| AFFIRMATIONS: TOOLS FOR LIVING (part one) Most people start out on a spiritual journey because they're dissatisfied with their present life. The human mind is convinced that somewhere, somehow, it ought to be able to bring to itself whatever it desires and would satisfy it. This thought is simply foreshadowing the reality. The hunger that we feel is the prompting of the Divine within us, which longs with an infinite longing to fill us. It is one side of the spiritual law of supply and demand, with the other side being unchangeably and unfailingly the promise: "All things whatsoever you pray and ask for, believe that ye receive them, and you shall have them. We can all reach a state where we can stop our doing because we realize that Spirit is the fulfilment of all our desires. We simply become still and know that all the things we desire are ours already. This knowing, or recognition, has the power to bring the invisible good (God) the innermost substance of things into precisely the visible good we have desired. But to get to that state, we must take the first steps, faithfully, earnestly, and trustingly, even though they may seem at first glance as useless and empty as the ancient ceremonies and rituals of the high church. UNDERSTANDING AFFIRMATIONS Those who have carefully studied spiritual laws find that, besides being freed from apparent evil by denying its reality or power, they also can bring any desired good into their lives by persistently affirming that it's already here. To affirm anything is to assert positively that it is so頡ven in the face of all evidence to the contrary. We may not be able to see how, by our simply affirming a thing to be true we can make it happen頡specially a thing that to all human reasoning or sight doesn't seem true at all. But we can compel our minds to stop quibbling and go to work to prove the rule, each in our own life. Spiritual laws can't always be expressed verbally, but they are nonetheless infallible and immutable laws that work with precision and certainty. The beautiful Presence within us and around us is the substance of every good that we can possibly desire頡ven more than we can desire, for "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him" (I Cor. 2:9). So, in some way, difficult to say in words, there's power in our word of faith that brings all good things right into our daily life. PRACTICING AFFIRMATIONS We speak the word. We confidently affirm. But we have nothing to do with bringing it to pass. "Thou shall also decree a thing and it shall be established unto thee" (Job 22:28). So as we decree, or affirm, unwaveringly and steadfastly, we hold God by His own unchanging laws to do the establishing or fulfilling. In the first instructions given to students, this set of denials and affirmations take a major place. Later, the students' own experience and inner guidance lead them to an understanding of divine law that makes it easy for them to follow simple rules that at first seemed difficult. Saying over and over any denial or affirmation is a re-training of a mind that has lived so long in error and false belief that it needs this constant repetition of the Truth to function in the new way. USEFUL AFFIRMATIONS As with the denials, so with the affirmations. There are a few sweeping affirmations of Truth that cover many smaller ones, and which are wonderfully effective in bringing good to our own experience and to others: 1. God is life, love, intelligence, substance, omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence; 2. I am God's manifestation, so God's life, love, wisdom and power flow into and through me in every moment; I am one with God and governed by divine Law; 3. I am Spirit: perfect, holy, harmonious; nothing can hurt me or make me sick or afraid, for Spirit is God and God cannot be hurt or sick or afraid; I manifest my real self through this body now; 4. God works in me to will and do whatsoever good God wishes me to do and God cannot fail. First, God is life, love, intelligence, substance, omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence. These are ideas we learned in the second lesson. As you repeat the affirmation, please remember that every particle of life, love, intelligence, power, or real substance in the universe is simply a quantity or degree of God made manifest or visible through a form. Try to think of what it means to say that God is omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent. God is everywhere present (omnipresent) and God is good. Then why fear? God is all-powerful (omnipotent) . Then what other power could prevail? Since God is all-powerful and everywhere present, we must forever put aside the traditional notion of the Devil as an adverse power that might at any moment bring someone harm. There is and can only be one power, one presence, and that is God, the good. If faced with the appearance of evil, stand true and unwavering in the knowledge that God, the good, is omnipresent. By so doing, you shall see the seeming evil melt away as the darkness before the light, and good will come to take its place. Second, I am God's manifestation, so God's life, love, wisdom and power flow into and through me in every moment; I am one with God and governed by divine Law. Remember while repeating this affirmation that nothing駐o situation, no person, no group of people鞋an in any way stand between you and the Source of your life, wisdom, or power. It is all "hid with Christ [the innermost Spirit of your being] in God" (Col. 3:3). Nothing but your own ignorance of how to receive, or your own wilfulness, can hinder your having unlimited supply. No matter how weak or sick or inefficient you seem to be, take your eyes and thoughts off the appearance and turn them within to the central fountain there. As you do so, say calmly, quietly, but with absolute assurance: "This appearance is false; God, manifest as life, wisdom, and power, is now flowing into my entire being and out through me into the world around me." You'll soon see a marvelous change in your self as a result of the realization that this spoken word brings to you. > 中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中 > To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go > to the Gambia-L Web interface > at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html > > To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: > http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l > To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: > [log in to unmask] > 中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中中 > |
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