A YEAR OF PEACE AND MIRACLES with Revs. Paul Deb Phelps and MiraclesOne.

COMPLETE DETAILS AT THIS LINK

In 2010, we will step aside from our current weekly activities to dedicate the year to peace and miracles through a focused study of A Course in Miracles.

This free program is provided for all students of A Course in Miracles. Donations are always welcome.
A YEAR OF PEACE AND MIRACLES PROGRAM

Monthly Themes with Prayer Thought for the Month
Weekly Readings

Participate World-Wide
Weekly Sunday Live Internet Meditation, Teaching and Study at 10 am Central Time
http://www.miraclesone.org/world-wide-events/sunday-service-live-broadcast.html (Also Recorded for Podcast)

Sharing and Discussion with Others on our ACIM Practical Application YahooGroup
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ACIMPracticalApplication/

SIGN UP ON THE YAHOOGROUP TO STAY TUNED IN TO THE WEEKLY READINGS AND THE MONTHLY THEMES.

Participate in Madison, WI

Meditation, Teaching and Study on Sundays at 10 am

Meditation and Study on Mondays at 7 pm

Students may also choose to begin the Lessons in the Workbook for Students. In doing this, it is recommended to either partner with another or join our YahooGroup and share your experiences with others on the email forum.

We share from the heart and not so much from the mind. The Course in action is what we are all about. Discussing, analyzing and theorizing the Course principles can be helpful but it really is in applying these principles that we awaken to the Truth of Who we really are. It is practicing the forgiveness and extending the love in every opportunity that is the gift.

Namaste,
Revs. Deb and Paul Phelps
MiraclesOne Website: http://www.miraclesone.org

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TEXT, CHAPTER 13, XI. THE PEACE OF HEAVEN

Our ACIM Study Group in Madison studied this passage last night ~

“You will not remember change and shift in Heaven. You have need of contrast only here. Contrast and differences are necessary teaching aids, for by them you learn what to avoid and what to seek. When you have learned this, you will find the answer that makes the need for any differences disappear.”

Contrasts and differences. How else can I tell peaceful from unpeaceful, silent from chatter, light from dark? All are very elementary but am I not a child here, playing with dangerous toys? Soon I will put them all away and need not the distraction of change.

I will come to peace and know nothing but peace. There will not be an opposite because in Heaven there is only peace. An opposite is only imagined and certainly not real.v

Holy Spirit shows me this each day. Each day I spend in quiet and devotion to mind healing flows along peacefully. Each day I react and become irritated to show me where forgiveness if needed.

He only wants for my success. And it is assured because it is already done. The Will of God is that I be in Heaven with Him and not in the world. I can attempt to shield myself from Him with my wildest imaginings but “they will not prevail against the peace God wills” for me.

Why keep fighting the peace?

I can have it now.

It is mine to have.

I shall reconcile with truth and know that is where Heaven lies.

What I would add to this is that we opened with Lesson 138 – Heaven is the decision I must make. After we read the lesson, we took this into our meditation period. There was some confusion at first in this idea of a decision and some were stuck on certain paragraphs, however, one member brought up the idea of reading the first sentence of each paragraph, and voila! it was much clearer. So here it is, here is the first sentence of each paragraph:

1.         In this world Heaven is a choice, because here we believe there are alternatives to choose between.

2.         Creation knows no opposite.

3.         Choice is the obvious escape from what appears as opposites.

4.         You need to be reminded that you think a thousand choices are confronting you, when there is really only one to make.

5.         Choosing depends on learning.

6.         In this insanely complicated world, Heaven appears to take the form of choice, rather than merely being what it is.

7.         So we begin today considering the choice that time was made to help us make.

8.         These mad beliefs can gain unconscious hold of great intensity, and grip the mind with terror and anxiety so strong that it will not relinquish its ideas about its own protection.

9.         Heaven is chosen consciously.

10.        The conscious choice of Heaven is as sure as is the ending of the fear of hell, when it is raised from its protective shield of unawareness, and is brought to light.

