“Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” (Matthew 6: 30). “...I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10: 10). “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” (Matthew 21: 22).
“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; the ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:”
(II Corinthians 9: 8).
Except for those who've inherited pots of money, most of us have trials and tribulations concerning supply in our human experience. Actually, even the materially wealthy can lose their fortunes and often suffer more than those of us who are less-accustomed to having all our needs met. Lack of supply is one of the imbalances that can occur in anyone's life; and there's no question that, for many people around the world, the specter of poverty haunts their entire time here. Lack of sufficient supply, both temporary and chronic, has been around since the beginning of civilization. Yet, when Christ Jesus said, “For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good:” (Mark 14: 7 to :) he wasn't suggesting that God, the provider of all good to Its children, was withholding good and causing some people to be materially poor. Rather, the Master was recognizing that various states of poverty would exist for humanity, until each individual comes into a spiritual understanding of supply and its ultimate source: the comprehension that having God, infinite Spirit (the divine Intelligence which provides all spiritual good capable of transforming into physical manifestation, or form) means we already have, in spiritual substance, all we can ever have or need materially. We are at one with the divine Intelligence; and it is this Intelligence, along with Spirit's infinite ability to create, which combine to be the Source of supply for all identities in creation. Thus, being at one with this divine, spiritual Source of creation, means that even the concept of money is included within this divine Intelligence, and flows out from it to its image and likeness—man. Now, I don't mean to trivialize this! Starving people need food first, before worrying about whether or not they comprehend spiritual supply. (It's actually best to meditate on and absorb the whole concept of spiritual abundance when one isn't suffering lack at the moment.) While no person is the true provider of another, those of us who aren't suffering lack should share our own physical forms of supply, whenever we see the human need. We're all in this material soup together, so to speak. Our brother's lack could well be our own lack tomorrow. But recognizing God (rather than people) as the source of supply brings forth far more good than we, as individuals, can provide to those in need. Seeking the wisdom of the divine Intelligence within, we are led to make the changes required to bring the physical forms of supply, like money, in whatever ways meet the human need for ourselves, and others. (Look at the many limited ways individuals have found to help the recent hurricane victims. With God's help from within, these ways multiply.) Divine Intelligence brings spiritual abundance into the human, physical dimension we seem to be stuck in, whenever one's human consciousness is open to such a possibility. If one has a gold mine in one's back yard, but doesn't know it, he or she will never go to the mine for their supply. Likewise, without a knowledge of Spirit's presence and eternal provision within consciousness, one will never pursue the remedy for supply in his conscious unity with God. Instead, he will seek the remedy for supply from the physical world of what's already here (already formed or manifested in form) rather than allowing Spirit to map out the way to new creations and channels of material supply. Our true circumstances of body and environment are invisibly present with us, all the days of our lives. Every concept, every idea of a good and useful thing, proceeds from God's infinite, spiritual ability to create. And while we appear to be dwelling in physical forms, separated from the spiritual substance and realm of God, this separation is an illusion of material belief. All things flow out from within someone's consciousness—material forms don't manifest by themselves, ever. For example, let's examine the concept of money. When we look at the concept of money, we discover that the form it takes in societies must first flow from someone's consciousness. Our divine consciousness within, called the Christ Consciousness, is much higher than the limited human consciousness of ourselves that we usually resort to. That false, material sense of self (the Adam or Eve concept) causes us to put all the burden on ourselves to gain our own supply of money. We don't expect God's help. We believe that humanity was cursed and “in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread” (see Genesis 3: 19). Thus, believing this false, material account of God, man and creation, (instead of the spiritual account given in Genesis, Chapter One) we fight for money and supply in every way imaginable. This ancient belief in separation from God is the source of humanity trying to go it alone. But there is a higher way, and once found, you'll never go back to being your own provider. That way is to first realize that God, divine ever-present Spirit, is the only Creator. Mankind has come up