Close your eyes and attune your breath to the beautiful sounds of the music. Let your breath help you to unwind, relax and let go and let God.  Let your breath carry you within, to a deep abiding silent place, beyond all the things taking place in the outer world that might disturb the calm peace of your soul.

As you move your thought to the spiritual realm of being, tap into that deep silent place where you know that you are in communion with the one Presence and one Power, the source of all good, the source of all life, the source of all light, the source of all love. The place of knowing that “God is the source of your every desire and the fulfillment of that desire.” Affirm: “God is the source of my every desire and the fulfillment of that desire.”

How wonderful it is to know that you don’t have to seek outside of yourself for anything. Whatever you desire to create in the outer is already to be found as a divine idea within you. All the power you need to create your world according to God’s perfect law has been given unto you for ‘As in mind, so in manifestation.’ Tap into the power and the presence of God. Hold only thoughts in mind that produce good in your life and feel the goodness of God filling your mind and heart as you are renewed, uplifted and healed in the silence of prayer.

God is life and when you tap into the pure source of God life, it flows through you renewing, rebuilding and uplifting your body temple. Every cell of your body temple is responding right now to the movement of divine life vibrating with zeal and enthusiasm within you. God is the source of all light; the light that guides your way and leads you to paths that are for your highest good and for the highest good of all concerned. God is the light that illumines your mind with wisdom, the light through which you see that there is only God and only good and the light in which you know what to do and how and when to do it.

God is love, the source of all love and the expression of all love. As you let go and let love fill your mind and heart to overflowing, Divine Love reaches out through you and touches all in your circle of life bringing harmony and peace. What a joy it is to come together with you in prayer to feel and share the wonder and joy of God's presence and to seek to know, love and serve God more completely in this world. Knowing that we have established a greater awareness that it is God’s-presence, which renews us, we now bring our time of prayer and meditation to a close. This we do in the name and through the power of the living, loving presence of God. Amen.

 How many of you read the Daily Word?  Have you ever read it on a particular day and said, “This is exactly what I needed to face today or wish I’d read that this morning?” Today I’m going to share 7 ideas or keys from the book, “Meet It With Faith” by Martha Smock.  Martha served as Editor of Daily Word and worked in Silent Unity for many years. Her book, “Meet it with Faith” contains the wisdom of 30 years of Daily Word. The Daily Word’s that really touched people and made a difference in their lives by telling them how to meet life’s challenges successfully with God.

1 & 2. The first two keys are:  “Let go and Let God.”  The reference to these keys is found in Genesis 1:6-26. In the creation of the world, God said:“Let there be a firmament. Let the waters under the Heaven be gathered together into one place, let the earth put forth grass; Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens. Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures and let birds fly above the earth. Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind. Let us make man in our image and after our likeness.” As co-creators with God, in the creation of our individual worlds ‘letting’ is something very different from what we normally do on the human level of mind, which is to scheme, plan, push, strive and struggle, trying to achieve our Ego ends. On the human level, we are conditioned to think that we have to fight to attain and keep our desired good when in Truth, all that we ever have to do is ‘let God as goodness in.’ Learning how to ‘let go and let God’ frees us from such conditioning, as well as from willfulness, fretting and dependence on our human powers alone. We ‘let’ ourselves be God-inspired, God-directed and God prospered by taking time apart for prayer and meditation. Life is really a process of ‘letting go and letting God.’ There is a divine rhythm, like breathing. The flow of inspiration and expression is the movement of God in and through us explained in Jesus’ words, “It is not I, but the Christ within who does the works.”

When we aren’t in the flow of letting go and letting God the word perspiration enters the equation. To solve a problem with Faith, we must continually let go of negative beliefs, destructive emotions, victim consciousness and any tendency to resist change and to continually let the spirit of God fill us with new energy in prayer and meditation; energy that lifts and restores us in mind, body and spirit back into the image and likeness of our Creator. The most common phrase in the Bible is “And It came to pass,” but we often get stuck in a problem for weeks, months, even years, because we insist on holding onto ways of life that no longer work and ways of life that once did serve us well but that we’ve now outgrown. When we aren’t willing to let go we aren’t open to seeing new ways and hearing new ideas. When we resist and fear change we are resisting God and denying God’s presence, power and love. When you are stuck, begin the process of letting go and letting God, by asking yourself, “What am I holding onto?”

We all have at least one area in which we are holding on, an area in which we need to let go and let God. So, let us take a moment to close our eyes, turn within to God in complete trust, to surrender our human willfulness and to commit ourselves fully into God’s love and infinite goodness. Let us pray: “Father, Mother God, I let go of fear, I let go of all that has limited me and bound me.  I let go of my personal will, my self-pride, my determination to do things my own way.  I let go of my little self and let Christ within me take over. Let there be light in my mind; let there be light in my life.” Amen.

