“Your Key to Abundance” Rev. Christine 11/26/2023
Today I’m talking about “Your Key to Abundance.” This is really about the ingredients it takes to manifest out of the infinite invisible spiritual realm into this third dimensional visible spirit substance or what we refer to as physical matter. There are three components which make up our key. They are praise, blessing, gratitude and giving.
Praise is so important, that an entire book in the Old Testament is dedicated to praising. It is called the Book of Psalms also referred to as Songs of Praise. These songs of praise were sung in the temple service.
There are 150 Psalms, which reflect every mood of mankind. They are songs of the heart. Within the temple of the body, the heart is referred to as the “Holy Cup” or the “Golden Chalice.” I’ll read Psalm 117, it is one of the few shorts ones. “O PRAISE the Lord, all you nations; praise him, all you people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us; and the truth of the Lord endures for ever. Praise the Lord.” Then from 118, verse 1: “O GIVE thanks to the Lord, for he is good and his mercy endures forever.” Verses 23-24: “This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.”
Heartfelt praise and gratitude is the Divine Science way of praying. It is never coming from a sense of lack, but rather from a heart filled in fulness of having. Praising keeps our attention on what we expect to receive. It is an act of faith. Praising that which is set before us, regardless of how little, gives the necessary ingredient to bountifully recreate.
An example is when Jesus the Christ multiplied the 5 loaves and two fish to feed the 5,000 people. From Matthew 14:19, “And he ordered the people to sit down on the ground, and took the five loaves and the two fish, and he looked up to heaven blessed them, and then he broke them and gave them to his disciples, and the disciples placed them before the people.”
Christ Jesus blessed the food — what is blessing but a form of praising, having gratitude, and acknowledging its true substance and source. The dictionary says blessing is to declare holy, belonging to God or coming from God as spiritually perfect and pure. Jesus being a Master was able to draw forth from the invisible to bring forth into the visible, in recreation, with enough to feed and plenty to spare. Truly this was a blessing for all.
Whenever we give a blessing, it is in the acknowledgment of the true source, its true essence with a feeling of gratitude. Regardless of the food set before me I silently acknowledge that the food is pure divine Spirit substance of God, and I give thanks that it is serving me. As we claim -- it is done accordingly.
One of my concerns has been how people will degrade what they are about to put in their mouth. There is so much thought regarding our foods as the source of disease that people are consciously and unconsciously fearful as they take the food into their mouth. Another is to talk of negative things as eating. I once read that what you are thinking as you eat is what you are taking into yourself and digesting. We are charging our food with our thoughts — and so it becomes that same vibration.
Blessing, praising and gratitude as we eat serves us in the highest. Charge our food with love, praise, and gratitude and watch the molecular structure change to the purest form of nutrition, pure radiant energy, to feed our bodies, mind and soul.
What we have been talking about is heart activity; giving praise, blessings and gratitude all from the heart. The acknowledgment of truth by the way of feeling. Feeling charges, and puts in to action. It is always how one feels that creates. You may consciously think one way, but subconsciously there is an opposing feeling. This creates conflict and nullifies the creative action and what you wanted to bring forth doesn’t happen. This opposing feeling very often is non belief or a sense of unworthiness.
Emmet Fox writes of this in his booklet titled “The Mental Equivalent.” I can wish for a million dollars, but if I don’t have the matching belief it just won’t happen. He suggests starting with where you are, and build on it in expanding your consciousness of acceptance, sense of worthiness, and gratitude.
From the Book of Job, we are given some wonderful insight. This man seemed to have it all; wealth, family and servants. Then suddenly he lost it all. The clue within the story tells us that he was a proud man, self-righteous, and a fear that it was all too good to last. There was an underlying feeling of fear of loss or being unworthy. Instead of praising, and being grateful, he was worrying and being fearful. Job did the right things but for the wrong reason; he gave of his time and tithed to the temple not out of gratitude but out of fear. We may think fear-based caring is love, but it surely isn’t. This kind of love is anything but unconditional, freeing and joyful. Fear has many faces; as anger, hate, resentment, clinging, selfishness, judgmental, controlling and greed, to name a few.
