The Power of Blessing | Rev. John Riley

Welcome, welcome. Thank you for reminding us of all the things that we pray about, the things that we are searching for in our lives or wanting in our lives or dreaming of in our lives, and the things that we are holding onto in our lives, all of those ideas that we are praying for, perhaps.

And in all of that searching and seeking, have you, do you know all of the blessings in your life? In this very moment, do you know the blessings that you have in your life in this very moment. I’d like you to just take a moment to think about all of the blessings that you have. Everything from, you know, maybe it’s a roof over your head, maybe it’s a job to go to, or a relationship, or health, or food, water, your breath. Just think about the things that you know are blessings for you, the things that lift you up, the things that inspire you or that are a part of you. Just bring that to mind for a moment because sometimes I think we forget about those.

If we look at our lives and sum up all of the good stuff — you’ve heard of the 80/20 rule? Yes? 80 percent of whatever is created by 20 percent. Well, 80 percent of your thoughts are often created by the 20 percent of what you think is missing, of the lack. 80 percent of our thoughts are really tied into the things that we think we don’t have, not our blessings, not the good in our lives but the things that we don’t have. That’s human nature. That’s being human. Nothing wrong with that. Just know that that’s what’s at work. That’s the operating system that’s going on in there.

The Fifth Key

Where we’re getting to the fourth, fifth, the fifth key, I think, of The Keys to the Kingdom by David Owen Ritz, that program that we’re running in a classroom format, but also I’m speaking about it here because it’s so powerful. It’s amazing. All of the abundance, the demonstrations of prosperity, the students going to the class, the people going to the class are really beginning to experience.

And this key is called blessings or about blessings. This is really one of the, I think the, the strong components of these keys. The blessings because it reminds us to look at our blessings, to count our blessings and to be a blessing. David Owen Ritz says this, “You are a co-creator with God of your own life experience.” Just breathe into that one. “You are a co-creator with God of your own life experience. The spiritual principles and practices that we teach are designed to deepen your awareness of this special relationship that you have with the God power”, the God power.

Now, if that term doesn’t fit with you, God power, you know, maybe it’s Spirit’s energy. Maybe it’s divine inspiration, divine wisdom. Maybe it’s, you know, that intuitive knowing or that love that you experience. All of those are synonyms for this idea that we’re calling God power or SOAPS, SOAPSLITU. Anybody, SOAPLITU? Have you heard of that one? The sum of all physical laws in the universe. Now, I added an “s” because I think there is a spiritual law that goes along with those physical laws. That’s why we teach metaphysics because we’re talking about the laws of consciousness. SOAPSLITU. God is still shorter, that’s correct. But is it always good to take the short route, to take the easy route? Sometimes you really need to take the longer route. Sometimes you need to take that SOAPSLITU and really dive into it and see, what does that really mean to me. Isn’t that what a teacher would tell you? I’m just saying.

David Owen Ritz goes on to say, “Moreover, the dawning of an intentional and conscious partnership with the divine is a very special moment in the soul’s growth and evolution, the dawning.” First off, that’s the awakening. That’s the awareness, that’s the aha moment. It’s like, “Oh, this is how it works”. And, “That idea of intentional conscious partnership with Spirit’s energy” — with SOAPLITU, with God – “that conscious, intentional partnership”. That’s really, when you get to that point of looking at that and taking that into your time of discernment that’s when you start to move out of and shift out of the dualistic victim/victor consciousness that us human beings live in, right, the consciousness of, “Life is happening to me. Things out there are happening to me. Some condition is happening to me. God is happening to me”, where we think of that, “God out there, somewhere up there and I’m separate from that.”

But when you start to realize that you are co-creating your life experience with that divine essence, with the allness of life, love and wisdom then you start to move into the next level of consciousness out of victim and victor into vessel consciousness of knowing that God works in, through and as you, that Spirit’s energy flows through you, that you are the channel, the heat, the hands — the heat? — the feet, the hands, the voice of Spirit in the world, that you are the expression of it. And when you start to realize that then you start to get to what’s called verity consciousness and that’s really truly knowing your oneness, knowing that it’s all God, that there is no separation from you and God, for God is everywhere present. And there isn’t a prayer that I need to achieve that, right. It’s just knowing that that’s the truth.