11.        We make the choice for Heaven as we wake, and spend five minutes making sure that we have made the one decision that is sane.

12.        Before we close our eyes in sleep tonight, we reaffirm the choice that we have made each hour in between.

And finally, the crux of the lesson: Heaven is the decision I must make. I make it now, and will not change my mind, because it is the only thing I want.

So clearly, Heaven, to us here, SEEMS to be a choice only because of what we learn in the idea of contrasts and differences as our Text reading says. We need to make this decision here in the world, but when we look at what the TRUTH is, we do not need to make a decision at all because there is only Truth and that is, Heaven. Now I just need to wipe away with Holy Spirit’s help, everything that is not of Heaven so I may experience it and that is what Forgiveness is for.

Love,
Rev. Deb

*****
Co-Sponsors & Presenters for the 2011 ACIM Conference
http://www.miraclesone.org/world-wide-events/acim-2011-conference.html

MiraclesOne Foundation
MiraclesOne Light University
“Living the Spirit-Led Life
Through Practical Application of A Course in Miracles”

Revs. Paul & Deborah Phelps

Web: www.miraclesone.org
Toll-Free: 1-877-881-1433
Madison, WI: 608-541-8000Share

“what lies behind you and
what lies in front of you
pales in comparison
to what lies within you.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

As I sat down to write, I glanced up at this quote hanging here on our bedroom wall. In recognizing this quote from Emerson, it reminds me, first, to be in the present moment. Secondly, it reminds me to look within, to the power of the Divine. What lies behind me is the past. No need to dwell on what has occurred in my life or to speak of regrets. I release the past because I decide for the peace of God. Choosing the peace of God is choosing the present moment. In the present, I am not experiencing pain or regret. In the present is where my freedom lies.

The same holds true for dwelling on or worrying about the future. It is not here now. How can I possibly know all that will take place? I do not see the big picture. I release my worries and place the future in God’s Hands. By placing my fearful thoughts in His Hands, I leave my hands open to receive His gentleness and His serenity. In the present moment, I do not have fear or trepidation. I have peace because I trust. I trust that I am surrounded by God’s Love and that I walk with Him with His sure protection always.

The key is not just writing about this or reading about it in the Course or intellectualizing the ideas, but really and truly, actively using these very concepts in my daily life. When thoughts of past abuse or conflicts in relationships rise to the surface of my mind, as at times they do, I ask Jesus to join me, to take my hand so I am not alone with these thoughts. Trying to deal with the thoughts alone leaves me stuck in the thoughts and they then snowball. Joining with Him at the moment of the conception or awareness of the thoughts catapults me into the Now. There is no need to relive the stories. I simply bless the stories and forgive the stories.

In worries about the future, and it can seem so subtle at times, not just money or health issues, but simple things like completing a project is future concerns. This can encompass concerns about the children and what they are doing in their lives or not doing. Trust, once again is vital here. I need not know all the answers and really I do not know all the answers. My ego sure likes to tell me that I should and then guilt me if I don’t know all the answers. I just don’t know. How could I? I can relax instead and join with the Holy Spirit at the moment of the thoughts, and know that all will be as it is to be. Those thoughts of concern, no matter about who or what need to be handed over and forgiven.

All in all I only know this by doing, and so practice, practice and more practice is essential. Be a vigilante for my mind is what it entails. I do not need to be profound in words when I call on Holy Spirit; I just need to call on Him. Words and just words, He knows the prayer of my heart. If I am to be profound, let me be profound in living the words that Jesus has given us in the Course. And so I live.

Namaste,

Rev. Deb

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Here we are again my Child in precious communion. These times that we spend together is so valuable to Your awakening. And I know you wish to awaken. Today, you ask about your worth. I cannot even begin to describe how valuable you are to Me. For you see, you are Me. I extended my Love and created you. An extension of Me that is so perfect and pure. How could anything besmirched it? It cannot.

