12th Day of Lent – The Quality of Power

nnThe 5th quality required for us to achieve higher consciousness is POWER. We control our thoughts, feelings, and actions by using our innate inner power. God created us in God's image and likeness and gave us dominion over all things on earth. (Genesis 1) As we awaken to God within us, this inner power is enhanced. In his farewell message to his disciples, Jesus told them: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you." (Acts 1:8) In the illustration of your Divine Self, the dove above the head of the 2nd figure signifies the Holy Spirit descending from the God within you. nnQuoting Fillmore: "Man is the power of God in action. The power to control [our] thinking is the highest gift given to man."nnRead Fillmore's statement again ... it is very important! Why is it so important? Because we tend to give away our power in multiple ways, most especially to religious and political authorities. Whenever a new idea is presented, we most often ask: "What do the authorities say?" nnRead Jesus' statement again: "YOU will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon YOU." Jesus taught the individual to "seek and you will find" while repeatedly rebuking the religious authorities. Although he taught in the synagogues, Jesus neither limited his message to the "doctrines" of any religion nor did he intend to create yet another religion. nnThe gospel of Mark, in particular, reveals Jesus' impatience with his disciples' seemingly inability to grasp his teachings. "Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables?" ... "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?" (Mark 4) ... In Mark 6, the disciples tell Jesus that the people are hungry. His answer to them: "YOU give them something to eat." Later, after Jesus walked on water to their boat, "they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened." nnRead the gospel of Mark in one sitting and note Jesus' repeated impatience with the disciples. In Mark 7, the religious authorities come to Jesus asking, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled [unwashed] hands.?" Jesus quotes Isaiah when he answers them: "This people [meaning the religious authorities] honors me [God] with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines. You [the religious authorities] abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition." We have only to look at our world today to behold the horrors that come from ignoring the commandments of God and following the human doctrines of any religion.nnYet, we have the innate power to think for ourselves ... to seek intuitive guidance from the God within us. We have God's power within us. In the words of Williamson in Twelve Powers In You: "Power is my ability to convert an idea into words I speak, actions I take, and things I build. I affirm my oneness with the Higher Power. It is not I, but the power within , that does the work.... I need to own my power and to be poised and centered in my power." nnBecoming conscious of and using the power of God within us is how we can most effectively fast during Lent and forevermore from the thought, emotional, and action patterns that are self-destructive and choose to focus on the positive we desire to manifest in our lives. The authorities have taught us all kinds of dis-empowering ideologies: "you are separate from God" ... "you are powerless" ... "you must adhere to the doctrines of your religion or suffer exclusion, shunning, or worse." We have willingly given away our power---God's power within us---in obedience to the authorities.nnQuoting Fillmore: "No disciple can do any great overcoming work without a certain realization of spiritual power, dominion, mastery. Without power, one easily gives up to temporal, man-made laws. The psychic atmosphere is filled with thoughts that are not in harmony with Divine Mind.... We should quicken our discernment and our ability to choose between the good and the evil.... Do not fear to develop your power and mastery.... To man is given the highest power in the universe, the conscious power of thought."nnYOU are God's power in action!