Peace
Deep inside you is a place of infinite calm where you can retreat from the cares of the world, where you can find reassurance of God's presence in your life and of God's power to bless you.
Take time to find this place. Make time, if you must, but find it. The center of peace lies in your inner self, awaiting your recognition and beckoning your entrance into its enfolding warmth and love.
How very dear this center of peace must have been to the Psalmist. "He leads me beside still waters" (Ps. 23:2). "Commune with your own hearts – and be silent" (Ps. 4:4 RSV). "I will both lie down and sleep in peace" (Ps. 4:8). These words stand as eternal testimony of the calm in which all of us are centered.
In this place of stillness, inharmony ceases, sadness is wiped away, and hatred is turned into love. Here, in this quiet place within, God assures us: Peace, My child. I am forever with you.
How do we enter this center of peace? How do we find the still waters within?
Jesus said that "the kingdom of God is in the midst of you" (Lk. 17:21 RSV). We do not find our peace in the things of the world around us. We find it only within, in the center-most part of our own inner selves. Looking outside of ourselves is looking in vain. Only within is there peace or hope of peace.
When we find the center of peace within, we find power. We find strength for the activities of the day. We find renewal of our bodies and minds. We find substance for our daily bread. There, in the stillness, is where the blessings of God begin, for there in the stillness is God, the giver of all good gifts.
Where is the source of the power that lights your electric light? Is it in the filament that glows when you press the switch? No, the source is not in the lightbulb. Neither is it in the switch nor in the power line.
Follow the power line. Do you find the source of the power in the transformers? No, it is not there. Do you find it in the huge turbines at the base of the dam? No, it is not there either.
Is it in the falling water that rushes over the spillways of the dam and drives the giant turbines? No, not even in the rushing water.
The rushing water, the turbines, the transformers, the power lines, the switch, and the lightbulb all give evidence of power expended. But where is the power? What is it that causes all the electrical activity, from the dam to your lightbulb, which brightens up your room at night as though it were high noon?
Behind the dam is a vast lake of still waters. Here, in the stillness of the depths of this lake, is the power. Only in stillness is there power.
In the peace and calm of your inner self is power. As you enter the stillness of your soul for a time each day, you find all the power you need to renew yourself for the activities that lie before you. Follow that power line to its source. Move inwardly in your consciousness to the stillness at the center of your being.
Push the switch that turns off your attention to the things of your outer world. Go in, over the power lines of concern for daily situations, and leave them behind. Pass through the transformer of your thinking mind that turns God-ideas into human pursuits, and put it behind you. Go past the great dam and turbines of your feeling nature, where the waters begin to flood into consciousness as thought and feeling. There you find the still waters of the Psalmist.
You have found the infinite calm, the center of peace.
Here you commune with your Lord. Here you are renewed for the tasks of living that lie ahead of you. Here you find your daily sustenance and substance. Here you are replenished in the power of God. Here you are assured that every need is being met.
Once you have found this place of infinite calm within you, trust, as the sheep trusts the shepherd. Your need is God's assurance of fulfillment. When you have communed with God beside the still waters, go knowingly into life, trusting in the eternal promises of God.
You are a child of God, and God is your Creator. Trust in God's love for you.
Go often to the center of peace within.
Trust. Be at peace.
Prosperity
Prosperity, according to Webster's, is "the condition
of being successful or thriving." Prosperity does not mean the same
thing to all of us. Prosperity is not in the possession of things but
in the recognition of supply and in the knowledge of free and open
access to an inexhaustible storehouse of blessings.
In the great mind of God, there is no thought of lack, and such a
thought has no rightful place in your mind. It is your birthright to be
prosperous, regardless of who you are or where you may be. Develop a
prosperity consciousness. Cultivate the habit of thinking that
abundance is everywhere present.
"The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it" (Ps. 24:1), and the children of God are heirs to all good things.
Remember your identity. Remember that you are a child of God and that your inheritance is from God.
As a child of God, you have access to every needed thing. If you have
property to rent or sell, if you need a place to live, if you need
workers or work, or if you need money—whatever you may need—you have
access to it, because all these things are part of your divine
birthright.
The inexhaustible bounty of God is as much a part of you as is the
inexhaustible life and strength of God. You can call upon God for
supply and receive it as surely and as freely as you can receive
healing, forgiveness, or any other blessing.
"Strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well"
(Lk. 12:31). Even though you may have built an awareness of lack within
you that appears as some kind of lack in your life, you can quickly
overcome it and remedy the condition by seeking the kingdom of God
within you. You will discover God, not as something apart from you but
as a living, active principle of Truth that is wonderfully responsive.
Just as words of weakness sap your strength, words of lack destroy your
consciousness of divine substance and blind you to your limitless
inheritance as a child of God. You are God's child, heir to all that
God has. Accept your inheritance.
Refuse to worry, to doubt, or even to dwell upon any kind of lack. When
you hear references to fear of lack or to difficulty of supply,
remember that you have been promised "daily bread." Your daily bread is
abundance to make your happiness complete, your growth steady and sure.
Your daily bread is contained in your very thoughts. Your fulfillment
is contained in the same powerful thoughts. So think fulfillment,
believe in fulfillment, have faith in God. Have faith that each day's
bounty comes to you in the perfect way to meet each day's need.
Remember that you are a child of God and that you have access to a
divine inheritance. You have access to powerful faith and rich ideas,
and with these tools, you have access to everything you need.
