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.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Give us this day our daily salvation
"Give us this day our daily bread."
Give us grace for today; feed the famished affections.
There is nothing blocking your understanding and demonstration of Life, God.
Why?
Because Christ has already rolled away the stone from the place where you've buried your fondest earthly hopes. You have only to walk out of that tomb of dead-end thinking into the sunshine of the everpresent Love of God.
And it is God, not you and not your wishful-thinking prayers, and certainly not your willful-do-it-yourself ego, that feeds your real needs.
In fact, God made you already "delivered" to begin with. Already all-harmonious. Already within His Kingdom. Already under His perfect will and authority. Already His perfect image and likeness.
There is no leaving His Kingdom and then being returned to it. There is only being His image and likeness. Salvation awakens you to what is already true. Salvation is not an agent of changing something bad into something good, or something sick into something well. Salvation awakens you to what God is doing. And God sees you already in the Light. His Light awakens and delivers you from dreaming in all its forms: sin, disease, death. In fact, He made you already awakened, already delivered, already at-one with Him, already whole, healthy, holy - already His image and likeness.
God gives us right now - this day - our daily strength. He always feeds our need for His awakening salvation.
Give us grace for today; feed the famished affections.
There is nothing blocking your understanding and demonstration of Life, God.
Why?
Because Christ has already rolled away the stone from the place where you've buried your fondest earthly hopes. You have only to walk out of that tomb of dead-end thinking into the sunshine of the everpresent Love of God.
And it is God, not you and not your wishful-thinking prayers, and certainly not your willful-do-it-yourself ego, that feeds your real needs.
In fact, God made you already "delivered" to begin with. Already all-harmonious. Already within His Kingdom. Already under His perfect will and authority. Already His perfect image and likeness.
There is no leaving His Kingdom and then being returned to it. There is only being His image and likeness. Salvation awakens you to what is already true. Salvation is not an agent of changing something bad into something good, or something sick into something well. Salvation awakens you to what God is doing. And God sees you already in the Light. His Light awakens and delivers you from dreaming in all its forms: sin, disease, death. In fact, He made you already awakened, already delivered, already at-one with Him, already whole, healthy, holy - already His image and likeness.
God gives us right now - this day - our daily strength. He always feeds our need for His awakening salvation.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Thy will be done
"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.
All "work" is actually a revelation.
You think: "My hand made this. My thought has created this." But in reality, you are simply witnessing the revelation of what God, the divine Mind, is doing. All work is witnessing God's creation unfolding completely perfectly effortlessly. God works. You, God's reflection, witness it. All that moves is thought. All that is newly seen is an awakening. All that is made manifest, is the effect of the One Cause, God.
This is why all creation, when seen correctly, is actually as painless as is reflection. Does your mirror image hurt when you move your hand? No. And so when God moves, you, God's reflection, can experience no fear or pain or effort or stress. Mind, God, moves your thought to see ever clearer views of Mind's creativity. Mind moves your thought in ever deeper, wider, more focused, more alert and awake, more productive and blessed, ever more inclusive and embracing, discerning and wise, ever more unconditionally loving ways.
"As mortals gain more correct views of God and man, multitudinous objects of creation, which before were invisible, will become visible. When we realize that Life is Spirit, never in nor of matter, this understanding will expand into self-completeness, finding all in God, good, and needing no other consciousness. Spirit and its formations are the only realities of being."
God's will was done, is done, and will be done right here in "earth" (your conciousness) just exactly as it is in heaven (Divine Mind). And what Mind wills is creation, and what you experience is His revelation.
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.
All "work" is actually a revelation.
You think: "My hand made this. My thought has created this." But in reality, you are simply witnessing the revelation of what God, the divine Mind, is doing. All work is witnessing God's creation unfolding completely perfectly effortlessly. God works. You, God's reflection, witness it. All that moves is thought. All that is newly seen is an awakening. All that is made manifest, is the effect of the One Cause, God.