Everyday of your life you are called to make decisions. Your choices reflect in the outer, your inner thought life.  The total character of your thoughts and attitudes determine how much or how little of Spirit you are letting into your life. Sometimes we don’t take our need for guidance to God, thinking our need is too small or too unimportant to God. We try to handle everything on a surface level of consciousness and even if we make a good decision, we still worry over what the outcome is to be. If you need guidance in some situation, “Go first to God and then confidently go to man as God directs.” By forming a habit of taking all our needs first to God in prayer, we find that we are filled with a sense of rightness and direction, an inner assurance and confidence that we can gain in no other way. We are filled with a feeling of freedom and peace when we pray about all matters and even though the answer may not yet be apparent, we are able to go about our life, which is about our Father’s business with a calm and confident spirit, sure of God’s presence and the right outworking of every situation. Affirm: “I let go of all belief in negation. I let the Spirit of God fill me, move through me, renew me, mind, soul and body.”

3.  The 3rd key is: “Be Still and Know There is Only God. When things don’t work the way we’d hoped or planned for, we are tempted to give way in consciousness to feelings of discouragement and frustration. We’re tempted to give way to victim consciousness. But if we have faith that “There is only One Presence and One Power,” and trust that God is at work in and through all things and we hold fast to the belief that Divine Order prevails, we will remain calm, poised and patient in the face of appearing delays or obstacles. From the human viewpoint, it often appears there’s only one way for your good to come; but from a mountaintop viewpoint, there are no limitations only endless possibilities for the emergence of your good. The only thing you need to do is to hold to the thought: ‘There is only God.’ Repeat these words and live with the thought, “There is only one presence and one power, the presence and power of God and Good” and you will free yourself from anxiety as you move toward the solution.

Many people go to God as a last resort.  If things get bad enough they will pray or call a church hoping a miracle will save them. As you practice the Presence and live moment by moment in an awareness of God’s presence, the more you keep our thoughts God-centered, the freer you will be of fear and the less need you will have for miracles. When you turn to God and trust God completely, first, last and always you know what it means to ‘pray constantly.’  The 46th Psalm can help you do this. “Be still and know that I am God.” When you don’t know where to turn or what to do to find your way out of some difficulty, speak the words, “Be still and know that I am God.” Speak these words to your mind and thoughts. Speak these words to your emotions. Speak these words to your body and you will make a neural pathway through which God can enter into your consciousness. Stop trying to tell God what you need done. God knows because God is everything. Be still, listen and give God a chance to make Its Spirit known to you and God will open doors where there appeared to be no doors. Flow with God instead of struggling with God and surprises will come to you that include unexpected prosperity, renewed health and increased energy. Unity calls this our inner work. No one can do this inner work for you and you can’t do this inner work for others. For example: Two people, Tom and Sally have a similar problem. Tom meets it with an attitude of “I can’t handle this. It’s hopeless” and he slowly sinks under the weight of the problem. Sally exercises her faculty of Faith by focusing her mind on God as the solution and rises like a Phoenix above the problem. Sally let God work through her and God transformed the experience into something good.

In Matthew 17:20, Jesus says, “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” What is your first reaction to a problem? If it’s “Oh, God!” that’s okay. What is your 2nd reaction? Your second reaction should be to meet it with Faith (not fear) because you are a part of God and God’s plan for good. Many times we fail to realize that our greatest need is for stillness. We scatter and waste our spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical energy by thinking and talking too much about a problem. The silence that is communion with God is more than just being physically still. It’s an action of stopping all inner and outer talk, striving and straining. ‘Be still’ is the first step ‘and know that I am God’ is the second step. What is your need? Is it guidance in making some decision?  Is it supply?  Is it a job?  Is it freedom from confusion and inharmony in your environment? Your perfect answer is with you right now because God is within and with you right now. AFFIRM: “Be still and know that I am God. I am life. I am health. I am wisdom. I am guidance. I am supply. I am fulfillment. I am peace. I am the perfection you seek. I am God. I am with you now.”

4. Life key number four is Divine Order. Have you ever got up one morning and everything went wrong all day? A day when all that you wanted was to do is crawl back into bed and start over, tomorrow. If you find yourself in this situation, focus your consciousness toward God as the solution and calm your emotions by declaring Divine Order. Then use the first three keys.  Let go and let God by telling yourself, “God, I can’t do this alone, but with you I know that this day is going to work out fine.”  Then, “Be still and know that I am God.’ Divine Order it and everything will begin to change. Affirm: “Divine Order is established in all my comings and goings. Divine Order makes easy, happy and uncomplicated my way.” The words, Divine Order are an affirmation of faith; a declaration that God is in charge and that God is at work.  If you can’t memorize affirmations, simply say, “Divine Order.” Just speaking these two words will work wonders in your life.

5. Life key #5 is to Feel enthusiasm about God in your life. At age 94, Charles Fillmore, co-founder of Unity, wrote an affirmation for himself. It was found after his death among his papers. It was an astonishing affirmation for a person of any age: “I fairly sizzle with zeal and enthusiasm and spring forth with a mighty faith to do the things that ought to be done by me.”  Charles Fillmore always used lively words that created a feeling of action and power. He put enthusiasm in his Faith.