When I come from that place, all of those other things that we pray for, that we pray about, come easier, come more effortlessly, come more naturally for us. We start to live more from that ideal of us, that consciousness, of that I AM consciousness that Lisa talked about.

Now, along the way, you know, as we go through this, it’s not a, it’s not a magical thing. It’s not like, you know, I get on my phone every, on my watch rather, every time I stand up enough I close a ring. Woohoo. It’s not like, you know, “Hey you meditated five hundred minutes this month. You’re now enlightened. Congratulations. How’s it feel? Well Bob, what do we have for him?” It’s a thing that kind of grows with you, that you practice and will have those aha moments of, “Ah, that’s what he’s talking about. Oh, I experienced that. I just saw that. I experienced that bliss. I let go and stopped thinking that I had to be the source of my good and thought God is the source of my good and five clients called me.” That’s a true story from someone in the class. I don’t know if it was five, maybe it was three, but people called, simply by letting go.

So, with practice as you start to move into this practice of living in the flow of abundance, living in the flow of Spirit, living in the flow of the allness of life, just holding that idea that you’re not separate from it, just holding the idea that God is within you, that Spirit is within you, that that energy is always flowing to you, just a willingness to hold that idea can change your life. That’s where transformation really begins. When you hold that willingness, that’s where you begin to see possibilities in life. That’s where you begin to see the opportunities as they are coming towards you, through you, as you, however they’re coming. Just become more aware and you become more gentle in riding the current of life, not struggling quite as much, just by that willingness, just a simple willingness.

And the challenge with those aha moments are, you know, it’s like we touch up in that awareness, that consciousness but then we come back down and we think, “Oh, I’m not doing something right. I need, I need the three keys to success.” If you go on the internet there’s like three keys, seven keys, you know. Practice these things daily and you will find the keys within you. Practice them daily and they will become part of you. “And if you practice today, you’ll also get a free knife. It cuts through a tin can, can still cut a tomato.” I can see I’m dating myself with that commercial.

David Owen Ritz says, “As this new awareness grows and takes hold in your life you will gradually find yourself living with a greater sense of freedom and personal empowerment.” The more you focus on your good, the more you praise your good, the more you seek your good, the more you share of your good, the more good you will have.

Now, this isn’t new. This isn’t Unity. This isn’t, you know, New Age stuff. This has been talked about throughout the ages. These are things, this idea is something that people, that sages, have been talking about for a long time. The Buddha said in the Dhammapada, “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. Speak or act with a pure mind and happiness will follow you, as a shadow, unshakeable.” Lao Tzu in the Tao te Ching said, “A single principle can — that the single principle can be found everywhere all the time. Everything works according to it. Knowing Tao, I know how things happen”. Knowing that divine wisdom, knowing that divine essence, knowing your SOAPSLITU. What did I say? I can’t even remember it now. We’ll just say SOAPS. It’s easier. Knowing that spiritual principle. And when you practice it, you begin to see it at work and then you’ll really begin to know it. And that’s the thing. It’s like I said, it comes and goes.

The Universe Always Says Yes

Ralph Waldo Emmerson said, “As a man thinketh so he is. As a man chooseth, so is he and so is his nature.” So, those things that we are holding in consciousness, those things that we think about and put in our intellect, that’s who we’re showing up as. And Thoreau said, “The universe constantly and obediently answers your conceptions.” Powerful. The universe is always saying yes. If this is what you’re holding in your consciousness, this is what the universe will provide to you.

I like how Jesus put it, actually, in the Hebrews, in Job, chapter 22 verse 28, “You will decide upon a matter and it will be established for you”. You will decide upon it and that will be the consciousness that you create, the lens through which you see the world, that’s how you show up. “All things are possible to him that believeth.” Mark, chapter 9 verse 23, ”All things are possible to him that believeth.” “According to your faith, it will be done”, Matthew 9:29. “In the things that are impossible with men are possible with God”, Luke 18:27. It’s not new.

What is a Blessing?

And when we tune into that divine inspiration, when we tune into the allness of life then the way is made clear for us. And one of the key ways to do that, to keep yourself tuned into that, is by counting your blessings, by looking at the blessings that you have in your life. So, go ahead and think about that while I grab my water. Thank you. It’s got a lid. Thank you all for blessing my water.

