The Bible Gives Many References to the Immeasurable Gifts Which Are for You, but for Which You Must Ask.

“The Bible gives many references to the immeasurable gifts which are for you, but for which you must ask. This is not a condition as the ego sets conditions. It is a glorious condition of what you are. (T61)”

Affirmation: “immeasurable gifts are for me”

Reflections:

1 – Greedy?

Sometimes we feel greedy when we pray for something specific. This is not, however, the way of either the A Course in Miracles or the Bible. Here we see that asking is the way to receive. Actually, asking for something specific is the intended way for us to receive.

2 – Be Specific

If we are not specific, the Holy Spirit will need to lead our minds and hearts to know what it is that we really want. This takes additional time, time that we do not need to waste in such a fashion. If we want the “immeasurable gifts,” we need only ask. The Bible says, “Ask, and you will receive.” This glorious promise is in line with the teaching of the Course as well, as we see in this passage.

3 – What Gift?

What gift would you really like to have? If it is in line with our best interests, we can have it for the asking. Elsewhere Jesus points out that our Father does not give gifts that are not good to His children; He protects us from our own misunderstandings. So do not be afraid that you will ask amiss. Pray for His will, and the blessings will always be good.

4 – God’s Will and Our Real Will

The unspoken truth that the will of God and our real will is identical is implied in this passage:

“No force except your own will is strong enough or worthy enough to guide you. In this you are as free as God, and must remain so forever. (T61)”

5 – Imprisoned Will

Our will, though, becomes imprisoned when this will is placed in the hands of the ego. This imprisonment leads to terrible things, terrible pain. And ACIM says that when this pain becomes bad enough, we will be led to understand that there is another way. Tolerance for pain may be high, but it is not ascendant. We change our ways.

6 – Not Punishment – Cause and Effect

This is not punishment, but just the inexorable way of cause and effect. Jesus says a lot about cause and effect in ACIM, and he makes it very clear that he will not tamper with our mind’s choices until we see that a different way is called for. If he interfered with cause and effect, he would be tampering with a law of the universe, and this is not something that he would ever do.

7 – Joy

So we choose with our will. That will must be bent to the will of God eventually, knowing that that is what we really want. And the joy that we know when we have surrendered makes certain to our minds and heart that we have chosen correctly. We are free to choose, always. But ultimately, we will not choose to walk apart from God. All of us find our way home at last.

8 – No Preconditions

A side issue that is important to our study of A Course in Miracles is that we need not use our free will to put preconditions on God. He cannot even move to bring Awakening to us when we have closed off ourselves by preconditions. We don’t want to be made anxious, we don’t want to feel pain, we don’t want to have a scream of mortal terror when the light comes on. And when we study ACIM, we are promised that we will not have a scream of mortal terror when the dream ends and we awaken. The light will come on, and we will recognize that we are no longer dreaming of a light, but seeing a genuine light. And we will not fear.

9 – Mindfulness

“Let us ask the Father in my name to keep you mindful of His Love for you and yours for him. He has never failed to answer this request, because it asks only for what He has already willed. (T61)”

This is a plea that we remain open to God’s Love for us. There is no Force greater in the universe. And when we walk in Love’s way, we walk with a charmed life. We are joyous. We live in harmony. We do not suffer. Life is good, for we have found the secret.

10 – No Other Gods

“Those who call truly are always answered. Thou shalt have no other gods before Him because there are none. (T61)”

This passage is akin to the New Testament’s “Ask and ye shall receive.” We will receive answers to our questions, when we ask those questions of the Holy Spirit. Our problems will be solved, for the solution is always with the problem. So we need not wait long, unless we think (erroneously) that we have a long wait. The actual truth is that God moves immediately when we ask the right questions. This harkens to the first passage in this posting, which emphasizes that we have to ask for things from God. He will, however, in my opinion guide our thinking so that we stay on track. He will guide our thinking so that we know the right questions to ask.

11 – Gentle Way Home

This way home is gentle. The light comes on, but we do not scream. And Jesus is the companion who holds our hand on this walk.

Prayer:

Dear Father,

Help to realize that asking for Your gifts is not greedy. And I must ask if I am to receive. Guide my asking in line with Your will.

