"Thy kingdom come."
Thy kingdom is come; Thou art everpresent.
Think about what the kingdom of God - the Adorable One - is like. Think about its completeness, its harmony, its "lack of lack." Now think about how Christ Jesus proved God's kingdom - His sovereignty - to be always present.
Where?
Within you.
God's kingdom is come, His will is being done, in you.
What if you understood this to be true? How would you think? How would you act? How would you change your life?
Maybe you'd start by being grateful that this is already true for you even if you find it hard to accept. Maybe you'd start listening to your intuition more carefully, listen with your spiritual sense for those ideas and inspiration that make your heart burn within you. Maybe you'd rejoice to know that Spirit is stirring you - and everyone in the universe! - to wake up, to grow up, and show up.
And if you do, then you can be guaranteed that you'll feel your heart opening to God's powerful presence. And you'll be awakening to living His will, being His will made manifest - "on earth just as it is in heaven."
So yes! Give us this day our daily experience of Your kingdom and Your will and Your grace dear Father! Let us yield to it, love it, and live it! Let us be Divine Love made manifest here and now. Let us witness Your presence awakening in everyone we meet. Let us be Your power helping bring home the homeless, humble the selfish, heal the sick, feed all need, even all famished affections.
Thy kingdom is come and Thy will is done in earth as it is in heaven as we live Your presence and witness Your power. Amen.
Showing posts with label Kingdom of God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kingdom of God. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Saturday, October 17, 2009
You are not left out of the Kingdom of God!
"Thy kingdom come."
Thy kingdom is come. Thou art everpresent.
God is everpresent.
Do you get this? Do you accept what this means?
God is present with you.
Right here. Right now.
You begin to learn this first by learning to love God for who He really is - divine Truth, Life, Love itself.
And you practice this love for God by loving His creation: by actually sincerely loving yourself. Loving your own ego? No. Just the opposite: by loving the you God made.
In fact it's only when you put aside that little me-me-me clamoring for attention, you begin to notice - intuit even - the kingdom, the presence, of God. You hear Him telling you about every lovely God-like quality that you already embody. These qualities are God's gift to you. They awaken in you so you look like Him. So you can learn to love yourself as God made you. So you can learn to love the real you as His image and likeness.
Then, and only then, can you love another as you love yourself. Love the real them as much as you love the real you. Love the them that is God's likeness.
"Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
When you're living Love, you're in the kingdom.
Get busy.
Thy kingdom is come. Thou art everpresent.
God is everpresent.
Do you get this? Do you accept what this means?
God is present with you.
Right here. Right now.
You begin to learn this first by learning to love God for who He really is - divine Truth, Life, Love itself.
And you practice this love for God by loving His creation: by actually sincerely loving yourself. Loving your own ego? No. Just the opposite: by loving the you God made.
In fact it's only when you put aside that little me-me-me clamoring for attention, you begin to notice - intuit even - the kingdom, the presence, of God. You hear Him telling you about every lovely God-like quality that you already embody. These qualities are God's gift to you. They awaken in you so you look like Him. So you can learn to love yourself as God made you. So you can learn to love the real you as His image and likeness.
Then, and only then, can you love another as you love yourself. Love the real them as much as you love the real you. Love the them that is God's likeness.
"Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
When you're living Love, you're in the kingdom.
Get busy.
Friday, March 7, 2008
So what's it like?
"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven."
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.
So what's it like in heaven? Isn't it paradise? Isn't it where there is no sin, no disease, no evil, no death? Isn't it where the 10 Commandments are perfectly fulfilled? Isn't it where God, divine Love, is in complete control, where only His will is done?
And so what's it like to live somewhere where only God's will is done? What's God's will like? Isn't it going to be a reflection of His character, His nature? And if so, isn't His will then perfect and good? Isn't it, well, heavenly?
And what is heaven anyway? "Have you ever pictured this heaven and earth, inhabited by beings under the control of supreme wisdom?" Isn't it a place where God has no opposition, where He is the only power there is, where He reigns supreme? And if so, isn't it a beautiful place to be? a harmonious, happy, healthy, holy place to be?