So, what is a blessing? What is a blessing? You know, in Unity we talk about this because a lot of times in our human experience and from the religion that we grew up with, right, we look at a blessing that has to come from out there, from the God “out there”, that has to come from somebody who is in a particular position perhaps in a religious organization. Now, they might say a person who is closer to God can do the blessings but who is closer to God than you for you? For God is everywhere present within you. That’s what the teachings were. That’s what Jesus meant when he said all things are possible that believe in him, that according to your faith it will be done and the things that you thought were impossible are made possible by God. That’s you being in that energy.

Now, a blessing is something that we can do all of the time. In fact, when we’re holding someone in affirmative prayer, when we’re holding them in that truth of who they are, when we see the I AM consciousness in them regardless of the shenanigans that they do, right, because we all do a little shenanigans in our life. So, when you’re praying for your siblings or your children or the people across the street or, you know, the people who are of ill health, what we’re doing in Unity is we’re holding the truth of the I AM consciousness that they are whole spiritually, that they are one with God and that God, that divine love, is doing its perfect work in, through and as that person. And as according to their faith, as they accept that spiritual energy, that energy from Spirit, that work is being done within them. And that work may be a work of consciousness because everything begins first in consciousness so it may be something that uplifts them.

We are a blessing whenever we extend love to somebody, whenever we extend kindness to somebody, whenever we come from a perspective of, instead of competition and resentment and, as the Daily Word said earlier, those things that we need to release. When we release them, then the blessings naturally come.

So, that can be difficult in life if we’re looking at it from the perspective of, “Look at this mountain that I have in front of me”. We talked about that mountain before. In fact, I think it was Casey that said, if you have, I said, if you have faith — I didn’t say it, Jesus said it. I just repeated it — if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to that mountain “move”, and that mountain will move. And most of the time we’re looking at that 20 percent which is the mountain, right. That’s the only thing that’s driving our thinking. We forget about the mustard seed of faith.

And Casey came up to me afterwards and said, “I got it. When I have that mustard seed of faith, that’s just that tiny willingness, that tiny piece of faith saying, “Okay, I don’t know but I’m willing”, and that mountain becomes a molehill.” What a great metaphor. What a great way to look at it. With that tiny mustard seed, that great mountain becomes a molehill and I find my way around it.

Four Practices

There are four keys along with your special knife that you can use this week, four practices that you can use this week to put this idea of blessing into practice. The first key, become conscious of the good in your life. Become conscious that you are blessed. You are blessed. You’re here, sitting in this room. You have electricity to watch me on and you have a device to watch me. You are blessed. Right, think about the people who can’t sit in a room. Think about the people who don’t have the internet. Think about people who don’t have food at the end of the day. You are blessed, each and every one of you.

Now, the ego in us, the wounded part of us may say otherwise but all you need is that little willingness to say, “Okay, where are my blessings?” and to start to count them. Every night at the end of the day, count your blessings that you experienced that day. Are you taking notes? Thank you, Barb. One person gets a gold star today. “Become conscious of your good, the good in your life because you are blessed. Praise the good in your life.” Praise is the best thing in the world. Anybody, you know, like it when they’re excited and happy? Did you do anything good this last couple weeks that you’ve said “yes” or did something good happen that you can say, “yeah that was awesome”? Anybody? Yeah, so what happened when you were in it? Wasn’t it cool? And when you think back to it, you can praise that. Look at that good stuff that happened and that lifts you back up.

Praising your good amplifies the good in your life. Praising your good lifts the energy up within you. When you make that list at the end of the day, give yourself a pat on the back. See if you can beat the list the next day. “I have so much good” and praise it and see what it does to your energy. You know, okay, this might be a little old church but everyone say, “amen!”. Amen! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Yep. Uh, give me another one. SOAPS! SOAPS! Can you feel the upliftment in you? Praise your good. That’s the whole point. Praise God. Praise good. Praise love. Praise kindness. Praise intuition. Praise that inspiration. Praise that creative moment. Praise that, you know, amazingly complex spreadsheet. “I praise that because then I don’t have to do it. No idea what it means but here it is. It comes to me every Sunday.” Praise that which you appreciate in life. Praise that which lifts you up. Praise that really gets your — I think there’s a song. I think it’s by, I don’t know who it’s by. Anyways, you’ve got to get your praise on because you will amplify your blessings. And then share the good in your life. Be the blessing. Bless it in everything that you do.

