The Still Waters

Many Mansions

November 2011

     "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." (John 14:2; King James Bible Version.)

     "…what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" (Matthew 7: 9-11; New King James Bible Version).

     "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:32; King James Bible Version)

     The above quotation from the Bible about mansions was Jesus' information to his disciples as to their place in God's kingdom. This reference to 'many mansions' is commonly held to mean that, when we die and go to heaven, the Father (God) houses us in, not just humble dwellings, but each in our own mansion.

     Yet, I don't believe that this is only a reference to some later time, in another, more spiritual dimension. Much of what Jesus also told us was that this heavenly kingdom of God was 'within us' (see Luke 17:21; King James Bible Version) obviously meaning that the realm of God's eternal life and harmony (what we term, heaven) is already spiritually present, with us, although we don't perceive it with the five physical senses.

     Rather than outside of ourselves, all of our divine circumstances, and heavenly gifts from God, are actually within our greater, spiritual, conscious awareness of them, now--even in this human experience, where heaven seems far away, in time and space. The truth of our divine circumstances must be lying dormant within our more enlightened, inner knowledge of reality. The truth of our true identity, as God's spiritual children, is the key that opens the door to the kingdom within.

     The divine consciousness within us all is the Christ Consciousness that Jesus was speaking of when he said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6; King James Bible Version).

     Here he was referring to the great "I am" of all of us, as being our true, spiritual identity—our Sonship and Daughtership to God. When we turn to God within, mentally accept our kinship to our Creator, and then realize that we are under God's loving Laws of life in Spirit only, we have, in the spiritual sense, been 'born again'. This means that, like Christ Jesus, we begin to know ourselves as spiritual, rather than material beings.

     This has much to do with the subject of our human dwelling places. It means that, by turning to the spiritual truth of the Master's words, and being led by our divine consciousness within, our right dwelling places will open up, materially, when needed; and they will be better than anything we could find on our own. We have a right to be housed in the style that our heavenly Father has ordained for His divine Sons and Daughters.

     So, since Jesus specifically called our God-ordained dwelling places, mansions, this means that in this present human experience, our housing situation, at all times, should adequately meet our needs, even abundantly. This is so, since we actually dwell within God's kingdom, now; we just don't recognize the place. Heaven is not a far away location—it is a divine state of mind, or awakened consciousness, where we perceive our spiritual reality, right where a limited, physical reality seems to be instead.

     Thus, like the parable of the prodigal son (in Luke, Chapter 15, verses 11 through 32 of the Bible) we only have to 'come to ourselves' and remember who our Father/Mother (Parent) really is, and who we really are. When we do this, we are going back to our 'Father's house' (our God consciousness) that we had left in thought. With this change in our human consciousness, our divine inheritance from God emerges into our material circumstances, transforming our lives from the beliefs of lack and limitation, (which characterize much of our human circumstances) into finding the right material homes, and other places, which meet all our needs.

     There is a worldly belief, however, that interferes with trusting God concerning our supply of all good: It is the world's belief of money as our source of supply, rather than spiritual supply flowing forth or unfolding from the divine Intelligence within. We are often limited by the material sense of how much money we have. Yet, material money is limited by how much we've accumulated, at any one time. With Spirit as our Source, however, we are playing by different rules, so to speak. Spiritual supply from God is unlimited and takes many forms. When trusting God as our ultimate, and only real Source of supply, we broaden our horizons beyond anything we could accomplish ourselves.

     Here is something I've written of before, but it fits well on this subject of finding the right, material home, by trusting God as our only Source of supply:

     Several years ago, my daughter and her husband were looking for a new home because their modest three-bedroom house was inadequate for their large family (I believe they had six children, at the time). The problem was that they couldn't afford the larger houses on the market that would be wonderful to have; so, after fruitless searching, they expected to "buy down" greatly in quality, in order to get the space they needed. They began to resign themselves to having an old 'fixer-upper' house, if it only had five bedrooms that were usable.

     After much searching and disappointments, they found a large home they loved, in a beautiful country sub-division with large lots—but it was at least $25,000 more than they could afford. This five-bedroom home had spacious rooms and seemed like a mansion to them; but the owners had put it on the market, already well-below market price, in order to have a quick sale. Still, my daughter's mind kept going back to that house, even though it seemed out of reach financially.

