Z gardener's Weblog

Alter Your Life

zgardener — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:09:24 +0000

There is no need to be unhappy. There is no need to be disappointed, or oppressed, or aggrieved. There is no need for illness or failure or discouragement. There is no necessity for anything but an abounding interest and joy in life.

As long as you accept a negative condition at its own valuation, so long will you remain in bondage to it; but you have only to assert your birthright as a free man or woman and you will be free.

Success and happiness are the natural conditions of mankind. It is actually easier to demonstrate these things than the reverse. Bad habits of thinking and acting may obscure this fact for a time, just as a wrong way of walking or sitting, or holding a pen, or musical instrument may seem to be easier than the proper way, because we have accustomed ourselves to it; but the proper way is the easier nevertheless.

Unhappiness, frustration, poverty, loneliness are really bad habits that their victims have become accustomed to bear, believing that there is no way out, whereas there is a way; and that way is simply to acquire good habits of working with the Law instead of against it.

Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy Law (Psalm 119:18).

Today can be the first day of the rest of our altered lives, or it can be just another day. It is up to us. May the creator of the universe open our eyes to the miracle, majesty and magnificence of living in the Eden God created for us. It can start today if we but open our eyes.

Unblinking,

Z gardener

Your Invisible Dictaphone

zgardener — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:58:20 +0000

Your destiny depends entirely upon your own mental conduct. You may think that you know this already, but if you do not act upon it, it is certain that you do not really know it. Most people would be amazed to discover how much negative thinking they indulge in. Thought is so swift and habit is so strong that unless you are very careful you will constantly transgress.

Suppose that, quite without your knowledge, an invisible dictaphone were strapped on your shoulders the first thing tomorrow morning, and that you carried it about all day until the last thing tomorrow night. Then suppose that this record were played over to you so that every word you had uttered for a whole day was repeated to you. Well, if you are an average human being you would probably be embarrassed. Yet it really does happen that everything we say, and think and do, is recorded – in the subconscious mind – and our daily experience is simply that record being played over to us by the Law of Being.

Never forget that the circumstances of your life tomorrow are molded by your mental conduct of today.

I have chosen the way of truth…(Psalm 119:30).

Now imagine that Dictaphone has a loudspeaker connected and everyone heard every word and thought you had. That would definitely change our behavior, right? Well, we do have a speaker connected to our thoughts and words. Our conduct, facial expressions and body language work in the same way. Yes, it is more subtle, but it still broadcasts what’s inside our heads and hearts; or whispered to ourselves. These “secret” acts also programs our subconscious to accept them as reality. So our future is being set by our thoughts, words and deeds of today.

Let us know that our invisible Dictaphones a speaker phones are recording and broadcasting our secrets loud and clear. And may each of us think, feel and say that which is pleasing to God, so that also is being broadcast to those around us. When we do this, our lives will reflect the love of God on our future and and on those around us in our present.

Testing, testing, 1,2,3 testing,

Z gardener

You Are Always Treating

zgardener — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:42:27 +0000

You are continually treating your conditions with the thoughts that you hold concerning them. What you really think about anything, is your “treatment” of that thing. Many people have the idea that they are only “treating” when they call it “treating.” But no matter what you call it, your thought concerning any subject is a treatment. This is the reason visible conditions are always the expression of invisible thought.

If you will begin systematically to treat every side of your life with a series of positive, correct thoughts, and keep to this practice for even a few weeks, you will be amazed to find how much everything will change for the better.

…be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…(Romans 12:2).

Prayer is the highest form of “treatment”. It is focused thought of, communion with and realization of the presence of God. Yet it is, at its core, thoughts, feelings and perceptions of oneness with God. So it is with every thought, word and deed. Each of our reactions to our experience is prayer or “treatment” in that it creates the basis of our reality. Therefore, everything we think, feel and do becomes our prayer.

The truth here is that we determine our prayer and our reality by everything we do. Let us start today with a new outlook on our inlook. Let us think, feel and do that which we would demonstrate in our lives. Then we will see, experience and live in the heaven God created for us. It is up to us.

Treating true,

Z gardener

God Says Now

zgardener — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:35:29 +0000

God’s time for your demonstration in now. The time God wants you to be healed is now. The time God wants you to be in your true place is now. The Bible says that the day of salvation is now.

God is ready the moment you are. There is nothing to wait for except the changing of your own consciousness. People often make the mistake of saying, “I know my demonstration will come at the right time.” But the only time to be harmonious and satisfied is now. The time to be happy is now and the place is here. Did not Jesus say, The kingdom of heaven is at hand, and by this he meant close by.

