Click HERE to view Rev. Maraj’s guided meditation during the service.
So how many people ever had something that was definitely your will, but was clearly not God’s will? [Congregants laugh] Anybody? Or how many people ever had something that was God’s will – that clearly the Universe was pointing you to do — but it was clearly not your will? Sometimes my will and Thy will can feel like they’re opposites or opposing or they’re not in alignment.
Tonight, I want to talk about two powerful spiritual principles that seem like they’re opposing, but they are actually very important and vital to achieve the fullness of God and the richness of life that we are seeking.
You know, Jesus said he came that we may have life, and have it more abundantly, and he also said he came that his joy may be in us and that our joy may be complete. And, to me, the way we have complete joy and live abundantly is by practicing these two principles … which are CREATION and SURRENDER.
Deliberate creation is the process of intentionally and consciously using spiritual laws — The Law of Attraction; The Law of Mind-Action; the power of our thoughts – to manifest and to bring forth the greater good into our lives; the things that we desire. And I call that MY WILL: the power to create my will.
And then surrender is the process of actually releasing all attachment to your goals, to outcomes, to any situations in your life. It’s about letting go of any resistance. And it is about opening ourselves to allow the wisdom of the Universe — to allow God — to unfold it for our highest and best. And I call that THY WILL.
And it’s interesting, because they really do seem very opposite. You know, creation is active. It’s dynamic. It’s intentional. You know, it is using the power that we have to control and create and express and manifest things. Where surrender is passive; it is non-resistant; it is a relinquishing and a giving up of control and power. It is the ultimate form of letting go and opening space for God.
You know, there are even some Scriptures where it seems to be opposing. “Ask, can you shall receive; seek, and you shall find; knock on the door will be opened unto you.” And then, “The Father knows what you need even before you ask.” So, should I ask or not ask? [Congregants laugh]
“Decide upon a thing and it will be established for you.” “Choose this day who you will serve.” “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” And then, “’For surely I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord.” And so, do we ask? Do we not ask? Do we hold a vision? Do we not hold a vision?
You know, I think these two practices are absolutely powerful. I think they’re absolutely vital, even though they seem to be opposing and contradictory in some ways. But they are an important part of the development of our consciousness. They’re an important part of our spiritual journey.
And so, I just want to go through right now the four stages of the development of consciousness.
And the first one is called “TO ME,” and that is a victim consciousness. This is where we believe that life is happening to us. People are doing it to us. We believe that we have no control over the course of our lives, and really a victim of circumstances. And the only thing that could change us is luck, or someone helping us out – or something from the external changing things – to make our lives better.
And our reaction when life isn’t going well — it doesn’t go the way we want it to go — is that we tend to blame. “If it wasn’t for my parents …” you know, “If it wasn’t for the government …” “If it wasn’t for the economy …” We have all kinds of ways that we tend to blame. And if anything happened that doesn’t work out right, it is somebody else’s fault. Or that we complain about, you know, our lack of money, our lack of opportunities. We complain about all these things. We almost can get to the place, you know, when Thoreau said, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”
This victim consciousness can be so heavy on us in some ways, in the sense that we think that life’s never going to get better. We feel powerless; we feel hopeless, and think, “Well, maybe this is as good as it gets, because I don’t see how it can change.”
And so, for us to move from that level, we need to let go of something … and that’s blame. And we need to begin to accept full responsibility for our lives.
And that takes us from “TO ME” to “BY ME,” and this is the creator consciousness. This is when we begin to claim and own our own power; where we begin to know and realize that we aren’t victims … in fact, we are participants. In fact, we are powerful creators and that our words, that our thoughts, that our ideas and our beliefs have an impact on the quality of our lives.
And this is when we begin to consciously shape our lives with greater intention by changing our ideas, changing our vision, and using The Law of Attraction to create even greater things in our lives. And so, we begin to attract the things we want, rather than the things we don’t want. And we begin attracting more positive people. We start getting more breaks and situations, and outcomes start going our way.
And. as a result, our reality begins to shift: how we see ourselves — how we feel about ourselves — begins to shift. How much we enjoy life and our perspective not only on ourselves, but others and life itself gets better. You know, we are so empowered we start using affirmations and giving up complaining and blaming. And our story about our future becomes more positive. We set goals. We change our negative self-talk; we begin to change our negative habits and begin to master our thoughts and master our behaviors. We begin to meditate, because we realize all these things that we do actually make a huge difference in creating our own lives.
That life is “BY ME,” not “TO ME.” And so, that’s a great place to be, but if we want to go to a higher level of consciousness, what we need to do is to let go of control.