     So, after much prayerful time, they felt led to make an offer on the home. They just trusted that God was their only Source of their rightful home; and they were leaving it in God's hands. They would do whatever came to them to do, however impossible it seemed.

     After presenting the offer, the realtor told them that the contract would definitely not go through. This home was already priced way too low, and my daughter and husband were told that they needed to go back and look, again, in the more modestly-priced real estate market for a home that they could afford.

     But God had other ideas. It turned out that the man and wife who built this house had, themselves, raised a large family in it. When they heard that the offer had been made by a young couple who had six children, they decided to take the offer. Despite opposition from the realtor listing the property, the owners said that they really didn't need the money. All along, they had been hoping that someone with a large family would buy it. It was hard to get started financially, they had experienced, with several children to raise. So, the owners accepted the offer, primarily because they wanted to help another young couple who had decided to raise a big family.

     So, my daughter and her husband got the house of their dreams—and the owners got the buyers they were secretly looking for. As an extra bonus, the house actually had another bedroom on the basement level, which worked out well, since their family was completed with a seventh child, a few years later. Had they not trusted their impulse to make such a low offer on this home, they would never have found the one place that God had known would be harmonious for all concerned.

     The truth is that, when trusting God with our abundance, money really doesn't matter. Things will work out despite our seeming lack of funds to make it so. Nothing limits God. God is divine Spirit, and in the kingdom of God (the spiritual reality that is right here, exactly where the material kingdom seems to be) what money one has, or doesn't have, becomes of no consequence.—but, we must place our trust in the divine Presence and unconditional love for Its creation, or we will not recognize our opportunity when it presents itself to us.

     It is God who really owns everything. God's hands are never tied. Nor does the Almighty withhold good from his children who turn within to Him, in consciousness, and TRUST the divine Mind with finding The Way. (The term 'Him' when referring to God, is used for brevity, but really means that God has both masculine and feminine qualities.)

     The use of the word, 'mansions' by Christ Jesus was a description of what the divine idea of home really is. In this material-thought realm, called the human experience, a physical house becomes our physical concept of home—but it is not the true idea of home. Home is that divine concept within us, that we take with us wherever we go. Because of this, we can make a home anywhere in the human situation.

     All of our God-created concepts are good and useful things, and they are infinite in number. We live in the ever-present kingdom of God, and we are never out of it. It is our forever home. The spiritual realm of God is our true dwelling place…our true and only Home. Realization of this helps us to trust the divine Harmony and Balance of God's kingdom, of which we are each a part—knowing that the divine Intelligence can guide us to our temporary, and best human choices of our current, material concept of home..

     Knowing the spiritual truth about anything makes us free of the penalties of the false, material beliefs that plague us daily. Knowing the truth about 'mansions' will bring forth, into our human experience, our right place concerning home. Yet, there are other places, such as a place of work, which God, Spirit, can also provide. So, despite the presence of our limited, human opportunities or resources, we need not fear lack, in any direction. The infinite Creator is able to bring about, into material form, whatever hasn't yet appeared.

     Since we are already in the spiritual kingdom of God, our human circumstances should pattern our true, divine circumstances in God's kingdom. Our divine Parent doesn't withhold any good from Its children. There is no need of lack, for it doesn't serve any divine purpose. So, to repeat: the infinite Intelligence of Spirit can create what is not yet manifested into material form, such as our right house or job assignment—as well as all other things that have been created for our eternal well-being. God also brings people together when they need each other, in some way.

     If I say this a thousand times in my articles, I still cannot say it enough: We cannot be separated from our God-Source. All of our false beliefs about lack and limitation, ill-health and death, hatred and violence, come from the opposite, materialistic, worldly beliefs of this illusion of materiality and powers opposed to God, who is Spirit, not bound by physical so-called 'laws' or human beliefs.

     There is no evil in God's true kingdom…no lack of place, no lack of harmony, no lack of health, no lack of love. We are still in that true kingdom, right here where we seem to be somewhere else. We are in God's everlasting kingdom, right where our false, fleshly sense of self seems to be, but is not.

     In closing, here's a poem I wrote once (under my pen name, Valenncia Moore):