“Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.” (Jeremiah 9: 23, 24). “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father;” (Revelation 1: 4, 5 to ;) “Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” (I Corinthians 2: 6-8). “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” (Revelation 3:11).
In the global cultures of today, there are still a few monarchies around, where individuals get to play the role of king, queen, prince or princess. Most of these family dynasties, while having great wealth, have lost their political power of past times. Still, those of us who have been born to the role of “common” man often enjoy watching these privileged ones, as they go through their lives among us. There’s lots of entertainment value in royal-watching, sort of like watching a live soap opera. Some of us rush to the so-called ‘news’ channels to see what is happening each day. In fact, because there are so few royals left, we also follow the lives of people of great wealth—such as Hollywood celebrities and other individuals of privilege, who seem to be above our own normal lacks and limitations—and who seem, at times, to be above even the laws of our respective countries. They become part of the royal-watching. Some of these privileged ones, like Princess Diana, win the hearts of many people; individuals around the world wept at her tragic death. Yet, other privileged ones win only envy or disgust for the way they conduct their lives. Metaphorically speaking, however, we each play the hand we were dealt at human birth—to the best of our ability. Many privileged persons have gone on to do much good in the world. Yet, privilege can be a curse, when it’s perceived as a license to do whatever one pleases. It can also be a curse when trust in material celebrity blinds one to his or her spiritual selfhood and heritage. Living with the mesmerism of human wealth can often be destructive to one’s self and others. For royal watchers, there is also a mesmerism that is subtle and counter-productive to spiritual life and enlightenment. This mesmerism is envy. Envy can reinforce feelings of inferiority, which produce a less-value-to-God sense of yourself. It can blind us to our own royal identity and spiritual inheritance from God, always present to bless our own lives when realized and relied upon. God has no favorite children. No one is more privileged than others in the kingdom, and family, of God. All are princes and princesses to the King of all creation. All have the same, inexhaustible spiritual Source to rely upon whenever needed. But one must know that this Source is present and active to rely upon it and turn to it in every human need, be it health, supply, or the peace that is expressed in a freedom from worldly fears. This Source I speak of is the divine entity we call God. The reason we have all good, for eternity, is that we are at one with God for eternity. God has given us Itself. This divine Self is infinite knowledge of spiritual truth; infinite intelligence and wisdom; a divine holiness or goodness; all of which dwell in or at the core of our conscious being. The divine Self within us is also the creative principle of the universe, and with it we can know how to produce whatever is needed to fill a human need. As the children of creative Mind, we are able to produce, in human, material form, whatever we need. In truth, we have no spiritual brother or sister to envy, even when we believe we do. Because we’ve each inherited the infinite Mind of our divine Father/Mother, we are never under-privileged, even when we believe we are. Whatever material thing is needed, our God Mind (Christ Consciousness) is able to bring it into human form whenever we let go of our own attempts and “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:” (Philippians 5: 2). This is turning to the Christ-Consciousness that is within us all. It is our savior from all the trials and tribulations of this material sense of existence. But, make no mistake: turning to our innate royalty within is the only way we’re going to spiritually overcome whatever human threat or lack is before us materially. Oh, we can rely upon other people to take care of us by being our source of supply when we experience lack, bail us out of jail when we break the law, solve all our problems, and in general, play the part of our source; but this will never bring us the abundance that God has already given to each of us. It’s only by learning and trusting our true selfhood within—our royal selfhood—that we overcome, one step at a time, all the ills that the false, fleshly sense of identity tries to fasten upon us. Christ Jesus is perceived in different ways by different cultures and people, even Christians. Yet, one’s spiritual and royal identity was at the heart of his mission to mankind. Yes, he was the son of God—but he was telling us that we all are. His divine inheritance is our divine inheritance. Granted, Jesus was the only begotten son; that is, the only one born of a virgin birth (bypassing the human birth process, showing life to be spiritual in origin, not physical). He was the only son chosen to bring the great message of spiritual being to humanity. But when he spoke of his divine selfhood, wasn’t he speaking of the universal Christ identity, which Jesus, and all of us share? The Christ is the place of oneness with God—and it is a place in consciousness. It’s the place where we “live and move and have our being.” (See Acts 17: 28). We live within the omnipresence of God. It was the Christ of Jesus that was the key. Read what St. Paul said; see how it points to a higher and universal identity: “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (II Corinthians 5: 16, 17). Wasn’t this the mission of Jesus, the seemingly material man? Wasn’t he showing us the divine man, the Christ identity, beneath the material, fleshly form of everyone here in this material sense of existence, including himself? Why else was he ‘here’? Why are spiritual prophets always pointing us to Spirit, and the spiritual kingdom of God, underlying the material scene? The Christ doesn’t belong just to Christians (those who believe in Jesus as messenger, teacher, divine brother, or