Today, Tuesday, April 19, is the thirty-sixth day of Lent. Lent is the period of time during which we can prepare ourselves for the Easter experience.
 
 
Assignment 36
 
In you today is a Holy Fire. This fire can burn up all the dross, all the waste matter of your fear thoughts and your beliefs in separation. All that worries you and robs you and causes you untold emptiness and suffering can be consumed by this inner fire. The Scriptures tell, “I have cast a fire upon the world and see, I guard it until the world is afire.” (Thomas) Man has this burning within him, and Isaiah says, “It shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day.” (10:17)
 
The fire is the living, believing, and loving in the mind and heart of man. Tongues of fire are the flashes of illumination and the light of intuition that even now burns in our hearts. The Spiritual fire in us never goes out, it only smolders. Spiritual fire destroys all evil and error. It is direct from “that which is within you that is greater than all that is in the world.” The Kingdom is within you.
 
If you know yourself then you will be known and you will know you are a son of the living God and One with all Power. Never fear to cast out all in the Spiritual Fire, what is cast in will either be destroyed because it is nothing or will come forth pure gold.
 
Give all that you are and all that you can hope to be to the Fire of God, that you may know the real, that can stand the fire, or the unreal that is consumed by it. We are in the potter’s hands and we are fired that we may be beautiful and true and withstand all outer pressure!
 
The flames are Truth in action; the fire is in the supreme knowing that burns in the wisdom of the heart. That which is good and true can never be destroyed – but only purified. “Every man’s work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall prove it – man himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire! (I Cor. 3:13-14)
 
We may walk through burning forests of life but Spirit never ceases its life-giving purifying glow. In it all error, sickness, poverty, discord or death or anything else that separates us from Truth is burned up in consciousness and the purified being I am and you are manifests this fire as eternal life. “Our God is a consuming fire” – all will be finished in each of us. We shall be fully aware of our Oneness with our Indwelling Spirit. This is the reconciliation of God and man and brings us to the overcoming of the belief in death!
 
 
(This series of Lenten messages was first developed by Unity minister Dr. Sue Sikking, founder of Unity-by-the-Sea, Santa Monica, California, author of God Always Says Yes and Seed of the New Age.)
 
 
God is Blessing You, Right Now!
 
Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham
 
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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-nine years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions, at www.spiritualsolutionsblog.com
 
To subscribe for free weekday inspirational quotes, Rich Words, go to www.alanrowbotham.com
                                                 
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“Guidance” is a common word in our day. Everyone seeks some kind of guidance: guidance for children, for adolescents, for marriage relationships, for the businessperson, and so forth. Occasionally, someone might suggest the idea of spiritual or “Divine” guidance.

Unfortunately, that suggestion may be looked upon with distrust, simply because the term “Divine guidance” is usually related to the magical, mystical or psychic. Yet there is an almost instinctive feeling in every person that there is a “Something” beyond personal prejudices, different from the mental state of worry and concern, and that this “Something” can be reached.

But this feeling for the “Something” has often been dealt with on the level of superstition. Thus, many persons look for guidance through a sign or leading, all the way from the flipping of a coin to reading the stars or the numbers, the cards, the tea leaves or the crystal ball, and then on to Indian guides and spirit readings. This is not to put down any of these pseudo-sciences, but rather to point up the fact that involvement in them is a subtle form of self put-down.

If any person evidences, even in a brief showing, some kind of inner direction or direct knowing, it is often identified as ESP or psychic phenomenon or spirit guidance. This is to malign our potential as a spiritual being, and to deny the inherent flow of guidance within us that is just as natural as the instinct of animals. Remember this dynamic statement from the book of Job: “There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty gives him understanding.” So why do we refuse to accept this inner knowing?

Maybe it is that religion has not really dealt with the whole of the person. The dictionary defines “religion” as “divine revelation for human guidance.” But most religions have become exteriorly oriented, dealing with God “out there” or “up there.” We may be told in impassioned sermons that our need is “to find God.” But God is not to be found – for God is not lost. 

It is not God’s hiddenness, but our blindness that is the problem. We live in a state of ceaseless guidance, in a field of Infinite knowingness, but we are blind and deaf to the process. Emerson says, “There is guidance for each of us, and by lowly listening we shall hear the right word.”

