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As part of my spiritual practices and discipline this year, I am revisiting the subject of gratitude using the wonderful book by Pam Grout titled Thank and Grow Rich. The following  post is a rerun from last year that offers an introduction to this wonderful subject and how i will proceed this year.

I hope that you will follow my journey this year as I explore gratitude and thanksgiving.

Also, please feel free to share with us your spiritual practices and disciplines as well as your intentions and goals for 2018.

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I am reading the most amazing book by one of my favorite spiritual writers, Pam Grout. The book is Thank and Grow Rich. The title is an update on the title of Napoleon Hill’s book, Think and Grow Rich.
Too often we think but not about the right things. We think from our old limited beliefs in lack and want and we wonder why we don’t increase in life. Maybe it’s time to try something new — upping our thinking to thankfulness.
There are lots of places in the various scriptures of world faiths that encourage being thankful as the best way to think. Here are just a couple of my favorite ones:
1. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
2. Ephesians 5:20 Always giving thanks to God for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

To help us get started in our new thanks living way of thinking I want to share the following post from Pam’s website where she describes her new A.A. 2.0 program of creating a new life by giving thanks.
“My name is Pam G. and, as of today, I am launching a brand new chapter of A.A. Unlike Version 1.0, my A.A. stands for Amazing Awesomeness and it only has two steps.
“Step #1: Admit that…..”Something amazingly awesome is going to happen to me today.”  First thing every morning, before throwing off your covers, before leaping out of bed (and it doesn’t take long in this program before participants do leap out of bed with joy and expectation), before firing up the old Mr. Coffee, proclaim to the world that something unexpected, exciting and amazingly awesome is going to happen to you today. It takes what, three, four seconds? Yet it’s one of the most important things you will ever do. The first few minutes of every morning pre-paves the next 24 hours with positive expectations. It sets up a powerful intention, a forecast on which you can focus.
“And it never fails to come true.”
Step #2: Come to believe…..in blessings and miracles. Pretend you’re a private investigator assigned the task of finding all the beauty and largesse in the world. The dominant paradigm might suggest otherwise, but practiced with regularity, this ritual will force you to see things in a whole different way. Instead of looking for problems, be on the hunt for new blessings. Take on the mission each day of reporting back with at least three pieces of amazing awesomeness, three blessings that are different than the day before. I often liken myself to Lewis or Clark, scouting important new territory.
“Because we get out of life whatever we focus on, practicing these simple two steps has the power to override and overturn the accepted paradigm.
“Like Bill W.’s A.A, that has reformed the lives of millions, this new program (A.A. 2.0) can transform a “nameless squad of empty glass thinkers.”

Now It’s Our Turn
I invite others to join me in posting their blessings daily. Be sure to share different things you are thankful for each day. By expecting and looking for a different, more kinder reality, we can, together in one jubilantly mighty whoop, uplift and lighten this tired old world.

I am posting this to my blog and I will begin that day doing step 1 which is posting my first sharing of 3 blessings to Facebook on Monday, January 8th. I hope my list will inspire you to share 3 things each day that you are thankful for.

I am reading the most amazing book by one of my favorite spiritual writers, Pam Grout. The book is Thank and Grow Rich. The title is an update on the title of Napoleon Hill’s book, Think and Grow Rich.

Too often we think but not about the right things. We think from our old limited beliefs in lack and want and we wonder why we don’t increase in life. Maybe it’s time to try something new — upping our thinking to thankfulness.
There are lots of places in the various scriptures of world faiths that encourage being thankful as the best way to think. Here are just a couple of my favorite ones:
1 Thessalonians 5:18 Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 5:20 Always giving thanks to God for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

To help us get started in our new thanks living way of thinking I want to share the following post from Pam’s website where she describes her new A.A. 2.0 program of creating a new life by giving thanks.

“My name is Pam G. and, as of today, I am launching a brand new chapter of A.A. Unlike Version 1.0, my A.A. stands for Amazing Awesomeness and it only has two steps.

