Unity Church of Castro Valley
Sunday Message for August 31, 2008
Guidance
Today we are talking about Guidance. How do we learn to listen to the guidance from God instead of listening to our old programming? We read in the Bible that God talked with Moses, and Abraham, and Jesus. But many people think that God stopped talking to us after biblical times. I don’t believe this. I think that we just stopped listening.
A Native American and his friend were walking near Times Square, New York. The streets were filled with people, across multiple lanes cars were honking their horns, taxicabs were squealing around corners, and sirens were wailing. Suddenly, the Native American stops and says, "I hear a cricket."
His friend is astounded, "What? You must be crazy. You couldn't possibly hear a cricket in all of this noise!"
"No, I'm sure of it," the Native American said, "I heard a cricket."
"That's crazy," said the friend.
The Native American listened carefully for a moment, and then walked across the street to where some shrubs were growing. He looked into the bushes and sure enough, he located a small cricket. His friend was utterly amazed.
"That's incredible," said his friend. "You must have super-human ears!"
"No," said the Native American. "My ears are no different from yours."
"But that can't be!" said the friend. "I could never hear a cricket in this noise."
"Yes, you could," came the reply. "Here, let me show you."
He reached into his pocket, pulled out a few coins, and dropped them on the sidewalk. And then, with the noise of the crowded street still blaring in their ears, they noticed every head within the immediate area turn and look to see if the money that tinkled on the pavement was theirs.
"See what I mean?" asked the Native American. "It all depends on what's important to you, on what you're listening for"
So the more we focus on God, the more we listen to the inner guidance, the more we will be able to hear it in every case. If God is high on your list of what’s important to you, then you will be more and more aware of the guidance that is available from inside you.
GUIDANCE IS CLOSE WITHIN YOU
In the book Keep A True Lent, Charles Fillmore writes, "Man is never without a guide, no matter how loudly he may be crying out for leading." If we will just follow the light we will find that guidance is always at hand. It is extremely simple and it is easy to find guidance. People have formed in their minds a far-off God, who talks from some high mountain in invisible space. When we focus on some far-off God we ignore the spark of divinity shining in our own being.
So we are fooled into believing that we can do the things that are not in harmony with our ideas of goodness and somehow escape the consequences. We presume that God is too far away to see our shortcomings, and we lose sight of the fact that God is with us every minute.
There are two ways to get understanding. One is to follow the guidance of the Spirit that dwells within, and the other is to go blindly ahead and learn by hard experience. These two ways are open to everyone because God gave us free will.
For those of us who have had experience, we see that we can advise those who have not, and save them the steps of that rocky road. But in the light of omnipresent intelligence, isn’t there One who knows all things, all roads, all combinations, and what the outcome of everyone of them will be.
SUPERCONSCIOUS
In the book Christian Healing, Charles Fillmore writes, "In his right relation, man is the inlet and the outlet of an everywhere present life, substance, and intelligence." When we recognize this fact and adjust to the invisible expression of the one Mind, our mind becomes harmonious; our life becomes vigorous and perpetual; and our body becomes healthy.
This is your true self. God-Mind is constantly seeking to release its perfection in you. It is your spirit, and when you ask for its guidance and place yourself in mental touch with it, there is a great increase in its manifestation in your life. All the power of Being is behind the Spirit within you, and there is nothing that it cannot do. Tap into it and let it express through you.
A most important part of the law of mind action is the fact of thought-unity. It is absolutely necessary to understand the nature of this fact before we can demonstrate the power of the superconscious mind. With other people, we like and are attracted to those who understand and sympathize with our thoughts.
The same hold true in Divine Mind - its thoughts are drawn to and find expression in the minds of those who raise themselves to its thought standard. This means that we must think of ourselves as God thinks of us, in order to appreciate and to receive His thoughts and to manifest it in our lives.
If you think of yourself as anything less than the perfect child of the perfect Parent, you lower the thought standard of your mind and cut off the influx of thought from Divine Mind. Jesus referred to this law when He said, (Matthew 5:48) "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
Only through this superconscious mind can we see and commune with God. (John 1:18) "No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known." It is taught that Jesus was exclusively the "only begotten Son," but He Himself said, (John 10:34) "Is it not written in your law, "I said, you are gods'?" He proclaimed the unity of all men in the Father. (John 8:12) "I am the light of the world." (Matthew 5:14) "You are the light of the world." Paul says, (Romans 8:14) "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God." We are (Romans 8:17) "heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ."
