After Sunday Service, many people inquired about getting a copy of Rev. Kathy's talk on Creating Prosperity. Here it is:
The title today is “Creating Prosperity.” Here is a prosperity story you may recognize:
One man was grateful to think about God in a new way. He was brought to Mercy Hospital and taken in for coronary surgery. The operation went well, and as the man regained consciousness, he was reassured by a Sister of Mercy, who was waiting by his bed.
"Mr. Smith, you are going to be just fine," said the nun, gently patting his hand. "We do need to know, however, how you intend to pay for your stay here. Are you covered by insurance?"
"No, I'm not," the man answered.
"Can you pay in cash?" persisted the nun.
"I'm afraid I cannot, Sister."
"Well, do you have any close relatives?" the nun asked.
"Just my sister in New Mexico," he volunteered. "But she's a humble spinster nun."
"Oh, I must correct you, Mr. Smith. Nuns are not 'spinsters.' We are married to God."
Smith replied, "Wonderful, in that case, please send the bill to my brother-in-law."
That makes me remember Unity Co-founder Charles Fillmore’s response when a bill collector showed up at the door of Unity in the early days… He said, “Don’t worry, I have a rich father who will pay the bill.” (The man did not know that Charles was referring to God.)
A prosperity and a healing consciousness are in many ways the same. They include an awareness that God/Spirit is the Source of our supply, our good, our health, and wholeness. Living abundantly is having a deep faith and knowing that through the power of the Divine, and with applied spiritual principles, we can manifest greater prosperity and healing.
I think prosperity is also feeling a deep sense of sufficiency and contentment. In a nutshell, we live abundantly by giving thanks for all that we have, releasing that which no longer serves us…thus creating a vacuum for our good; imagining a vision of what we desire now and in the future. Then holding a deep faith that it will manifest and calling it forth with our positive thoughts, words and actions.
Once again, the stages in creating greater prosperity and abundance are:
1) Giving thanks
2) Releasing & creating a vacuum
3) Imagining a vision of our desires
4) Holding a deep faith
5) Practicing Positive thoughts, words & actions
Many of you know these prosperity steps, but we all need a refresher from time to time. So, the first step is:
1) Giving thanks
We begin by feeling gratitude and giving thanks. Take a look around you and give thanks for the things in your life. Do you have a roof over your head? Give thanks for it. Do you have food to eat? Give thanks for it. Do you have a car to drive? Give thanks for it every time you get in it. Give thanks for your friends and family. Give thanks for the chair you sit in. For every little thing you have, notice it with a grateful heart and mind. Notice the beauty of nature around you. Gratitude is key to prosperity!
When we give our attention to the things we are grateful for, we begin to notice more things to be grateful for. We create our life experience through our way of thinking. Whatever we give our attention to in gratitude, we manifest more of. We can begin our gratitude prayers by saying, “I give thanks in advance for my healing, or for the ability to pay a certain bill, or for new friends coming into my life.
2) Releasing & creating a vacuum
It is said that Nature abhors a vacuum and will seek to fill it. If we want greater good, greater prosperity, greater health in our life, we start forming a vacuum to receive it. We start to let go. If there are clothes in the closet or if there is furniture in your home or office that no longer seems right for you; if there are people or something else in your life that drains your energy—begin moving the tangibles and intangibles out of your life, in the faith that you can have what you really want and desire. Sometimes we don’t know what we want until we get rid of what we do not want.
Prosperity Author Catherine Ponder tells of a man who got very sick and was for weeks under his physician’s care. Every possible thing was done for him, but to no avail. He just got weaker and weaker. Finally, one night while suffering from a high fever and deep cough, this man remembered the law of release, the Vacuum Law and realized there must be something he needed to release in his life. He became very quiet and silently asked Divine Intelligence to reveal to him what he needed to release. Suddenly he thought of a person against whom he had been holding a strong grudge. He had said a number of unkind things about this person. He began to realize that the other person may not have known his feelings had been hurt from the events that took place. He began to declare over and over: I fully and freely forgive you. I release you and let you go. I am free, and you are free and all is again well between us.” The next morning the man had improved and continued to heal.
