THE GIFTS OF GOD —Sondra Ray and Markus Ray on A Course in Miracles

Can we change the "Source" of our thinking? Can we "think with the Mind of God" instead of the "source" of our limited ego thinking? The past is part of this limitation. Can we liberate ourselves from even the "source of death," our ego? We have to give up this "world" we thought up. This "world" is a projection of our thoughts that do not really exist. Therefore, the "world" does not exist beyond our own projections of it. Can all of this projection come to an end? The real Source of Peace and Joy is in us too, but we first have to let go of the "source" of our suffering, conflict and death. This is our "thought" of meaninglessness that "makes a world" that does not really exist. The Beauty of Creation is held out to us. Let us "loose the world" from all we thought it was, and choose our own Reality instead."

What would the Truth be? God's Love and Peace and Joy created a Cosmos and that Love is the Only Reality. Everything else not love, coming from fear, and the "hell" that we made up, is a projection, an illusion of some complex of "thoughts" that are not in alignment with this Absolute Reality. A hard "pill" to swallow at first, until one sees this is a "declaration of release" from all the painful dramas the ego made up. When we "seek to reach the Truth" of this Ultimate Reality, we will have it. No one can fail who really seeks this Absolute Truth. All the universe guides us toward this "doorway into heaven."

Does this world satisfy you? The world is merely a projection of the thoughts and feelings that you maintain within yourself. The conflicts of the world are "inside of us," just as the beauty and peace are as well. But to come to this world of Heaven we must first see the “hell" is what we made of the world, and we must be totally willing to give that world up. That would also mean a total forgiveness of ourselves for "making up a hell" in the first place. God did not make a hell. We did. Then we blamed it on "god" to avoid taking responsibility for our inner mistakes. But all is not lost. The Real World was protected and maintained by the Grace of God, and this Heaven on Earth is being held out to us today. "Beyond this world (of the hell I made) is the Real World I want (the Heaven God created for me). Take a BREATH! HUGS

Love in the Absolute sense of the word, or the truth of the word, associates Love with the changeless Oneness of Reality. It associates Love with God, and the state of Being that is Unlimited and given Life by its Creator. The larger vision of Love is what this lesson is about. This lesson can be applied to any brother toward whom you may have held grievances. There is a Prayer to correct this: "I bless you, brother, with the Love of God, which I would share with you. For I would learn the joyous lesson that there is no love but God's and yours and mine and everyone's."

Can we be quiet within? Are we willing to shut off the "chatter?" All of us have noticed the activity of our "thinking" all too often is racked with concern, negativity, judgments, and a litany of attack thoughts directed toward ourselves and others. This is what we need to silence. When we are in "quiet" we can actually receive a happy state of being (God's Word) that replaces our "unhappy state" of ego preoccupations. Stop the "to do list" and receive the Energy of God's Word that undoes all that chatter. Our minds are going on and on with all its troubles. In this Lesson we can turn our attention to the "quiet place within the Mind where He [God] abides forever." This is one of Pure Peace and Joy. Our world needs this Peace. Can we make contact with it today? It is our responsibility to do so. THANK YOU

We give and receive what we give. This is a Law. If we give anger and attack, we will receive that back to us. If we give forgiveness and release, we will be released. This is the Lesson we need to master the Forgiveness that A Course in Miracles is teaching. We recieve in the giving. We give what we have in our hearts. Are we giving Peace and Joy?

This is a Combination PODCAST of our "Messages From The Altar" #3 and today's Gifts of God Podcast on Lesson #123-4; "I thank my Father for His Gifts to me," and "Let me remember I am one with God." It is essentail to have awareness of our Divine Connection in everything we do. "God is in everything I see, because God is in my Mind." This is Lesson #30. If God is in our mind, and our mind involves everything we do, then we CAN see God in everything. This would be "remembering" we are "ONE WITH GOD." The language of these Lessons is un-ambiguous. It corners our mind into a Priority that is Divine. The imagery it uses is Beautiful--"a golden frame studded with diamonds in which we see ourself as the Christ, at one with all our brothers and sisters as our Self." What could be better? HUGS.

What are the GIFTS OF GOD that interest you? Do you want them in the first place in your soul, in the core of your Being? Are there more important things that you want to achieve and acquire? Do we put the "remembrance if God " in the first place? What does it mean to "remember God?” Are you happy and with a Divine Purpose? More satisfaction in the Remembrance of God may come in forms that are internal realizations. God's plan for your awakening is for you to Forgive, which means to totally step out of your conditioned thought system. The Door of Forgiveness takes us into a different frequency of a Still Mind. A Quiet Mind has no woes and no external pressures. Peace is an "inside job" and we can have "everything we want" now.

