs, and several blades. I carried it for about a year thinking how handy it would be for certain cases that never came up, but it never lost its interest. I could always find, when I was bored, new interest when I took out the jackknife. If you make your search for God your jackknife in that sense, you will get you concentration and you will get your success.

Thus will I bless thee while I live … and meditate on thee in the night watches
(Psalm 63: 4, 6).

To do that which we are about at any moment with full attention, thoughtfulness and commitment to do the right thing, in the right way, for the right reason is the best exercise to develop spiritual concentration. It is how we do the immediate moments that determine how we do the hours, days and years. Do the moments with full awareness of and implementation of God’s will and everything else will work out. The result is improved concentration and appropriate outcomes.

Doing now,
Z gardener

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After Your Healing

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on April 21, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Healing is only the beginning. When you are completely healed of everything wrong in your life, your body, your business, difficulties in personal relationships, obvious faults in your own character, you will not have finished your work. Your real work will only be commencing. Your real work is to show and experience the glory of God, to build that spiritual consciousness, “ the house Magnifico.” Conscious fears will have gone, and your whole world will be different. The physical world will be different because it will be clothed in a new glory. “The light that never was on sea or land.” People will be different because you will be beginning to know their real self instead of merely the outer shell, and, of course, everyone else will notice that you are different, too.

This is not to say that healing is unimportant. It has to precede the building. Let us endeavor to get our own healing completed as soon as possible in order to help the world that is needing it so much.

Bless the Lord … who healeth all thy diseases … who crowneth thee with loving kindness… (Psalm 103:2-4)

God does not heal us so we can spend our lives in self-indulgent luxury. God heals us so we can be a temple and help others become a temple for God’s consciousness through right living and out flowing love. We are healed so we can be part of God’s family doing God’s work here below. God heals us so we can live in and tend to our gardens here below in preparation for the heaven we inherit when we give ourselves to God. We are not healed to make things easy but to give us the strength to do what is hard. The reward for all this sacrifice and work is peace here below and eternal joy hereafter. So let us do what is necessary to receive our healing and then commit ourselves to living as disciples and all that goes with it.

Healed and working,
Stan

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Key Words In The Bible – Repentance

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on April 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »

To repent means, really, to change one’s mind concerning something. When a person realizes that a particular action, or a certain line of conduct, or perhaps the whole direction of his life, has been wrong, and honestly resolves to change his conduct, he has repented. The Bible makes true repentance an essential condition for any spiritual progress, and for the forgiveness of sin. Jesus said,
Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. (Luke 13:3).

Repentance does not mean grieving for past mistakes, because this is dwelling in the past, and our duty is to dwell in the present and make this moment right. Worrying over past mistakes is remorse, and remorse is a sin, for it is a refusal to accept God’s forgiveness.

John the Baptist said, Repent ye: for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 3:2). This means that you should change your thought and know that the Presence of God is where you are.

There are few things more difficult than to recognize and accept than that we are wrong and are acting wrongly. It requires courage, strength, honesty, clarity and a burning desire to be good and to do good. Once that hurdle has been overcome, then we must repent and change what we are doing wrong. That is very hard when the wrong behavior is something we desire greatly, enjoy immensely or which is fed by deep fear. After our repentance, we must make our repentance a reality by acting in a new and better way from that point on. Once again, very difficult. In fact, these things are so difficult that our success with them is only assured by asking for God’s help and then following God’s guidance.

The good news is that God has promised we can do all these things through Christ who strengthens us. When we turn to God and follow God’s will, we can be absolutely sure that we will receive all those things we need to accomplish repentance. Then we can know that whatever happens to us will be for our best good. Then can can move into our gardens that God lovingly created for us and maintains for us until we arrive to abide in and care for it ourselves.

The Garden is waiting,
Z gardener

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