with no creations of its own. All useful things, all identities, all valuable and constructive concepts were created by God and declared good (again, see first chapter of Genesis.) Money, in its spiritual essence, is a concept created by the divine Intelligence, and it is the concept of universal trade. In any region of the globe, it's what people are willing to trade their labor, products, artistic talents, time, energy and other property for. That way, in this material dimension, everyone can use the material symbol of money, to obtain whatever else they may need, be it food, shelter, clothing, services, or entertainment. In our modern society, governments usually mint coins and print paper to represent, or symbolize, the divine idea of money. Yet, the paper isn't worth anything by itself, if our society doesn't treat it like a universal thing of value which everyone will trade for. The spirit of the thing called money must be present in the collective consciousness, or no one would want it. Without the spirit, or divine purpose of money, it would have no value. Thus, a material dollar bill is not the substance of money—it's the symbol of money. It's the effect of the spiritual idea, realized first in someone's consciousness, then produced into physical form, then accepted by everyone else. The immortal idea of money (which everyone owns) is the substance; the form it later takes is the symbol, or shadow. Now, in today's world, having enough supply of money or other “valuables” will always remain problematic, until one learns that all substance is spiritual in essence—not material. I repeat: the material is the effect; the spiritual is the cause, or source. This applies to all things in the physical realm. For instance, the substance of a home isn't the structure made of wood or stone; the substance of home is a spiritual concept given to God's offspring, as a private place we set apart, to dwell in peace, comfort and sanctuary. We take this concept and materialize it in form, so it serves us in this physical dimension. In world thought, however, one needs money to pay someone to build such a structure materially, or provide such a place. In like manner, the world's material economy has evolved to a state in which we all need the material symbol of money to pay for many things—clothes, transport, food, education, healthcare...the list goes on. Thus, our human condition ultimately requires that we possess whatever form money is taking in our nation and world, be it printed paper, metal, jewels, or some other thing. We can find infinite ways to obtain whatever is generally accepted as money, because the true, spiritual concept and form of this thing called money is already within each of us, to be called forth from consciousness, infinitely and forever. We will always have the spiritual essence of 'money' within our spiritual selfhood—our Christ identity. (The Christ is used here to refer to the universal, spiritual Self, our real selves, which Jesus was trying to communicate to humanity.) In our spiritual identity, no one can take 'money' from us, since God has given us this concept (universal symbol of exchange) to know and have within our own consciousness, forever. And every spiritual concept within our divine consciousness is infinite—we can never run out of it. Nor can we limit the divine Intelligence, which is always present in consciousness to create new ways for the material symbol of money to come into our experience. Why do I say such a seemingly outrageous thing with so much human struggle going on concerning money? Because all the concepts and ideas which are given to the children of divine Love for their use, live forever in the infinite Mind which created them. Money will exist forever, in it's spiritual purpose, because God is eternal, and so are we. We are connected to our divine Father/Mother through our Christ Consciousness (spiritual awareness) within. We live within this spiritual Intelligence, “For in Him we live, and move, and have our being.” ( Acts 17: 28). There is no separation between God's forever-abundance and ourselves. Since money is just one concept created for our use, we have the ability to bring it into our own, human experience on this seeming material plane of existence, whenever needed. For instance, our house can burn down; but the concept of money remains within us, along with the divine Intelligence which shows us the way, be it work, trade, talent, selling something, or a temporary giving of others, to bring it into our experience (even without insurance), so that we can replace the material form of home that was destroyed. Since the divine Intelligence is the forever source of money to each and every one of us, no person is the source of money for another. Money is an individual provision to all. Each has his own infinite supply, that will last for eternity. No one is spiritually dependent upon another. But it's the spiritual idea of money that is eternally present, not the material form it takes in any one culture. And it's the material form we have trouble manifesting. So, how does one bring forth the material form of money, or job, or other circumstances from within our Christ Consciousness, when needed? How do the new ways to juggle our finances, or find new channels of money, come into our human experience? Here's an instance