So often we’re looking at life and we’re coming from the things that we’re giving to life because we’re always giving to life. We’re always expressing in the world. Did you realize that? If you’re breathing, you’re giving to life. If you’re not breathing, give it a moment, and if you start breathing again, you’re giving to life. And when you’re not breathing anymore, you’re still giving to life. You’re giving to life in a different consciousness. You’re giving to life, to the earth, whatever. However you’re giving, you’re always giving. You are the stream through which Spirit flows. You are it. So, share your good and see how you’re giving to life.

Now, anybody pay any bills this last month? There are a few of you who don’t have bills. Congratulations. That’s fantastic. You know, how are you paying your bills? Uh, my 80 per cent, my 20 per cent is coming and kicking in. Right, my attitude has shifted because I’m not praising the good that I have the ability to pay my bills. Isn’t that an incredible thing? Amen! Who said it? Amen! Share your good. However you’re giving to the world, give it with that enthusiasm, give it with zeal, give it with love for it’s the manner in which we give to the world, as all of those luminaries said, in consciousness, in consciousness. It’s not just our thoughts, it’s our feelings, it’s our subconscious that plays a big role in it, that creates all of our behaviour patterns, that 80 percent of what’s going on is all under the radar for us.

So, when you start to be aware of your good, you’re now becoming aware of, “Oh, those thoughts aren’t so beneficial to me anymore” so you can shift them. You can shift them and therefore shifting your consciousness. How you give to life is how you receive life, how you experience the world, how you co-create your world, your life experience with God. The universe just says yes. The fourth key, the fourth attribute of this key is look for the good even in the negative.

Now, a lot of times what can come up are our fears and frustrations, our doubts, our worries. What did we call it a couple Sundays ago? What did I call it? My “big but”. My “yeah-but”. My but gets in the way all the time and I tell you, that “but” has legs. I’ve been waiting a long time for that one. Sounds like I should have waited a little bit longer. But in every circumstance, in every situation and whenever anything comes up, look for what you might call good. In all of those situations that happen that we will label as not good, within there, there’s always an opportunity when you are open to that divine inspiration, when you’re open to the laws of Spirit and the physical laws of the universe, the spiritual laws of the universe, when you’re open to divine inspiration, there will be some gift for you. There will be something that you can learn, that you can take, that you can teach.

So, always look for the good. Always look for the good and I tell you, if you spent your time looking for the good in your life you wouldn’t have time for the rest of it. That 20 percent of the ickies are just going to become in the moment. They’re not going to have legs. They’re not going to keep living in you if you allow that good, if you look for the good in your life.

In 1961, November 20th, there was a Daily Word that I found that I really liked. It said, “God blesses me and I bless you” because you are a blessing. And anytime you hold a good thought for somebody, you hold somebody in your heart, you send them energy, you hold them in that divine idea of spiritual wholeness, anytime you do that you are lifting and blessing someone up. You are blessing them and lifting them up. You are the blessing and when you come from that experience then the world can change and you can start changing the world. There is power in blessing. “Bless the mind in need of illumination. Bless the body in need of healing. Bless the person in need of employment. Bless the property that must be sold or rented. Bless the home that is being sought. Bless the environment that needs to be put in order. Bless the human relationship that needs harmonizing. Bless the problems that need solving. Bless the world that needs peace.” In 1961. Anything changed?

“There is power in blessing. The mind that is occupied with pouring out thoughts of blessings can not be filled with fear.” It just doesn’t have time for it. Fear will pop up, but we don’t have to take it on. We don’t have to fill our cup with it. At Project Cornerstone I used to teach with elementary school kids, it’s called Filling Your Bucket, right. If you fill their bucket, there is no room for the fear to take root. Fear, frustration, anxiety will all pop up, but will it be able to move through you if your bucket is full, if you keep focussing on your good.

“The mind that is occupied with pouring out thoughts of blessings cannot be filled with fear. The heart that is giving a blessing is a heart filled with faith. The tongue that is speaking a blessing is in unity with the spirit of love who promised, ‘I will bless thee’. There’s power in blessing. We give a blessing when we pray or evoke all that which is beneficial. The power of blessing builds a bridge from desire to fulfillment. The power of blessing makes smooth the way for perfect answers, for a perfect answer to prayer.”

So, give of your blessing. Bless it. Bless your life and all the experiences that you have in it. And as you do, you will receive from life tenfold.