This is why all creation, when seen correctly, is actually as painless as is reflection. Does your mirror image hurt when you move your hand? No. And so when God moves, you, God's reflection, can experience no fear or pain or effort or stress. Mind, God, moves your thought to see ever clearer views of Mind's creativity. Mind moves your thought in ever deeper, wider, more focused, more alert and awake, more productive and blessed, ever more inclusive and embracing, discerning and wise, ever more unconditionally loving ways.
"As mortals gain more correct views of God and man, multitudinous objects of creation, which before were invisible, will become visible. When we realize that Life is Spirit, never in nor of matter, this understanding will expand into self-completeness, finding all in God, good, and needing no other consciousness. Spirit and its formations are the only realities of being."
God's will was done, is done, and will be done right here in "earth" (your conciousness) just exactly as it is in heaven (Divine Mind). And what Mind wills is creation, and what you experience is His revelation.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Being saved
I just saved a little rolly-polly bug.
You know the kind, that when you touch them they roll themselves up like a little armored ball?
Well this one had managed to slip under my patio door and probably spent the better part of today hiking across 2/3rds of my bedroom carpet. It must have been an immense effort for the little guy.
So I just picked him up gently, walked him outside, and set him in the flower bed where he would have plenty of leaves to crawl under and things to eat. And just think:
- He probably spent all day to get where I found him struggling.
- And in just an instant, he found himself in a place of comfort and safety.
God picks you up where you "let Him find you" and His all-Loving power sets everything right in ways you could never imagine on your own.
Right here, right now, with every breath and every thought and every inspiration of love, God is present with you.
"God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." He shines Life and Truth and Love as you - His image and likeness. God radiates understanding, joy, progress, fulfillment - anything and everything that awakens His purpose in you. And His Love for you is unconditional. It springs from His very nature as Love itself. God no more withholds His love for you than the sun withholds its sunshine.
So when you struggle and struggle like that little rolly-polly bug did, or face the darkness of sadness, or fear, or disease, turn to God. Pray - trust your desires for wholeness, holiness, and health - to Him. Let Him pick you up and carry you into the sunshine of His Love. And you will find that those impossibly difficult "dark images of mortal thought" vanish like the powerless shadows they really are.
"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, March 25, 2009
The symmetry of the Lord's Prayer
There is a beautiful "cause and effect" symmetry within the Lord's Prayer, bracketed within two absolute statements of divine Truth:
Cause:
"Hallowed be Thy name."
Adorable One
Effect:
"Give us this day our daily bread"
Give us grace for today; feed the famished affections.
Adoring the name - acknowledging the Adorable nature of God in our thought and action - is communion. It is what wakes us up to God's loving nature. It feeds us with our daily Bread of Life. And it is this Grace that gives us our daily (moment by moment) living experience of God. And this experience of God, Love, feeds all our deepest needs. Actively reflecting His Love, by feeding the famished needs of others, is our purest form of adoration.
Cause:
"Thy kingdom come."
Thy kingdom is come; Thou art everpresent.
Effect:
"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."
And Love is reflected in love.
God's kingdom is already come. It feels like we're moving through time and space to see and find solutions to problems, to demonstrate what's true, or even to find forgiveness. But God's perfect solution - His kingdom - is already come. It is always just an "awakening away" from being conscious within us.
Dreaming, it all seems like a process to go through. But Truth is the alarm clock. And Life insists on being lived. And Love stirs us to wake up. And this awakening reveals who we really are as God's perfect child: already safe, our needs already met, forgiveness already fulfilled by reflection: living our love of Love, His kingdom everpresent in our heart. Here. Now.
Cause:
"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.
Effect:
"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.
God's will is effortless. He has no opposition. God is all power. And that means His will actually is done in earth exactly as it is already done in heaven. What's more, we are enabled to actually know this, to experience God's good will for us here and now.
And we can be completely confident that His will for us is never evil. His will for us never includes temptations or trails or sin, disease or death. Why? Because "God is Love." His Love meets us right where we think we are (earth) as it is where we really are (in heaven). His omnipotent loving will for us is simply the awakening that we everpresent with Him. Always have been. Are now. And always will be.
And how is all this possible?
"Our Father, which art in heaven."
Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious.
Cause:
"Hallowed be Thy name."