3) Imagine a vision of our desires
Steve Allen once said, “One of the nice things about problems is that a good many of them do not exist except in our imagination.” Imagination can be used for good or ill…
When we approach it in a state of holiness, it will reveal amazing visions and dreams. Do you know the story of the noted doctor at Harvard Medical School who once warned is students against imagining that they personally had the diseases they were studying. He stated that medical history is full of examples of people who have made themselves sick through destructive use of the imagination. This noted doctor cited how he had made himself sick early in his medical career with what he thought was Bright’s disease. At that time, he had vividly described every phase of this disease in great detail, while lecturing on the subject. The more he thought about and talked about the disease, the more convinced he became that he was developing it. The conviction grew so strong that he did not even dare to undergo a physical exam. Instead he lost his appetite, color, energy, weight, and finally was unable to work. Hearing of his condition, a medical friend visited him and was so alarmed at this man’s appearance that he offered to examine him. But this doctor replied it would do no good, because he already knew that he had this dreaded disease. Only after a great deal of persuasion did he finally submit to an exam, which revealed there was not the slightest evidence of disease of any kind. The “patient” then rallied quickly as his appetite, color, energy, and weight returned.
I’m certain most of us have gone through this to some degree. Perhaps we were waiting for medical test results, and our fears caused us to spin out the worst case scenario, only to discover with great relief and possibly even surprise, that everything was fine.
We know the almost superhuman power that the imagination has upon the body. Just as it has a destructive power, so also does it have a fantastic constructive power. Imagine good health. If you have an ailment, imagine the opposite. See all of the muscles, cells, tissues, organs, and systems of your body, healthy, vibrant, and filled with life. Take time to see yourself healthy and active. Imagine it in detail. And if your energy is low and you hardly feel like doing anything….take time to imagine. See yourself energized, filled with the vitality of the Universe. Spirit is the Source of our energy. Call it forth. Do not compromise in your creative visualization. Imagine what you really want, not just what you think you can probably have.
Our imagination, the imaging faculty of mind, has a creative, magical power which can work for us. As a matter of fact, when the imagination and will are in conflict, the imagination always wins out. If there are bills you have not been able to pay, sit and imagine the checks already written to those owed in the specific amount. Imagine putting the checks in envelopes and dropping them in the mail box. If there is need for a specific amount of money, imagine a check written out to you, showing a current date and the amount on the check, or see that money showing up in your checking account. If there is a credit card to pay off, see yourself writing a check for that amount and paying it off in full.
Clearly imagine that you already have what you hope for, that you have reached your goals. What does your life look like?
One reason this exercise of imagination is so effective is that the subconscious is not governed by the same rules of time as the conscious mind. In fact, time does not exist in the subconscious mind -- or in our dreams. (Mark Fisher & Marc Allen, How To Think Like A Millionaire p. 68)
4) Holding a Deep Faith
Through my years as a Unity Minister, I have seen and also experienced incredible demonstrations of faith. I remember a time when I was serving at the Unity Church in Tempe, Arizona. Not too long after I arrived there the church was going through a very critical time financially, and they had stopped tithing because they feared that they could not pay their bills. Julie was the new treasurer, and she came into the office on a weekday to pay some bills. I could see that she was frightened because she had taken on this responsibility and there was not enough money to write a check for the electric bill. Her hands were literally trembling. I said to Julie, “Write the tithe check please.” (And that meant—no payment of the electric bill). And as she did I said, “Now we are doing this as a powerful invocation. We are setting an intention and making a statement to the Universe that we absolutely trust in Divine Abundance—and that God is Our Source. We are declaring that we have all that we need and much more.
And literally, it was not even 2 minutes later—the front door opened, and a couple came in. They lived two hours north and had been away for the summer. They handed us a tithe check for double the amount of the electric bill plus the tithe check we had just written, and they gave us a box of new books worth about $500 dollars for our bookstore.
Talk about an instant demonstration! From that day on, Julie, our Treasurer, was a total believer! She had an incredible sunny attitude around the church money, which always makes a huge difference.
The same is true here with our current Treasurer, Cyndi. She is deeply grounded in a prosperity consciousness, and we can all be grateful. You can affirm, “With God all things are possible. I am filled with faith.”