If so, then, yes indeed: enable us to know that just like it is in heaven, so here on earth, this same Father-Mother God All harmonious is already the only real power there is. That earth is heaven - just viewed through that cloudy perspective, that dirty mirror, that "inverted image of Mind and substance with everything turned upside down. "
And when viewed rightside up, earth is heaven. Earth is already where God is omnipotent, supreme.
Huh?? earth is heaven?
Does this shock you? Does this seem impossible? Then you need a change in perspective. You need to see the world from a more spiritual point of view. You need to wake up and see things the way Jesus did. You need to "have the Mind of Christ."
In fact, that is what Jesus is asking us to pray for in this verse: the perspective he had, the perspective of the Mind of Christ, the point of view that sees God's heavenly will being done right here where just the opposite seems to be happening, where the inverted image seems so real, where the upside down perspective seems so permanently wrongside right!
Remember: "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God [...of heaven] is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy."
So as you pray this verse, you are letting "this [same] mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." You are letting Jesus' "correct view" heal your earthly perspective and transform it into one like his, one that heals, one that makes whole, one that is heavenly.
And you have every right - and opportunity - to desire this, to live in a more heavenly way right here and right now.
Why? because it is God's loving will, desire, for you.
How? because God is omnipotent, supreme on "earth" just like He is in heaven.
In fact, there is no earthly dream of a mortal life separated from the everpresent heavenly good of our Father-Mother God. You (and the whole world of those around you) really already live with God in heaven.
Don't you have to die to get there? Of course not. Why? Because "Heaven is not a locality, but a divine state of Mind in which all the manifestations of Mind are harmonious and immortal, because sin is not there and man is found having no righteousness of his own, but in possession of "the mind of the Lord," as the Scripture says.
How would you feel if you had this "divine state of Mind"? if you knew you actually live in heaven right here and right now? How would you act? What would change in your life? What's your intuition telling you right now?
Heaven is your natural spiritual perspective, a divine state of Mind - put into practice and acted on. So let that Mind "be in you as it also was in Christ Jesus." Let that Mind be in you. Let it be your will. Let it move you, motivate you, inspire you, enable you, feed you, forgive you, lead you, deliver you. And you will find yourself fulfilling God's will. You will be a light pulled out from under the bushel of dark "earthy" thinking, and instead actively doing the healing holy loving will of your Father, lighting up earth as if it were Heaven (which, spiritually speaking, it already is).
So yes, enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme. Right here. Right now.
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.
So what's it like in heaven? Isn't it paradise? Isn't it where there is no sin, no disease, no evil, no death? Isn't it where the 10 Commandments are perfectly fulfilled? Isn't it where God, divine Love, is in complete control, where only His will is done?
And so what's it like to live somewhere where only God's will is done? What's God's will like? Isn't it going to be a reflection of His character, His nature? And if so, isn't His will then perfect and good? Isn't it, well, heavenly?
And what is heaven anyway? "Have you ever pictured this heaven and earth, inhabited by beings under the control of supreme wisdom?" Isn't it a place where God has no opposition, where He is the only power there is, where He reigns supreme? And if so, isn't it a beautiful place to be? a harmonious, happy, healthy, holy place to be?
If so, then, yes indeed: enable us to know that just like it is in heaven, so here on earth, this same Father-Mother God All harmonious is already the only real power there is. That earth is heaven - just viewed through that cloudy perspective, that dirty mirror, that "inverted image of Mind and substance with everything turned upside down. "
And when viewed rightside up, earth is heaven. Earth is already where God is omnipotent, supreme.
Huh?? earth is heaven?
Does this shock you? Does this seem impossible? Then you need a change in perspective. You need to see the world from a more spiritual point of view. You need to wake up and see things the way Jesus did. You need to "have the Mind of Christ."
In fact, that is what Jesus is asking us to pray for in this verse: the perspective he had, the perspective of the Mind of Christ, the point of view that sees God's heavenly will being done right here where just the opposite seems to be happening, where the inverted image seems so real, where the upside down perspective seems so permanently wrongside right!
Remember: "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God [...of heaven] is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy."
So as you pray this verse, you are letting "this [same] mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." You are letting Jesus' "correct view" heal your earthly perspective and transform it into one like his, one that heals, one that makes whole, one that is heavenly.
And you have every right - and opportunity - to desire this, to live in a more heavenly way right here and right now.
