Great Morning Beloved!

“The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity – A Simple Guide to Unlimited Abundance”

Welcome Back!

I missed my Sunday fill of love and hugs and seeing you all. THAT is a form of prosperity! So, we all are in a ‘hug deficit’! Make sure you get double before you leave today!

We start this morning with some questions…

Do you have as much money as you’d like coming in? Are you surrounded by abundance? Does your whole financial life sing and soar? Are you experiencing a joyful life? Are your relationships a blessing to you?
No?

Most of us would like to have better finances and more joy in our lives. And we know that prosperity is not just how much money we have in our bank account. Abundance covers so much of our lives…it’s not a one item thing.
We are going to embark on a Spiritual Journey of Abundance, because prosperity – abundance—is a spiritual thing.

Next on our journey is a discussion of the spiritual principles behind abundance according to Rev. Edwene Gaines, a Unity minister and considered one of Unity’s prosperity authorities.

Whether you agree or not, you are subject to the same spiritual laws as everyone else. When you align with those laws, your financial life will prosper. If you don’t follow those laws, whether your being out of alignment is conscious or accidental, then your financial blessings are blocked.

God by any name we use, is right here in this moment, within us, surrounding us, embracing us, connecting us, and the more awake and aware we are to God’s presence within and around us, the more joy and abundance we will be able to experience in our own lives. It’s “practicing the presence of God.”

Our challenge and our goal is to accept that that good is here and to give ourselves permission to receive it. According to Rev. Gaines, that “requires us to make some very profound and deep-seated changes within ourselves.”
And change, transformation, is what we are doing here….

In Unity, we believe that the presence and power of God is within each and every one of us. To align with it, to embrace it, Rev. Gaines states we must adhere to these four spiritual laws that she has discovered for herself.
Prosperity is our birthright as a child of God, our divine inheritance. Prosperity is the consciousness of God present everywhere. God wants you to be prosperous.
No matter what we may have done or chosen to believe in the past, it is possible for us all to wake up to our inherent divinity.

What are these spiritual laws? There are four according to Edwene Gaines, author of The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity – A Simple Guide to Unlimited Abundance:
1. Tithing and giving
2. Setting clear goals
3. Forgiveness & worthiness
4. Finding your divine purpose

We’ll discuss the first one today.
Most of us have an idea about what tithing is…
Tithing is an Old Testament concept. The tithe was a requirement of the Law in which the Israelites were to give 10 percent of the crops they grew and the livestock they raised to the tabernacle.

In fact, the Old Testament Law required multiple tithes—one for the Levites, the priestly tribe, one for the use of the temple and the feasts, and one for the poor of the land—which would have pushed the total to around 23.3 percent. Some understand the Old Testament tithe as a method of taxation to provide for the needs of the priests and Levites in the sacrificial system.

After the death of Jesus, the New Testament nowhere commands, or even recommends, that Christians submit to a legalistic tithe system. The New Testament nowhere designates a percentage of income a person should set aside, but only says gifts should be “in keeping with income”.

With the rise of the Church, tithing became enforced by law to keep the church and its hierarchy going. We have heard of many stories about the forced tithing in history. Actually, I’m not sure that should even be called a tithe!
Now that Church and State are separated, individual churches encourage but cannot legally force their congregations to tithe.

Today, most people look at tithe as giving 10% of any money you receive back to God.

As more people opt for spiritual growth outside organized religion, we tithe to the individuals or organizations who provide us with spiritual nourishment – those who support our spiritual growth or remind us of who we are.
This is what Unity encourages.

I tithe to Big Unity, to Unity of Rehoboth Beach and to other organizations like SmallPaws Bichon Rescue. They each enrich me in different ways.

You can tithe to whatever person or organization IS assisting your spiritual growth. This can be your teacher, doctor, neighbor, child, or even the friendly waitress who reminds you of who you are, as Edwene describes in her book. It can be a different person or organization every time, so long as it’s someone who is assisting your spiritual growth. Of course, we hope you will consider Unity of Rehoboth Beach as part of your tithe.

So, why should we tithe? Simply put, it’s spiritual law. And because it tells the universe that you trust abundance is coming to you.

Tithing engages the universal laws of flow, receiving and giving. It forms a connection between your individual life and the universal flow of abundance.

It opens the valve controlling the flow into your life. It’s a way of giving thanks to God, and we all know that gratitude is a great way to encourage more and larger gifts. Steady tithing automatically brings an equally steady increase in the money flowing into our life. If you don’t have financial flow, tithing is the first thing to do.
Secondly, tithing it tells the universe that you trust prosperity is coming to you. It says, “I have so much coming in that I can easily and cheerfully give 10% back into circulation.” It keeps your focus on prosperity rather than poverty, abundance rather than lack. And of course, whatever you focus on expands in your life. In this respect, tithing opens the valve controlling the flow into your life.

According to the prophet Malachi, it opens the windows of heaven, so that blessings can pour into your life. (Malachi 3:10) Consistent tithing automatically brings an equally steady increase in the money flowing in.

Gaines lays down firm and fast rules for tithing, such as:
charitable giving doesn’t count,
giving 9 percent is not enough,
and if you’re too broke to tithe, you will probably always be broke.

She backs that up with her own story:
With barely a dollar to her name and a young daughter to feed, Edwene Gaines began to do what most people with a steady income would fear: she tithed. She gave ten percent of every single cent that came to her, and what she experienced as a result wasn’t miraculous—at least in her eyes—for she knew that the fact of her income doubling in a matter of six months and then tripling within a year was the work of God.

She says to be consistent with your tithing if you want God to bless you consistently.

Keep in mind that tithing is different from charitable giving. Tithing is giving that first 10% back to God, in appreciation of spiritual teaching.

Charitable giving is a good thing, too, but it comes after tithing, not instead of tithing. When you tithe, you do not get to tell the recipient what to do with that money; it’s up to them.

Finally, tithing doesn’t take the place of paying for goods or services. If you tithe to a teacher who also works on you, you still get to pay their regular fee. Imagine that your car mechanic says something that really touches you spiritually; you still have to pay him for changing the oil in your car!

God created us to live in a relationship of love and trust. By tithing, by giving freely, we express our trust in our Creator. With that, our life is enriched with both inner and outer blessings. When we trust in the Divine, we become channels of these blessings to others

So, we see that tithing is giving in gratitude for a special gift from another person or organization. That gift is a part of your Spiritual Journey. In a way, your soul is getting an opportunity to say thank you for the guidance or Lesson that you received.

We here at Unity thank you all for all that you do to help us maintain and grow. And it is in part to your tithes as well as giving of your time and talents.

So I thank you a thousand times over.