of chronic lack, in my family, that was healed: Beginning six years ago, every January and February, my husband and I were experiencing a chronic pattern of lack of money. It wasn't just our Christmas spending for a growing family, both original and extended; it was also all the winterizing expenses that seemed to strip away our extra cash toward the end of each year. In our early years, we relied on credit cards when our cash just wasn't flowing. But with the wisdom of age, we tried to avoid turning to credit cards as a source of supply. Yet, by January 1st of each year, our season of lack began anew. We always had enough money to pay our bills, but to make any purchases for car repairs or something else we might need, we had to resort to credit cards again, and the cycle of debt was renewed for several months. This all occurred, of course, from still struggling with the whole subject of supply. We were caught in the human net of trying to be our own providers, leaving the infinite love of God out of the picture. I'd never have done that in other areas, like physical healing. So I had to ask myself: why were we still struggling with a chronic money supply problem? Finally the light dawned on me that I had to silence my own sense of our 'selves' and turn to the Christ Consciousness within and ask it to show me the way out of this seeming material lack. So, I informed my husband I was going to pray about it. I then turned from my own struggling and asked the divine Intelligence within to cleanse my thought from all materiality about the issue. Please correct my thinking about money, I prayed. Show us the way to still be allowed to give at Christmas time, and also meet our seasonal needs, without impoverishing ourselves in the process. I didn't ask to be spiritually 'sent' a specific amount of cash. I asked to be shown the way back to our innate abundance from God. I offered to go back to work during the season, if that was the divine Will. (I also shared the progress of this spiritual work with my husband, along the way.) The first thought that came to me in the silence, however, was a question similar to one from the Bible: “What do you have in the house?” (I knew this was from the biblical account of a widow who was suffering lack, and only had a bit of oil in her house (oil was like money in her area). The prophet Elisha had then multiplied the precious oil until it became an abundance. (See II Kings, Chapter 4 in Bible for story). Anyway, I remembered that fifty dollars a month had just been freed up in our budget, so this was something extra we 'had in the house.' But that wouldn't help our yearly need—or so I thought. (That's why it's not too smart to do much thinking when the divine consciousness is talking.) The quiet voice within said to take that fifty dollars and immediately put it in a Christmas fund each month for next year. In the summer, pay the two extra months of last November and December. This would bring six hundred dollars back to me next November, to help ease us through the end of the year expenses. Then I was shown a way to change a few other things in our budget that immediately gave us the money to stay out of debt in the current January and February. The next year, the check for six hundred dollar (plus a teeny amount of interest) came on November 5, just as planned. The next year after that, I'd found a way to increase the Christmas fund to one hundred dollars a month, and we've received a check for twelve hundred dollars, in early November, ever since. We generally have money left over from this savings method. What this taught me, personally, is that God's abundance isn't a magical thing, even though it's rooted and grounded in Spirit. Having money begins with having intelligence; and the divine Intelligence within each and every one of us is more than capable of guiding us to the way which will supply the divine concept of money, in material form, far better than we can come up with ourselves. For my husband and I, our remedy for this chronic, yearly lack of money had always been present for us to realize. But we didn't see it, until we turned to God, and the Christ Consciousness within opened our eyes to it. The all-knowing, all-seeing consciousness of God always knows what is the best, particular, individual way, any claim of physical lack should be corrected. Each incident is different. Each case of chronic lack is different. All need the divine way of abundance to be revealed. Sometimes the answer is better management, not more money. Despite all that is going on in the material universe of physical form, our true and real spiritual body, spiritual mind, and spiritual circumstances in the Kingdom of God are still with us. God is Spirit, and Spirit's universe is still present and active to be called upon to transform a troublesome human 'condition' at any moment we chose to do so. We call forth the invisible kingdom of God, whenever we seek out God's truth to remedy the tribulations which plague us in the false, material illusion of creation. Once we find this original Source, and turn to it with no fear—but rather, with an expectancy of good—nothing can stop our own provisions from God from coming into our human lives, in the precise material form that will meet our private needs.
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