June 4, 2006

You can listen to parts of our June 4 service also (MP3 format) »»»»

Meditation

Reading

Message

Martin Luther King, Jr., in being asked to publish some of his sermons, wrote in the preface to his book, “. . . a sermon is directed toward the listening ear rather than the reading eye. . . I offer these discourses in the hope that a message may come to life for readers of the printed words.” This is my hope for you, dear reader.
—Rev. Linda

June 4, 2006
MORE THAN ENOUGH:
ASK AND IT IS GIVEN

What an exciting month we have planned here at The Maine Beacon! Four Sunday Celebration Services centered on our prosperity theme of More than Enough; dynamic practitioner-in-training Suzanne Avatar coming from Denver to speak next week, a Principles of Financial Freedom class starting a week from this Thursday which is open to everyone, so make sure you sign up for that; and of course, ending the month with our 2nd Annual Gathering, which will be fabulous this year. So do be sure to participate in all you can to take advantage of all there is for you here at The Maine Beacon this month to further your prosperity consciousness.

This morning we begin our series this month with Ask and It Is Given. The title itself is a little misleading because asking is not exactly what we do in spiritual mind treatment, our form of affirmative prayer. At least we don’t ask in the old way of thinking, of begging or beseeching. We don’t really ask, we know.

Because we’re not communing with a capricious deity who may or may not grant our wishes. We are dealing with our own consciousness, knowing that there is only One Consciousness, and that we are not separate from that God Consciousness.

So we might more accurately say we state and it is given. We make a statement about what it is we’re wanting. And the law, the givingness of God, takes our word and acts on it, bringing together all that’s necessary to make it happen.

But what if we’re not very specific about what we want? Then what happens? Well, ask Dan.

When Dan found out he was going to inherit a fortune when his sickly father died, he decided he needed a woman to enjoy it with.

So one evening he went to a singles bar where he spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her natural beauty took his breath away.
"I may look like just an ordinary man," he said as he walked up to her, "but in just a week or two, my father will die, and I'll inherit 20 million dollars."
Impressed, the woman went home with him that evening and, three days later, she became his stepmother.

See, we need to be very specific about what it is we’re wanting. In fact, I had an experience of that this week. In our Mind/Body Connection class, we have prayer partners, and I had asked my prayer partner to support me in experiencing more order in my life by getting the boxes in my garage organized. Now she had been treating for me for a few weeks and I wasn’t making much of any progress with the boxes. But yesterday morning I sent her this report.

“Blessings to the great pray-er! The boxes in the garage are all done! Not that I really WANTED to be doing them this morning, but I needed a notebook that was in one of them somewhere out there, so I figured I may as well repack and organize while I was looking. Well, I found the binder I wanted in the very LAST box I opened! You should have heard me telling God I didn't think that was a very funny joke. I guess I need to be careful what I ask for!”

And just for a little more irony, the notebook I was looking for didn’t even have in it what I thought was there. But those boxes are organized. I got what I asked for.

Specify, specify, specify! Because it IS given as we ask—the way we ask. It’s so easy to get excited about prosperity, isn’t it? Because when we understand the laws of circulation, of giving and receiving, of abundance, we know the possibilities are limitless.

But I have to tell you, I always have a little twinge of reluctance about talking about it, because I know we have at times been accused of being the “get rich quick” church or of being too materialistic, or of being about getting things more than God.

But in The Science of Mind our founder Dr. Ernest Holmes says, “Science of Mind is not a ‘get-rich-quick’ scheme, neither does it promise something for nothing. It does, however, promise [those] who will comply with its teachings that [we] shall be able to bring greater possibilities and happier conditions into [our] experience.” (p. 266.1)

“Greater possibilities” and “happier conditions” IF we “comply with its teachings.” Who here would like “happier conditions” in their life? Is there anyone who wouldn’t? We all want more happiness, more joy, in our lives. And we want to experience greater possibilities. That’s only natural. And it’s a good thing. It keeps us striving to greater ways of being. It aids humanity in the evolution of consciousness.

