SELF STUDY

Monthly Focus ~

Abundance & Giving Thanks to God

Right now you have it all. You’re abundant. You’ve got it right now. If you can carry that abundance with you into the next moment, and into the next moment, and keep giving that abundance to God, thanking God for the abundance that you have, what you find is this – that as you give thanks to God for the abundance, as you give back to God abundance, if you will, the consciousness of abundance, He gives back to you because now you’re acknowledging it.

Full Excerpt  ~

What is abundance? It’s having it all right now, right? That’s abundance. Now, if you’re living in the moment, and you’re living in your loving, and you’re living in the now, you are abundant right now. You have it all right now. Everything that you need is right now. But how many of us are saying, “Yeah, Jim, but you don’t realize I have a two hundred dollar bill at home I have to get paid. I’ve got rent coming up on the first. I’ve got, I’ve got, I’ve got.” Yeah, but what about right now? Right now you have it all. You’re abundant. You’ve got it right now. If you can carry that abundance with you into the next moment, and into the next moment, and keep giving that abundance to God, thanking God for the abundance that you have, what you find is this – that as you give thanks to God for the abundance, as you give back to God abundance, if you will, the consciousness of abundance, He gives back to you because now you’re acknowledging it.

You’re not saying, “Oh, God, I don’t have anything. Oh, God, why don’t you give it to me? Oh, God, I need this.” You’re saying “Thank you, God, for the abundance that you give me. And God says, “Oh, okay. Well, here’s some more.” And eventually, you begin to see abundance coming to you in greater and greater ways, and that eventually could be in the next moment. Now, there’s a lot of different kinds of abundance; I’m not just talking about money, but money is a part of abundance. It’s said that if you go first after God, if you seek first the Kingdom of Heaven, all else should be given to you. Well, isn’t money part of the all else?

So, go after God first. Go into the moment and be thankful for God’s Loving, for God’s Peace, Joy and Grace. And be thankful for His abundance that He’s given you. Because if you look around you, you have a lot more to be thankful for than you have regrets. And if you don’t believe it, then don’t breathe the next breath, and you’ll find out differently. Because when you finally do take in that next breath, you’re going to be awfully thankful that that air is there, and you’ll learn to appreciate it more. 

One thing I found, then, in this giving to God thanks for the abundance, that He did begin to give back to me. And in this process, I began to realize you know there is this idea of the law of tithing. Well, I understand the law of tithing a little bit differently than the way a lot of people teach it. The law of tithing is an idea of: we should give ten percent of everything that we have to God. Well what do I have to give to God but my loving, and my life, and my consciousness, and my awareness?

So, what I do is I give myself to God, doing meditation ten percent of my day. I also give ten percent of my abundance financially to God, by giving it to the God within. And I take ten percent of my salary and any monies that I receive, and I put it into what I call a money magnet and that’s my tithing to the God within me. And that money I use to pay for trips that might enhance my spiritual growth, to pay for tapes, to pay for retreats, to buy books and material, or to give in service to others if that’s available to me to do so. I use that money also towards my retirement. I look at that money as a process by which I am supporting myself into the future. I’m supporting the God within me, so that I will be nurtured and taken care of physically here, while I, the God within me, is in here. That’s how I tithe.

It’s a very different concept and a lot of religions and a lot of ministers don’t like to hear it, because it doesn’t say anything about “give back to God through that church, through that man, through that organization”. It says, “Give back to God inside. Acknowledge it where it comes from. Acknowledge it where it resides”. That’s how I do it. 

Now, you do it the way you want however it works for you. That’s what you want to work. You don’t want to do it my way, because my way’s my way. St. Francis said, “I follow the Path of Jesus because that’s the Path to God.” But, towards the end of his life he realized that that was his choice to follow the Path of Jesus, and that really and truly we could follow any Path that is our Path and get back to God. We just have to realize what our Path back is.

And that’s what this is all about – is the Path back to God. And you want to find your own Pathway. This can be a guidepost. It can be giving you clarity and a sense of direction. But, maybe some of this will work, and maybe none of it will, and maybe all of it will. Maybe you’ll take and flip everything around and make it totally the reverse and wake up into God, and I’ll say, “Hi!”, because you will have gotten there your way. So don’t let people tell you there is one way – that it has to be done this way, because there is no such animal out there. Your way is The Way. But you’ll find that there is only one Way and that’s Loving. That’s The Way.

I’ll share this with you also, about the tithing and the giving of the moment. Paul said, “Die the little death daily. That when the greater death comes you will not feel the sting.” And believe me, that’s not exactly word for word, but that’s close. What he’s saying is, “Die the little death daily.” What is die the little death daily? It’s: go inside, give your ten percent to God, meditate, pray, become One, go into God so that when that day comes that you die the great death, that you go into God permanently, that you’ll know what it’s all about.

You’ve woken up before doing it. You’ve been there before. So it’s just, “Oh, okay, I’m leaving my body again. Here we go back into the Heart of God.” Then you just do it, and you look back and say, “bye bye,” and you go on. No regrets, no remorse, nothing left to be done. You just go on into the Heart of God and there become what you always have been, because that’s what you really are. You already are awake in the Loving Heart of God, you just don’t know it. You just don’t know it.

And all you’re doing down here is running around saying, “Where is it? What am I? What is this all about? What am I supposed to do with this?” And all the time, that which you really are is in the Loving Heart of God awake, and absorbing, and learning everything that you experience here. And one day you’ll just wake up and you’ll say, “Oh, I don’t have to do anything anymore. I just have to Be. I just have to Be loving. I just have to Be in the joy. I just have to Be in the peace.” Gosh, that’s really tough, isn’t it? – to have to be all those things (laughter). But that’s what it’s all about – is just being. Being in the moment, being in the Oneness and being in that Path of Neutrality.

Monthly Focus “going Home work” ~

1. 1. Do 2.5 hours daily meditation, and listen to the talk by Jim Gordon titled:  THE PATH OF NEUTRALITY CD
   2. Listen to the guided meditation by Jim Gordon titled: THE PATH OF NEUTRALITY CD
   3. Journaling exercises and daily actions of moving into greater abundance:

• • • With the attitude and approach that right now you are abundant and you have it all, write down all the abundance you have in your life right now.
    • Write a letter to God giving thanks to God for all the abundance in your life right now, acknowledging the source of where the abundance in your life is coming from by giving it all to God.
    • Keep a daily log of the abundance in your life to acknowledge it and allow it to expand more in your inner and outer life. Acknowledge it by giving thanks for it, so that you stay open to receiving God’s continuing abundance for you.
    • Read the contemplation quote below. Be loving, Be in the joy, Be in the peace with God and daily give the abundance of your loving to God in meditation. 

       4. Contemplation:

• • • And all you’re doing down here is running around saying, “Where is it? What am I? What is this all about? What am I supposed to do with this?” And all the time, that which you really are is in the Loving Heart of God awake, and absorbing, and learning everything that you experience here. And one day you’ll just wake up and you’ll say, “Oh, I don’t have to do anything anymore. I just have to Be. I just have to Be loving. I just have to Be in the joy. I just have to Be in the peace.” Gosh, that’s really tough, isn’t it? – to have to be all those things (laughter). But that’s what it’s all about – is just being. Being in the moment, being in the Oneness and being in that Path of Neutrality.