THE GIFTS OF GOD — Sondra Ray and Markus Ray on A Course in Miracles

Where is our real home? Obviously not in this world when we consider the eternity of a Higher Reality. Let's just say you live to be 100 Years in this lifetime, which is quite good for humans this day and age. What is that 100 Years compared to the 4 BIllion Years of the "life" of Planet Earth? And where were you before the Earth's creation? Is that your home? Perhaps even something more vast than chronological time is the "holder of our home?" We will ask this question of Love today. We can be still an instant and be led by the Child of our innocence. This podcast addresses this divine connection.

What does your Spiritual Practice Look like? Sondra and Markus give their simple 5-POINT PRAYER PROCESS. 1) Read something high and inspirational 2) Forgive everything 3) Express Gratitude 4) Petition for the Highest Things 5) Read a Lesson in the Workbook of A Course in Miracles. They do this every morning before they start their "to do list." It "sets the frequency" of the whole day. Today they read from the Text of ACIM about the obstacles to Peace—the fear of God and our attraction to death. They end with the Review #VI in the Workbook. "I am not a body. I am free. for I am still as God created me." and also a review of the Lesson—"I trust my brothers who are one with me."

We are Spirit having an experience in this physical dimension. We manifested a "body" to be our vehicle in this expression of our presence in these dimensions. Our body is not our Self. Our Self Identity is transcendent of the Physical Dimension. My Self Identity is Spirit. Spirit manifests as Mind; Mind manifests a Body. Our Source is our Identity, and our Spirit is our Source. Our right Mindedness "identifies" with the Spirit. It looks toward its Source which is Love. The body is merely a "tool" in this realization and our expression. "I am not a body," means that we give up all illusions so we can use our bodies to serve the Mind which in trun serves the Spirit. We would love our brothers and sisters now, because we see their true Identity in them, that is our own.

I have the Gifts of God in my awareness whne I give them away. If I have God's Peace and Happiness, and i do not share these openly, I withold myself from the gratitude I would feel when I block the the flow of giving them. Or ... I may give sometimes these gifts, but retract them at other times, and thus fall short of having their constant joy and gratitude. We have to surrender, somehow, by dropping our thoughts and tendencies that keep us in low energy, and devoid of feeling the gratitude for all we have receieved. The Gifts Of God are constantly given to us; can we not constantly give them to our brothers and sisters--and to every atom of creation? This would bring us supreme delight. Then when we give this joy consistently, "It can be but my gratitude I earn."

Are we in touch with the Absolute? This would be a total suspension of the ego's thought system and seeing with the Absolute Love of the Christ. This elevated awareness is possible for us to awaken, but we have to put aside our attachment to thought (opinions.) We put aside all comparisons and judgments. Have we done that? Do we have Gratitude for every living thing? That would be every atom of creation. This is a doorway into our Awakening. "Love is the way we walk in gratitude." When our forgiveness is complete, then we will have total gratitude. The past is in us to forgive it, and other people's past that is manifesting in their situations. We can let forgiveness rest upon all of it. Then we can "walk in gratitude" and get closer to Love.

What if we could forgive our past completely? What if we could have no concerns whatsoever about our future? And what if we could heal any symptom in our body that is putting us in pain and imbalance? Then we would be totally in this Holy Instant, abiding in the lawns just before heaven's Gate, awaiting the final and certain step of God to bring us through the Door to Everything. This Podcast can make this clear and give you an Action to be in your Holy Instant. This is the Glorious Moment of NOW that offers us a taste of the Heavenly State of Being, that is God's Will for us. Perfect Happiness is our Divine Right. How long will we dilly dally in the hell we made up when our release is offered to us right now in this Holy Instant?

All things we do not like are Lessons God would have us learn in forgiveness. In any situation that causes us consternation, we need to apply forgiveness to it. We are never a victim of problems and undesirable consequences—rather, we bring these results upon ourselves. "I will forgive and see this differently. I will forgive and this will disappear." These are the directions this Lesson gives to us to transform any situation to peace. We are asked to "clean up" each hour with these statements before proceeding to the next hour, to anything that is upsetting. This is our daily work to do.

What is our function here on earth? Did you ever think about why you are here with the people you are here with? You have a function to forgive—and this will release you from all the bondage of problems, frictions, defeats, disappointments, and sorrows of the world that are acted out in your relationships. This lesson makes it clear that God did not leave us comfortless, and the means for restoring us to the awareness of our divine right to Heaven is given to us—this is forgiveness, which is the key to happiness. We have a function to return to the heavenly state that God created in which for us to live. Will we accept this function is the question, or remain in the hell we made up?

Who am I? Am I want I made of myself in this lifetime? Am I an eternal being created by an Eternal Life Force to be eternal as well? This Lesson, "I am the holy Son of God himself," is a statement of a fact. It is not a belief that we made up. It is a God created truth. Can we accept this truth about ourself? This is a leap in our awareness to our True Identity. I am this Christ in essence, yet I have made up a self in the world that must be totally undone and forgiven in order to make contact with my true Self. The world will hold us in the "jail" of the ego. This Lesson is the key to unlocking the door to my jail cell. But I must let go of the thoughts that made up my false self.

There is a Self God Created. We are that Self. But it is covered over by the "ego self" we have been conditioned to believe is us. This Lesson is designed to release us from the self we made up, and to accept the Self God created us to be. Are we willing to do this? Inherent in this decision of acceptance is also the realization of our own immortality. There is no death. This is a theme we have explored before. There is no death (Lesson #163). We are in essence the Christ as well as Jesus. Jesus is our Master Teacher Who leads us to this realization, but it is we who must accept this truth of who we are as God created us. Can we take this step into the realms of our salvation.