For example: One time, the mail in Silent Unity was piling up and letters were not being answered for 2-3 months. It seemed that there were not enough workers to handle it and he was asked to pray with Silent Unity. This is the affirmation he gave the workers:“I work with the speed and spring of Spirit!” They not only got through the older mail sitting there, but as they worked with the “speed and spring of Spirit,” they also got through the mailbags that were arriving. They did the work in one quarter the time because everyone reminded themselves that it was God working through them doing the work.

Emerson once said,“Nothing great is ever accomplished without enthusiasm.” Often we can think of someone else as a person who is naturally enthusiastic and full of drive and energy and we accept ourselves as a follower rather than an initiator of action. We never feel on fire with an idea, but we admire and marvel at a person who we judge is. Like Charles Fillmore we can do something when we feel lethargic and bored. We can do something about our lack of enthusiasm by affirming the opposite. You may feel that it’s extreme for you to say, “I fairly sizzle with zeal and enthusiasm,” but if you need to jump start your energy system and have a complete about-face, you need a powerful, proven affirmation. Take a few moments today to examine your life and to ask yourself: Am I accomplishing all that I am capable of or dreaming of accomplishing. Am I doing the things that need to be done by me?  Do I think that others are more capable or ready to do the things that need to be done than I am? If you aren’t where you’d like to be, don’t beg God to change your life. Follow Charles Fillmore’s example and write yourself a strong, bold affirmation of spiritual power, ability, zeal, enthusiasm and boundless joy or just use his. Affirm: “I fairly sizzle with zeal and enthusiasm and spring forth with a mighty faith to do the things that ought to be done by me.”

6. Many people go through their entire life struggling, facing problems and inner mountains. Perhaps you are upset about something someone said or did to you in the past, something that hurt you and you have carried a hurt for a long, long time because you didn’t know how to get rid of it. If this describes you ask yourself, “How Important is this to me? Is this as important as the attention I am giving it?” When life seems out of order and we have one problem after another it’s easy to slip into victim consciousness and think,“Why, me God? Why do I have to suffer? Why do things go so wrong when I try so hard? At such times, you may find a clue to the answer by looking at your thoughts objectively. What have you allowed to assume importance in your thoughts, emotions and life?  Healing may be delayed because you are keeping yourself stirred up and irritated by the way others do or don’t do what you expect of them. You may find yourself upset and feeling sorry for yourself because you think you are neglected, unappreciated or misunderstood.  The things that upset and annoy us are important to pin point because they reveal a need in us to let go of the superficial level of life and a need to find the reality of Truth that underlies all appearances. If you have a problem that seems to be a constant source of worry and concern to you, try looking at it as objectively as possible. Try viewing it as a stranger would.  Then ask yourself, “How important is this?  Is it more important than my peace of mind? Is it more important than my faith? Is it more important than God?”

Faith is one of our 12 spiritual powers. It gives substance to our hopes and makes us certain of realities we do not yet see. Faith is the spiritual side of human hope. When we have faith, we don’t just hope for the best, we use our inner eye to see past the appearances to the underlying Goodness of God. Say to the appearance, “You have no power over me. You are nothing. You are changing. You are passing, only God endures.  God and the goodness of God is the one and only reality in my life and in the universe. This is what I see. This is what I have faith in.”  Psalm 118:24 says, “This is the day that the Lord has made: let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  It doesn’t say, “This is the day that the Lord has made: let us merely exist through this day feeling half alive.” All of the situations in life that we label limited or negative call for exactly the same thing from you. They always call for a positive response. That is the only possible faith response because if you give it a negative response, you are adding to the problem by giving it your thought energy thus making it bigger and changing a molehill into a mountain.

Key 7. In life, the reason our problems look so big is because we are standing and looking at them day and night. What we need to do is to turn around and look to God and magnify our faith with God.  This is what the Bible says to do. In Luke 1:46, Mary the teenage, unwed, soon to be mother of Jesus says,“My soul magnifies the Lord, my spirit is rejoicing.” The biggest life key of all is to magnify God in our lives and not the problem; to know that God is bigger than any problem that we face. I am closing with the last words in Martha’s book, “Meet It with Faith”: “God is with you. Wherever you are, whatever your need, God is with you as the perfect answer. You are right now in the presence of God and this presence is perfect good. God is with you as life; God is with you as wisdom; God is with you as power; God is with you as strength; God is with you as love. There is only God and God is with you as your all in all.

Now turn it into an affirmation: “God is with me. Wherever I am, whatever my need, God is with me as the perfect answer. I am right now in the presence of God and this presence is perfect good. God is with me as life; God is with me as wisdom; God is with me as power; God is with me as strength; God is with me as love. There is only God and God is with me as my all in all.” Amen.