SpiritualFamily.Net: March 2017

Gratitude

Bill Bricker — Thu, 23 Mar 2017 14:14:07 -0400

Gratitude ~

What are we grateful for in life? How do we show that gratitude to others in life? Is our gratitude Internal or is it an external showing of good energy in our relationships to others we meet in our days?

I know that when I talk with God Within my mind, or out loud, I end that little talk with an expression of gratitude in sincere silent worship. Out here in the material world I like to give out a smile to people I pass in my day. Or a friendly "Howdy, how's it goin' " with good energy -- something positive and real.

91:8:4[#3] Urantia Book

To some individuals prayer is the calm expression of gratitude; to others, a group expression of praise, social devotions; sometimes it is the imitation of another's religion, while in true praying it is the sincere and trusting communication of the spiritual nature of the creature with the anywhere presence of the spirit of the Creator.

Good News -- Gospel ~

Bill Bricker — Tue, 07 Mar 2017 13:56:13 -0500

Good News -- Gospel ~

To my thinking Jesus was here to show and tell us the 'Good News -- Gospel' of the Fatherhood of God and the Son/Daughter-ship of all men and women in the Family/kingdom of God. He showed us more, but to me this was his main message. What more powerful thing could you possibly understand than you are a child of God, and a Spark of the Universal Father lives next to your personal center -- a personal child of God. And Jesus and his values are the perfect example for each one of us. His highest value was to do the Will of the Universal Father.

Urantia Book (2016.8) 188:4.3

~ Mortal man was never the property of the arch deceivers. Jesus did not die to ransom man from the clutch of the apostate rulers and fallen princes of the spheres. The Father in heaven never conceived of such crass injustice as damning a mortal soul because of the evil-doing of his ancestors. Neither was the Master’s death on the cross a sacrifice which consisted in an effort to pay God a debt which the race of mankind had come to owe him.

Thinking Positively -- getting into the Habit ~

Bill Bricker — Thu, 02 Mar 2017 16:03:43 -0500

Thinking Positively -- getting into the Habit ~

I love the idea of starting a day out with a good solid positive attitude. I also like the idea of ending the day with that same positive attitude. It's kind of like our own personal 'Will' and 'Intention' for the day -- and for the healing time of sleep at night. Keeping that good forward action strong and consistent in that positive energy you create with your personal thinking is Healthy on all levels of living. The direction of our thinking is Powerful, so to me it seems a good thing to empower ourselves with our Positive thinking. And I love to say -- "We do become what we practice in life -- on all levels."

103:9:5 [#3] Urantia Book

Although religious experience is a purely spiritual subjective phenomenon, such an experience embraces a positive and living faith attitude toward the highest realms of universe objective reality. The ideal of religious philosophy is such a faith-trust as would lead man unqualifiedly to depend upon the absolute love of the infinite Father of the universe of universes. Such a genuine religious experience far transcends the philosophic objectification of idealistic desire; it actually takes salvation for granted and concerns itself only with learning and doing the will of the Father in Paradise. The earmarks of such a religion are: faith in a supreme Deity, hope of eternal survival, and love, especially of one's fellows.

The Impossible Moment to Express with Words

Bill Bricker — Wed, 01 Mar 2017 11:41:08 -0500

The Impossible Moment to Express with Words ~

At some point in deep meditation and worship given to our Universal Father, it seems that in the silence of that moment of worship that the "I AM" has no space between my silence and silent worship Within my own mind. I suppose that at that moment I might be, for the moment, in tune with that Spark of the Universal Father that I am worshiping. It's almost impossible to explain, and I do believe it is a super-personal instant of relating to God Within us. That is as close as I can come with words to express that special feeling and moment of pure appreciative worship and love of God. I'm sure it's different for each one of us -- that special moment of clarity in our own personal experience of Inner worship of the Universal Father.

105:1.6 (1153.3) Urantia Book

Ever remember that man’s comprehension of the Universal Father is a personal experience. God, as your spiritual Father, is comprehensible to you and to all other mortals; but your experiential worshipful concept of the Universal Father must always be less than your philosophic postulate of the infinity of the First Source and Center, the I AM. When we speak of the Father, we mean God as he is understandable by his creatures both high and low, but there is much more of Deity which is not comprehensible to universe creatures. God, your Father and my Father, is that phase of the Infinite which we perceive in our personalities as an actual experiential reality, but the I AM ever remains as our hypothesis of all that we feel is unknowable of the First Source and Center. And even that hypothesis probably falls far short of the unfathomed infinity of original reality.