Why? because it is God's loving will, desire, for you.
How? because God is omnipotent, supreme on "earth" just like He is in heaven.
In fact, there is no earthly dream of a mortal life separated from the everpresent heavenly good of our Father-Mother God. You (and the whole world of those around you) really already live with God in heaven.
Don't you have to die to get there? Of course not. Why? Because "Heaven is not a locality, but a divine state of Mind in which all the manifestations of Mind are harmonious and immortal, because sin is not there and man is found having no righteousness of his own, but in possession of "the mind of the Lord," as the Scripture says.
How would you feel if you had this "divine state of Mind"? if you knew you actually live in heaven right here and right now? How would you act? What would change in your life? What's your intuition telling you right now?
Heaven is your natural spiritual perspective, a divine state of Mind - put into practice and acted on. So let that Mind "be in you as it also was in Christ Jesus." Let that Mind be in you. Let it be your will. Let it move you, motivate you, inspire you, enable you, feed you, forgive you, lead you, deliver you. And you will find yourself fulfilling God's will. You will be a light pulled out from under the bushel of dark "earthy" thinking, and instead actively doing the healing holy loving will of your Father, lighting up earth as if it were Heaven (which, spiritually speaking, it already is).
So yes, enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme. Right here. Right now.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Thy will be done & desire (part 3)
From Webster's Second Edition, the definition of Will:
1. The act or process of volition; specifically:
(a) wish; desire; longing
(b) inclination; disposition; pleasure
2. Something wished by a person, especially by one with power or authority; specifically
(a) a request
(b) a command; decree
Stop and consider what this means, in relation to the 4th verse of the Lord's Prayer: "Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven."
Using the words in the definition, this verse could be rendered:
"Thy desire be done in earth as it is in heaven."
Or perhaps (considering Mrs. Eddy's concept that "desire is prayer") even:
"Thy prayer be done in earth as it is in heaven."
Think of this: if you honestly are praying this verse with all your heart, you are praying to see God's will, His desire to be done right here where you are, to be done right here on earth just like His will is done in heaven.
And what is God's will for you, His desire for you? Isn't it that you be like Him? That you be whole, and holy? That you understand that you are actually the image of Love - loving, lovable, loved? That you live that truth and grow outward and upward with vigor, freshness, and bliss?
God's will for you is always good, because He, by His very nature, is Good. In fact, His will for you, His wish for you, His desire for you, His prayer for you is not just earthly good. It is heavenly Good!
So when you pray this verse, you are opening up your heart to God's prayer for you. You are trusting your desires, your prayers to Him, so that they may lose their "earthiness" and be molded and exalted to reflect His heavenly good will for you. You actually start to pray (and mean it): "Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme."
Trust your desires to God. Let that trust move you to listen to Him. Let Him mold your will to His. Let Him exalt you, awaken you to who you really are: already complete, already like Him, already His perfect spiritual image and likeness.
As you begin to think and act from that standpoint, you begin to understand that His kingdom is already come, His will is already done, that
"...the kingdom of God is within you" - already within you, naturally. Right here. Right now.
1. The act or process of volition; specifically:
(a) wish; desire; longing
(b) inclination; disposition; pleasure
2. Something wished by a person, especially by one with power or authority; specifically
(a) a request
(b) a command; decree
Stop and consider what this means, in relation to the 4th verse of the Lord's Prayer: "Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven."
Using the words in the definition, this verse could be rendered:
"Thy desire be done in earth as it is in heaven."
Or perhaps (considering Mrs. Eddy's concept that "desire is prayer") even:
"Thy prayer be done in earth as it is in heaven."
Think of this: if you honestly are praying this verse with all your heart, you are praying to see God's will, His desire to be done right here where you are, to be done right here on earth just like His will is done in heaven.
And what is God's will for you, His desire for you? Isn't it that you be like Him? That you be whole, and holy? That you understand that you are actually the image of Love - loving, lovable, loved? That you live that truth and grow outward and upward with vigor, freshness, and bliss?
God's will for you is always good, because He, by His very nature, is Good. In fact, His will for you, His wish for you, His desire for you, His prayer for you is not just earthly good. It is heavenly Good!