Understanding of the status of all men in Divine Mind gives us a new light on the life of Jesus of Nazareth and makes plain many of His seemingly mysterious statements. This spiritual consciousness, or Christ mind, was quickened in Him, and through it He realized His relation to First Cause. When asked to show the Father, whom He constantly talked to as if He were personally present, (John 14:9) Jesus said, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." His personality had been merged into the Universal. The mind of Being and the thought of Being were joined, and there was no consciousness of separation or apartness. This is the consciousness that we are striving for.
During the US civil war Abraham Lincoln met with a group of ministers for a prayer breakfast. Lincoln was not a church-goer but was a man of deep, if at times unorthodox, faith. At one point one of the ministers said, "Mr. President, let us pray that God is on our side". Lincoln's response showed far greater insight, "No, gentlemen, let us pray that we are on God's side."
Lincoln reminded those ministers that religion is not a tool by which we get God to do what we want but an invitation to open ourselves to being and doing what God wants.
THE MESSAGE IS THERE
(Psalms 32:8) "I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you." If you are open and receptive, (Isaiah 58:11) "The Lord will guide you continually." (Psalms 25:12) "Who are they that fear the Lord? He will teach them the way that they should choose." (Proverbs 3:6) "In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."
Ask God for guidance. Ask him in faith, with no doubt on your part. This doesn’t mean you must be sure of the answer, but you must be specific about your request. A person that wavers in his mind will probably not get a clear answer. We cannot ask that God’s will be done, and then contemplate whether or not we want to do it. God can’t lead until we are ready to follow.
Believe that God is guiding you. Believe that your answers are not accidental, but that God is speaking through the information that you uncover in a variety of ways. Not everything will be relevant, but we must be alert to what God may be saying through that information. It helps to record what seem significant in a prayer journal.
Then let the matter rest with God. (Proverbs 3:5-6) "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." (Philippians 4:6-7) "Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
God’s guidance is based on developing a relationship with God. And, as with any relationship, as it grows and matures, we become more familiar with, more able to decipher the conversations growing out of that relationship. As we spend more time with God, we are more able to understand the conversation, the messages that are a part of our relationship with God. This relationship with God must be given time and attention before it begins to have meaning and substance. The more our relationship with God deepens, the more we can expect to recognize God’s messages for us.
A young man once lost his job, and growing somewhat desperate about his plight, went to see an old preacher that he knew. As he poured out his heart to the preacher he angrily declared "I've begged and begged God to say something to help me, preacher. Why doesn't God answer?"
The old preacher, who was sitting across the room, spoke a reply so quiet the young man was unable to make it out. The young man stepped across the room. "What did you say?" he asked.
The preacher repeated himself, again in a soft tone. So the young man moved closer until he was leaning on the preacher's chair.
"Sorry," he said. "I still didn't hear you." With their heads bent together, the old preacher spoke once more. "God sometimes whispers," he said, "So we will move closer to hear him."
So there are four things that may help in finding guidance from God. First, in our time of prayer, we can listen for that still, small voice within us. We need to realize that that voice is there and begin to honor it. Yet, to be able to distinguish our thoughts and emotions from the inner voice of God, we need to understand ourselves.
Secondly, we may find this guidance in scripture. For instance we might check out (Micah 6:8) "He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" Scripture is always a source of guidance. But scripture is to be read prayerfully and with an open heart - not with the purpose of supporting a decision that we’ve already made on our own.
Third, we may be able to test the messages we think are from God by examining our own motives. We can ask why we think this is the message we are supposed to hear. Why is it that we think we are being directed to go one way or another. We need to be willing to humble ourselves and ask God to search our hearts and reveal to us our motives.
Finally, we can and most of the times probably need to check out these messages, that guidance we think is divine, with others of like mind. For it is through the community of faith that God often speaks loudest and clearest. After all, we are promised that when two or more are gathered in his name Christ’s presence will be with us and guide us. We can talk over the guidance we are seeking with someone who has a relationship with God through prayer - someone who can pray with us, talk with us and help us better recognize and interpret the messages, the guidance from God.
There may not be angels ascending and descending, there may not always be the clear, unequivocal words of God standing next to or in front of us. Yet, even without the angels, we need to know that God wants to guide us, want us to open our eyes to see God standing beside us, to open our ears to hear what God is saying to us and to open our hearts to follow the way that has been prepared for us. The message is there.
SCRIPTURE: Matthew 5:48; John 1:18; John 10:34; John 8:12; Matthew 5:14; Romans 8:14; Romans 8:17; John 14:9; Psalms 32:8; Isaiah 58:11; Psalms 25:12; Proverbs 3:6; Proverbs 3:5-6; Philippians 4:6-7; Micah 6:8
REFERENCE: Keep A True Lent Charles Fillmore; Christian Healing Charles Fillmore
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