GREAT MORNING BELOVED!

Discover the Power Within You -The Great Practice

Have you discovered what Jesus wanted us to know? That we are divine. Did you make your Decision to recognize that Discovery? And have you now made the Choice to follow our Way-Shower?
If you are sitting in these seats, I’m guessing that you are, at least, contemplating that choice.
So, this morning, we are going to talk about the Great Practice. What is it that you will want to put into practice if you wish to follow these teachings?
The first thing just might be to follow the Law of Nonresistance.
Nonresistance is stronger than resistance; its practice requires more mind capacity than is required for resistance; its appeal is to the divine in you. Resistance centers on detail; nonresistance accepts the generalization.
If you agree where you can agree and refrain from consideration of points that you do not accept, you keep unity with the universe. Agreement is feasible when your mind seeks agreement.

Butterworth states, “One of the saddest things in life is our propensity to use force to get our way…to use a battering ram instead of the key to open doors.”
Nonresistance is taking the practice and spiritual approach in life.

If Jesus’ teachings of nonresistance were universally understood and practiced, maybe we would not have wars, factions, classes or races. We would actually – and finally, be all one.
We would be eliminating the root of our ‘evil’ as Matthew tells us to pluck out our eye if it has a problem seeing the divinity in others… save the rest of your body for the loss of one eye.
He is telling us that our one need in life is to get right, in consciousness, with God; that anything in the way must go.

And this starts with our thoughts, of course. If we root out thoughts of lust, covetousness, envy and greed; we stop the problem before we acquire habits that would eventually destroy our whole life. SO why pay the price?
The Law of Nonresistance also includes running away from problems instead of facing them. Jesus uses the example of men who divorce their wives for very little reason. It must have been a big issue in the Near East at his time.
They would let their wives go and this is one of the reasons many of Jesus’ Sermons were about taking care of women and children.
We forget, all of us, that a problem that we are not facing now, will continue to present itself, maybe in different guises, but it will appear, until we face it and resolve it.
In marriage, we have a chance to discover the great possibilities of our partners and to work together to bring forth those possibilities. “True love is spiritual perception, an insight sensitive to our innate divinity.”
When you hear, “I can’t see what he sees in her” its because it is the perception of love that is a personal revelation. A marriage that is built on that perception is ‘built on a rock’….it will lead to an adjustment of differences and a fulfillment of love.’
Love is a divine energy that begins with God and has no end. We tune into this flow and express the love, light and power that comes with it.

The tendency to escape from challenges is putting off our salvation…whether its marriage, work, our what we are doing to our environment.

Let’s talk about vows…this section of Matthew goes on to tell us the we should not swear an oath to anything…for how can you know from one day to the next how you will feel. There is only the NOW.
“But let your speech be Yea, Yea; Nay, Nay…” not a promise that you may not be able to keep.

Butterworth suggests maybe instead for the marriage vow, “Till death due us part,” we should say we will “Behold the divinity in each other as a possibility and to work together to give releasement to the ‘imprisoned splendor’ which love has perceived.” And then renew this consecration at least annually.
Goethe said that marriage is not a goal in itself, but an opportunity to mature. I can see many relationship types doing that…just thinking of the friends I have now and have had in my life and what they have brought to the table that helped me mature and question myself and grow because and sometimes in spite of their relationship to me.
This all reminds me too, of Charles Fillmore when asked about his beliefs, he would say what they were but then add that he reserved the right to change his mind.
And here we all are, almost all of us not raised in Unity teachings, yet we ‘changed our minds’ and at this time, are choosing to at least look at Unity teachings.
And that would be the ‘unforgivable sin’ (not the unforgivable curse from Harry Potter). Having a closed mind… a mind that is made up, that does not wish to change or even look at any possibility other than what is, right now, at this and every moment.
The point Jesus is making is to keep your mind open. To not make a vow that will hold you to something that will close you off or bind you to something that will keep you away from Spirit.”
“Be receptive to the continuous unfoldment of the Truth in and through you. Give thanks that the life is lived one day at a time, and that every day is a glorious opportunity to be strong, to overcome, to achieve and to be happy.”
That goes for our relationships with others too. Holding a grudge against someone is only showing that we are in a wrong state of consciousness. We are placing manacles upon ourselves and thinking we are making the other pay a price for a perceived wrong doing.