“Step #1: Admit that…..”Something amazingly awesome is going to happen to me today.”  First thing every morning, before throwing off your covers, before leaping out of bed (and it doesn’t take long in this program before participants do leap out of bed with joy and expectation), before firing up the old Mr. Coffee, proclaim to the world that something unexpected, exciting and amazingly awesome is going to happen to you today. It takes what, three, four seconds? Yet it’s one of the most important things you will ever do. The first few minutes of every morning pre-paves the next 24 hours with positive expectations. It sets up a powerful intention, a forecast on which you can focus.
“And it never fails to come true.
“Step #2: Come to believe…..in blessings and miracles. Pretend you’re a private investigator assigned the task of finding all the beauty and largesse in the world. The dominant paradigm might suggest otherwise, but practiced with regularity, this ritual will force you to see things in a whole different way. Instead of looking for problems, be on the hunt for new blessings. Take on the mission each day of reporting back with at least three pieces of amazing awesomeness, three blessings that are different than the day before. I often liken myself to Lewis or Clark, scouting important new territory.
“Because we get out of life whatever we focus on, practicing these simple two steps has the power to override and overturn the accepted paradigm.
“Like Bill W.’s A.A, that has reformed the lives of millions, this new program (A.A. 2.0) can transform a “nameless squad of empty glass thinkers.”

Now It’s Our Turn

I invite others to join me in posting their blessings daily. Be sure to share different things you are thankful for each day. By expecting and looking for a different, more kinder reality, we can, together in one jubilantly mighty whoop, uplift and lighten this tired old world.

I am posting this to my blog on November 22. Thanksgiving Day is November 24 and I will begin that day doing step 1. I will post my first sharing of 3  blessings to Facebook on Friday,November 25. I hope my list will inspire you to share 3 things each day that you are thankful for.

The first spiritual power that Charles Fillmore discusses in his book The Twelve Powers is faith. Faith is our ability to believe and it is our beliefs that decide how we think, feel and act in any situation. It is our ability to Intuit and perceive.

Cora Fillmore, in her companion book Christ Enthroned in Man says that faith is “the quality of the mind that moves and molds ideas and brings them to concrete expression. Faith is the assurance or confidence of the mind that invisible substance is the source of visible material things.”

Jesus says over and over when people came to him for healing or solutions to life’s problems, “according to your faith let it be done to you.” This was always his reply!

Peter — The Faith Disciple

For Fillmore, faith is represented by the disciple Peter, the first and greatest of the disciples. But in the beginning Peter was known as Simon who was just a crude fisherman. (Simon means “hearing.”) Paul, in Romans, tells us that “faith comes by hearing.” We listen receptively to truth, receive it into our minds and consciousness and this opens the way for receiving the next degree in divine order, faith.

The more Simon listened to the words of Spirit that Jesus spoke and allowed them to become real and alive to him, the more he became Peter — the Rock, Faith!

The ability to trust God grew in his life as it does in ours.

Faith is our ability to spiritually know. It is our ability to say “Yes” to our good. Faith draws our good from the invisible realm and causes it to manifest in the visible world. “As you believe, it will be done to you.”

One of the most memorable times in Peter’s life was when he accompanied the disciples out in a boat one night and a storm arose that threatened to sink the boat.

The disciples looked out and saw what they thought was a figure — a ghost and they were very afraid. But the figure cried out, “Take Courage (or have faith), it is I. Don’t be afraid.”

Peter thought it was Jesus and so he said, “If it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.” And Jesus said, “come.”

And so Peter stepped out of the boat and started walking.

He did ok as long as his gaze was up — looking toward Jesus — toward the Truth. But as soon as he lowered his vision and allowed himself to think about and believe all that he had been taught all his life (people can’t walk on water) he began to sink!

When he allowed himself to regain his contact with his real Truth then he walked tall on the water.

What Do You Put Your Attention On?