Adorable One
Effect:
"Give us this day our daily bread"
Give us grace for today; feed the famished affections.
Adoring the name - acknowledging the Adorable nature of God in our thought and action - is communion. It is what wakes us up to God's loving nature. It feeds us with our daily Bread of Life. And it is this Grace that gives us our daily (moment by moment) living experience of God. And this experience of God, Love, feeds all our deepest needs. Actively reflecting His Love, by feeding the famished needs of others, is our purest form of adoration.
Cause:
"Thy kingdom come."
Thy kingdom is come; Thou art everpresent.
Effect:
"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."
And Love is reflected in love.
God's kingdom is already come. It feels like we're moving through time and space to see and find solutions to problems, to demonstrate what's true, or even to find forgiveness. But God's perfect solution - His kingdom - is already come. It is always just an "awakening away" from being conscious within us.
Dreaming, it all seems like a process to go through. But Truth is the alarm clock. And Life insists on being lived. And Love stirs us to wake up. And this awakening reveals who we really are as God's perfect child: already safe, our needs already met, forgiveness already fulfilled by reflection: living our love of Love, His kingdom everpresent in our heart. Here. Now.
Cause:
"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.
Effect:
"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.
God's will is effortless. He has no opposition. God is all power. And that means His will actually is done in earth exactly as it is already done in heaven. What's more, we are enabled to actually know this, to experience God's good will for us here and now.
And we can be completely confident that His will for us is never evil. His will for us never includes temptations or trails or sin, disease or death. Why? Because "God is Love." His Love meets us right where we think we are (earth) as it is where we really are (in heaven). His omnipotent loving will for us is simply the awakening that we everpresent with Him. Always have been. Are now. And always will be.
And how is all this possible?
"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.
Friday, March 6, 2009
The joy of the Lord's Prayer
We are so glad that You are our Father which art in heaven.
We are so glad that you are our Father-Mother God, Good, already all-harmonious!
We are so happy to hallow Your name, to recognize Your complete and perfect loving nature as the Adorable One.
We so much want Your kingdom within us to come alive!
We are so amazingly glad that Your kingdom - Your presence - really is already come; that in fact, You are already here, with us, right now. And it is a great place to be!
We so so so much yearn to see Your will done in earth as it is already done in Heaven.
We are so glad that You enable us to know that, as in Heaven, so in earth - right where we are - You are already omnipotent, supreme.
And we are so hungry for our daily communion with You, the Bread of Life that you give us!
We are so grateful for the grace You give us today, for the famished affections You feed - and cause us to feed as Your reflection.
And thank You for forgiving us our debts - as we forgive our debtors.
How grateful we are that Your forgiving Love is reflected in our loving to forgive.
Oh and yes! Lead us! and You never lead us into temptation or firery trials. So we thank You for always delivering us from evil - from sin, disease, death - from every claim of that original lie that we, Your reflection, could ever be separated from You.
And how is all this possible?
Because You are the only Presence, and the only Power, and the only Glory there ever is, forever. Because You are already infinite, all the power there is right here, all Life, Truth, Love there is right now. You are over all. In fact, Father-Mother, You are All.
Hallelujah!
We are so glad that you are our Father-Mother God, Good, already all-harmonious!
We are so happy to hallow Your name, to recognize Your complete and perfect loving nature as the Adorable One.
We so much want Your kingdom within us to come alive!
We are so amazingly glad that Your kingdom - Your presence - really is already come; that in fact, You are already here, with us, right now. And it is a great place to be!
We so so so much yearn to see Your will done in earth as it is already done in Heaven.
We are so glad that You enable us to know that, as in Heaven, so in earth - right where we are - You are already omnipotent, supreme.
And we are so hungry for our daily communion with You, the Bread of Life that you give us!
We are so grateful for the grace You give us today, for the famished affections You feed - and cause us to feed as Your reflection.
And thank You for forgiving us our debts - as we forgive our debtors.
How grateful we are that Your forgiving Love is reflected in our loving to forgive.
Oh and yes! Lead us! and You never lead us into temptation or firery trials. So we thank You for always delivering us from evil - from sin, disease, death - from every claim of that original lie that we, Your reflection, could ever be separated from You.
