Lessons In Truth - Lesson 12 - Annotation 3
Is there any limit to God? What limits the manifestation of God in our life?
3. As the Principle of Absolute Good, God cannot be limited. As omnipresence, God is the unlimited Presence in the universe in which all divine ideas inhere; as omnipotence, God is unlimited power; as omniscience, God is unlimited knowledge and wisdom.
"God is Spirit. God is the source of all that we are, hence the source of life, substance, and intelligence. The one and only substance out of which all things are formed is right here at all times, awaiting our recognition of it in its spiritual freedoms. When we do recognize it in the simple faith that it will carry out our demands, we are doing just what Jesus did" (Teach Us to Pray 94).
Just as God cannot be limited, so His offspring, spiritual man, has no limitations, for he was created in the image and after the likeness of God. As manifest man, however, we are in the process of becoming aware of and manifesting our divine nature. Our understanding of the divine pattern in us has to unfold through spiritual education and much prayer work. At first, we have to be willing to accept intellectually what those who have traveled the path of spirituality have told us, namely that we have within us the Christ Mind in which all divine ideas are awaiting our recognition and use. Until we go beyond the intellect (thinking faculty) into spiritual understanding for the revelation of the right use of these spiritual patterns or ideas, our vision is narrow, limited. Thus, in the application of divine ideas, we may seem to have produced some limited manifestations. However, the limitation does not lie in God, for He is the generous Giver of All-Good; the limitation lies in the limited beliefs we hold in our own consciousness (thinking and feeling).
In one sense the limitation is related to the expression of divine order in our unfoldment. We can only manifest in proportion to what we have developed in our own consciousness, which is our "mental equivalent." If we hold limited concepts of good, then our manifestation will be limited; if we have attained a broader acceptance of Truth, then we may expect unlimited manifestations of good in mind, body, and affairs.
"The key to life is to build in the mental equivalents of what you want ... You build in the mental equivalents by thinking quietly, constantly, and persistently of the kind of thing you want, and by thinking that has two qualities: clearness or definiteness, and interest. If you want to build anything into your life -- if you want to bring health, right activity, your true place, inspiration; if you want to bring right companionship, and above all if you want understanding of God -- form a mental equivalent of the thing which you want by thinking about it a great deal, by thinking clearly and with interest" (The Mental Equivalent 9).
All life operates according to law in man and throughout all the rest of creation. However, we can only demonstrate (manifest) according to our understanding and use of divine law. Were we able to manifest all that we humanly want without growing in consciousness to fit the desired status -- that is, without the "mental equivalent" -- only chaos would result. Our outer demonstrations have to be commensurate with our inner growth. Anything less than this could not be God's will. Everything in the universe obeys this law of "Like begets like."
"Man does not demonstrate according to the law but according to his knowledge of the law, and that is why we must seek to learn more of it. God is law and God is changeless. If we would bring forth the perfect creation we must conform to law and unfold in our mind, body, and affairs as a flower unfolds by the principle of innate life, intelligence, and substance" (Prosperity 58).
________________________
Preceding Entry: What reason have we for never being discouraged?
Following Entry: Is there any real wall of difference between the various religious sects? What will break down all the seeming walls and barriers between the sects?
