Prosperity (Charles Fillmore, Dynamics for Living)
Rules:
You have to understand the Law on which these statements are based. Don’t judge things according to appearances or form conclusions until you have explored the causes and underling laws. This is a “scientific” approach. The things we see in external reality are the results of causes made manifest in form, effect, or condition.
An inner cause and outer form exists in everything. Universal Intelligence - Infinite Mind, our Mind - is inner cause for outer form; material affects are the results of mental causes; the material world is the results of a spiritual world. The forms, effects, and conditions are only temporary as long as we focus on them.
We can be either spiritual or material. If we choose material, we cannot be spiritual; but if we choose the spiritual path, we can be both spiritual and material. Riches can be spiritual or material. Material stuff can be stolen or lost, but not spiritual stuff. Spiritual stuff goes with you from life to life; no one can steal is from you like material stuff.
We have so identified with effects that we’ve forgotten the cause, the spiritual side of existence. We seem to cling to the material side.
However, the spiritual side is the causal side and has the greatest value because it is permanent and causal! With our thoughts, our emotions, desire, imagination we create or change our external reality. The Vedas say we create our reality with our thoughts.
The Prophet Paul said, “Be ye transformed by renewing your mind.”
Divine Law and justice should replace covetousness, greed, and avarice. What other people have is not our source and supply. God is! God is our unlimited abundance and there is enough for everyone. Therefore, don’t be greedy or covet your neighbors things. Manifest your own good, your own wealth. Don’t steal your neighbors’ wealth as it won’t do you any good in the long run. You’ll only be hurting yourself. Don’t forget the Law of Cause and Effect. Pay back can be a “bitch”.
Use your own God given gifts to prosper. It is in sharing our gifts and talents with others that we prosper. Remember the words of the great teacher Jesus: “Give and it shall be given unto you.”
Now, how many want material wealth? Everyone deserves it! But if you had a choice, which would you rather have, material or spiritual wealth? Why? Material wealth is temporary and can be stolen by others. You have to worry about losing it? Worrying about it stresses you out? You need insurance and protection. Then you need more money to pay for the insurance, and so it goes on….
Fear, doubts, and worry zap your strength and depletes spiritual power. Instead, practice giving from your heart without expectations. Through the power of your Word, you can bless and spiritually multiply everything you give. Follow the Law of Giving and Receiving. You do not get anything for nothing, not even from God. There is no such thing as luck. Nothing is coincidence. Everything has a design and cause.
We do not take material wealthy with us when we make our transition, but we do take our spiritual wealth. Matt. 6:19-20 says: Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth…but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.”
Charity is an erroneous concept. Everything actually belongs to God and all God’s children are equally entitled to it. We have a right to use it; but God is the true owner.
Those of us with surpluses are merely stewards of God handing out God’s inexhaustible supplies. Don’t hoard or be overly austere as this reinforces a poverty consciousness. Instead, change your thoughts to generosity. For everything you get, give a fair return. Don’t be miserly as this reflects a poverty consciousness.
As spiritual beings, we are above both riches and poverty, as these are only temporary conditions in external reality. As spiritual beings, we are eternal.
Every person is the supreme ruler, ruling his/her own subjects. These subjects are our ideas, the subjects of our thoughts, and the tone of our minds. Each of our empires is unique as we are each unique, individual expressions of God.
At times, the subjects rebel and take control of our Kingdom, of our minds. In this instance, our minds control us instead of us controlling our minds. But we can regain control of our Kingdom, our Minds, through the eternal power of God within each of us. We can use our Higher Selves, our Christ Selves - the I Am.
We each can learn how to harness, to control our own money related ideas so that we develop and act from a prosperity consciousness. The Story of Israel is about the Jews regaining possession of their Promised Land - the Land of Abundance - from foreign tribes, from the Philistines and Canaanites. In Hebrew, Philistines and Canaanites means “merchant”, “trader”, “commerce” or “wealth”. So the story is about gaining freedom from the external world of material riches.
Let go of all-consuming thoughts of “gain”. Instead, think about generosity and giving without expecting anything in return. Affirm, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Before long, you will be blessed with health, joy, and prosperity.
Cultivate ideas of abundance if your income is limited. Claim God as your sole and inexhaustible source and supply for all. Begin to give. If not money, do service. Give just a few pennies. It doesn’t matter as long as it’s given with love and in the name of a rich God.
Deny and let go of old, limiting thoughts and conditions regarding abundance. Stop believing in lack of supply by beginning to give. Be a joyful give. Read Deuteronomy 28: 47-48. It will tell you about the relationship between joyful giving and prosperity: “For the abundance of all things, serve God with heartfelt joy and gladness… otherwise you will want for all things.”
Bless your gifts when you give them that they may do abundant good. (see p.208 for blessings).
Through the soul of man, God’s wealth finds its expression. Wealth of consciousness will express itself through wealth of manifestation. The richer the consciousness, the greater is the manifestations. Use affirmations to expand your conscious understanding of Life’s principles, God’s Laws as you only get what you can take (understand). This is the Law of Mental Equivalents.
Simplifying your life is not the same as being poor. Through simplification, we eliminate “complexity”.
In demonstrating prosperity, you should praise and give thanks for every spec of evidence of financial or other abundant improvements. Be confident of the immediate cooperation of God that is with you in bringing to pass that for which you have given thanks. The Divine resource never fails. God is the omnipresent, unfailing resource for all who trust God and who make all their thoughts in accord with Divine Mind. God is your prosperity. Stamp this thought daily on your mind, when you are preparing food, depositing a check, buying a new shirt or blouse – everything – and you will reap financial abundance.
God is the source of a mighty tributary of that stream, a channel of expression. Blessing the substance increases its flow. If your money supply is low or your wallet empty, take it in your hands and bless it. See it filled with the living substance ready to become manifest. As you prepare meals, bless the food with thoughts of spiritual substance. When you dress, bless your garments, and realize that you are being constantly clothed with God’s substance. Realize “all” is God’s substance.
Giving in the right mental attitude creates prosperity. Giving with the fear of lack leads to poverty. Giving with the thought of a large resource opens the way for a large income. “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over” (Luke 6:38).