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

What is it we feel in this very moment? Is it the Love of God? Is it anxiety about the future? Is it conflict in our relationships? Is it the uncertainty of doubt? It may not be the Love of God. This lesson helps us make contact with a light within ourselves that is independent of the external situation. This is the Love of God. We can feel it in this very instant, and reap the benefits of this Di...

The Peace of God is shining in me now. I give myself the quietude and the space to make contact with it. It is always there, but in giving our attention to other concerns, we often do not realize it. A couple days ago we said, "I want the peace of God." Do we? This lesson is the flower of that true intention. If we truly want the Peace of God, we have it to give. As we give it, we "bless the world...

We bless our own innocence when we extend it to another. The state of complete forgiveness is ours to give. When we bless another we are giving the grace that we have already received. In giving the blessing we are certain we have it. Our storehouse of goodness increases. When Divine Ideas are given away, they increase in us. Application of the truth then, becomes our most primary life action.&nbs...

What do we have to give? We receive the miracles of the Gifts of God in order to give them away. The power of our extension comes from our Creator, and the joy we have from giving is unsurpassable. The world, caught in the quagmire of conflicting thought, needs our love and forgiveness. Who but we can save it? Who but we have the means to forgive our mistakes and see the face of Christ in every hu...

We receive what we truly desire instantly. If we want gratitude, we have it. If we want trust, we have it. If we truly desire Peace, we have it. This lesson takes us to the Elysian fields of inner tranquility. Let us go there without delay. Let us claim the Peace that God Himself holds out for the whole Sonship. 

We "inherit" the power of Divine Will. It is in the Name of God. This is not a "word" as we know it. Imagine a Name that encompasses all things in Creation. It is Total. It sends Love to every corner of the Universe, and especially to us. This is the "Name of God." And it is our inheritance. 

What does it mean to call upon God's Name? What is that primordial Power of Creation that we are calling upon, which is also our own true name? We are asked to go beyond the personality we all have formulated, and be with a Self-Identity that is deeply connected to everything. God's Name will help us to make this connection, and we need to consciously call upon it for its action and power to unfol...

"I will be still an instant and go home." What is our home? It is free of conflict and stress? Can we really be still and empty our mind of fear, judgments, and attack? This is what being still means. Who values that above all else? Who really wants to go to their true HOME? 

We begin the last Review of Lessons #181-#200 today. The Oneness of our Self is the backdrop for this Review VI. "I am not a body; I am Spirit." In this connection are we joined as One. It is at that level we can truly TRUST, when we say, "I trust my brothers who are one with me." 

The Peace of God is always present, but we are absent from it. When we pay attention to the Peace and Happiness that "God wills for us," that is already there for us, we will find it. ACIM makes it very clear these elevated states of being are our certain Inheritance. But we must claim them in order for them to "take effect" in our lives. 

This is the ultimate test in whether we will ascend into the Spirit that we are. "I am not a body. I am free."  It's one of the most important Lessons in A Course in Miracles. 

Are we in the flow of giving and receiving? The receiving is in the giving, which has its own Divine Vibration of appreciation. Who is delighted to have something to give? Are we expecting to "get back" something by our giving? Or, in the right relationship with giving, do we realize we already have what it is we give?  We are created to be like our Creator, Who only gives. Gratitude is "earn...

The resurrection is merely the ascendance out of the ego's thought system into the Holy Spirit's Thought System. If we are not doing this, then we are crucifying ourselves with Fear, Guilt, or Anger. Attack directed toward anyone is an attack upon our self. There are no exceptions to this. It is true, then, "It is but myself I crucify." We can stop doing this. It does not take time or practice, ju...

Love and gratitude go together. Grievances, comparisons, and unforgiveness go together and block our awareness of love. Which would we choose? We have the means to erase all the struggles and strife in our world. Will we walk that path of forgiveness and claim the Gifts of God? It's our choice which way we go. Go the way of love and forgive everything. Go the way of forgiveness and walk in gratitu...

This Lesson has the potential to undo all fear, especially the anxiety we all hold about the unknown future. Murphy's Law—"what can go wrong will go wrong," does not apply to us when we are placing the future in the Hands of God. "God gives us only happiness" is part of a prayer in Lesson #66. God and Happiness are inseparable. As long as we place our future in the hands of certain happiness, what...

We have all heard the saying "shit happens." All things are lessons, and even the things that seem to go off are usually teaching us something about ourselves and  our place in the world based on the thoughts we have about it. These difficult incidents are "lessons in forgiveness" mostly. No matter how challenging or "unfair" a situation may seem, the lesson is always forgiveness and returnin...

"Forgiveness is my function as the light of the world." This is Lesson #62. This Lesson is a reminder of that function, and also a booster knowing that God's will is that I fulfill this function in the world. We who have studied ACIM a long time know this directive inside and out. More so, that Forgiveness takes on new meaning and urgency in our lives. We may receive tougher lessons that test our...

This is a supreme statement of Self-Identity. Getting this Lesson in your heart and bones is the whole purpose of A Course in Miracles. This is the ultimate Miracle—accepting your Self as God created you. The prayer is poignant:  I am the holy Son of God Himself. I cannot suffer, cannot be in pain; I cannot suffer loss, nor fail to do all that salvation asks. Can we step up today and accept t...

HEAVEN or HELL. Which do we choose? The choice is ALWAYS ours. LIFE or DEATH. These are also functions of our consciousness. The fact that pain is a choice we make is not always so apparent. It is easy to feel like a "victim" of pain—something that "just happens to us beyond our control."  But our sub-conscious mind is in control. And this we are not always aware of how it is affecting us. Bu...

This Lesson gives us the doorway to Heaven. The prayer at the end is profound:  Father, we do not know the way to You. But we have called, and You have answered us. We will not interfere. Salvation's ways are not our own, for they belong to You. And it is unto You we look for them. Our hands are open to receive Your gifts. We have no thoughts we think apart from You, and cherish no beliefs of...

We have a light in us put there by our Creator. This is the light of Pure Joy, of Truth, of Perfect Happiness, of absolute Peace. This is the light this lesson is asking us to contact within ourselves. Do we give this contact importance in our life? "I am the light of the world" is Lesson #61. "Light and Joy and Peace abide in me," is Lesson #93. Clearly Light, Peace, and Joy are synonymous. Perha...

We have the Peace of God within us. This is the blessing we extend. When we know we have something, we have it to give. But when we give something away, the ego thinks we have less of it. The Holy Spirit's Thought System knows when we give something valuable away, like Peace, we have more of it. It increases by giving it away. In fact, all that we give away becomes a blessing to ourselves and othe...

If something requires our contribution to be complete, it would follow that completion depends on us. This is the logic of this Lesson #186. The bringing of the Heaven State to Earth cannot happen until we have brought this State of Being into our own life. Our part is essential in this plan of "Salvation." (Lesson #100) This is not "arrogance" to think our part is so important, because it actuall...

"I want the Peace of God." The first "gift of God" is Peace. Can we receive it? We would have to want it above all else. This wipes away all other desires, and imbues all our actions with a serenity the world does not know. The Peace of God is a gift so great we hardly recognize its all encompassing magnitude. Perhaps this is the day we can come to the pure intention that A Course in Miracles lays...

We are asked to put aside all the "names" we have given things which divide reality into separate parts. There is a WHOLENESS that we are not seeing when we "name things." This lesson is a portal into that State of Mind that is suspended from division and separation. We have to claim this inheritance by giving our attention to the One Name of All that is Created—the Name of God.