Too often we are like a friend of mine who loves to watch crime dramas like CSI and NCIS. These types of shows just keep her reminded of all the evil, bad people who are out there just waiting to harm, abuse and deceive us. This dominates her thoughts and words and ultimately her life.

Others watch the news and read newspapers which are all filled with accounts of the latest catastrophes or terrorist threats. And we watch our faith in these things begin to increase as our lives begin to sink under the waves of fear and worry.

Like Peter, we need to pay attention to where we put our attention!

Faith Center — The Pineal Gland

Charles Fillmore located the faith center in the center of the head in the pineal gland which is often called the master gland. It is located between the ears and the eyes. These are the avenues through which most of us get our information about life. This information is always limited to what has happened before — information which is also known as precedents.And so as we live according to what we see or hear then our life is characterized by fear, anger, hatred and worry.

We need to center on our faculty of faith and our inner vision and hearing. As we do, our results will express the highest realizations of our spiritual nature. We can develop our faith through prayer and meditation and at its highest level, our faith will be directed by our spiritual nature from the Christ center at the crown of our head.

We start like Peter — being receptive to Truth ideas and then we let them grow until we feel our absolute oneness with the quality of faith — feeling it in such a way that we no longer think about having faith, but expressing it automatically, as Jesus did.

Now I am going to share with you a way to help your faith center to increase.

A Meditation Technique for Increasing Faith

Try using these affirmations daily and see what effect they have on your own faith.

Say: The Christ of God is quickened in me.

I AM aware that the Christ of God is quickened within me.

I AM grateful that the Christ of God is quickened with me.

The Christ in me calls forth Peter, my disciple-faculty of faith.

As you do this, visualize Jesus speaking these words, “According to your faith be it done unto you.”

Sit with this for few moments and when you feel ready affirm, “I AM grateful” as you close this meditation moment.

Repeat this meditation daily and watch as your faith center increases.

 

It’s been awhile since my last post and we are beginning a new year, a time of introspection and preparation. So I’ve decided to share a few books I’ve been reading lately.

Then I’ll share a link to my earlier post discussing the book, The Twelve Powers by Charles Fillmore. I’ll get back to discussing this wonderful book again in February but until then you should get a copy of the book and read or just reread my comments so far.

Lately I’ve been reading the following books:
The Science of Mind by Ernest Holmes
How to Pray Without Talking to God by Linda Martella-Whitsett
God is Not a Christian, nor a Jew, Muslim, Hindu by Bishop Carlton Pearson

These books have all contributed to changes in my theology that we all live and move and experience our very being in and as God. There’s nothing, Paul says, that can separate us from God — but we can experience a sense of separation if we choose.

This is also the message of the wonderful book by Charles Fillmore. I will begin again in a few weeks discussing the 12 spiritual powers or qualities. We all have these qualities but at time fail to engage or develop them. But when we do, we can feel and experience our oneness with and as God.

Ernest Holmes, the author of The Science of Mind, says “the evolution of [humans’] consciousness brings with it the acquisition of new powers and higher possibilities.” He then states that “evolution is an eternal unfoldment of the more yet to be.”

Until then, check out the post for my previous discussions of this book:
A New Humanity

As we prepare to experience the Christ principle in our lives may these books and post give you new ideas to ponder.

It was significant that the first believers placed the time of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection at the time they had previously celebrated Passover. They saw a connection between the deliverance that God gave when the Hebrews were taken safely through the waters of the Red Sea and the liberation that they experienced as they connected with the risen Christ.

The First Easter Sunday

Let’s look again at the story of that first Easter Sunday and see if we can recover the message from that story of the empty vault.

Sometime early in the morning, on the first day of the week, just as the Sabbath was ending, some women went to see the vault.

We have the women going to the vault when an unexpected event happened — a great earthquake and an angel descends and rolled the stone away from the vault. It was such a sight that it caused the big burley guards to be so shook up that they looked like corpses.