I gave you the gift of gentle laughter to wipe away all that you might believe about yourself in a forgetful moment. The laughter reminds you of the joy that I placed within you. The Joy that is ever present. Be that Joy because you are indeed worthy of it. In fact, you are worthy of everything in Heaven. The angelic choir sings for you for They triumph at your Homecoming. You are the One I love.

In the world you believe that you live in, these thoughts tell you that your worthiness  is determined by what you have accomplished. It is not so. Your worthiness has been established in Heaven and you are more worthy than Heaven Itself.

Sing to yourself this day a new song. Be glad to know that all you see in your world is not you. You are Heaven. You do not have to come to Me hiding your face, bowing before Me, begging for scraps of Love. My Love is here for you. It always has been and it always shall be. It is a real world without end. Eternity is where you live now. Accept it as your own. Accept the value I place in you this day. Imprint it on your heart.

You can look out on this world and smile inside knowing that you know the Truth. It is not a secret to be kept hidden from you or anyone. The truth is the truth and it is powerful. It releases you from the self-prescribed chains of torment. Be free this day for I love you. Yes it is that simple, I love you! I care for you! These are words that only I can tell you MySelf for my Love for you will never change. Appreciate the Child of Love that you are for I certainly do.

Be at peace My Child in all that you do for I am always with you.

Bless you, this day.

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In response to our Current Reflection Question to Our ACIM Practical Application YahooGroup:
STOP what you are doing right now, and pick up your ACIM book. Join with Holy Spirit and open the book to the page He guides you to. Share what sentences or paragraph that you received with us here, and what meaning it has for you in your life at the present moment.

The ego’s temple thus becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit, where devotion to Him replaces devotion to the ego. In this sense the body does become a temple to God; His Voice abides in it by directing the use to which it is put. T-19.IV.1:6-7

I was up at 2 am and I haven’t been able to go back to sleep. At the time at 2 am I started journaling to the Holy Spirit about how I was feeling. I have been having more and more symptoms of peri-menopause and so far this week I’ve had 3 migraines and now insomnia. Not fun. Coupled with other symptoms and an upcoming follow-up mammogram, I certainly have been feeling much a body and not spirit.

In the journaling, I paved out my frustrations to the Holy Spirit and Jesus. I know if I take their hand in this, that I am not alone. Later the insight or reminder did come that I had been using the body as a weapon against myself, others and God instead of simply using it as a tool. A weapon of separation or a tool for Love; it was my choice as to what emphasis I place on this body.

So here I am 3 hours later and decide now to just open to the Course. No surprise I suppose that I opened to “The Body As A Means Of Communication.”

The two lines above are the lines that stood out to me.

It was about the emphasis. Do I want to continue to use the body for separation and destruction? Or, did I want to use it to join everyone into the Heart of God?

Well, that seemed obvious, why of course I want to join with my brothers here, but is that always how it seems to occur. Not always.

Even with the annoyances and unpredictability with the body, there was a betrayal that I felt with what is occurring. But how could the body betray me? In itself, the body is nothing and betrays that God exists. Focus on the body keeps me from my focus on God. Whose temple am I worshiping at?

I can use what is occurring to assist me in healing my mind more. I can relax when I need to relax. I can watch the symptoms come and go and not attach any meaning to them. It is the judgment and the meaning that I give the symptoms that upsets me, not the symptoms itself. I can use a symptom like insomnia to bring me closer to God instead of tossing and turning and feeling angry. Besides isn’t that a special time, this silent night, to join with God?

Use what is there to help me to remember God. I can do this. Holy Spirit is with me all the way waiting for me to ask for His sure direction. In this I am indeed grateful.

Namaste,

Rev. Deb

*****
MiraclesOne Foundation
MiraclesOne Light University
“Living the Spirit-Led Life
Through Practical Application of A Course in Miracles”
Revs. Paul & Deborah Phelps
Web: www.miraclesone.org
Toll-Free: 1-877-881-1433
Madison, WI: 608-541-8000Share