Power of Heaven to Earth

“Jesus accepted his power and so brought the power of heaven to earth.  This is what the Christ in you can teach you to do.  This is miracle-mindedness.  This is love.  (A Course of Love, P.37)”

Affirmation:  “May I learn how to bring heaven to earth.”

Reflections:

1 – Brothers to Jesus

We are once again, in this passage as throughout A Course of Love, to recognize ourselves as brothers to Jesus, he an elder brother (as in A Course in Miracles).  But, as he said more than once in A Course in Miracles, he does not have anything that we cannot have.  This early in A Course of Love he is still teaching us.

2 – The Time of Christ-Consciousness

Would we not want to learn how to bring heaven to earth?  To say that we can learn this is a bold statement, but one foreshadowed by A Course in Miracles.  Here A Course of Love indicates that it is the Christ in us that will teach us.  So we are herein moving farther along; we are no longer in the time of the Holy Spirit, but in the time of Christ-consciousness.

3 – The Way Takes Patience and Willingness to Learn

Of course, I do not believe that this shift is made easily.  We are taught in A Course in Miracles that the way may be taught, but it takes great patience and great willingness to learn (a paraphrase).  Not all of us have experienced Christ-consciousness at all, but there is the truth that before Christ-consciousness is sustained (something very, very rare), we see glimpses of the truth, the Christ-consciousness.  And we can take back to our everyday living, our minds and spirit, the truths of what we experienced in that altered consciousness.

4 – Miracle-Mindedness

Miracle-mindedness means love, and when we love enough, we will experience Christ-consciousness more and more of our time (not stated in A Course of Love, but interpreted by me).

5 – Our Daily Walk

Let us ask God today to grant us this blessing our normal walk through life, a daily walk.  And may He know that we are ready for experience.  Being ready does include not being afraid of the experience, and A Course in Miracles has shined a light into our minds that will eliminate much if not all of the fear.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

We would know You more and more, as we would open our hearts to the realization of the Christ within who is our Self.  We may not understand this, but if we ponder these thoughts, perhaps the Way will become clearer.

We ask for Awakening, Christ-consciousness.  May You prepare us as far as our willingness will allow.  And, before this greatest of blessings, may we see glimpses that do not frighten us.

Amen.

Do Not Isolate Yourself

“Salvation is a collaborative venture.  It cannot be undertaken successfully by those who disengage themselves from the Sonship, because they are disengaging themselves from me.  (T69)”

Affirmation:  “Salvation is collaborative”

Reflections:

1 – Don’t Isolate Yourself

We are not meant to isolate ourselves in this world–even to study the Course.  We are meant to stay in the world ,and to minister to our brothers and sisters.  Our brothers and sisters are the Sonship.  (Note:  Scribed in the sixties, A Course in Miracles uses the same masculine terminology that the Bible does, but in the sixties, the masculine gender was recognized by everyone as including both genders, male and female.)

2 – Let Jesus In

Jesus, in this passage, indicates how important it is that he be a part of our lives.  This is his wish, but it is not mandatory.  Indeed, Helen and Bill were reluctant, when introducing the Course, to tell their listeners that their considered opinion was that the speaker was Jesus.  They knew how foreign this would sound to some hearers of the new message.

3 – Jesus as Elder Brother

Jesus can do more for us if we consider him a friend, an elder brother.  He speaks at one point of how we can imagine him holding our hand as we walk along, and he indicates that this will be no “idle fantasy.”  We cannot understand how this is possible, but we can take him at his word and see if it does not appear that he is with everyone who gives an insistent call.  He will come at the first “unequivocal” call (from the Text).

4 – The Consequences of Withdrawal

When we withdraw for too long, we also withdraw from Jesus.  And we cannot do that, because he and the Holy Spirit are our guides to better living.  He is the elder brother who catches us when we fall, and the Holy Spirit is the inner guide that leads us every step of the way–guidance.

5 – Salvation for Ourselves AND Others

Surely we do not want to disengage from Jesus.  So this passage has a warning for those of us who would seek our own salvation and not frequently enough think of the Sonship.  The two go hand-in-hand.