This Lesson, and this podcast for that matter, could change your Life completely, fully and forever. Do we embrace the practice of forgiveness? Forgiveness is the key to happiness, and the rejection of forgiveness maintains our negative memories and the misery that they produce in us. Forgiveness is our responsibility to rise above our negative past and neutralize these memories by seeing our part in the experience . It is also seeing that our lower "self," our ego, was the culprit of this encounter with pain and suffering, and the maintenance of those memories embedded in our subconscious mind. Can we save ourselves from mistakes of unloving thoughts? This Lesson can transform us.

The struggles of life are an illusion when we are in a state of Perfect Happiness. Can we allow the Truth of our sinlessness to come forth in our vibration? The mood we are in emits a vibration. What are we giving out? Fear will send out fear and get fear back. Sending out Peace and Joy will attract the same back to us. We forgive and undo any misperceptions we have about ourselves. The Truth of our Higher Self's Vision will correct all errors in our mind. Then when we give that vision to the world, we will receive the vibration of Joy we transmit back in abundance.

We can now REVIEW Lessons #91 through Lesson #110. This is REVIEW III. Today's Lessons, reviewed two at a time, are "Miracles are seen in the Light," and "Miracles are seen in the Light, and Light and Strength are one." Remember, the "Light" has the function of total forgiveness. "Forgiveness is my function as the Light of the world." (Lesson #62) Let's use these Thoughts during the day and remember every 30 minutes to say the Lessons.

Can we rise into our true IDENTITY? This Lesson puts us in the vibration of Who we are as God Created us. We are the Son of God. This is our Highest Reality. This is the "Truth that sets us free." Can we receive and embody this Truth? "I AM AS GOD CREATED ME." There are no problems in SELF-IDENTITY. I am not separated from my Source. I am the Son or Daughter of the Divine FATHER/MOTHER. I am as God created me. I am Love not fear. I am Life not death. I am Health, not sickness. I am Innocence, not guilt. My Self as God created me is my Reality. My ego is an illusion that does not exist in this Holy Reality—that is the ONLY Reality. I am ONLY that REALITY.

Giving and Receiving are ONE when I use the Light of Divine Vision and Understanding. The light the body's eyes "see" is not the clarity we need to transcend all opposites. There is a LIGHT of GOD's MIND, that is also our real mind, filled with only the thoughts we think with God. In this mind there are not "opposites" or "conflict." We receive what we give, because to give we acknowledge we are in full possession of what we give. We have in full awareness what we give, which increases what we have. We transcend "opposites" and all conflict. I give PEACE and I receive it more. Then I can "rest in God." independent of external war and strife. We offer Peace and Joy and we receive more of those and then we REST in this Divine Peace and Joy.

Are we listening to Peace and Joy, or to our mild irritations? Can we meet Life with a truly open heart and mind that is empty? Sondra & Markus explore the process of "listening to the truth" which amounts to deeper levels of peace and joy in our life. Let us be clear, “What does it mean to give and receive?"

We claim God's Gifts to us because they are already given. Yet, we have to be willing to give them away to know we have them. "To have, give all to all," it says in the TEXT. And now we are on the verge of knowing we have all the Peace and Joy God holds out for us. Are we not glad to know this? Our little "problems" cannot stand up before the Infinite Peace and Joy that is our Divine Inheritance. Even in the face of a "problem," this mighty statement of a fact can dissolve it.

Do I seek the truth of God's PEACE and JOY? Are we distracted into the pain of our existence? Are we committed to turn our life around? We can rise above all that is not Peace and Joy. We have to leave pain behind and rise to a Higher Truth. Are we able to do this? WIth the help of the Holy Spirit we can. We are sorry we casued ourselves to suffer. We accept the correction of all our "wrong thinking." We want the Truth today. We confess and move on, and the errors are transmuted to God's Peace and Joy.

God gives us only happiness. He gives us the way to transcend the body and the mind's projections of conflict onto it, and all pain it experiences. God has a higher Will for Joy that is His Will for us. "God's Will for us is perfect happiness." DO we accept that? Have we projected "fear" onto "God" which is the Source of Happiness? We must share in that happiness to realize it, and rise aove the "pains of the body's experience." We are asked to Identify with the Spirit. The natural state of that true Self-Identity is JOY. We choose this as our own will. A mind looking toward Spirit forgives and overlooks the painful experiences of the body, and the mind's misperceptions that brought them on.

