As the Spirit Groups come to the end of their exploration of Catherine Ponder’s book, Open To Receive, Licensed Unity Teacher Bonnie Gale reflected on her experience. After completing the book, Bonnie was inspired to look deeper within her own self into the nature of the “agreements” that we make with ourselves, others, the world at large and even with God that influence our prosperity consciousness. Sprinkle in a little metaphysical interpretation of Biblical scripture and you have the perfect recipe for this week’s UCOH blog article.
Especially in this year of Presidential election politics, we all seem to be looking for people who agree with our opinions. We hope the people we work with agree with our ideas for the next collaborative project. We want our children to agree with our values. We want our spouses to agree with us on the next big family decision.
We use agreements as a strategy for experiencing peace in our day-to-day life. Maybe you have had one of those moments where you said to yourself, “If I could only get everyone to agree with me, everything would be perfect!” If so, this blog is for you.
Wherever two or more are gathered…
In the Gospels, Matthew 18:19 (NRSV) attributes Jesus, our Way-Shower as saying:
“Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
This is the promise that we hold onto as we unite in prayer support for one another. In Master Mind groups, partners hold onto this promise and we agree with one another to speak the truth of who we are and to hold that knowing for one another. In times when we go into the silence for meditation, we agree to align our thoughts with divine purpose and the Universal Christ Consciousness. These agreements with Spirit exist, not because God is “up there” in heaven, but because we are “created in the image and likeness” of God and therefore have a divine nature.
When we pray from the nature and consciousness of what we are, we align with Unity Principle #2 in that moment. It is a namaste moment where the Divine within our own being acknowledges and bows to the Divine in another.
In the quote from Matthew above, the original Greek could easily be translated as “gathered into my name.” This speaks of our essential Oneness with one another and our fundamental unity with the Christ, which is present within each one of us whether we are gathered together or not. But, when we do come together, the Christ consciousness within is the harmonizing force between and among us. It flows in and through and as each one gathered as we acknowledge that Jesus, our Way-Shower, as the Christ Principle is always there with us and enters into the agreement we hold with one another.
As within, so without…
My scriptural study of “agreements” led me to 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 which states:
“Indeed, we live as human beings, but we do not wage war according to human standards; for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.”
Metaphysically, this verse acknowledges that our war is not fought without, but rather within. Prayer, meditation and expressing our “twelve powers” serve to break down any walls that keep us from our truest and highest self. As we go through our earthly experience, we are met with many, very human challenges. In these challenges, we can seek agreement, through our silent meditation and affirmative prayer, that there will be a blessing revealed. Emma Curtis Hopkins said “This too is good. This too is God. This too is for me now, and I demand to see a blessing in it!”
Fortresses and strongholds in ancient times were meant to keep a person out of the city and in the rough wilderness. People outside of the city would not be safe or provided for. We have divine power to wipe out and destroy any block to our divine inheritance of infinite blessings. What is keeping us from where we want to be spiritually? Are we willing to destroy those strongholds with divine power?
What is the obstacle keeping us from our knowledge of God?
It is the arguments of our own minds that block our awareness of God’s Presence. As humans, we would like to keep previous agreements in place, even as we resist the changes that are called for by new agreements. Our old patterns of thinking and being may be comfortable to us, but they are keeping us from experiencing a deeper sense of safety and abundance.
The 2 Corinthians passage tells us to take “every thought captive” and to obediently align them with our indwelling Christ nature. In order for there to be effective agreement, someone has to agree to be in obedience to someone or something else. Through the power of our will, we capture the power of every thought and bring it into the intent of our higher nature. In agreement with our own Christ consciousness, we enlarge the flow of blessings, abundance, health and prosperity through the infinite power of the Christ Consciousness.
Agreement with Spirit is the first priority…
Yes, it would be nice if everyone would agree with me! However, to have my life be “on earth as it is in heaven.” it is far more important that I first agree to be in agreement with Spirit. To agree is to be in symphony, or harmony, with someone else. To harmonize all my thoughts with Spirit all the time would truly be heaven!
My friends will tell you that I am not a musician, but I do know that to be in harmony involves each person singing their own unique part. When they do, the individual parts blend together beautifully and perfectly. We are called to be individual expressions of God, but we are to harmonize with Spirit and with each other. Love is the harmonizing power. When we harmonize and express the power of love together, then we are on the same page, musically and spiritually speaking. When we do, our lives are more and more like heaven on earth every day. So, what do you say, do you agree?