But the angel spoke to the women and told them, “don’t ya’ll be scared one bit.” He knew they were looking for Jesus but he is not there but he has been risen. The angel them gave them a mission to go and tell the disciples about this and to instruct the others to go to Jerusalem where Jesus would meet them.

Well they were so excited that they ran from the vault and started on their way. But as they are going, Jesus suddenly appears to them and says “Howdy.” This excites the women so that they ran and hugged his feet and worshiped him and he tells them, “ya’ll quit being so scared. Run along and tell the others to go over into Jerusalem and they’ll see me there.”

Our Easter Sunday Experience

Many of us grew up hearing this story every year on Easter Sunday. But what does this story really mean for us today in the 21st century? Does it mean that a dead body was put in a vault and by some interventions, it came back to life? That is what we have usually been taught but is that the only way to understand Easter? Well, I think not.

I believe that we need to look at the first Christian’s experience with the risen Christ. You see, for them these stories that they told and retold were not looked upon in the same way that we do stories on the evening news. These were reflections back on how their community of faith had interacted with the presence of the risen Christ.

Paul offers a look at what these first believers thought of resurrection. His writing are some of the oldest in the New Testament, since they were probably written from 10 to 50 years before the first of the gospels.

He asks the question in 1st Corinthians 15 — “With what kind of body are the dead raised?” He then talks about the relationships between the physical body and thespiritual resurrected body. And the answer he gives is that it is sown, or put in the grave, as a physical body but it is raised a spiritual body — not a body of flesh and blood. It is also interesting that even though Paul says that Christ was resurrected from the dead, he does not mention an empty vault.

You see, resurrection does not mean resumption of previous existence but entry into a different kind of existence. It could involve something happening to a corpse but it need not. Resurrection, in fact, is like what happens when a seed is planted or a caterpillar makes a cocoon.

The seed goes into the ground and dies, and from its death, new life comes forth and fruit is produced. The plant bears no resemblance to the seed. The seed becomes the plant but the seed and the plant are radically different.

With a caterpillar, what happens when it makes a cocoon is something marvelous. While it is sealed away from watching eyes, and when it emerges, there is no resemblance to what went into that cocoon. And here again, the caterpillar becomes the butterfly but the butterfly is radically different from the caterpillar.

In the same way, Easter does not necessarily mean that God supernaturally intervened to raise the corpse of Jesus from the dead. Rather, the core meaning of Easter is that Jesus continued to be experienced after his death, but in a radically new way — as a spiritual and divine reality.

He was known in non-ordinary experiences, as well as in the community’s life together. The truth of Easter is grounded in such experiences of the risen Christ as a living presence, not in physically observable events restricted to a particular day or a few weeks in the first century.

Because Christ lives, we too have the assurance of new life — not only after death but everyday we live.

Today, we can be raised from the tombs of fear and hatred that seek to hold us today.

Because Christ lives, we can be experience
— life that transcends every human limit
— love that triumphs over hatred
— being which overcomes nonbeing.

As we each experience the presence of the risen Christ in our own lives we too feel our connection with those first Christians and Christians throughout the centuries.

And we experience the presence of the risen Christ that empowers us to continue the work and ministry begun by Jesus — to bring the message of God’s love, acceptance, and liberation to all people. And as we do, we seek ways to work for justice, not just for a select group but for all of humanity and ultimately for all of creation.

In this way, we experience the liberation from that which enslaves us, that which entombs us. And we find the empowerment to rise from those places of exile and estrangement to places of acceptance and transformation.

This experience of Christ’s presence each and every day of our lives is the core meaning of Easter for us today.

Have a happy and blessed Easter!

You’re probably saying “what the what . What’s a spiritual striptease?” You’ve probably never heard or even thought these two words in the same sentence and you never thought of spiritual as modifying the word striptease. Surely a striptease is not something spiritual people would enjoy  or ever engage in.