This Podcast contains 3 in one. A Single Podcast on Lessons #78, #100, and #101. #78 Let miracles replace all grievances.#100 My part is essential in God's Plan for Salvation. #101 God's Will for me is perfect happiness. These are the most Key Lessons in A Course in Miracles. This Podcast could establish your mastery of the Course in actuality. These together give us the Doorway to Heaven. Are we willing to walk through it? This entry into another dimension is held our to us with certainty.

Salvation is the end of the ego's rule of our world and the embrace of our Holy Self as the guide by whom we live. This would be called "salvation" in ACIM, and "forgiveness" is the means by which we replace illusions of the "self we made" for the reality of Love that God created as our True Self. We are saved today from our separated illusions of a "mind" disconnected from its Source. We are as God created us. This is our Self of the Christ which is in constant connection to His Source. We use His Awareness to help us accept our True Self and be in a state of Love, Peace and Joy. This is our only Reality in Truth. To that which is not this Truth, we simply say: "God is still Love, and this is not His Will." Therefore, it is not my true will either, and I can let these illusions of pain and suffering go.

Salvation is the complete immersion in the Joy of Living, and forgiveness of all past errors we have made, or "think" we made. Our Real Self never made these errors. Salvation is the absolution of all our past mistakes. We have to completely forgive everyone and everything. We are free of all consequences in the embrace of our Divine Innocence that cannot ever be assailed. The Guiltless have no fear becaseu they see the Safety is given by God, and this Safety is absolute. Let us accept today our Real Self which amounts to our salvation.

We have one SELF that is whole and totally consistent with the Joy of God. To which do we use our mind to Identify? Body or Spirit? Are we SPIRIT? Are we a BODY? What is the Source of us? Spirit is in a state of Grace forever and this would be a state of Pure Joy. Body is immersed in duality—peace and war; good and evil; happiness and sorrow. The nature of Grace is constant JOY. This is God-like. What do we use our mind to identify with? We transcend the body didentification for our Spiritual Reality. SPIRIT is filled with Peace and Joy. Let's use the 5 minutes an hour to make contact with this Pure Spirit., this perfect happiness that is the Strength of the Light in us.

We practice affirming our Identity as God Created us to be. We are as God created us. We are One Self, at one with every aspect of creation, and limitless in power and in peace. Awareness of our Being solves all of our "problems." As God created us, we are free of all "personal lies" and claim our True Self. This is the Self of Love, free of fear, and cleansed of all "idols" that belive in death. We ask for truth to reveal our One Self to us.

The Light and the Strength of our holy SELF transcends the body's eyes and brain. There is a Sight and a Strength that is connected with the Christ Self that we share. But we have to be willing to let go of what we thought before with the brain's stored "knowledge” that was highly conditioned. We were conditioned to "hate" and to "love" according to what the body's eyes could "see." This was not true sight at all. It kept us wrongly blind in our separation. This Lesson helps us to forgive and let go of our misperceptions based on the body's eyes and brain that created division and false beliefs. We can use the Light of Truth in which to see with spiritual sight that unifies us with Creation—including all our brothers and sisters. In this Christ's Vision are we all One.

We have to see differently, without the filter of the body's eyes. Can we see beyond the body, and all the judgments that this limited form of vision gives us? Rise above the doubt and see through the Self God Created whole and complete, not separated from awareness of its Source. This is the Light beyond the body that gives us the vision of miracles. Strength is in this vision of holiness.

This is Lesson #80. The Problem is Separation which manifests in the form of grievances. Grevances divide us from one another and from the Energy of Life itself. In the absence of Peace and Joy and Gratitude toward this very Life we have, we would wallow in separation—and in this separation arise problems. It is devoid of Joy. Immersed in pain, we can end the illusion of suffering today when we end the Separation we feel between ourselves and our Source. Peace and Joy are the attributes of my Source. We can be in the Oneness with our Source. In that Oneness are our problems solved.

Our cause and effects of the ego have no meaning to the True Self. This Lesson #77 makes it clear we are entitled to miracles. The miracles can erase all consequences that would come from our mistakes. Even death can be transmuted. We are entitled to miracles.

God has laws of Love that created us, and these are the only real laws under which we abide. There are worldly rules that govern and maintain a more orderly world, but the real Laws are those which God, our Creator, bestows on us. These are the "laws" of giving. When we give like God gives, unconditionally, then we can truly say we are under no laws but God's.