The fifth step in living more abundantly is:
5) Practicing Positive thoughts words & actions
A young college co-ed came running in tears to her father. "Dad, you gave me some terrible financial advice!"
"I did? What did I tell you?" asked the dad.
"You told me to put my money in that big bank, and now that big bank is in trouble."
"What are you talking about? That's one of the largest banks in the state," he said. "There must be some mistake."
"I don't think so," she sniffed. "They just returned one of my checks with a note saying, 'Insufficient Funds'."
In living abundantly we have to let go of false ideas. We can never create prosperity by talking or thinking about our lack of money or health or anything else. Dwelling on lack only creates more lack. Poverty thinking brings more poverty. Focusing on ill health, brings more ill health. But positive thoughts and words bring abundance. They bring health and vitality. As Unity students we all know that, and yet we must stay vigilant so not to lapse into unconsciousness.
What are you thinking and saying about the future of our country now?
What about our spiritual community, Unity North?
Are we thinking and talking about abundance? Prosperity thinking is “Yes, we will succeed. Yes, it is possible.” “Yes, together we will do it.” We call forth faith and focus on that, and we talk about our fulfillment and success. We can apply that to our country, our spiritual center, our money, our health, our relationships, and everything else.
When we have a prosperity consciousness and are living abundantly, we are grateful for what we have, we give thanks in advance for our desired result—our vision—knowing that God is the Source of our Supply—our abundance, our health, and all of our Good. We think about our Vision not our problem. We talk about our Success not our failure. We think positively and then we take the actions that we can. I think prosperity is also feeling a deep sense of sufficiency and contentment.
I would like to end with a Buddhist Story today about that called “The Lost Jewel,” A story of true wealth.
In the ancient city of Varanasi there lived a wealthy merchant named Dohnananda. He was known far and wide for his immense rich lavish lifestyle and vast trading empire. Yet despite his wealth Dohnananda was never content. He constantly feared losing his fortune, and the more he accumulated, the more restless he became.
One day he heard of a great Buddhist monk named Maha kashyapa, a wise disciple of the Buddha. It was said that those who sought his wisdom found peace beyond material riches.
Intrigued yet skeptical, Dohnananda decided to visit the monk. When he arrived at the monastery he was astonished by its simplicity—no grand halls, no silk cushions. Just a quiet space where monks sat in meditation. Maha Kashyapa, dressed in a simple robe, greeted him with a warm smile.
“Great monk”, Dohnananda began, “I have heard of your wisdom. Tell me, what is true wealth? I have everything a man could desire yet I find no peace.”
The man simply smiled and said, “Walk with me.” Curious, Dohnananda followed as the monk led him to the riverbank where a poor fisherman sat, mending his torn net. His clothes were ragged, his hands calloused, yet he hummed a tune with deep contentment.
Maha Kashyapa turned to Dohnananda and asked, “Tell me who is richer, you or this man?”
Dohnananda scoffed, “Surely I am. I own land, gold and silver, and ships filled with treasures. This man has nothing.”
The Master nodded and then turned to the fisherman, “Tell me my friend, are you happy?”
The fisherman smiled, “Yes master I have my net, the river provides, and my heart is light. I wake up with the sun, fish to feed my family and sleep peacefully under the stars.”
The Master looked back at Dohnananda. “You have everything yet you fear losing it. This man has little yet he sleeps without worry. Tell me who is truly wealthy?”
Dohnananda was silent as the master continued, “True wealth is not in gold or possessions but in contentment. The man who is content is richer than an emperor while the man consumed by greed is poorer than a beggar.”
Dohnananda bowed deeply, realization dawning upon him. From that day onward he lived not in the pursuit of more wealth, but in the practice of gratitude and giving. And for the first time in his life, he felt truly rich.
Wealth is not measured by what we own but by how content we are with what we have. True prosperity comes from not accumulating riches, but from a heart at peace.
In closing here is an affirmation shared by the late author Louise Hay.
Once a day stand with your arms open wide and say with joy:
“I am open and receptive to all the good and abundance in the universe. Thank you, Life.”
Know that Life has heard and will respond.
God bless each of you in living abundantly.