Do not keep yourself out of the Kingdom of Heaven by inventing postponements, but change your consciousness now, for it can all happen in a moment.

…that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed (Romans 13:11).

What better news could we hear? We can be happy now. In the midst of our challenges, concerns and obstacle, we can live in the Kingdom of God now.

So today, may God grant to each of us the power to change our consciousness from the dark to the light. Then we can claim our healing, our happiness and our birthright as children of God. Then we will see our lives as the Eden God created for us; NOW!

In the Kingdom,

Z gardener

Bluebeard Draws the Line

zgardener — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:06:22 +0000

We make spiritual progress by putting God into every corner of our lives. Most people on the spiritual path are willing to give God a generous portion of their lives, but there is often one little corner where they do not wish the divine Light to shine.

Bluebeard, you remember, kept open house, with the exception of one little room – and there he drew the line. His current wife, or any of the neighbors could go all over the premises and welcome, until they came to that one little room, the Bluebeard chamber, that was forbidden. Yet that one little locked-up room contained the tragedy of the house.

The contents of the Bluebeard room need not be anything that we usually call horrible. There may just be selfishness, laziness, spiritual pride, or any of the more “respectable” but very deadly sins. There may be an old grudge or bitter remorse.

Open every door of your soul to God. Have no place where the light of His presence does not shine.

The secret things belong unto the Lord our God… (Deuteronomy 29:29).

That which we seek to hide from God is usually that thing which is blocking us from God’s promise. Although God knows all, our attempt to hide it has the same effect of Adam and Eve’s hiding from God. It separates us from God although not from God’s love. Our Father would have us open our secret places to can receive all his love and forgiveness so our communion with God and ourselves is total.

When we pry open resentments, insecurities and weaknesses, God’s light will shine in on them and reveal their solutions. Then our spiritual health can benefit from God’s healing grace and forgiveness. No matter how certain we are of the correctness, fairness or need for our hurtful ways, we must reveal and abandon them if we are to receive all of the love, peace and joy God has promised.

So today, let each us us fling open the shutters of our secret rooms and fly freely with God to our gardens.

Flying freely,

Z gardener

Triumph Over Danger – Psalm 91

zgardener — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:15:33 +0000

Read Psalm 91.

Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

Here the lion stands for a difficulty of which we are so afraid that it seems to us a very lion in our path, rushing at us in the open. How different, on the other hand, is the attack of the adder, or snake; for it creeps upon us in the dark. And here we are promised that our complexes, dragons though they be, shall be dissolved by the realization of God. There is nothing that can be done by any form of psychotherapy that cannot be better done by the Practice of the Presence of God.

The last three verses are in themselves a glorious psalm of ringing joy and triumph.

Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him. There is nothing hypothetical or contingent here. The statement indicates the fixed decision – I will deliver him. And why? – because he has set his love upon me.

I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. In the bible the “name” of anything means the nature or character of that thing. Now the nature of God is perfect, omnipresent, all-powerful good, boundless love; and to “know” this is to be set on hand above all our difficulties.

The last two verses gather up all the implications and promises of this wonderful poem, and present them to the fearful or doubting heart as a song of triumph. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.

There is no threat, syndrome, demon, habit or weakness that God can not overcome. No danger, enemy or challenge too great for God’s love. All we have to do is know and have faith in God’s omnipresent power and love. Neither height, nor depth nor powers, principalities or even death itself can separate us from this love if we have faith and realize God is within us. The way to realize God within us to seek and follow his will. That is our part of the job!

Realizing God,

Z gardener

zgardener — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:56:59 +0000

Our Assurance

Read Psalm 91.

For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. This is one of the loveliest of all the promises in the Bible. For tender beauty it stands alone. He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways – and it is meant for you and for me. It might have seemed appropriate enough that some exalted Being should be given an escort of angels to surround him, to support him, to keep him in all his ways. But the Bible is the book of Everyman, and this promise is given to you and to me.

This beautiful promise is true and legions of angels do keep us in their protection. However, if we ignore God’s will or natural law, we can obviate the protection of these supernatural beings and the angels will cry for us when we stumble.

Angelic protection does mean all things that happen to us can be for our best good. It does not mean that our lives will be free from heartache, challenges and life’s hurts. Even the son of God faced such challenges in his earthly existence.

When we do affirm our belief in God by accepting his will and following his truths, then all of the councils of heaven walk with us to guide our paths and ensure that we walk in our Eden each day.

Resting assured,

Z gardener

Our Promise – Psalm 91

zgardener — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:39:53 +0000

Read Psalm 91.