And then we move to the next level: to go from “BY ME” to “THROUGH ME,” and this is where we surrender and fully let go to be an open vessel and a channel for God. And this is where we allow God to flow through us.
Remember when St. Francis said, “Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace”? In the Old Testament — I think it’s in Isaiah — it says, “Here I am, Lord; use me.” It’s that whole idea that we’re a channel; we are vessels. And the more we can let go, the more we can surrender, the more we open ourselves, the more we allow the fullness of the glory of God to be expressed through us In whatever it is that we are called to do and whatever it is that we want to do.
And so, it’s about really emptying ourselves of our human need and ego and attachments, you know, so we can allow the fullness of the light of God to move through us. And so, the thing about this whole idea of THROUGH ME is the whole idea of surrender and letting go. And that is really about getting to a place of trust. We’ll talk more about that in a couple of minutes.
But, you know, one of the things is: sometimes THROUGH ME can’t happen when we’re resistant or when we’re forcing things to happen in our lives. We need to get to that place of allowing; of releasing and letting go. And so, as good as THROUGH ME is, for us to get to an even higher level of consciousness, we need to let go of any sense of separation.
And then we move to “AS ME,” which is the Oneness consciousness. You remember: Jesus achieved this. He said, “The Father and I are one.” That he was the full expression of the Christ; the Divine in him expressed fully. You know, we get to this place where we know that we are whole, complete, and lacking in nothing; that we are one with God.
And when we get to this place, we have a deep level of compassion for all living things, for we know that we are one. We are able to look and see people; no matter what or the way they’re expressing, we don’t judge. And that we honor and recognize the Christ Spirit in them. We honor and recognize the Divine in them.
And this is the truest level of freedom, because we don’t get trapped in saying, “This is bad” or, “This is good” or judging someone for this or that. We actually see a sense of Oneness and a sense of love in and through all things. And we begin to really see ourselves as a full reflection of the Divine. That we’re not just a part of it; that we are, you know, the fullness of God.
And so, I just want to point out just that, of those four, I just want to look at the importance of us practicing creation and practicing gratitude as a path to a more joyful and abundant life.
So let’s look at: How we practice creation.
“In the beginning,” it says, “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” The first thing God did was create. And then it says, “We are created in the image and likeness of God.” And that means that we are creators!
The Book of Genesis tells that we have been given dominion and authority over all things; that we are here to be fruitful and multiply. We are creators, and a huge part of our spiritual responsibility is to create. That is why we are here! We are here to bring more light and more Spirit into this world.
And God has endowed us with incredible creative abilities: the power of the spoken word; the power of our thoughts and our vision; our intention; our attitude; our faith. And so, we are here to create. And we can create anything we want! We can bring forth more kindness; we can bring forth more joy or more laughter. We can bring forth music and art. We can bring forth more healing … you know, more prosperity, more compassion, more kindness. It is absolutely unlimited!
But every one of us is a creator, and we are here to create! We are to express and bring forth more good into this world, more light into this world.
So let me ask you a question: How well are you at practicing the power of creation in your life? How many people know you could probably consciously and more consistently and effectively express more creativity? That you can create more good in your life?
And so, what would you like to create? You’re a creator! What is it that you want to create?
You know, sometimes we get so busy in life just trying to keep up, we don’t take time to actually get clear on what it is we want to create. I would say most people don’t know what they want. You know, I think most people say, “I don’t want this; I don’t want that!”
“But what do you want?”
“I’m not sure, but I know what I don’t want!”
And sometimes we need … We talk about manifesting, but we don’t always take the time to get clear on what it is that we want to create; what it is we want to attract; what it is that we want to experience … even what it is we want to become.
Like, what do you want to create for yourself? What do you want to create for your relationship or your family? What is it you want to create in your community? We are powerful creators! The question is: Are we practicing creation? Are we demonstrating creation every day in our lives?
So here are the four things we can do to practice creation; to practice creating.
The first one is we need a level of CLARITY OF OUR INTENTION. Again, as I was just mentioning, sometimes we don’t know what we want, And it’s important to take time to get clear.
You know, when Jesus said, “Ask and you shall receive,” he was saying get clear about what it is you want. You can have it; all things are possible! But you’ve got to get clear about what it is that you want.
Years ago, I had a very clear intention that I wanted to be a real estate mogul; that I wanted to own rental properties. I lived in a town with a university right there, and I had friends who had lots of rental properties. So my clarity of my intention was to own several houses — rental houses — and to make a significant profit. And I had a number in it. And I was very clear in my intention.
And that’s an important thing is: How clear are you in what it is that you want to create and what it is you want to manifest.
