On page 16 of Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy wrote: "Only as we rise above all material sensuousness and sin, can we reach the heaven-born aspiration and spiritual consciousness, which is indicated in the Lord's Prayer and which instantaneously heals the sick. Here let me give what I understand to be the spiritual sense of the Lord's Prayer:"
Mrs. Eddy also wrote: "Spiritual sense, contradicting the material senses, involves intuition, hope, faith, understanding, fruition, reality."
Since the Lord's Prayer involves spiritual sense to be truly prayed understandingly, then ask yourself:
When you pray "Our Father" - what does your intuition tell you about what that means? How hopeful and expectant are you to experience the Adorable One? How faithful are you to His kingdom already within you? Do you understand His will and abide by it, right here where you are just as it is in heaven? Are you experiencing the living Bread of God feeding you? forgiving you? leading and delivering you? Are you accepting the reality that God is the only presence, the only power, the only glory there actually is?
If so, then you are sensing the Lord's Prayer - the Mind of Christ - exactly as Mrs. Eddy did. And she said that the spiritual sense of Jesus' Prayer is one that meets every human need - no exceptions!
If so, then bow in that silent intuitive, expectant, faithful, understanding of Lord's Prayer, and expect to see that Prayer bear fruit, bringing you into the true understanding - and experience - of God's all-harmonious, healthy, whole, and holy reality. Here. And now.
Showing posts with label Mary Baker Eddy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mary Baker Eddy. Show all posts
Thursday, April 23, 2009
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.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
I decided to start off my study of the Lord’s Prayer from scratch. So I am approaching this prayer as best I can as if for the first time. I am trying to understand the prayer’s deepest meanings without preconceptions.
To help me do that, I have decided approach it as if I know nothing about it and am learning it for the first time. So I have been looking up even the most familiar words of the prayer in the dictionary so that I can get a fresh perspective, and hopefully get a clearer idea of what Jesus wanted us to know.
I used my Mom's old 2nd Edition Websters (1927) but I've inserted links to two different online dictionaries and an online Bible (below) for your convenience (check out the Websters 1913 definitions; they're especially interesting). It still pays to look these words up yourself though - and look for the meanings that inspire you or give you new insights. That has really helped me understand the Prayer in a fresh new light.
Lastly, I’m working with the Lord's Prayer as found in the King James Version of the Bible. I know this may not be the most current or even most correct translation to use. But it was the one Mrs. Eddy had at hand the most (though she had other translations available, she didn’t have the wealth of versions we have now) so I thought I should start there also. Note that her spiritual sense of the Lord's Prayer is included (in italics) below.
As you think about the Prayer's deep spiritual meaning, I think you’ll find new inspiration and insights as you consider the many dimensions of the definitions of so many of the familiar words of the prayer. I know I certainly have.
NOTE: Mrs. Eddy understood God as “The great I Am; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence” (S&H p 587:) She considered these terms synonymous.
"Our Father which art in heaven,
Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious
"Hallowed be Thy name.
Adorable One.
"Thy kingdom come.
Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present.
"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.
"Give us this day our daily bread.
Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections.
"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And Love is reflected in love.
"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;
And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.
"For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.
For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All."
To help me do that, I have decided approach it as if I know nothing about it and am learning it for the first time. So I have been looking up even the most familiar words of the prayer in the dictionary so that I can get a fresh perspective, and hopefully get a clearer idea of what Jesus wanted us to know.
I used my Mom's old 2nd Edition Websters (1927) but I've inserted links to two different online dictionaries and an online Bible (below) for your convenience (check out the Websters 1913 definitions; they're especially interesting). It still pays to look these words up yourself though - and look for the meanings that inspire you or give you new insights. That has really helped me understand the Prayer in a fresh new light.
Lastly, I’m working with the Lord's Prayer as found in the King James Version of the Bible. I know this may not be the most current or even most correct translation to use. But it was the one Mrs. Eddy had at hand the most (though she had other translations available, she didn’t have the wealth of versions we have now) so I thought I should start there also. Note that her spiritual sense of the Lord's Prayer is included (in italics) below.
As you think about the Prayer's deep spiritual meaning, I think you’ll find new inspiration and insights as you consider the many dimensions of the definitions of so many of the familiar words of the prayer. I know I certainly have.
NOTE: Mrs. Eddy understood God as “The great I Am; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence” (S&H p 587:) She considered these terms synonymous.
"Our Father which art in heaven,
Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious
"Hallowed be Thy name.
Adorable One.
"Thy kingdom come.
Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present.
"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.
"Give us this day our daily bread.
Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections.
"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And Love is reflected in love.
"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;
And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.
"For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.
For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All."
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
The Lord's Prayer with Mrs. Eddy's spiritual sense of its deepest meaning
"Our Master said, "After this manner therefore pray ye," and then he gave that prayer which covers all human needs. ... Here let me give what I understand to be the spiritual sense of the Lord's Prayer:
"Our Father which art in heaven,
Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious,
"Hallowed be Thy name.
Adorable One.
"Thy kingdom come.
Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present.
"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.
"Give us this day our daily bread;
Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections;
"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And Love is reflected in love;
"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;
And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.
"For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.
For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All."
From: http://www.spirituality.com/dt/book_lookup.jhtml?reference=SH%2B16&marks=false&baseURL=/dt/book_lookup.jhtml
"Our Father which art in heaven,
Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious,
"Hallowed be Thy name.
Adorable One.
"Thy kingdom come.
Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present.
"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.
"Give us this day our daily bread;
Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections;
"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And Love is reflected in love;
"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;
And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.
"For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.
For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All."
From: http://www.spirituality.com/dt/book_lookup.jhtml?reference=SH%2B16&marks=false&baseURL=/dt/book_lookup.jhtml
Introduction
On May 24, 2007 I promised myself that I would set aside specific time every day to study and pray the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9 - 13) And because I am a Christian Scientist it has been natural for me to include Mary Baker Eddy's spiritual understanding of the Lord's Prayer in my study. This blog is the fruit of my daily communion with Lord's Prayer. I hope it brings you some new insights and blessings also. Sincerely, - Mark
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