A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. This clause has been taken to indicate some kind of favoritism on the part of God, whereas, of course, such a thing is impossible. It means simply that those who pray are saved from trouble that would otherwise overtake them, and that does, in fact, overtake those who do not pray.

Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. In the Bible, the word promise is the name given to a statement of some spiritual law. So, a Bible promise is a statement of the consequences that naturally follow from certain states of consciousness. If Boyle’s law were written in the Bible idiom, it would read something like this: “As I live, saith the Lord, whenever thou shalt double the pressure of a gas, thou shalt halve the volume, temperature remaining constant.” In the language of natural science, our Bible promise would run: “ By meditating regularly on the Presence of God with you, and directing your life in accordance with that fact, you become immune from any kind of danger.”

And here is the truth of being. Our prayers to, and communion with God, will lead us to that place where God promises safety, protection and divine direction. As we learn to live in this reality, our paths and our gardens will be blessed and will provide all we need to survive and thrive in the peace we seek as happiness.

Keeping the promise,

Z gardener

Our Deliverance

zgardener — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:04:45 +0000

Read Psalm 91.

And now the Word of Truth is represented as addressing you with an authoritative assurance that your prayer will be answered, that is some way or other – not necessarily in the way that you expect – you will be rescued from your difficulty.

Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wing shalt thou trust: His Truth shall be thy shield and buckler. You are to have no apprehension, for your protection is now assured in one of those illustrations from everyday life, in which the Bible abounds. The mother hen, at the slightest threat of danger, gathers the little chicks under her wings, covering them “with her feathers”; thus does God shield you from all danger once you have elected to trust Him. His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. It is the knowledge of the Truth about God and man that makes the demonstration.

Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. The arrow that flieth by day and the destruction that wasteth at noon refer to any difficulty of which you are consciously aware. It is, so to say, a daytime problem. The terror by night and the pestilence that walketh in darkness, on the contrary, imply something that, unknown to you, is working in your subconscious mind. Modern psychology has shown that most of our difficulties have their roots in the depth of the subconscious. These are indeed terrors of the mental night and pestilences of the darkness.

When we truly come to understand and believe the truth that our deliverance is ASSURED when we trust in God, then we are freed from the fear, anxiety and danger that threaten us. If we are being fearful, apprehensive and doubtful, then we are not trusting in God’s promise.

This is not easy and it does not mean that we are free to ignore problems or act recklessly believing God will deliver us. It does mean that we are to know that God is in control, is protecting us and will bring all things for our best good if we obey him. Even if that which God brings is not what we wanted or prayed for, we must still look for our best good in it and know that God has sent it for some good purpose.

When we live, think, speak and act in this reality; we can live in the Eden God created for each of us in peace, hope and safety.

Under the wings,

Z gardener

Our Fortress

zgardener — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:42:52 +0000

Read Psalm 91.

Observe that the poem opens by announcing the irresistible power of prayer. Then in order to bring home the fact that this law applies to us, and that by no possibility could we be an exception, it now changes over to the first person and makes us say “I.” It compels us to voice the I AM.

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. The Lord means God. How can knowledge be a presence? Secular knowledge, which is intellectual, cannot; but the true knowledge of God is an actual experience – not a thing of the head, but of the heart – and this is indeed a Presence. As a general rule, people contact this Real Self only vaguely and occasionally. Then, if they pray regularly, the gleams of intuition gradually strengthen into a definite sense of the Presence of God.

In Him will I trust. However worried or depressed you may be, however full of doubts and misgivings, still the fact that you are praying means that you have at least enough faith for that. The faith to go on praying in the midst of doubts about results is the tiny grain of mustard seed that Jesus says is sufficient for practical purposes. Declaring in Him will I trust means that you have now determined to trust by ceasing to worry and fear. This is the legitimate and spiritual use of the will.

Imagine that you are besieged by an evil enemy and yet you have a fortress near your that could protect you from all harm and fear while providing for your every need. And, also imagine that the owner of that fortress is the most powerful person in the universe. Imagine he keeps calling each day for you to come inside and be at peace and rest.

Can you fathom refusing this benevolent offer to come inside the fortress and enjoy the peace and plenty available inside? Would you even think of turning down his hospitality and protection? Of course not.

In the same way, God offers us a life that is blessed to overflowing and above all harm. In God’s garden we don’t have to be anxious or fearful, because God will bless and protect us there regardless of or problems. When we truly trust God, we will rise above all our human limitations, fears and negativity. In God’s garden, we abide in God’s Fortress in safety and joy.

Fortified,

Z gardener