Have we forgiven the world totally? For the Light to be here, we have to forgive everything. There is nothing outside of our forgiveness. The Light has come becaseu of this forgiveness. Forgiveness is our function as the light of the world. The Light has come whne we forgive. It is just that simple.

What is God's Will? Would it include war, conflict, the infliction of pain and suffering, massive destruction of life? ACIM would say NO. God's Will is only Peace, Love, Joy and Perfect Happiness. This is the Will that brings forth the LIGHT. How do we align with God's Will that is the Light. God creates Love. Immortality. Life. Love. By definition this would not include war. Reality that is Divine, which is the only Reality, is Peace, free of all conflict. Are we committed to manifesting this Divine Reality? If we desire to end pain and suffering in ourselves and in the world we have to make these inner corrections.

Do we think with God? Do we want what God wants? The basic question in this Lesson is "Are we in touch with God's Will in which there is NO CONFLICT?" This is the whole truth that sets us free. Can we make this our one and only goal today—to join our will with God's Will and come to absolute inner peace? This would be the END of all war. War is never justified. The engagement with conflict is a sure sign that we are siding with the ego's rule, not God's Will. And there is no Will but God's in truth. Love and conflict cannot co-exist. Either we are with one or the other.

Light and Peace and Joy go together. Do we WILL this in ourselves? We are causing our own suffering and we are free to change our minds to align with the Light of Peace and Joy of God. We can forgive ourselves for all of our former mistakes in perception. Suffering is not happiness. Happiness is the Light. And we are using our will to JOIN with God's Will. This joining is salvation. This is the end of suffering and the Awareness of Perfect Happiness. This is our movement toward the good life.

Our grievances keep us in hell. Do we really want to be in hell? Grievances are an attack on our heavenly state of being, that is our original state. Why would we want to stay in hell? Are we able to let go of this need to hold grievances? This Lesson in ACIM, #72, makes it clear that holding grievances is an attack on God's plan for us to be in heaven. In order to accept heaven, to "make the decision for heaven," we must give up our "need to be right," and our need to hold grievances.

Only God's Plan for Salvation will work. And this Plan says YOU are in charge of letting go of your grievances, and you are responsible for how you see things. Nothing outside of yourself is the Source of your salvation. God and the Forces of Divine Life are within you, and these forces are what give you the plan for salvation. You can ask this Source, "What would you have me do? Where would you have me go; What would you have me say and to whom?" This is God's plan that will work to bring you happiness.

It is from our own mind that Liberation will come. This Lessons helps us achieve it.

My grievances block the Light in my awareness. I do not see the Light when I am focused on my grievances that I think have good cause. When we are willing to give up our grievances, we are helped by the Divine Forces to join our will with God's will of peace and joy. Gratitude revelas the Light; grievancess hide this Light. We will never have peace as long as we hold grievances. We can look at our grievances and be willing to see things differently. We can embrace gratitude and this is the antidote to grievances.

Can we rise above our grievances? When we are holding grievances we let the ego rule and condemn the body to death. We then project grievances onto "god" and see a disapproving force that condemns us as well. Hate holds grievances. Love does not. Love created us like itself, free of all grievances. The Gifts of God are noticed mostly in the absence of grievances. Free of all guilt, forgiveness dissolves these errors in our perception. Christ's Vision without grievances is awaiting our acceptance.

Love created us to be Love. And this is an unconditional acceptance of who we are as God Created us. God, Being Love, is What created us. We use those attributes of Love that show us the truth of who we are. Innocence created us Innocent. Goodness created us Good. Perfection created us Perfect. We Are as God created us. The Voice of God, the Truth, gives us the quality that we are.

Do we see our reason for being as perfect happiness? And furthermore, we are already given happiness and it is already ours. There are no external conditions that must be met in the future for us to realize this happiness. We have what we need now to have this awareness of happiness. But our unwillingness to accept this is very strong. The ego does battle to convince us we are not happy and we have to "do something" to achieve this happiness. The ego will keep us away from accepting our Divine Happiness. Can we listen to the Voice of the Holy Spirit that speaks to us of our current happiness that is already here, in us?

What is our main function in life? God gives us a function through forgiveness, letting go, being this light of forgiveness. This is our "only function" according to God's plan for us. What is in our "first place?" Do we have other goals that we deem "more important?" Our only function is attaining the GIFTS OF GOD through the acceptance and practice of our function that God gave to us. Our only real function is the one God gave to us—forgiveness of ourselves and the world, which brings the Light to us.

