Harry Potter and Divine Order

 

Welcome back to our Summer Series, Harry Potter & the 12 Powers. And not just any 12 Powers, 12 SPIRITUAL Powers!  I know some of you, maybe most of you, know very little about the Harry Potter Series.  It’s really just a coming of age story, a hero’s journey.  We all have them. That journey that brought you to the person you are today.

 

And even if you haven’t gone out and watched the movies or, better yet, read the books, I do hope you are still enjoying the Series and are being reminded of the Spiritual Being you are and of your inherent Spiritual Powers.

 

We hear a lot about Divine Order, but what is it?

 

Divine Order is our ability to know what is important and to put our life in order.

 

Or: Divine Order is the ability to act from a centered place.

 

Romans 8:28 says it this way – “We know that all things work together for good, for those that love God, and are called according to his purpose.”

 

Notice that it doesn’t say “We know that all good things work together for good…”  It says all things, regardless of how they appear.

 

There was once a church, housed in a strip center much like ours.  Its name was God Almighty Tabernacle.  One Saturday afternoon, the minister of God Almighty Tabernacle was at the church putting his sermon together for the next day.  Saturday afternoon turned into Saturday evening, which quickly turned into Saturday night.  Before he knew it, it was 10:00. He decided he’d better call his wife to let her know that he was still working at church.

 

He dialed his home number, but got no answer, and thought that to be very odd — it was late, his wife certainly ought to be home — so he hung up and redialed.   This time, she answered immediately.  He asked if the phone had just rung and she said “no,” so he decided he must have dialed the wrong number and forgot about it.

 

The next day, after the service, he was having a quiet moment in his office when the phone rang.  No one else was around, so he answered it, “God Almighty Tabernacle, this is Pastor Dave.”

 

A very, very shaky voice on the other end of the phone said, “God Almighty Tabernacle?  Is this a church?”  The minister answered, “Why, yes, it is.  How may I serve you?”

 

With this the man started to laugh and to cry all at the same time and said:

 

“You already have!  Last night, you saved my life.  You see, I had reached the depths of despair.  I was in the darkest place I have ever been.  I had nowhere to turn and no one to turn to.  I was even contemplating suicide.  It was around 10:00 pm, when the only thing I could think to do was to I fall to my knees and pray to God for help, not thinking for a moment I was worthy of God’s help, but I was desperate.  While I was still on my knees, my phone rang.

 

“I got up to answer it, but when I saw on my caller ID: ‘God Almighty,’ I was too afraid to pick up the phone!”

 

Divine Order?

 

Just the two words – divine order can be a prayer in themselves. When we affirm divine order, we are affirming the establishment of that which is right and good. We are affirming the orderly outworking of every situation, the orderly unfoldment of that which is necessary to life and well-being.

 

Charles Fillmore described being in Divine Order as a perpetual Sabbath, as being constantly in a peaceful place, in the flow. He says, “Our minds are open to God every moment.”  He described it as releasing the outcome, not limiting God or ourselves.

 

Rev. Chris Jackson gave a seminar and one of the principles he shared were the characteristics of a Spiritual Pioneer.  Don’t you love that wording? Spiritual Pioneer – what does that suggest? What does that make you feel like?  He said that it was the job of a Spiritual Pioneer to Show Up, Be Honest and Trust.  Show Up, Be Honest and Trust.

 

That was how we could be in a perpetual Sabbath, how we could act from a centered place, how we could be in Divine Order, at all times.  To Show Up, Be Honest and Trust.

 

Show Up.  Be Present.  Be in the Moment.  We’ve talked before about examining our motivation What is the energy behind your intention? – are we being motivated by love or fear?  When you’re in the moment, there can be no fear.  If you’re not being influenced by past experiences or worrying about the future, you will be in a place of love, and where there is love, there can be no fear.  This was one of Jesus’ greatest gifts – to be always present, always focused on the now.  In the flow, his mind open to God, every moment.  That’s showing up.

 

Be Honest.  Look, see and tell the truth. This was another one of Jesus’ gifts to us, and possibly his most important example.  Jesus spoke the Truth, allowing Spirit to work through him, as him.  He had the quiet courage of his convictions.  He knew that he had to speak what had been given to him, regardless of the consequences.  Jesus was crucified for his beliefs.  Yet, his death and resurrection started a revolution in thinking that has continued for 2,000 years.

