Midweek Faith Lift
“The Truth About Substance”
June 6, 2018
Rev. Deb Hill-Davis
Good Morning! Today we begin our series on Spiritual Economics by Eric Butterworth. This book will take us into Unity teachings in a deeper way than we may have gone thus far. I last did this book in winter of 2014, so we are due for an update! It blows my mind that I have been here long enough to be ready for an update, but here we are. Over the years, I have given or recommended this book to many people who have also passed it on to others. It is truly a gift that keeps on giving. What I love so much about it is that it stays true to Unity prosperity teachings that are grounded in Truth and does not wander into the weeds of magical thinking about prosperity. But more on that as we go along!
The first thing to get clear about is that prosperity is not about money or things. Let me say that again: PROSPERITY IS NOT ABOUT MONEY OR THINGS!! We do not measure prosperity according to how much money is in our Building Fund here at church or how much is in our personal portfolio or money market. Nor do we connect our sense of well-being to how the market is doing or how the overall economy is doing. Let me be perfectly clear about this. It is never about the money. It is never about the money!! It is never about the money!! I have been through bankruptcy and lost all of my financial assets in 1990 and 1991, but it was never about the money. It was measured in terms of money, but it wasn’t about money.
Well then, what was it about, for heaven’s sake? It was and is about consciousness! In the first chapter of Spiritual Economics, Butterworth quotes Mike Todd, the film director, who says, “Many times I have been broke, but I have never been poor.” There is a big difference between being “broke” and being poor. Broke is a temporary condition; “poor” is a mindset which infects your consciousness with a state of poverty or “not enough” no matter how much you have. I had an African American classmate at Unity Village in one of my SEE classes who was from New York City. She had a good job and her husband drove a train for the NYC subway system. They had plenty of money, but she remarked to me that her husband could never let go of his “sharecropper” mindset. It doesn’t matter how much you have; it is all about consciousness.
So how do we let go of this poverty consciousness of “not enough”? Well, the first step is to realize, or “Make Real” for yourself, the nature of God. The title of the talk and of the first chapter is “The Truth about Substance.” It could just as easily be called “The Truth about God.” What is Substance? The whole of his life, Jesus was constantly teaching about the nature of God and the reality that we live in two worlds simultaneously. He understood that as humans we are very conscious of our human conditions. Here is how it sounds:
John 16:30-33
30 Now we know that you know all things, and need none to question you; by this we believe that you came from God.” 31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? 32 The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, every man to his home, and will leave me alone; yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. 33 I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (RSV)
What does this mean, when Jesus says I have overcome the world? He is telling us that through our Christ Consciousness we too live in and have constant access to both the human and divine or invisible realm of Spirit. What is that realm? It is the “Universe, the realm of constancy and stability of a basic substance that stands beneath every human experience. As Butterworth noteson page 16 of Spiritual Economics: “Thus it can be said that there is an Allness within every illness, an All-Sufficiency within every appearance of lack and the “joy of the Lord” within every moment of sorrow.”
In every life experience that we have, there is the human dimension and the energy of the Universe or God that is always present. Our challenge is to understand and accept that reality, to truly believe it and act in accordance with it. We have to realize there is not a spot where God is not!
No matter what the outer conditions: illness, lack, disharmony, conflict, the Whole of God is always and everywhere Present and available to us all the time. There is not a spot where God is not! Our challenge is to see it, call upon it and thereby make it real in our lives. When we can’t see it, we pray to see as much of it as possible and have faith that our “seeing” will manifest our good. Our wallet may be empty making it difficult to affirm that we have abundance and prosperity. But in Truth, we can always affirm that we have access to the “All-Sufficiency of God” even though it has not yet manifested in our our current circumstances.
When we master that Truth, then we can be “broke” but we will never be poor because the invisible realm of Divine Ideas, all the creative energy of the Universe is always available to us and ready to respond to our asking.
How do we access this Universe, the Divine, Invisible Realm of Substance, of God-Energy? We ask in prayer. We stay centered in our Divine nature, our Christ-self. That was the message of Jesus when he tells us “I have overcome the world.” No matter what the outer conditions, I stay connected to this higher Truth. It takes concentrated, disciplined effort to do this. It requires dedication and faith. “There is not a spot where God is not!” becomes a mantra.
The way it looked for me was that every time a creditor called to ask about when we were going to pay a bill, I had to listen, take a message and hang up and then pray. I remember Sarah, who was only 3 at the time, asked me why I kept telling the caller that I wasn’t home when I was. Kids always see the truth. I had to tell her that I couldn’t explain it now, but some day I would. I then immediately called the Prayer Line from Unity of Des Moines and listened to the prayer. I would call the Prayer Line in the middle of the night when I could not sleep. And then I called them again, and again to get past my human fears about not being able to pay my bills. And when I needed a human voice, I called Silent Unity to have someone pray with me when I needed to hear Truth affirmed by someone else. I did this repeatedly for many, many months!
Over time, with constant repetition and prayer, it really began to sink in that my life was about MORE that whatever the outer conditions were. I did in fact have access to a greater Universe of peace that passed all understanding. I came to know the “Truth” that set me free from worry about my finances, where I would live and how I would pay for day care, damage deposit on a place to live and on and on. Butterworth says, “…if we keep ourselves centered in that inner realm of wholeness, as he (Jesus) so persistently did, we, too can experience mastery over all that happens around us or to us. The centering process is the key to achieving prosperity.” (p. 17.)
It is essential to note that neither Butterworth nor Jesus ever say that we will be able to control all that happens around us or to us. Mastery comes when we stay centered in the Allness of God, not the “limitedness” of our small self. The Whole of God is present at every point in space at the same time OR there is not a spot where God is not! There is a free flow of energy in the Universe, or the Energy Field that is God from which you and I, all of us come. Our challenge is to deepen our awareness that we are part of this Divine Flow.
God cannot do for you what God cannot do through you! We have to have “skin in the game” if we are to make real the Substance that is God. It is a walk of faith, and requires us to trust, to listen and move our feet in the direction of making real our “God-ness”. We don’t affirm this to make it come true, we affirm the Truth that we are part of the substance of God and then ask for that Truth to be manifest in our life. It is essential to ask. You cannot go up to a faucet, hold your glass under it and get water. You have to turn on the faucet; you have to ask. You have to flip the switch for the light to come on, to make the connection. We have to ask or flip our internal switch to see that we are connected to Source.
The most significant realization in this Chapter is the realization that God is the Source of All our good and we call this Source the Substance that is God, everywhere present and available to us at all times. Our good comes in the form of ideas, of people showing up to bring us exactly what is needed for the next step in our journey and yes, the finances too! And here is how that looked for me. I was out for a bike ride when I came across the house I now live in. It was for sale. I could not buy it because I was going through bankruptcy and had no credit. But I could ask to rent it, and I did! And the landlord let me pay the deposit at the rate of $100.00 per month until I had paid the whole $550.00. I asked, and the Universe in the form of the landlord, said yes!
I cannot even recall all the seemingly miraculous things that happened to me during that time. I can recall that I shifted in consciousness to a deep and abiding faith that everything I needed would be provided when I needed it and I could let go of worry and fear. My personal credo comes from Matthew 6:33 “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness and all else will be added unto you!”
Eventually, I bought the house as my credit was restored and I married again, bought a newer car and all else has been added unto me….once I realized that I was and am part of that Substance that is God and that it was God’s good pleasure to give me the Kingdom!
Blessings on the Path,
Rev. Deb