So how do we achieve greater possibilities and happier conditions by complying with the teachings of the Science of Mind? First, we have to understand two important concepts: substance and circulation.

Let’s look at substance. Now most people when they think of substance, think of matter, of something material. But the word substance is derived from the Latin word substare, which means stand under. In other words, substance stands under everything. It’s the foundation of everything.

Now in science we now know that there is a force field between the particles of anything. It’s like the glue that holds everything together. But it’s more than that. Eric Butterworth says in his book Spiritual Economics, “. . . the particle is not just acted upon by the force, but it is the force acting as a particle. Certainly this has application in our relation to God: We are not just acted upon by God, but we are the activity of God expressing as us.” (p. 15) The particle is the force, substance, acting as a particle. We are God, substance, acting as us.

So if we are divine beings, God acting as us, how is it that we can lack anything? I like the way Mike Todd says it, “Many times I have been broke, but I have never been poor.” And that’s because we live in more than one realm. And in the realm of the material world, we can and sometimes do experience lack and limitation. But it is only an experience. In the spiritual realm, the realm of God, Substance, the realm that stands under, is the foundation of all, in this realm we have All-Sufficiency.

It is in this realm that we must stay centered. And this is what Ernest Holmes meant by “complying with the teachings.” It’s what it means to overcome the world. So we may be broke but not poor. It’s about where we place our focus, about what we think and feel and how we perceive our relationship with things.

If we believe our source, our substance, is influenced by inflation, recessions, high costs, or our employer, or that it can be stolen from us, then, since we’re subject to the law of cause and effect that takes those thoughts and acts upon them, that becomes our experience.

Conversely, if we believe our Source is God-Substance, then we know It can’t be taken away from us, we can never be separate from It, though It may change form for sure.

Again Eric Butterworth says, “It is important to recall that it is not really for lack of abundance that you are experiencing want, but for lack of the awareness of the ever-present reality of divine substance and the faith to shape it into manifest form.” (p. 21)

But now the second concept we really need to understand is circulation. And this is the part those who call us the “get-rich-quick church” don’t get. Circulation is circular. It isn’t just getting, it’s equally giving. Remember God is Substance being us. And God is givingness. Can you imagine God withholding anything? Well, we are That, we are that givingness. That is our true nature.

God as us knows no lack, so It knows no reason not to give. It’s when we go against our nature that we experience pain and sorrow. It’s when we’re out of alignment that we feel out of sorts, experience lack.

Butterworth says, “God is the divine givingness of the Universe. And you are created in the image-likeness of this divine givingness. You cannot make any sense out of life or realize the free flow of substance in your experience until you begin to see yourself as a giver.” (p. 169)

Circulation is flow, the free flow of substance. That’s what the whole spiritual experience is about—being in relationship with the Divine Flow. One of the ways we think of flow is of cash flow or currency. So the very idea of money is currency flowing or circulating. And just as a current can be stopped from flowing by switching the dial, so the flow of currency can be stopped by switching our thought.

And one of the switches we need to make in our thinking is from me getting, getting, getting to me giving, giving, giving. And this is where so many people stop. They hear these words and think it’s just some scheme to pick their pockets.

But I’m not talking about giving all your money to the church. Or even all your time. I’m talking about a basic attitude in everything you do all the time. If you’re making the bed, give your best. If you’re taking your kids to school, do it with no sense of obligation or annoyance, do it with all the love you can muster. On your job, do the best work you can without watching the clock or worrying about what the other person is doing or not doing.

I’m talking about giving of yourself in whatever way is showing up in the moment. It’s really about being in alignment with who you really are, the magnificent you, the magnanimous you, the radiant you, the divine you.

It’s about you being the God Substance you are as you. And that God Substance will never stop circulating your good to you. All you have to do is ask—state—and it is given.