So when you pray this verse, you are opening up your heart to God's prayer for you. You are trusting your desires, your prayers to Him, so that they may lose their "earthiness" and be molded and exalted to reflect His heavenly good will for you. You actually start to pray (and mean it): "Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme."
Trust your desires to God. Let that trust move you to listen to Him. Let Him mold your will to His. Let Him exalt you, awaken you to who you really are: already complete, already like Him, already His perfect spiritual image and likeness.
As you begin to think and act from that standpoint, you begin to understand that His kingdom is already come, His will is already done, that
"...the kingdom of God is within you" - already within you, naturally. Right here. Right now.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Kingdom = Presence
"Abide with me; fast breaks the morning light;
Our daystar rises, banishing all night;
Thou art our strength, O Truth that maketh free,
We would unfailingly abide in Thee.
"I know no fear, with Thee at hand to bless,
Sin hath no power and life no wretchedness;
Health, hope, and love in all around I see
For those who trustingly abide in Thee.
"I know Thy presence every passing hour,
I know Thy peace, for Thou alone art power;
O Love divine, abiding constantly,
I need not plead, Thou dost abide with me."
Hymn #7, Christian Science Hymnal
This hymn helps me understand the 3rd verse of the Lord's Prayer more deeply. I think it describes what "Thy kingdom come" means to us. And the last verse especially echoes Mrs. Eddy's spiritual sense of this verse: Thy kingdom is come; Thou art everpresent.
God's kingdom is His presence in our heart, our thought, our life. Think about His presence being with you right now, right where you are, no matter what your circumstances are like. Consider what that means, what that feels like, what that looks like. How would you feel, think, act, if you just accepted that God is already here, present with you right now? Wouldn't you relax? wouldn't you let go of any fear? any fear of being alone, of being unloved, of being responsible for everything? Wouldn't you be thrilled and grateful and happy and joyful? Wouldn't you be more conscious, more aware of your oneness with divine Love? of your incredible worth as His perfect child? Wouldn't all thought and fear of separation from God, from good, from Love - just simply evaporate? And wouldn't you glimpse that you don't have to somehow earn this Love? Wouldn't you sense you are already in the presence of God, already loved by Him?
Who feeds you?
Who forgives you?
Who leads you away from deception, delivers you from evil?
Only someone who loves you would do all these things, only someone who truly already loves you: your Divine Parent, your Father-Mother God, all harmonious - who is already with you, right here right now.
As the hymn says, "I need not plead, Thou dost abide with me."
"Thy kingdom come."
Thy kingdom is come. Thou art everpresent.
Our daystar rises, banishing all night;
Thou art our strength, O Truth that maketh free,
We would unfailingly abide in Thee.
"I know no fear, with Thee at hand to bless,
Sin hath no power and life no wretchedness;
Health, hope, and love in all around I see
For those who trustingly abide in Thee.
"I know Thy presence every passing hour,
I know Thy peace, for Thou alone art power;
O Love divine, abiding constantly,
I need not plead, Thou dost abide with me."
Hymn #7, Christian Science Hymnal
This hymn helps me understand the 3rd verse of the Lord's Prayer more deeply. I think it describes what "Thy kingdom come" means to us. And the last verse especially echoes Mrs. Eddy's spiritual sense of this verse: Thy kingdom is come; Thou art everpresent.
God's kingdom is His presence in our heart, our thought, our life. Think about His presence being with you right now, right where you are, no matter what your circumstances are like. Consider what that means, what that feels like, what that looks like. How would you feel, think, act, if you just accepted that God is already here, present with you right now? Wouldn't you relax? wouldn't you let go of any fear? any fear of being alone, of being unloved, of being responsible for everything? Wouldn't you be thrilled and grateful and happy and joyful? Wouldn't you be more conscious, more aware of your oneness with divine Love? of your incredible worth as His perfect child? Wouldn't all thought and fear of separation from God, from good, from Love - just simply evaporate? And wouldn't you glimpse that you don't have to somehow earn this Love? Wouldn't you sense you are already in the presence of God, already loved by Him?
Who feeds you?
Who forgives you?
Who leads you away from deception, delivers you from evil?
Only someone who loves you would do all these things, only someone who truly already loves you: your Divine Parent, your Father-Mother God, all harmonious - who is already with you, right here right now.
