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“This
week we are in week #3 of a 6-week prosperity series of lessons that I
am giving so that each of us have an opportunity to "discover"
the way in which we can increase our measure of prosperity and financial
ease. [previous lessons in Archived
Messages ] I am presenting these lessons via the web site text
messages, on the Sunday morning radio program and on the 6-Wednesday
evening radio programs. The first step to realizing greater
prosperity is "commitment to prosperity" and so to
"activate" our commitment to prosperity, I am suggesting that
after each lesson, everyone is to send $1 to Rev. Bates at P. O. Box
1173, Palm Springs, CA 92263 ... I will also accept non-U.S.
currency
... write on the outside of the envelope "#3"
this week ... and then "#4", etc.
for the remaining of the 6-weeks of commitment to
prosperity as we gain a "conviction" that we can experience a more
prosperous life, now.
If you are just beginning this week to respond to this exercise in
prosperity, write # 3 on your envelope.” -
Rev
Bates
"We must be
willing to live in a state of financial flux. We must be willing
to live in a state of financial flexibility and meet it without fear.
If we can do that we will have more money. ... we need to be
reminded often that we must be flexible in money matters. When the
barometer on our bank account goes down, it is merely an indication that
it will go up again, if we remain open to the idea of money.
You must sell yourself on money as a spiritual idea until it becomes an
automatic subconscious pattern with you. You will find that the
people who have the greatest freedom in money are the people who no
longer have to think about money. They have arrived at a
subconscious conviction that they will always have it. And, they
always do have money, because they are subjectively convinced of the
fact."
- Dr. Raymond Charles
Barker, Money is God in Action
These are wise words from Dr. Raymond
Charles Barker. He is hitting on something that is experienced by
many people regarding money and that is fear of loss. Oftentimes
our fear of loss is greater than our faith in our ability to demonstrate
money. And this is one of the reasons that it is vitally important
that we demonstrate money, because as we gain a greater faith in our
ability to demonstrate money, our fear of loss will be diminished.
The key, I believe, is to identify and release our false ideas about
money. Believing that our money comes only as compensation for
work, or that we live on a "fixed income" create a sense of
restriction in our consciousness. Often people will proudly state
that they live "within my budget" without realizing that they
are setting a limit on the amount of money that they are receptive to.
I suggest instead that we affirm that "all my financial
requirements are met." Living with fear or something that is
fixed, materialize as lack ... a lack of being open and receptive to
unexpected income or increase.
Most of us live lives where unexpected things
happen, and along with them we often require additional money. If
our mind is fixed on the amount of money that we have in the bank only,
we can easily lapse into fear or anxiety. This fear and anxiety
can often exacerbate the problem and create even more fear and anxiety.
As we draw into our awareness a greater trust and faith in the universe
to provide for us, we begin to establish within our consciousness a firm
conviction that all our needs are met ... both the expected and the
unexpected.
From Catherine Ponder's
book, "The Secret of Unlimited Prosperity," we can read:
"The first step in receiving is giving. It is through the law
of giving and receiving that we demonstrate prosperity. If you are
not receiving the good you feel you should have in life, ask yourself,
What should I give? ... In "The Revealing Word" ... Charles
Fillmore has explained: "It is necessary to give freely if we
are to receive freely. The law of receiving includes giving."
... Prosperity is omnipresent, and you cannot impoverish yourself by
giving. Instead you are enriched by giving, which opens the way
for you to receive."
When we believe that we have
nothing to give, or that by giving we will have less, we are creating a
pattern in our mind of "have not" rather than "have"
and this is what the great Charles Fillmore was referring to. Yet,
we should never give out of obligation, manipulation, or in a pious way.
Nor should we ever give less than what we know is appropriate ... we
don't prosper by being cheap or short-changing others. Giving does
not make us a better person ... it makes us a richer person!
It works the same for saints and sinners, good people and seemingly not
so good people. Giving provides us the mental equivalent of
"having" and it works for everyone in the same way.
Freely giving creates a simple subtlety in Mind that makes a great
difference in our ability to receive both expected and unexpected
prosperity. People who wait to give, thinking that what they can
give at the present moment is trivial, create a mental equivalent of
"delay" in their consciousness and this creates a delay in
receiving the good that is available to them. Jesus, being a
spiritual genius, recognized the Law clearly, "give and be given
to" ... and he also recognized that it is not the amount that we
give, but that we freely give without concern for having less.
"freely ye have received, freely give." It is a simple
instruction, yet, a powerful mental action in Mind that magnifies our
awareness of the abundance that is available to us.
From the ancient scripture:
2 Corinthians 9:6
"Remember
this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows
generously will also reap generously. 7Each
[woman] man should give what [she] he has decided in [her] his heart to
give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful
giver. 8And God is able to
make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having
all that you need, you will abound in every good work."
Just
as it is not important how much we give, it is always important when we
are asked to give, that we do ... money, or something else. Every
opportunity that comes to us to give, includes the opportunity for us to
receive. This is true because of the Law of Unity ... we are never
asked for something that we do not have. We cannot draw from the
Invisible Source, Spirit, from a refusal to give. In truth, this
is "resisting our good." By giving, and by this I mean,
freely giving, we will establish within our subconscious mind a
conviction that we will always have something to give.
AND
SO IT IS!
Keep
the faith!
Rev.
Dr. Henry Lee Bates
Visit Rev. Bates BLOG: Living
the Science of Mind
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Rev
Bates on the Radio