savior). He brought the great truth of spiritual being to all of us. It comes, in this false state of material existence, to every individual, throughout time. The Christ identity belongs to everyone. It is our individual royal identity, shared with all. So, here’s an example of why this royal identity is vital to each and every one of us. (I’m sharing something quite personal now, but it was how the royalty factor came into my life): Many years ago, when new to spiritual healing, I was pregnant with my son. There were problems. I retained too much fluid and had the claim of toxemic poisoning. For this reason, I agreed to be in the hospital. Although not on medication, I was to lie in the hospital bed to cause the fluids in my body to come out. I was about 7 ½ months pregnant, so it wasn’t time for the birth yet. After three weeks, the doctor decided to induce labor. I was frantic. The sonogram (new devise at the time) showed the baby weighed only about 4 ½ pounds. They had four physicians to attend the birth, which was deemed risky for the baby (I didn’t know if boy or girl). They feared that the lungs were undeveloped. I pleaded for them to wait, but they said the fluid was dangerous for the baby, so I consented. I didn’t sleep the night before; I just prayed. At about 5 a.m., I felt a peace come over me. The Christ mind within told me that, wherever the baby was physically, it was still safe in God. It told me that all souls belong to God, and the baby was being carried by Spirit, not by me or my physical body. Somewhere during this revelation, the voice within told me to look at the door to my hospital room. I did so. Upon the door was a brass banner with the name Prince on it. (This name signified the family name of the patron who had paid for this particular room.) As I looked at the name, Prince, the thought came to me, quite clearly, that I was God’s daughter; so that name, Prince, referred to my royal status. I was to look at that name, whenever I felt fear, because my forthcoming child was also a Prince to God, just as all God’s children were (appearing as male or female in the flesh). More divine thoughts unfolded: Spirit’s children are all prince and princesses to God, no matter what appeared to be the case physically. Spirit’s children are always safe in God, Spirit, even when they believe themselves to be fleshly creatures, with some material error attached to them. The beliefs of this world can never really touch God’s spiritual children, who have a divine heritage of eternal life and health. Even physical death cannot touch God’s own. The peace I felt was so great, I fell asleep. When they came to induce my labor, the peace was still with me. The labor was long, but my son was born weighing 6 pounds and 13 ounces, not the 4 ½ pounds the sonogram showed. All four doctors were surprised. They had the pictures before them, but my son’s lungs were completely developed and they couldn’t find any deficiency in him. He was whole. My own doctor, (a woman from India, who knew I was into spiritual healing and didn’t want to be in the hospital throughout the whole ordeal) came to me later and said, “You must tell me how you did that, sometime.” I told her it was not me, but God; I’d done nothing but trust that God was the only one carrying the child. And that was how I came to comprehend the spiritual royalty of existence, underlying the mortal, material lie of being. It was the truth of my own identity, the baby I thought I was carrying, and the true identity of everyone that exists in God’s invisible, spiritual creation. Needless to say, I’ve resorted to that royal selfhood often, in every human need or threat of danger. Recently, it came to me to apply that early experience to all claims of material discord. God, Spirit, is still carrying everyone, inside and out of the womb. The wonderful news of God’s grace, and our own place in God’s love and family, belong to everyone. But no one can be forced to believe in it. In this human experience, belief is very important. Christ Jesus once said, “As thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee.” (See Matthew 8:13 for full quotation). His words are true because thought produces material expression and form. Whenever some evil we have accepted as material truth (be it disease, discord, lack) manifests into form, we mindlessly accept the evil as truth about us. Yet, as God’s spiritual children, we cannot actually have material evils—and they don’t have us. The greatest protection we can evoke is that realization that power belongs to God alone. God is the only Authority over our immortal, spiritual lives. Our beliefs in material powers, (powers opposed to God) such as disease conditions, hostile environments, or lack of something good, leave us accepting these erroneous situations whenever they appear, physically, in our lives. Accepting these worldy, fleshly beliefs means that we’re not claiming our royal status as Spirit’s child. It means that we’re claiming, as truth, whatever material power seems to be controlling us. (This is why, incidentally, humanity was given the first commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20: 3). The word ‘gods’ refers to powers. The message is: Don’t believe in other powers.) Thus, our greatest need is to recognize what, individually, we are claiming as truth. Is our truth, (1) materially based upon what we think are physical laws of the universe, including our own identities and bodies? (This is the ‘knowledge of good and evil’ that we’re warned against in Genesis, Chapter 2.) Or is our truth, (2) spiritual, based upon invisible spiritual laws of the universe ordained by God for eternity? The first belongs to the false god (power) of materiality. Material cause and effect isn’t knowledge. It’s a false sense of existence. The second belongs to the God of Spirit. “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4: 24). Spiritual existence is the truth of being, although not physically apparent. Finding one’s royal status, with all of its divine inheritance of eternal life and abundance, depends upon which one is chosen. “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” .
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