 

One of the things it’s important to tell the truth about is our gifts. Spirit has bestowed upon each one of us gifts particular to our mission, and it is vital that we recognize and cultivate those gifts, even when we’re not sure how we’ll need to use them.  Then SHARE your gifts with others.

 

The third – Trust.  I believe that this is the crux of being in Divine Order.  It’s about trusting that Spirit knows what it’s doing.  You know how to make God laugh?  Tell her you have a plan…

 

Real trust is about “Thy will be done”, whether I understand it in the moment or not.  Real trust is about not needing to know why.  We don’t need to know why, in order to grow through the experience.

 

Wanting the answer to WHY about so many things, I believe, held me back from opening to Truth, because it takes TRUST to not have to know why…to just follow your guidance. I had a hard time not wanting to know why. Still do sometimes!

 

So, that is being in perpetual Sabbath – to be in a place of perfect Trust, of perfect Love.  To be in a place of constant Communion with the Divine.

 

Divine Order is also about putting your life in order.  What’s most important to you? What are your priorities? What do you do with your time? Your money? Your talent?

 

Ask yourself this: If your house caught fire, what would you grab? Now ask yourself this: What would you not even remember had burned? Tell the truth.

 

So, how about if you release what no longer serves you, the things you wouldn’t miss after a fire… and literally put your house in order.  I’ve been working on this as I prepare to move. Never too early!

 

Divine Order is our ability to sort out what’s important and what’s not. What do we put first? Jesus taught us to seek first the Kingdom of God, and all else will be given to you.  And where is the Kingdom of God?  Within.  Go within first.  Put our Creator first. And everything else will fall into place.

 

The Harry Potter character for today is a hat, the Sorting Hat.  The Sorting Hat represents that we all have our place in God’s plan.  Ecclesiastes 3:1 – “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.”

 

Read pages 117 – 121 from The Sorcerer’s Stone.

 

The Sorting Hat considered the hearts and minds of the children and saw where they belonged.  That then aided them through their formative years into the adults they were meant to be…good and so called bad.

 

By the way, I was sorted into the Ravenclaw House…the house of wit & learning…wisdom. I was happy with it even though it wasn’t Gryffindor, Harry’s House

 

But Order is not fate, events beyond our control, as illustrated by this passage from The Chamber of Secrets:

 

Read page 333.

 

What a powerful teaching… it is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.

 

So, here’s what Divine Order is not.  It’s not an excuse for not doing what we said we would do.  There’s nothing divine about that, or orderly for that matter. “I don’t feel like going to that meeting, so it must be divine order for me not to go.” “The Universe is conspiring against me – I just don’t have the time to do my homework – it must be divine order that I don’t finish the program.”  “This is much harder than I thought it was going to be – it must be a sign from God that I shouldn’t do it.”   “I can speak Parsel-tongue – I must belong in Slytherin.”  That’s not Divine Order – that’s using the Structure of Knowing we talked about last week:

 

1. If you use a structure of knowing to rationalize doing something you said you wouldn’t do.

 

2. If you use a structure of knowing to rationalize not doing something you said you would do.

 

3. If you use a structure of knowing to make someone else wrong.

 

 

It is our choices that show who we truly are.  Not where we live, or the family we come from, or even our astrological sign…  It is our choices, and what we’ve learned from making those choices.  What do value? What do we put first in our lives?  Who do we put first?

 

Like the Sorting Hat, many people, events, and situations can guide us but it’s our choice how we use them.

 

Meditation

 

 

 

LET US affirm divine order in our activities today divine order in keeping appointments, divine order in traveling, divine order in driving a car, divine order in buying and selling.

 

Let us affirm divine order in our homes today divine order in family relations, divine order in the care and upkeep of the home, divine order in the responsibility and management of the affairs of the home.

 

Let us affirm divine order in our work today divine order in the handling of the tasks before us, divine order in planning and carrying out every project.

 

Let us affirm divine order in every contemplated change today divine order in the new house, in the new job, in the new way of life.

 

Let us affirm divine order in all that we do today.