But in our spiritual live maybe a striptease is just what’s needed.

Too often our thoughts and beliefs have gotten covered over by the thoughts and beliefs we receive from our society, parents, peers and even from our places of spiritual inspiration and worship.

Often these sources give us  inspiration and ideas that cause our lives to expand and be enriched but sometimes these same sources give us ideas and beliefs that are actually toxic. They just won’t work in a healthy spirituality.

Some of these ideas might be:

God really doesn’t love me unconditionally.
I’m just a poor wretched sinner.
I’m so unworthy.

These and other similar ideas and beliefs just need to be seen for what they are — toxic —  and removed so that we can BE the wonderful child of God that we already ARE. As we remove these toxic beliefs we can begin to see and believe the wonderful truth about yourselves.

This video is an introduction to my new video series on ‘naked spirituality.’ It’s only a little over five minutes so watch it before finishing this post.

I hope this video spoke to you. Please leave your thought and comments below. And if you realized any limiting beliefs in your own life share these also. I will try to respond to these in future post and videos.

And once again share this blog and my youtube channel, David Boger with you friends.

Together let’s do a spiritual striptease as we improve our spiritual health this year.

Blessings to you. Namaste!!!

My devotional reading today was about enlarging your vision. It contained the quote that says “as a person thinks so are they.” The writer then went on to mention Moses being led up a high mountain and being promised everything his eye could see.

Today, we’re all led to high mountains — mountains in our minds and consciousness. And there we’re encouraged to look out at the areas of our lives and see where we need to expand and enlarge — where we need to heal and release.

It caused me to think back over 20 years ago when I was Student Clergy at the church we were attending. I was asked what I wanted out of ministry and I replied that I didn’t want to be an Elder or other denominational positions. I said that I just want a small group of people that needed to know that God loved them and then to lead them in their realization that God already does.

And you know that’s just what I got!!

The Fort Worth Church Project

I started the Fort Worth Church Project with a small group of people which over the years got even smaller. And yes my prophecy was fulfilled. But what made it even worse was that I could never really tell if any or how many of those people ever really realized that God truly did love them and wanted great and wonderful things for their lives.

So after about 12 years this group finally had to end as there weren’t enough people attending our weekly celebrations to continue meeting. So I had to go to the mountaintop and see what new vision was there for my life and ministry.

My Blog

So this blog (Seeking on Purpose) was the result. And as I started it I envisioned reaching more people than I’d previously reached in our weekly gatherings and I did.

Now I’ve once again gone to the mountaintop and I saw there another new Project. This’ll be a Project whereby I hope to reach even larger numbers of people.

My Videos

I now have started my own channel on youtube called David Boger. And so far my first video has had more viewers than I ever had at my weekly meeting. And I’m envisioning and believing that many more people will read my blog and watch my videos and hear a message that’ll enrich their lives as they believe that God does love them and really wants great and wonderful things for their lives.

Here’s the first video. Right now, take just 5 minutes and listen to it and let it bless your life. Then take just a few more moments and leave a comment and also subscribe to my channel so you won’t miss a single video in future.

Now after watching that video, make this affirmation for yourself and say it until it is real and you believe it and feel it in your heart.

God loves me right now and has wonderful things in store for my life and I am willing to receive them all!!

Believe it. Feel it!!!

Then let God lead you to the mountain and there show you the wonderful possibilities that are available for your life. They are abundant and endless. You can have a new possibility every day if you want.

Now as I close, let me encourage you to share this blog and my youtube channel with your friends and family and encourage them to subscribe to both.

May this day be the beginning of a new and wonderful life for you!! Namaste.

It was significant that these first believers place the time of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection at the time they had previously celebrated Passover. They saw a connection between the deliverance that God gave when the Hebrews were taken safely through the waters of the Red Sea and the liberation that they experienced as they connected with the risen Christ.

Let’s look again at the story of that first Easter Sunday and see if we can recover the message from that story of the empty vault.