And how is all this possible?
Because You are the only Presence, and the only Power, and the only Glory there ever is, forever. Because You are already infinite, all the power there is right here, all Life, Truth, Love there is right now. You are over all. In fact, Father-Mother, You are All.
Hallelujah!
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Why God?
Who will always feed you?
Who will always forgive you?
Who will always lead you away from danger?
Who will always deliver you from evil?
Only someone who truly loves you.
If you knew someone like that, and you were afraid, or needed something urgently, or just wanted to sit quietly with someone, wouldn't you want to go to them? Wouldn't you look forward to spending time with them? Wouldn't you love just being with them?
But how often do you listen to everyone except God! How often do you let the media tell you who you are or aren't. Or how often you believe what other people tell you about yourself. Or maybe you let the past - or your fear of the future - define you!
So try something different. Try listening to what God, Love, is saying about you. Listen to the Lord's Prayer.
Jesus shows us through the Lord's Prayer why you should listen to Someone who truly and completely loves you, why you should listen to God:
* God cares for you deeply and individually. Your Father-Mother God knows you by name.
* His nature is completely Good. God's relationship with you is priceless, sacred, enduring, adorable.
* God's unconditional love is present with you here and now.
* Every wonderfully perfect and inspiring and challenging and fun - heavenly - condition is God's only will for you.
* God knows your need before you ask Him. He supplies your daily needs, in both practical and spiritual ways. And your only need really is for Grace for today, feeding all famished affections.
* The Love you feel from God awakens your love for others. You discover forgiveness as a power that breaks the dreams of lack and doubt and enemies.
* And that Love leads you away from away from the trials of a personal ego and its junk food tempations. Because divine Love gives you a different perspective. Love shows you that you deserve something much better. Love delivers you into discovering your wholeness, your healthiness, your holiness as His likeness.
And how does God, Love do this?
Because God is already present with you. God is always the only real power there is. And God, Love, already includes you as His completely satisfied image and likeness. Right here where you are already. Right now.
So look outward and upward!
Look at all you have to live.
Give your gifts of love without fear or hesitation.
God has given them to you for a reason.
And the reason is this:
You are His gift, His blessing, to the world.
Who will always forgive you?
Who will always lead you away from danger?
Who will always deliver you from evil?
Only someone who truly loves you.
If you knew someone like that, and you were afraid, or needed something urgently, or just wanted to sit quietly with someone, wouldn't you want to go to them? Wouldn't you look forward to spending time with them? Wouldn't you love just being with them?
But how often do you listen to everyone except God! How often do you let the media tell you who you are or aren't. Or how often you believe what other people tell you about yourself. Or maybe you let the past - or your fear of the future - define you!
So try something different. Try listening to what God, Love, is saying about you. Listen to the Lord's Prayer.
Jesus shows us through the Lord's Prayer why you should listen to Someone who truly and completely loves you, why you should listen to God:
* God cares for you deeply and individually. Your Father-Mother God knows you by name.
* His nature is completely Good. God's relationship with you is priceless, sacred, enduring, adorable.
* God's unconditional love is present with you here and now.
* Every wonderfully perfect and inspiring and challenging and fun - heavenly - condition is God's only will for you.
* God knows your need before you ask Him. He supplies your daily needs, in both practical and spiritual ways. And your only need really is for Grace for today, feeding all famished affections.
* The Love you feel from God awakens your love for others. You discover forgiveness as a power that breaks the dreams of lack and doubt and enemies.
* And that Love leads you away from away from the trials of a personal ego and its junk food tempations. Because divine Love gives you a different perspective. Love shows you that you deserve something much better. Love delivers you into discovering your wholeness, your healthiness, your holiness as His likeness.
And how does God, Love do this?
Because God is already present with you. God is always the only real power there is. And God, Love, already includes you as His completely satisfied image and likeness. Right here where you are already. Right now.
So look outward and upward!
Look at all you have to live.
Give your gifts of love without fear or hesitation.
God has given them to you for a reason.
And the reason is this:
You are His gift, His blessing, to the world.
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