"Spiritual Wealth" Rev. Christine Emmerling 10/11/20 (text)

“Spiritual Wealth” by Rev. Christine 10/11/2020

October is best known as the season of harvesting, a reaping of that which we have sown. This is a Universal Spiritual Principle of wealth in cause and effect. My talk today is about spiritual wealth. How living in principle makes it so we don’t have to be negatively affected by the worldly scene.

This is some year; with the wide range effects of COVID-19 that is still going on; unemployment, homelessness and all those fires and smoke filled air. Our open hearts and prayers go out to the many people who have been affected and are suffering, for those working in service, and the many volunteers inspired to give of their time and talents.

Businesses have had to adapt to keep going. This Church after being closed went to teleconferencing to keep the Sunday service and weekly meditation going. Then the hard decision to sell the property. We reminded ourselves that this wasn’t the end to our Church, but an opportunity to do it differently. We’re not done, we’re just figuring it out day by day. Like so many other businesses, and the lives of so many people and families.

So when we are challenged, this becomes a time for being more creative, digging deep within, and planting our seeds in affirming what we believe with lots of gratitude, and then moving our feet. It takes a belief in a world of abundance, a world of good, creating, giving back to others, and our sense of worthiness and deserving.

New Thought is well known for teaching the principle of abundance, and so did the Bible both Old an New Testaments. This principle is demonstrated all around us. Jesus the Christ taught it in his parables, and gave examples. One of my favorites in John 4:35, “Do you not say that after four months comes the harvest? Behold, I say to you, Lift up your eyes and look at the fields which have turned white and have long been ready for the harvest.”

Regardless of the appearances of the world; the appearance of lack of health, wealth, employment, housing, food. There is a spiritual world, a spiritual principle of divine substance that is bountiful, unlimited when understood and practiced. We are told in Matt. 6:31-33 “Therefore do not worry, or say, What will we eat, or what will we drink, or with what will we be clothed? For worldly people seek after all these things. Your Father in heaven knows that all of these things are also necessary for you. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” Where is this heaven and kingdom? Right here within everyone, within our very consciousness - the I that I am.

Then in Luke 6:38, “Give, and it will be given to you; good measure shaken down and running over they will pour into your robe. For with the measure that you measure, it will be measured to you.” How big is your serving; a teaspoon, a tablespoon, or a cup. Your serving size is your ability to give and receive. How deserving am I, or can I be a good steward in handling the responsibility that comes with it?

It has been commonly assumed that in times of economic reverses, as so many are seeing today, we are all victims of a strange malaise, a discomfort, or stress, about which there is little that can be done other than to wait and see. However, the study of the laws of spiritual wealth reveals that there is much we can do, personally for ourselves, and in concert for our country and our world.

The belief is all too common that financial limitation is simply a quirk of bad luck, the will of God, or in today’s world the government and big business.

The average person may hope for better things. Some people may play the lottery, or enter the Publishing Clearing House sweepstakes, and fantasize about winning and living a lavish lifestyle. But will make little attempt to change their consciousness in what they believe about them self and the world they live in.

Even as most physical ills are now considered to be emotional distress and beliefs in origin, so must we begin to face that financial problems may be the outer manifestation of inner states of consciousness. Let us declare, “My personal welfare is independent of any economic fluctuations in the world.” (Repeat) And, then for health we can say, “My personal welfare is independent of any health concerns in the world.” (Repeat)

Prosperity is not just having things. It is the consciousness that attracts the things. The word affluence literally means “free flowing.” Wealth originally meant “well - being.” The word “prosperity” comes from the Latin root which literally translates to “according to hope,” or “to go forward hopefully.” Thus it is not so much a condition in life as it is an attitude toward life. The truly prosperous person is the fully functioning person, one who is experiencing what Jesus calls the life more abundant.

Prosperity is a way of living and thinking, and not just money and things. Poverty is a way of living and thinking, and not just a lack of money or things. Considered in its broadest sense, prosperity is “spiritual well-being.” This involves the whole experience of being healthy, loving relationships, abiding peace and harmony, as well as a sufficiency of monetary supply.

The starting point in realizing prosperity is to accept responsibility for our own thoughts; thus taking charge of our life. We are not responsible for what is said in the news in the form of economic indicators or the latest COVID-19 numbers; but we are very much responsible for what we think about these things. Going into fear or blame serves no one, and only reinforces being powerless.