The second one is to VISUALIZE: TO BE ABLE TO SEE IT. When Scripture says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish,” I would go to the opposite: “Where there is a vision, people prosper.”
The thing about a vision: it gets us excited. It gets us engaged. It channels our creative power and our abilities. It helps us direct that when have a vision. You know, what does it look like? You know, what is it that you really want to create? What is it that you want to build in your life and experience and enjoy?
You know, so back to this rental thing. It was easy for me to visualize, because I was in that neighborhood of where those houses were. So, I would go and park in front of them. You remember, like, Jim Carrey would go park in front of the marquee and imagine himself? I’d go parking in front of these houses and imagine I owned them, and I would just see what it would look like.
So the third one … Okay, so far, you’ve got to have clarity of intention; then you’ve got to visualize what it is you want.
And then third one is EMOTIONAL ALIGNMENT. You know, everybody knows when you hear, “As a man, thinketh in his heart, so is he,” all we really hear is, “As a man thinketh, so is he.” But that’s not what it says. It says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
The THOUGHT + the FEELING = the OUTCOME. I don’t think we realize how powerful our feelings and emotions are! There’s a creative power and energy with our feelings, including fear and anxiety.
When I was in school, I didn’t do my homework and the teacher said, “Okay, so who read this?” and asked some question about something. And I had my head down. The little keeners had their hands up, and I was like, “Please, God, don’t let them ask me; don’t let them ask me.” [Congregants laugh] And I was afraid and filled with fear.
And they’d always say, “Richard, what did you think?”
And I’m like, “My hand wasn’t up!” [Congregants laugh]
“It doesn’t matter, you’ve got to.”
And the thing is, “The thing that I feared has come upon me.” The THOUGHT + the FEELING = the OUTCOME. So, we need to be aware of the kind of feelings and energy we’re putting, even into our ideas and our goals. They need to be positive. They need to be supportive. And they need to have a higher vibration. Fear repels; gratitude and joy attract. And so, it’s important that, when you visualize what it is you want, is you feel what it would feel like if you had it in your life right now.
Back to my whole rental property thing. I would feel successful. I would feel capable, because that’s what it represented for me: for me to be feel capable, for me to be responsible, for me to be powerful.
So clarity of intention; visualize; emotional alignment.
And the last one is INSPIRED ACTION. You know Einstein said, “Nothing happens until something moves.” John F. Kennedy said, “Things don’t just happen; they are made to happen.” That we need to take action. Things need to move for things to change and to be transformed.
So, with my rental property thing, I went to the Student Union. And there were six girls who wanted a thing — and mine had six rooms. And so, we went over; they looked it; they loved it. And this was in July. And they said, “Okay, we’ll meet you.”
I said, “You just meet me here on September 1st, and we’re all good.”
So, the day before September 1st, they called me. I didn’t sign a contract; I didn’t take a deposit. And they said, “Oh, we found another place.”
And so, this was not inspired action. [Congregants laugh] It was action, but it was not inspired!
And so, what I ended up having to do — and most of the places were rented now, because you get that close, a lot of them are rented. So, I would go to the Student Union, and wait to see someone poking around and say, “Hey, you’re looking for a place? Great, let’s go!”
And this was up and down stairs! I had, like, a lot of work to do! It took me three weeks to get those six students. Not inspired action … but the point I’m trying to make here is: even when you mess up in the creative process, you’re still going to gain. You’re still going to learn. That things will get better, because you’re activating universal forces. Good things are happening. I learned a lot. I gained a lot. I understood a lot about myself, about dealing with people, about contracts. I learned a lot of things.
So, even if we put it out there, we might stumble a little bit, but engaging in the act of creation will always bring forth greater good into our lives.
So again, what do you want to create? What is it that you want to attract? What is it that you want to manifest? What is it that you want to experience? Because it’s available to all of us, because we are creators. The question is: What do you want to create?
And then the second one is surrender.
You know, surrender gets a really bad rap. It sounds like we’re giving up. It sounds like it’s a defeat. But surrender isn’t about giving up; it’s about giving way to something greater. It’s about giving way to a Higher Intelligence; you know, to a Higher Power. Surrender is about opening and inviting more God into your life. It’s about opening yourself for greater wisdom to lead you and to move through you.
And I think part of it is that the whole connotation of defeat with surrender. But I think the other thing that makes it hard is the whole idea of letting go. We get scared about letting go. We think bad things will happen if we let go and good things will happen if we hold on. And that’s just not the truth.
Michael Beckwith said, “One hundred percent of spiritual growth is about letting go.”