Prayer:

Dear Father,

When I am tempted to withdraw, help to remember my contribution to my brothers and sisters.  They need me, as I need them.  Salvation lies in our relationship.

May I learn from the Course with careful study, and then may I take that learning into the world.  This is the solution that will work for the world and for me.

Amen.

Let Jesus Take Your Hand

“I do not attack your ego.  I do work with your higher mind, the home of the Holy Spirit, whether you are asleep or awake, just as your ego does with your lower mind, which is its home.  (T65)”

Affirmation:  “Work with my higher mind.”

Reflections:

1 – Elder Brother

This is Jesus speaking.  He is our elder brother (a Course concept), willing to help at any and all times.  It is important that Jesus does not attack our egos.  Elsewhere he tells us that attack is never justified, and he himself exemplifies this assertion.

2 – How to Solve Problems

As time goes by, and we have spent more of that time studying A Course in Miracles, we may find that our mind delivers to us, perhaps psychically, the answers to our questions and the answers to our problems.  It is normally better to pray (or “commune”), ask our question, express thanks with the assurance that the answer will come, and then get busy with something else.  Then and only then does it help to get quiet and to ask again.  It is very, very likely that the answer that has been eluding us will pop into our minds, seemingly unbidden and with great ease and comfort, with a sense of clarity that we have heretofore lacked.  This is the miracle, visiting us in a very practical way.  This is the Holy Spirit’s attending to our needs.  And we would not forget to say “thank you” for this blessing.

3 – At One with the Holy Spirit

It is reassuring to know that we have help in trying to change our minds to be at one with the Holy Spirit.  We surely do not understand what all of this change entails, and we need counsel that is sure and lovely.  Jesus provides this, but silently, nearly always without our being aware of his presence.

4 – No Idle Fantasy

There is a passage elsewhere in the Course that invites us to imagine our holding Jesus’s hand as we go about the world.  He asserts that this is no idle fancy.  We cannot understand how this is possible, but Jesus is one who has made it Home, and we dare not doubt his word.  We never need to feel alone or lonely again.  Not only do we have Jesus, but also other companions of whom we are not usually aware.  Surely there is no reason to be afraid, though, as very human people, we will probably still succumb to this temptation to fear for ourselves.  In our better moments, passages such as the one above from the Course can be our reassurance that all is truly well.

Prayer:

Dear Father,

I need help, now and always.  Help me to keep my mind in close cooperation with the Holy Spirit, and not dip into ego-oriented desires.

May Jesus help me, as he has promised.  Then I can rest assured that all will go well for me in this world.

Amen.

The Name of Jesus

“The name of Jesus is the name of one who was a man but saw the face of Christ in all his brothers and remembered God.  So he became identified with Christ, a man no longer, but at one with God.  (M87)”

Affirmation:  “May I see the face of Christ in all my brothers and sisters.”

Reflections:

This passage explains the true role of Jesus as the Christ.  Elsewhere, repeatedly, Jesus in the Course refers to himself as our brother, our elder brother, who has walked the whole pathway, and who stands at the end to help us when we fail to walk the whole pathway.  He will assist us.  We do not have to feel alone.

All of us are eventually to reach Christ consciousness (an interpretation, not spelled out in the Course).  Then we will surely understand what Jesus has been trying to tell us.

When we see the face of Christ in all our brothers and sisters, we will know that we have made much progress.  Seeing the face of Christ in our brothers and sisters is a prerequisite to finding our way Home.

Prayer:

Dear Father/Mother,

May I recognize the face of Christ in all of those people who surround me, my brothers and sisters.  May I come to understand exactly what this means.  I realize that I do not have to understand to recognize when this miracle is happening.

Thank You for leading me farther along the pathway to You and to Christ consciousness.  May I prove worthy in my dealings with all whom I encounter.

Amen.

Workbook Lesson for Day 87:

Our review today will cover these ideas:

I will there be light.

There is no will but God’s.