To find God, to understand God, we need to expand our thoughts to the realization of the omnipresence of God and then know, in the words of former Unity minister and author Eric Butterworth, “The whole of Spirit is present at every point in space at the same time, and in its entirety.” There is no distance between us and God. There is nowhere to go to get guidance or inspiration or creativity. We are in it, all of it, all the time!

Divine guidance, or spiritual guidance or “direct knowing” is the same as getting an immediate answer to prayer in time of need. It is but another way of explaining the work of intuition. The ancient wise ones called these occurrences “illumination.” The mystics called them “showings.” Many call them “leadings.” But again we lose the real idea if we see these things as some kind of special access to the inner secrets of the Universe, or some kind of psychism or divination.

The term “Voice of God” is purely a poetic expression. It is found all through the Bible.   And it has been terribly misleading for many people. The classic instance is Moses’ experience at the burning bush. “God called to him out of the bush: ‘Moses, Moses!’” This was an experience of direct knowing. The Bible writers used highly symbolic language and overstatement, such as describing locusts as big as giants that jumped from hill to hill. So they are saying in this passage about Moses that it was a knowing so clear that it was as if God was actually talking to him.

Remember, “The Father knows even before you ask Him”; “Before they call, I will answer.” This means that God is present – always and in all ways. God knows. God knows in you, for you. Knowing is, and it is at hand. It is now. The way out (the way to escape the difficulties at hand) is at hand.

But this guidance or direct knowing comes into consciousness most easily through a mind that is uncluttered with the known. If you know about a lot of things, it is difficult to know the Truth, which is to know the Knower. A creative mind, or a mind in a creative experience, is so involved in knowing that it lets go of what others know about, even if they know about things that indicate impossibilities.

Most people have preconceived notions which they bring into their prayer time. They have a strong idea of what they want to have happen, and often, even in seeking guidance they are actually looking for “Divine approval” of something they have already determined to do. To have the mind full of preconceived notions, even images and treasure maps representing outlined goals, is to frustrate the process of direct knowing.

The important thing to remember is that wherever you are, God is. The whole of Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is present in its entirety at every point in space at the same time. Spirit is present, as presence. All-knowing is present. The answer to your dilemma is present – here and now. There is nowhere to go, nothing to reach for, and no one to contact and plead with.

Prayer is communion, oneness, a listening. “Be still and know that I am God.” When you know that I AM is God, you humble yourself to listen; you expect to be guided. In childlike faith, you know the Knower within you that is always present.

Remember, God is Blessing You Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-eight years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions.

Please feel free to publish this article in your blog or newsletter or share it with a friend, as long as you include this resource box.

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“I have unshakable faith in the perfect outworking of every situation in my life, for God is in absolute control and all things are working together for my highest good.”

This affirmation, coined by my wife Kathryn many years ago, has helped countless people find confidence, hope, and positive outcomes in all kinds of circumstances and situations in their lives. It is my prayer that, if you use it consistently and faithfully and expectantly, you also will experience positive results in your own life.

The former Unity minister and author, Eric Butterworth has said, “This that we call faith has been much misunderstood. The Anglo-Saxon word from which we derive the word ‘faith’ means ‘to live by.’ Faith is not a theory that we hold to, but a power that holds us. It is a level of thinking by which we actually become a part of the all-accomplishing Infinite Mind.”

On this level of thinking, our mental capacity is expanded, somewhat as sunlight unfolds a flower into full bloom: capacities hitherto undreamed of are released, and the way is open to confidence, creativity, and success.

Faith is a willingness to work in the dark, to walk a trail that the heart can see but the eye cannot. It is knowing there is an ocean because you have seen a brook, that there is a Universe because you have seen a star, that there is a Father of all humankind because you have seen a man.

Faith gathers up your life, pulls it together, places foundations under it, indicates horizons around it, and points it toward goals that are definite and worthwhile.

George Santayana gave us these classic words:

“O world, thou chooseth not the better part!

It is not wisdom to be only wise,

And on the inward vision close the eyes;

But it is wisdom to believe the heart.

Columbus found a world, and had no chart

Save one that faith deciphered in the skies;

To trust the soul’s invincible surmise

Was all his science and his only art.

Our knowledge is a torch of smoky pine

That lights the pathway to but one step ahead,

Across a void of mystery and dread.