As the hymn says, "I need not plead, Thou dost abide with me."
"Thy kingdom come."
Thy kingdom is come. Thou art everpresent.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Thy kingdom come
"Thy kingdom come."
Thy kingdome is come. Thou art everpresent.
Here, Jesus' prayer leads you to invite the kingdom of God to come to you. So think about what this means for a minute. What is a "kingdom" anyway? The 1913 dictionary defines kingdom as the quality or attributes of a king: the king's authority, and his sovereign power over the territory subject to him.
But how did Jesus define this idea of God's kingdom? He said God's kingdom does not come with observation, that it is not some physical place, but that it is within you. Then, in light of that, what are the implications of this verse for you?
You have already glimpsed your relationship to God as your Father-Mother in the 1st verse. You have already bowed before God's beautiful nature in the 2nd verse. And now you are inviting His presence into your heart. Isn't this verse bringing you to the point of opening? Isn't this bringing you to the point of receptivity? to the point of surrender? to the point of true humility?
Thy kingdom come - within you.
Thy kingdom is come. Thou art everpresent - in consciousness.
Think about what this means: that God is present with you right here where you are right now. Invite this idea of Immanuel - "God-with-us" - into your heart and thought right now. Let it in. Feel His warmth. Know that the Love of the Infinite Adorable One is embracing you right where you are.
You don't have to wait for something to happen. You don't have to learn a bunch of intellectual stuff or repeat the right words or try to make God love you. You just have to open the door of your thought, accept His kingdom, His presence, already within you, within your heart, within your thoughts, at work in your life, awakening you to who you truly are as His child within His kingdom, under His all-powerful care.
Mrs. Eddy says it this way: "When speaking of God's children, not the children of men, Jesus said, 'The kingdom of God is within you'; that is, Truth and Love reign in the real man, showing that man in God's image is unfallen and eternal. Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy."
God's kingdom - His power, His sovereign authority, includes you, covers you, secures you. In fact, your spiritual consciousness is His reflection, His territory, His kingdom.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy kingdom is come. Thou art ever present.
Thy peace is come.
Thy joy is come.
Thy power is come.
Thy Love is come and is everpresent - within you, already within your consciousness.
Thy kingdome is come. Thou art everpresent.
Here, Jesus' prayer leads you to invite the kingdom of God to come to you. So think about what this means for a minute. What is a "kingdom" anyway? The 1913 dictionary defines kingdom as the quality or attributes of a king: the king's authority, and his sovereign power over the territory subject to him.
But how did Jesus define this idea of God's kingdom? He said God's kingdom does not come with observation, that it is not some physical place, but that it is within you. Then, in light of that, what are the implications of this verse for you?
You have already glimpsed your relationship to God as your Father-Mother in the 1st verse. You have already bowed before God's beautiful nature in the 2nd verse. And now you are inviting His presence into your heart. Isn't this verse bringing you to the point of opening? Isn't this bringing you to the point of receptivity? to the point of surrender? to the point of true humility?
Thy kingdom come - within you.
Thy kingdom is come. Thou art everpresent - in consciousness.
Think about what this means: that God is present with you right here where you are right now. Invite this idea of Immanuel - "God-with-us" - into your heart and thought right now. Let it in. Feel His warmth. Know that the Love of the Infinite Adorable One is embracing you right where you are.
You don't have to wait for something to happen. You don't have to learn a bunch of intellectual stuff or repeat the right words or try to make God love you. You just have to open the door of your thought, accept His kingdom, His presence, already within you, within your heart, within your thoughts, at work in your life, awakening you to who you truly are as His child within His kingdom, under His all-powerful care.
Mrs. Eddy says it this way: "When speaking of God's children, not the children of men, Jesus said, 'The kingdom of God is within you'; that is, Truth and Love reign in the real man, showing that man in God's image is unfallen and eternal. Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy."
God's kingdom - His power, His sovereign authority, includes you, covers you, secures you. In fact, your spiritual consciousness is His reflection, His territory, His kingdom.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy kingdom is come. Thou art ever present.
Thy peace is come.
Thy joy is come.
Thy power is come.
Thy Love is come and is everpresent - within you, already within your consciousness.
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