Psalm 118 Death

Do you respond to the idea of death, with resistance or acceptance? The dramatic stories of the holy week in the Jewish and Christian traditions remind us that we must be willing to face death directly in order experience salvation. Are you in tune with the small deaths that you are confronted with daily? As spiritual seekers, we must die day-by-day to our attachments to the world.

Psalm 126 Awakening from the Dream

Have you noticed that we tend to label things we do not want or do not like, evil? It is interesting how we take our own expectations and standards and make them the benchmark for ‘right’ in the world. Much of the suffering in this world is merely a dream (or perhaps nightmare) of our own creation. This is not to say that we should completely discount the presence of evil in the world, but it does help us take a step back and look more closely. More often than not our experience of suffering is caused by our own inability to let go of what we think should be and instead accepting what is.

Psalm 91 Protection

To live in the shelter of the Most High and abide in the shadow of the Almighty, means to turn our life over to God and turn our thoughts to Spiritual Truth. When we dwell in the consciousness of the Christ, we dwell in the house of the Lord. By turning our thoughts to Truth, we establish the seeds of faith (v. 2). Once we have faith there is no fear, for in the spiritual realm the opposite of fear is faith, not courage. But it is our choice to “make our home in God.”

Psalm 19 Divine Intelligence

There is an underlying intelligence in all things that is evidenced by the constant change in the world. Nothing stays the same. That is because of the Divine energy that moves us forward through the cycles of life. It is the source of all life. From every beat of our heart, to the seed that becomes a plant, this force creates life. We can choose to cooperate with that force or we can attempt to fight it, for God has given us freewill. But there are consequences of resisting.

Psalm 56 Turn It Over to God

When we find ourselves in any circumstance that is overwhelming, we must remember that we always have the answer at hand. There is always a lesson to be learned. There is no bad or evil experience. We need only to turn it over to God and all will be made clear.

Psalm 25 Grace

One of the most profoundly liberating aspects of the divine/human relationship is the nature of the grace of God. We do not have to be perfect before we receive grace. It does not require us to make amends for our past mistakes (do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions). There is no scorecard. We merely have to change our minds and make God the center of our lives.

Psalm 93 God in the Center

The one fact is God. All other things are circumstance.

- Unknown

If we think about it for a minute, it is a strange thing that so often we feel distant and removed from God. How is it that we experience isolation from a God who always is, has been, and will be in our presence and in our midst?

Psalm 16 Divine Protection

One of the most important aspects of a relationship with the Divine is that it improves the believer’s everyday life. This is commonly referred to as the protection of God. For the faithful there is a perspective on every situation that is beyond the worldly appearance. Without faith in God and the spiritual perspective, the world seems to be an evil place. This prayer of thanksgiving to God is a strong affirmation of faith that there is no good apart from the Divine. The spiritual life offers us the ability to see any circumstance from the divine point of view (holy ones in the land).

Psalm 127 Our Foundation

Frequently, we encounter people who believe that they are the masters of their own successes. They will not acknowledge a higher presence at work in their lives. They toil away at their lives attempting to reach greater heights. These are inevitably the same people who find themselves in a great mess in their lives at some point, because instead of identifying with their spiritual nature, they have identified themselves with some worldly thing (money, job title, familial role, etc.). Once the world as they know it has been taken away from them, they struggle to find meaning in their lives.

Psalm 26 Integrity

What does the word integrity mean? Most of us think of this word in terms of either being in accordance with worldly standards or some standard we have set for ourselves. This psalm explores an alternate meaning for the word. It is not of our own strength that we claim integrity. It is when we know that God is before us and behind us every step that we can rest in our faith. To stand in integrity is to conform unwaveringly to God’s standard or God’s will through attention to the Christ presence within us.

Psalm 84 Worshipping in the Temple

Once we have turned our attention Godward, we are transformed. When we have had a taste of the Truth it becomes irresistible to us. Even though there are many challenges to be met along the way, when we have experienced the joy of letting go and letting God, it is impossible to forget. There is such happiness and harmony when we go with the flow of Spirit rather than resisting. What a gift it is to learn that God truly has only our best interests at heart! When we put ourselves completely into God’s hands, we can have all of these things with no effort of our own.

Psalm 111 Praise as Practice

Many believe that in order to praise God we must go to church or secret ourselves away in prayer and meditation. While these are fine ways to spend time, we must understand that with every breath we take we make a choice whether or not to praise God. If we live in worldly consciousness, we praise that giving our thoughts to the external. When we decide to view all things in our lives spiritually and act accordingly, we praise God.

Psalm 24 Sincerity of Purpose

Contemplative moments (ascend the hill of the Lord ) are ones in which we are acutely aware of the Presence of God within us and in our midst and our connection to that Presence. It is interesting that while we are in the world, we are never separate from God (the earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it). And yet even the most devout people proclaim the experience of separation from God. Despite the presence of God everywhere, in the world there are many distractions, internal and external, that seduce our attention and energies away from this truth. During these times it is critical that we stay connected to our deep down, burning desire to know God (clean hands, pure heart).

Psalm 130 Morning Comes

If God were tallying errors how could any us stand tall? But in God’s eyes we are all worthy of love. God’s nature is merciful, so there is hope for us all. The forgiveness of God merely requires that we be receptive to changing our attitudes and thoughts, and be willing to set off on the spiritual path of seeking Truth.

Psalm 9 God Our Foundation

When we recognize God as the only Power and Presence in our world we embody the holy life This power can be perceived as having the full authority of the Presence of God at our back. This power is ours if we choose to remove our limited thoughts that prevent us from acknowledging and participating in our heritage of abundance as beloved children of God.

Psalm 130 Morning Comes

If God were tallying errors how could any us stand tall? But in God’s eyes we are all worthy of love. God’s nature is merciful, so there is hope for us all. The forgiveness of God merely requires that we be receptive to changing our attitudes and thoughts, and be willing to set off on the spiritual path of seeking Truth.

Psalm 29 Renewal and Glorification

It has been said that glorification is the highest spiritual state of consciousness attainable by human beings. In order to glorify the Lord, we must understand God. This is a difficult concept to convey in words because typically when we think of understanding, it implies some intellectual or analytical exercise. Spiritual understanding does not have this connotation.

Psalm 98 Breakthrough

Spiritual unfoldment is not a straight upward climb. We find that we have times of major forward progress. Then we reach a plateau stage, where things kind of roll along smoothly. After this phase of development, we typically have some sort of major upheaval in which our faith is tested. If we pass these tests with harmlessness, we begin the cycle again. The shift from upheaval to major advancement is called a breakthrough.

Psalm 23 Green Pastures

Green Pastures. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Green is term we use to describe those who are inexperienced and childlike in understanding. But “green-ness” is critical to a fresh perspective and new understanding. Although many of us desperately cling to the “same-ness” and stability in our lives, living is about change and transformation. If we fight to stay the same, we find everything continues changing around us. It is in the new that we are best able to embody those childlike qualities, we desire. When we can drop the facade of expertise and knowledge, we allow ourselves to just experience what is. The excitement and anticipation in facing the unknown is palpable.

Psalm 106 Obstinacy

Image by greg.turner via FlickrWhen we successfully navigate a challenge to our faith, we must be careful not to rest on our laurels. Also we must not take personal credit for the success, it is only through Spirit that we are able to rise above our weaknesses. We can be assured that there will be a greater challenge ahead of us and we must always be prepared for that lesson.