We set ourselves free when we forgive them… and ourselves. Our responsibility is to act the part of our divinity through life. We determine the level of consciousness on which to meet others and how we react or respond to them.
There is always ground for agreement. If you do not find that ground, grant its presence; agree or withdraw in peace….

Here’s and example. A restaurant owner had a policy that any waitress who failed to smile at least once to their customer and got caught, was fired. So, most of the waitresses had forced smiles, of course, …all but one.
She smiled and kept on smiling. She seemed to enjoy smiling. While talking with her she said, at first, she resented the order, mechanical smiles were not fun or normal. Then she realized that after her first smile, all the others were hers, not ordered. She felt rewarded for any smile beyond.
This is part of ‘going an extra mile’…when we go beyond what is required. This is abundant living.
It is when we only do that which is required, we are slaves to that ’required work’.

Much is expected of us because we are well endowed. We are a child of God, create in the image and likeness, possessed of the potential of the Christ indwelling. We are a growing, expanding, evolving, dynamic life-idea in God-Mind. There can never be a limit to God, and thus there can never be a limit to you or I if we get into God-consciousness.

Another practice that we can and should choose is prayer.
Jesus taught a concept of prayer that had nothing to do with the unpredictable God of the Old Testament, who might just as easily decide to curse you as bless you.

However, when we look at current styles of prayer, we still find people employing prayers that beg, bargain, flatter, or are repeated over and over – as though there is a need to help God decide to look favorably upon them. Jesus did not teach that any of these things were necessary in order to reach God.
“Prayer is not something we do to God but to ourselves. It is not a position but a disposition. It is not flattery but a sense of oneness. It is not asking but knowing. It is not words but feeling. It is not will but willingness.”

In other words, the most important component in our prayers is not the words we say but the consciousness which lies behind them. In order for our prayers to be truly effective, they must be more than words we have memorized. They must come from a spiritually centered awareness that knows the Truth of its being and trusts God completely to know its needs without being told. “Prayer is not a way to turn on the light in God, but to turn on the light in you – and God is that light.”
Mary-Alice and Richard Jafolla remind us: “Since the beginning of time, people of all civilizations have prayed. From prayer beads to prayer wheels, from solemn Gregorian chants to foot-stomping gospel music…to the seeker quietly sitting cross-legged atop a mountain, there are as many ways of praying as there are people who pray.”
Prayer in its simplest form is any conscious attempt to experience the presence of God. Prayer is a deliberate activity – one of seeking to recognize our oneness with God, of opening ourselves to the power of God as it moves through us in new and wonderful ways.
Could be here. Could be in your back yard. Could be walking the beach or walking your dog.
Once this presence happens, however, prayer becomes something even more. As our awareness of the presence of God expands, prayer becomes the experience of being part of God, of centering ourselves directly in the creative flow of the universe, of perceiving things not with human eyes or human ears or human minds but from the divinity within us. We pray not to God or for God, as something separate from us, but from that sacred presence which is our very essence.

While historically we may have prayed to a Higher Power outside ourselves, imploring for things and outer changes in our lives, we are now discovering that this Power is omnipresent and dwells within each of us.

“We pray not to God or for God, as something separate from us, but from that sacred presence which is our very essence.”
And thus, Prayer helps us to remember the truth of who we are, and the truth of who everyone is. And in that remembering, we find healing.

The sages have told us: Know the One in your own heart, and then you will understand the heart of each person.
Know the One in your own mind; then you will recognize that One in each person’s mind.
Know the One in your own life; then you will experience that One in everyone else’s life.
When you recognize the divinity within yourself, then that is what you long to see in others; and due to that longing, that is what you are able to see in everyone else.
MEDITATION
There are handouts for those of you who would like these additional items:
I AM nonresistant toward troubling situations. Problems are solved as I listen to and follow my inner guidance. I rejoice in the activity of God’s love to harmonize, to heal, and to restore good in my life and in the world.
I am nonresistant toward appearances of illness or disease. I agree with the life idea and I am made whole and strong.
I am nonresistant toward appearances of lack. I accept the idea that the riches of the universe flow to me and through me.
I am nonresistant toward others. My eyes are opened with understanding. I see the good in them and I find points of agreement with them.
I am nonresistant toward world conditions. I see the outworking of peace and love among all people. Unity in oneness is being established everywhere.
I give thanks for my ability to be nonresistant, to be a peacemaker, to be a giver and receiver of the joys and blessings of God, our Father.