And so, my question for you is: What are you holding on to that it’s time for you to let go? And where in your life are you resisting? You know, where in your life are you living in fear?
Because the absolute thing that will bring you to a sense of peace is surrender. Stop fighting! Stop forcing! And just give way and allow the wisdom and the goodness of God to flow through you to lead you and guide you.
You know, the number one thing that is needed to surrender and to let go? It is trust. Do you trust enough to let go and know it’ll be okay? Do you trust enough to surrender it all to God and know that God made you; God loves you; and God wants the best for you. That the way that we help ourselves to surrender is to increase our level of trust in knowing that God is there. God’s got us!
God made me. God loves me. God wants the best for me. That is the absolute truth.
In the Book of Proverbs it says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not to your own understanding, but in all ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths.”
Surrender is a powerful, creative, spiritual principle. It’s a creative spiritual principle. The more we let go … and I would say it’s better than our human creative potential! It is even greater to lift us to higher levels of happiness and peace and success.
Here are three ways we can practice surrender.
The first one is when you have a goal and you’re asking and you’ve got a vision, there’s a point at which you just have to SURRENDER IT TO GOD. So you know that this is the thing that I want; and I just surrender it and give it to God.
One of the things I learned in Unity that really helps a lot with this is that you hold your vision, and then you say, “God, this or something better.” So what that does is: it puts your vision and your desire out there, but then it opens a space of God for it to manifest or come forth in some greater way. Because sometimes we can be, “I want this and I want that and I want it on this date right here,” where this one is, “God, this or something better.” It really releases a lot of the tension, and it opens a greater space for greater possibilities to move into your life.
You know, a second way is that … So, you ever like try to do it on your own and you just get exhausted? And you’re just overwhelmed and then finally say, “Okay, God; I surrender.” It doesn’t need to get there — to that point — but it is sometimes at that point that we finally are willing to let go and surrender. And get to that place — like Jesus in Gethsemane: “Father, if you can, take this cup from me; but not my will, Thy will be done.” So say, “Oh, this is hard, but I know I’ve got to surrender to God.”
And then the third one is: if you just want guidance or you need to make a decision or that you’re lost, here are the words from the Book of … it’s the Psalms. And here’s what it says: “Show me your ways, Lord. Teach me your paths. Guide me in your truths and teach me. You are my God, my Savior; and my hope is in you all day long.”
And the last Scripture I want to read to you is from Romans. And you always hear me say the top part; I never finished the bottom part. Here it is: “Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is: His pleasing and perfect will.”
And so, a huge part of our work is to learn how to surrender. Because surrendering is one of the greatest and most powerful creative tools — tools for peace and tools for abundance and prosperity; tools for greater joy — that there is. We just need to stop being afraid of it and get over it and be willing to practice it. Because it opens the doors to great things.
On the first day of creation, God created the dog and said, “Sit all day in front of your house and bark at anyone who comes or walks past. For this I will give you a lifespan of 20 years.”
And the dog said, “That’s a long time to keep barking. I only want 10 years. Can I give you back 10 years?” So God agreed.
On the second day, God created the monkey. And God said to the monkey, “Entertain people; do tricks and make them laugh. And for this, I’ll give you 20 years lifespan.”
The monkey said, “Monkey tricks for 20 years? That’s a long time to be performing. How about I do it for 10 years and give you back 10 years?” And God agreed.
On the third day, God created the cow and said, “You must go into the fields with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves, and give milk to support the farmer’s family. For this I will give you a lifespan of 60 years.”
And the cow said, “Sixty years? That’s kind of a tough life for 60 years. How about 20? And I’ll give you back 40 years.” And God agreed.
On the fourth day, God created humans and said, “Eat and sleep and play and marry and enjoy your life.” And for this, I’ll give you 20 years.”
But the human said, “Only 20 years? Could you possibly give me my 20 years, and then give me the 40 years of the cow, and then give me the 10 years of the dog, and the 10 years of the monkey, and that makes 80.”
And then God said, “Okay, but you asked for it!”
So that is why for the first 20 years, we eat, sleep, play, and enjoy ourselves. For the next 40 years, we slave in the hot sun to support our families. For the next 10 years, we do monkey tricks and entertain our grandchildren. And for the last 10 years, we sit on the porch and bark at everyone. [Congregants laugh]
Alright. [Laughs]
Creation and surrender sound like opposites, but the truth is: they are both important ways to deepen our connection with God and to help us enrich our experience of life. You are a creator! Practice creating. Practice surrendering. Because the way to enjoy a life of complete joy and abundance is to use both powers: my will and thy will.
God bless you all.