May the Holy Spirit inform my choice about what to ask for. Then may I thank You for those manifold blessings.

May today go well, because it starts off well. May I keep my mind and heart positive, full of Your grace. May I know that any and all problems have a solution, right with the problem. And may I open myself to find the solution to anything that troubles me.

Amen.

Afraid of God?

“While God is nothing but the Source of Love, you have, in your doubt, made of God the source of fear.  Pause a moment here and let the enormity of this confusion sink in, for this is the reversal in thinking that will pave the way for all the rest.  Because of this confusion you have responded to Creation with fear.  Is it no wonder a new response is asked of you?  (The Treatises of A Course of Love:  Treatise on the Art of Thought, 4.26)”

Affirmation:  “I now choose to let fear of God melt away.”

Reflections:

1 – Fear of God

“Fear” of God, in the Bible, is, to my own of interpreting, actually a form of respect that is asked of us.  But along the way, we have also feared God in a more concrete way, in that we have been made anxious when we thought of Him.  This fear was of the ego, for the ego knew only fear, having been made out of a separated state (an illusory separated state) of being.  We became so used to fear that we did not even realize the extent to which we were dominated by it.

2 – Blaming God

We blamed God for this fear, because our ego could not accept that we ourselves had made the fear (through the ego).  So we were in a quandary.  We did not know how to escape the ego, and we may, as students of Freud, believed that the ego was necessary for our successful living in this world.

3 – Freud’s Definition of the Ego

Freud’s definition of the ego is not quite what A Course in Miracles means.  For Freud, the ego mediated between the superego and the id, and gave the personality stability.  In A Course in Miracles, the ego is seen as a false self, a part of ourselves that has gone awry, a belief about ourselves that does not mean us well.  And so, with this understanding, we want to rid ourselves as quickly as possible from a false sense of self that the ego perpetuates.  We do not need this self-image to form our personality in such a way that it can function in the world.  It is a persona, a self-image, that is best let fall away.

4 – Personal Self

When the ego has withered away, the personal self will change greatly.  I have earlier called this personal self, the “little” self.  And indeed it is little, for it partakes of illusion.  We still live in this dream, this maya, this illusion, but the real world will dawn on our inner sight as a little more time goes by.  Then the inner Self/Christ, the elevated Self of form, will take predominance.

5 – At Home

And we will be home in God.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

I would be at home with You today.  Thank You for the good beginning to this glorious day.  May my day go well.  May I say and do for my significant others what they need.  May I be there for them.

Help us to respect You, but not to be afraid of You.  Surely it would be disappointing to You to see Your children cringe in fear before You.  May I love You unreservedly.  And may I love with respect but not fear.  I sometimes feel awe, and I understand from A Course in Miracles that this is alright.

Be with me throughout this day.  May I feel Your Presence in a tangible way.  Thank You for the times in my life when I am conscious of Your Presence.  And may this feeling overwhelm me today in a cocoon of love.

Amen.

Avoid Over-Dependence on Others

“Knowing is alien to you, and that is why you seek validation.  Each validation is seen and felt as a reward, a prize, a confirmation that you believe allows your conviction to grow.  Because you believe it, this is, at first, quite true.  But now it is no longer the time to rely on conviction that comes from the witnesses you find along your way.  (A Course of Love, 28.10)”

Affirmation:  “May I depend on my own knowledge.”

Reflections:

1 – Warning

All of us on the pathway back to God have turned to other people and their words to help us make the journey.  But here there is a strong warning from Jesus.  We are not to become too dependent upon others.  We are, instead, to rely on the inner Self/Christ.  We turn inward for correction, as well as an indication of the next step to take.  And we will not be disappointed.

2 – Commune with God

This passage does not say this, but it seems to me that the gist of it is a powerful incentive to commune with God far more of our waking hours than we normally have.  If we turn inward, we are, in fact, turning to God, so long as we are assured that the Self/Christ inside is operative.  If we turn to the egoic part of our mind, and we encourage the personal self to emerge, we will often be misled.  Let us have none of that.

