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

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 en...

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 t...

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 wit...

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 th...

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...

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 wo...

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...

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, forgi...

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 hav...

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 functi...

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 com...

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 t...

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...

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 m...

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 in...

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 ha...

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...