Sometime early in the morning, on the first day of the week, just as the Sabbath was ending, some women went to see the vault.

And as they were going an unexpected event happened — a great earthquake and an angel descends and rolled the stone away from the vault. It was such a sight that it caused the big burley guards to be so shook up that they looked like corpses.

But the angel spoke to the women and told them, “don’t ya’ll be scared one bit.” He knew they were looking for Jesus but he is not there but he has been risen. The angel them gave them a mission to go and tell the disciples about this and to instruct the others to go to Jerusalem where Jesus would meet them.

Well they were so excited that they ran from the vault and started on their way. But as they are going, Jesus suddenly appears to them and says “Howdy.” This excites the women so that they ran and hugged his feet and worshiped him and he tells them, “ya’ll quit being so scared. Run along and tell the others to go over into Jerusalem and they’ll see me there.

Many of us grew up hearing this story every year on Easter Sunday. But what does this story really mean for us today in the 21st century? Does it mean that a dead body was put in a vault and by some interventions, it came back to life? That is what we have usually been taught but is that the only way to understand Easter? Well, I think not.

First Christian’s Experience With the Risen Christ

I believe that we need to look at the first Christian’s experience with the risen Christ.

You see, for them these stories that they told and retold were not looked upon in the same way that we do stories on the evening news. These were reflections back on how their community of faith had interacted with the presence of the risen Christ.

Paul offers a look at what these first believers thought of resurrection. His writing are some of the oldest in the New Testament, since they were probably written from 10 to 50 years before the first of the gospels.

He asks the question in 1st Corinthians 15 — “With what kind of body are the dead raised?” He then talks about the relationships between the physical body and the spiritual resurrected body. And the answer he gives is that it is sown, or put in the grave, as a physical body but it is raised a spiritual body — not a body of flesh and blood. It is also interesting that even though Paul says that Christ was resurrected from the dead, he does not mention an empty vault.

You see, resurrection does not mean resumption of previous existence but entry into a different kind of existence. It could involve something happening to a corpse but it need not. Resurrection, in fact, is like what happens when a seed is planted or a caterpillar makes a cocoon.

The seed goes into the ground and dies, and from its death, new life comes forth and fruit is produced. The plant bears no resemblance to the seed. The seed becomes the plant but the seed and the plant are radically different.

With a caterpillar, what happens when it makes a cocoon is something marvelous. While it is sealed away from watching eyes, and when it emerges, there is go resemblance to what went into that cocoon. And here again, the caterpillar becomes the butterfly but the butterfly is radically different from the caterpillar.

In the same way, Easter does not necessarily mean that God supernaturally intervened to raise the corpse of Jesus from the dead. Rather, the core meaning of Easter is that Jesus continued to be experienced after his death, but in a radically new way — as a spiritual and divine reality.

He was known in nonordinary experiences, as well as in the community’s life together. The truth of Easter is grounded in such experiences of the risen Christ as a living presence, not in physically observable events restricted to a particular day or a few weeks in the first century.

Our Experience With the Risen Christ

Because Christ lives, we too have the assurance of new life — not only after death but everyday we live.

Today, we can be raised from the tombs of fear and hatred that seek to hold us today.

Because Christ lives, we can be experience

life that transcends every human limit

love that triumphs over hatred

being which overcomes nonbeing.

As we each experience the presence of the risen Christ in our own lives we too feel our connection with those first Christians and Christians throughout the centuries.

And we experience the presence of the risen Christ that empowers us to continue the work and ministry begun by Jesus — to bring the message of God’s love, acceptance, and liberation to all people. And as we do, we seek ways to work for justice, not just for a select group but for all of humanity and ultimately for all of creation.

In this way, we experience the liberation from that which enslaves us, that which entombs us. And we find the empowerment to rise from those places of exile and estrangement to places of acceptance and transformation.

This experience of Christ’s presence each and every day of our lives is the core meaning of Easter for us today.

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