Forgiveness is our only function here. Will we deny this function, and have a different purpose for being here? Forgiveness will produce Absolute Happiness. Do we believe this? Will we Forgive and be happy? This is the only job we have here. Happiness has this means of Forgiveness to be realized. Fogiveness, Happiness, and fulfilling our function here all go together. This is the Light we have come here to express.

You are the Light. You are the Light by virture of giving forgiveness. You bring the peace to all minds by giving YOUR forgiveness. You receive the forgiveness and give the forgiveness simultaneously. To give and to receive are one in truth. Will we take up this holy function? We are the means for the "salvation of the world." Can we receive this holy function? We have to give in order to receive. Bring to mind the people with whom we have judged and have “attack thoughts" toward. Can we apply the Lesson to these Minds as well? There cannot be exclusions in our application in order for it to be in full force. We let forgiveness rest on ALL THINGS, ALL PEOPLE, ALL ASPECTS OF OUR LIFE.

What is this "LIGHT OF THE WORLD" that we are? It says, "Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world." And now it seems like war is escalating in this world of nationalistic interests. Power is being exerted in aggressive actions of attack. We are asked to make contact with a different Power--one of the LIGHT. One of FORGIVENESS. One of Absolute PEACE. Peace is not had through war. War never restores peace, it merely gives a "winner" and a "loser" who then go on to battle again at a later date with a new enemy. Are we committed to being the Light? Are we committed to fulfilling our function of true and complete forgiveness? We are being tested as Students of ACIM in application of these two lessons.

In this last Lesson in Review #1 we look clearly at the Love of God which is our strength, and the means by which we liberate ourselves from our "self we made up" in the illusion of separation from our Source. These miracles restore us to our natural, holy state. We recognize our innocence, and the reflection of God's Love in us on earth. We are sustained by this Love of God.

God is with us now, and we can have a direct relationship with our Creator. All relationships are holy encounters. Making connection with the Love of God is our responsibility. Will we embrace this gift of Christ's Vision? This is the Strength held out for us—a forgiven world of Oneness that is our inheritance. The gift of vision is seeing our eternal connection that we have with each other.

Is our Holiness something we are in touch with on a moment to moment basis? If not, why not? Our Holiness is always present, but somehow we are absent, not in touch with it. These Lessons are designed to get us in touch with our Holiness. It is in "everything we see." It "blesses the world." It is a strength by which we can "do anything." Can we use these Lessons to make contact with our Holiness?

We are responsible for our thoughts, which in turn produce our results in life. This responsibility is the opposite of "victim consciousness." One of the major actions of A Course in Miracles is to give us back the sovereignty of our own mind. And we can align our mind with the Mind of God which is the Creator of Joy and Happiness, Heaven on Earth, the peace of Divine Reality.

Are we determined to see things differently? Can we change our minds? Are we willing to question our own conclusions about life and death? These Lessons get us to request a vision above all the other sights and sounds we have made up that produce an "inevitable end" to this life we made up. "God is in everything I see." God is by nature IMMORTAL and ALL PERVASIVE. Can we tap into a vision of that Reality? These Lessons give us the chance to do just that.

In this review we look at thoughts, which are never "neutral," to see from where they come— do they arise from the ego's thought system of pain and suffering, or from the Holy Spirit's Thought System of Peace and Joy? We can escape pain and suffering by giving up our thoughts that make them up. We are never a "victim" of how we think, and how we think is up to us. We have free will over our minds. We choose what we will think, and therefore what we see and experience.

What is the meaningless world that our meaningless thoughts are showing us? What is the real world as seen through my real thoughts? Are we looking through our Source of Love? Can we leave behind the world we see through the thought system of the ego? Can we stop projecting our "separated thoughts" that are not connected to Love? Our ego has a substitute for Love that is not real. It has no meaning because it can revert to chaos and make fear, anger, conflict and guilt 'real." The choice is ours to make, which thought system we will use—one of Love or one of fear, guilt or anger?

In This Review I, the 2nd set of Lessons look at our thoughts that are meaningless, that make up our personal version of hell, defined as "private thoughts" that we "think" apart from our Creator. When we think in this way, we are "not really thinking at all." God's Thoughts would produce only Peace and Joy. This "absolute way" of looking at things is often what ACIM gives us. Are we willing to see things differently and drop our ego's thought ststem that is full of "problems?"