Job’s fear drew upon him what he had most feared. His life had to get so bad before he figured it out. He had to be willing to see the good right where he was in the darkest night of his soul, and say “Thank You, Father,” and truly mean it. Soon his whole life was restored to even greater heights than before. During these dark times it is helpful to contact someone who can help hold us in the light of truth, and to remind us of the principles to help raise our consciousness so we can see the good that is set before us.
The act of praising is to truly see the good and to say how wonderful it is. Blessing is to acknowledge its true Divine source. Next is having gratitude, being thankful for all that we have already received. Giving and gratitude go together. There is an old farmer tradition to leave the corners and edges of the crops for the less fortunate. And to leave the very top of the fruit on trees for the birds to eat. These are ways of the farmer to give back to the universe from which they have so richly received.
We are to freely give back to the universe without attachment. When we have attachment in expecting something back this is not true giving. Also to give and have a feeling of fear that there will not be enough for our needs will restrict the flow of abundance. Our giving is because we have already received. Think of it this way that God has given us 100% and we are to only give back 10% to keep the universal flow going. It is knowing that the substance of God is unlimited, and the abundance of God is our source. Truly trusting in the principle of creation and re-creation.
When I think of heaven, I am reminded of it being a state of consciousness, not a far-off place, but right here within me. What does this consciousness of heaven mean to me? My first thought is the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve had everything they needed.
I think of heaven as taking no thought for my needs because all my needs are already met. In this state of heaven there is love, joy, peace and gratitude for all the love and abundance in my life. Bringing heaven on earth, is bringing these feelings of abundance, peace, love, gratitude and joy right here, right now praising it all into our earthly experience. Then watch their seeds grow and unfold to be a plentiful harvest to be generously shared — even with our adversaries.
When we open our heart to the activity of love then we are open to receiving. I see each person as an instrument of the Divine source to express through. Everything, absolutely everything, comes forth from within our consciousness. When we have a sense of connection with God within us as our source then all is fulfilled. Keeping the gates open through praise, blessing, gratitude, and heartfelt giving will bring forth more than we ever asked for -- this is the key to abundance and the fulfilment of the law as in Gal. 6:7 “For whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap.”
The following is a prayer on Gratitude by Don Miguel Ruiz, a modern shaman, and bestselling author of The Four Agreements. This is from his book Prayers; A communion with our Creator.
“Today, Creator of the Universe, my heart is filled with gratitude for the gift of life you have given me. Thank you for the opportunity to experience this beautiful body and this wonderful mind. Today, Lord, I want to express my gratitude for everything I have received from you.
I know the way to say thank you for life is by fully enjoying every moment of my life. And the only way to enjoy every moment is to love. Today, I will express all the love and happiness that exist in my heart. I will love your creations, I will love myself, and I will love the people who live with me. I know that life is too short to waste in misery and drama with the people I love. I will enjoy the presence of the people I love, respecting their choices in life as I respect my own.
Today, I will graciously receive your gifts by enjoying your gifts, by enjoying the beauty of all your creation. Help me to be as generous as you are, to share what I have with generosity, just as you share your gifts so generously with me. Help me to become a master of gratitude, generosity, and love so that I can enjoy all of your creations.
Today, Lord, help me to manifest my creation as you manifest the universe, to express the beauty of my spirit in the supreme art of the human: the art of dreaming my life. Today, Lord, I give you all of my gratitude and love because you have given me life. Amen.”
In closing, as you celebrate the upcoming holiday season remember to take a moment to say a prayer before that first bite. The following is an example of a mealtime blessing:
The food of which we are going to partake is your gift,
O God, of pure Divine Substance,
and the fruit of the labor of many beings.
We are grateful for it and bless it.
May it give us strength, health, joy --
And may it increase our love. So it is, Amen!
Then we take a moment to truly appreciate all the beauty and aromas of the food set before us, and all the love that has filled the room.
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