Bid, then, the tender light of faith to shine

By which alone that mortal heart is led

Unto the thinking of the thought divine.”

Faith is the acceptance of the greatness of God. We do not make God great by our faith in Him, but we become great by accepting God’s cosmic greatness, by lifting ourselves to a level of consciousness of thinking in which we act from strength instead of weakness, in which we see possibilities instead of problems.

Have you ever wondered what your life would be like if everything you tried or reached for turned out in fulfillment of your expectations? It would be a little different from the way it is now, since most of us expect so little! Most of us go through life holding a small tin cup into the Niagara of God’s plenty.

Our faith is generally shakable and most often decidedly shaky. We prepare for problems and are rarely disappointed. We are in tune with the indefinite instead of the Infinite; we are practicing the absence, instead of the presence, of God.

It is human and normal to have doubts, to question, to not always understand why something has happened or is happening. There will appear to be limits: You are too old or too young; there is too little time, not enough money, and so forth.

The world will always give you tuition, but you must take time to cultivate “in-tuition.” Jesus said, “In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Unshakable faith is a perception that is born of intuition; intuition will always reveal a way, a means, and a magical solution to the seemingly impossible.

“Fact thinking” may reveal many closed doors, but “unshakable faith thinking” shows us where the keys are. Fact thinking reveals empty vessels; unshakable faith thinking reveals upturned receptacles waiting to be filled by divine action.

You can create a vacuum for the Spirit to rush in; create a receptacle. Reach inward to the desire in your heart; form a picture of it in your mind, a picture not of emptiness but of possibility. It will be an attracting force to draw your desire to you. See it as accomplished. Believe, and let that believing consciousness go out ahead of you to lead the way.

Amazing things will happen, whether or not a “miracle” takes place in terms of an immediate demonstration. The important thing is that you will be different. You will see differently. Something will unfold in your life, making the whole process of faith a reality to you.

As George Santayana wrote, “. . . the thinking of the thought divine.” Let this unshakable faith consciousness become a whole way of thinking. This kind of faith thinking will lead you into the greatness of life that you envision for yourself and that you can live by.

Affirm for yourself, “I have unshakable faith in the perfect outworking of every situation in my life, for God is in absolute control and all things are working together for my highest good.”

Remember, God is Blessing You Right Now!

Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham

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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-eight years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions.

Please feel free to publish this article in your blog or newsletter or share it with a friend, as long as you include this resource box.

If you’d like to receive weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at Rich Words.

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THE FIRE OF GOD

36th Day, Tuesday. Read Acts 2:1-21.

Fire represents the positive, affirmative state of mind, as opposed to the negative or watery state.

The fire of God (Holy Spirit) is the Word of God in action. It burns out the dross of negation in consciousness, and reveals Christ. Tongues of fire represent the illumination of thought, in demonstration of Spirit’s presence and power. The flame of fire symbolizes the light of intuition that burns in our heart.

While the light of intuition (flame of fire) burns in our heart, there is no loss of substance. In thinking there is a vibratory process that uses up nerve tissue, but in the wisdom that comes from the heart this “bush” or tissue is not consumed. This is “holy ground,” or substance in Divine Mind. When man approaches this he must take off from his understanding all limited thoughts of the Absolute (”put off thy shoes from off thy feet”).

Spiritual fire is a symbol of the destruction of evil and error. The fire of Spirit never ceases its life-giving, purifying glow. In it all error is burned up in consciousness and the purified man then manifests this “fire” as eternal life.

I have the assurance that I shall not be left partially cleansed, that the purifying work will be complete. “Our God is a consuming fire,” also He is life, love, substance, power, intelligence, Truth.

In the name of Jesus Christ, I affirm: “The Holy Spirit flares its cleansing, purifying flames throughout soul and body, and I am made whole and perfect.”

Questions:

1. What does fire represent?

2. What is the fire of God?

3. What does the fire of God do?

4. What must we do when we approach holy ground?

The works of Spirit are always constructive. I am not afraid to be on fire with the idea of God; I am not afraid to be consumed with a desire for greater light and Truth.

Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!

—————————————————–             

 Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over thirty-eight years, invites you to subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, Spiritual Solutions.

Please feel free to publish this article in your blog or newsletter or share it with a friend, as long as you include this resource box.

 If you’d like to receive weekday inspirational quotes, you can subscribe at Rich Words.

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