3 – Validation

Validation does not have to come from other people.  We can live quite sanely through following our own lights.  The problem is not that we don’t know enough, but that we don’t put into practice what we do already know.  Let’s change this today.  Practice what we know.  Yes, that is the way home to God.  If we depend on others, we will get very confused.  Politicians learn this truth the hard way.  There are so many advisors, and they differ so much in what advice they give.  The wise politician looks to his/her own lights in making decisions, once all the facts are in.  We ought to do no less.  And our own lights include God and His advice.

4 – Bible Verse

The Bible has a telling verse:  “If ye know these things, happy ye are if ye do them” (from John).  This verse seems particularly apt to our passage from A Course of Love today.  We choose amiss when we don’t listen to the God within, to the Christ/Self within, but instead look overly to our brothers and sisters for validation of what we feel unsure about.  We can easily be misled by others who do not see the whole picture.  When we ourselves feel unsure, because we know that we can’t see the whole picture, how can we depend on others in any sure way?  So we look within.  And there we find God’s guidance reaching out to us.  He knows.  Listen today to Him.

5 – Egoic Mind

We are so used, in our egoic minds, to looking to others to make us feel good.  We certainly do not need to make this mistake again, or, indeed, anymore at all.  Look within.  Pray,  Commune with God.  And much more will go wel for us.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

I would look to You today.  I would not depend on others to tell me what to do.  They do not know.  You do.  Thank You for your good advice.

Validation is important, but the source must be credible.  And this Source is God.  The most credible Source of All–indeed, the only One.

Be with us today as we seek to have positive experiences.  Help me to live peaceably with my brothers and sisters.  May the actions that they take toward us be well-considered, and may we also treat them well.

Amen.

Peace = Enjoyment of Rain and Sun Alike

“How can I make peace attractive to you who know it not?  The Bible says, ‘The sun shines and the rain falls on the good and evil alike.’  Why then do you think that peace is endless sunshine?  Peace is merely enjoyment of the rain and sun, night as well as day.  Without judgment cast upon it, peace shines on all that you would look upon, as well as every situation you would face.  (A Course of Love, 6.16)”

Affirmation:  “I would find peace today, regardless of circumstances.”

Reflections:

1 – Tranquility in Tough Times

This passage may be a new idea for us.  Peace can be found even when there is rain in the forecast.  And rain is a metaphor.  Any difficult situation can be the impetus to pray for the tranquility that we seek, and we can rest assured that the tranquility will come.

2 – “Perfectly Calm and Quiet” Good?

Many of us live in parts of the world that have seasons around the year.  We enjoy the variations in climate, the heat, the cold, and the in between.  So it is not surprising that we turn aside from the injunction in A Course in Miracles that says that being “perfectly calm and quiet” all the time is what we are headed into, when we accept ACIM‘s teachings.  We are not used to calm and quiet all the time.

3 – Judge Not the Negative

We do not have to fear peace in whatever form it comes to us in this world.  So long as we do not judge the negative, we will be alright..  We may wish mightily to change the negative into something better, but we do not have to judge it to make a change.  The peace that we will find, the calm and quiet, will have variations in affect.  We do not have to make drama, but we will sometimes find it.  But it is for ourselves to seek the peace without the drama, being ever mindful that we can live peaceably amid the chaos.

4 – Being with Our Brothers/Sisters

May we be with our brothers and sisters today when we see that difficulties of “rain” are occurring.  Others need us, and it is up to us to rush to their side with aid, but only to the extent that the aid is welcomed.  We ought to avoid “helping” when our help is not desired or wanted.  We then withdraw, and wait for a more propitious time.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

Today let me know when to feel peace.  The optimal is always, but of course we are all human, and this likelihood is slim prior to Awakening.  May we enjoy both the rain and the sun, the things that cry for improvement, as well as the joys.  And may we thank You for the variation in our lives that lead us farther along the way to You.

May I help my brothers and sisters who need help.  May I be a comfort to them.  And may I too feel Your comfort when I am anxious or depressed.  We all then need You more than anything else.  And the blessing is that You are her for us, even when we are too agitated to take notice.  Let us take notice today, even in our agitations.

Amen.