The power is within us to make change. For how we think and feel about the economy in general and our financial affairs in particular will unvaryingly determine what we experience. Refrain to indulge in conversation about the bad economy, the high cost of living, or about anything we really do not want in our life. Eliminate such thoughts as “I can’t”, or “I’m afraid to”, and “there is not enough” from our vocabulary. Instead say what we know to be spiritually true of our self, or the situation.

Talk only about the things you want to see live and grow. Keep thoughts centered in the idea of abundance, sufficiency, and well-being. And give routinely a consciousness booster by affirming something like: “God is my instant, constant, and abundant source of supply,” or fill in good health, loving relationships, wisdom, peace, joy. For example: “God is my instant, constant, and abundant source of good health.” Yes!

In our regular meditation practice, work on the realization that we’re surrounded, encompassed and filled by a divine presence which wishes for you only good because you are expressing its life. Yes, we are expressing God Life right here and now.

The exciting Truth is that God or Holy Infinite Spirit will make us prosperous and successful in all our ways. Infinite Mind or Spirit, will put ideas into our mind, words into our mouth, creativity into our hands, boundless opportunity before us, and be a guiding light on our pathway of life. All that is required is that we keep our self centered in the creative flow, keep in tune through supportive thoughts, keep responsive by our faith, and keep moving in the direction of our dreams. In other words, meditate, pray and move our feet.

God is not a dispenser of divine substance, God is the all ever-present substance in which we live, move and have our being. This is the subtle, but vitally important key on which the entire structure of spiritual wealth rests. Let me repeat “God is the all ever-present substance in which we live, move and have being.” Here the key is “all ever- present”, meaning everything always present – we can’t get out of it. We can only think or believe we are separate from our source, and then reap those results.

The word “substance” comes from Latin “substare,” which means “stand under.” There is a substance standing under everything. We are referring to the non-material essence at the root of it. We call it Divine or Spirit Substance.

Faith doesn’t influence God “out there” to send some riches to fill our needs “down here.” Faith is the spiritual capacity by which we may form and shape the ever-present basic element of Spirit Substance.

We live in an ocean of Divine Spirit Substance, just as fish live in water. Can the fish living in an ocean ever lack for water? Can we, having our being in the ocean of God Substance, ever really lack for a sufficiency of creativity or ideas or money or opportunities in any time of need? The important thing is to hold to the awareness that we are created in Spirit substance, formed in Spirit substance, and ceaselessly supported by Spirit substance.

If we keep ourselves centered in that inner realm of wholeness; connected to God, the Father within, as Jesus so persistently did, we too can experience mastery over all that happens around us or to us. The centering process is the key to achieving prosperity in every aspect of our life.

When praying for increased supply, realize the whole of God-Substance is present as a prospering Presence, the whole of God-Substance is present in its entirety at every point in space at the same time. Not just some of it, but all the substance of the universe is present at any point in human need. There is no spot where God is not. Know this and you are on your way to living a richly fulfilled life.

Now while there is no limitation, there may be a consciousness of limitation. Thus, there may be many “pockets of poverty” in the world, and countless people suffering in some manifested form. However, the Truth is, despite the appearance of great lack, in every area in human life, “there is an infinite and eternal energy from which all things proceed. We can never lack Divine Substance. We are forever in a field where we can bring forth out of seeming nothingness and fill our baskets to over flowing.

Do you think that Christ Jesus could have multiplied the loaves of bread and fish without first believing. What did Jesus do? First Jesus had the people divided into groups seated to be fed - he held a vision of feeding and put into motion acting as if. And, then just prior to serving, Jesus, gave a blessing of gratitude with the little food they had, and it multiplied to feed everyone with some to spare.

Jesus taught us to pray as though we have already received; to be in that feeling of gratitude. A prayer of praise for the invisible good that is already here. A true knowing that God-Substance is all around us, and is manifested accordingly.

In closing: to meditate to raise our consciousness in Oneness, the awareness of the all every-present Spirit Substance. Having the faith to shape it into manifest form. Affirm truth, affirm life, affirm all that is good. Then: be grateful, prayers of gratitude for all the good that has, is, and will be unfolding right here and now. Then take appropriate action. Move those feet, and be ready to receive your full measure. And, so it is.