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Unity Church of Castro Valley

Sunday Message for January 14, 2007

Experience Heaven in 2007

Welcome to 2007!  This is going to be one fantastic year.  I told someone that the other day and they asked me if it really was or if I was just saying that so they would think it was going to be. Well, yes, I was telling them that so that it would be – but, yes, it is also true.

If you look in the Bible at all the references to the number 7 or look in Charles Fillmore’s Metaphysical Bible Dictionary you will see that 7 has to do with fullness in the material world.  Fillmore says that 7 always refers to “the divine law of perfection for the divine-natural man.”  And if you ask a numerologist – this is the year of 9 – which means fulfillment in the world.  And if you talk to psychics, they are all saying that this is going to be an easy year, even though last year was very hard.  They are saying that this is one fantastic year!  So with everything in our favor this year, let’s reap the harvest.

HEALING

This year is about fulfillment in the physical; so this could be the year to do physical healing as well as healing of the mind and spirit and soul.  In II Kings chapter 5 we read the story of The Healing of Naaman by the prophet Elisha.

Naaman was a high ranking commander of the Syrian army who had leprosy.  Naaman’s wife had an Israelite servant, a young girl who had been taken captive on one of their raids. One day this young girl said to her mistress, (2 Kings 5:3) "If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy."

Now Naaman was a famous warrior, had quite an ego, and was used to giving orders. So he set off for Israel with money and a letter from the king of Syria demanding a cure. He came with his horses and chariots to the entrance of Elisha’s house. He probably expected the great prophet Elisha to come out and serve him personally by doing some elaborate healing ritual.  But Elisha did not even come out to meet him. Instead, he sent word by a messenger who said, (2 Kings 5:10) “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean."  Naaman was furious.  First that he was not being honored for who he was, and secondly because surely there were better rivers in his own country to wash in.  He went away in a rage.

So, even when we are offered opportunities for a better life – sometimes our ego or our belief system gets in the way of accepting it.  2007 is going to be a really special year – are you up to accepting that?  Or is it more important to you to hold onto all your old nonsense?  Can you open up to God and allow this year to be fantastically fulfilling?

Well, fortunately for Naaman, he listened when his servants said to him. (2 Kings 5:13) “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, "Wash, and be clean'?”

Can you identify with this?  God just wants us to be happy – but we think it has to be difficult.  If God asked us to suffer for him – there would be many of us that would jump right into it.  But God is offering this wonderful year, 2007, and is asking us to be satisfied, to be fulfilled, to be healed.

Well, Naaman got it!  He went down to the Jordan river and immersed himself 7 times and he was totally healed.  It is as simple as getting your ego out of the way and allowing God to heal you.

This is a great lesson for me right now because of this cold that I have.  Everyone I see tells me about someone they know that has this cold that seems to just hang on forever.  I have to decide if I want to place my belief in race consciousness or in God.  I have to decide if I want to make this difficult or easy.  I have to accept that 2007 can be a healing year for me.

WHOLENESS OF LIFE

Fillmore says that “seven is so universally used as a mystical number that its basis must be in some fundamental arrangement of the natural world.”  In Exodus, chapter 25 we see the description of the golden candlestick that was used in the tabernacle which had seven lamps.  This candlestick of gold, with its seven lamps, was also used later in the Temple that Solomon built at Jerusalem.  The tabernacle and the Temple represent the body of man, our body. The seven lamps, according to Fillmore, were symbols of the seven centers in our body, through which our intelligence is expressed.

One of those is seeing.  This year, plan on and take time to see more.  Notice and appreciate the beauty around you.  See the squirrels running along the fence.  See the sunset and the sunrise.  See the smile on the face of a child.  Really see what’s around you and give thanks for it.

Another of our seven body centers is hearing.  This year, plan on and take time to listen to your family and friends.  Really hear what it is that they are saying.  Listen to the sound of birds in the trees.  Hear the music around you.  Listen to the next song that Maxine sings and really hear the words. Listen to the piano and all the nuances of that sound. Let the music sink in to your consciousness and thank God that you have hearing.

The third body center is tasting.  Do you eat on the run – or do you really stop and taste the flavors.  Make it a point to drop some honey on your tongue and just savor the taste.  Take a bite of a lemon and see how many of your taste buds light up with the flavor.  At your next meal, be aware of what you are eating and how the flavor fills your mouth and give thanks to God that you have this sense.

The fourth center is smelling.  Did you know that the olfactory nerves are the best at bringing up old memories?  Think of the smells from your childhood.  Cookies baking, Mom’s perfume, or the smell of Dad when he came home from work.  My dad worked in a lumber mill and to this day the smell of lumber makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.  Stop and smell the roses in 2007.

The fifth center is feeling.  Snuggle up with a warm fuzzy animal and see if you don’t feel better.  When we hugged each other today, were you concerned with how you looked, who the person was, or did you just allow yourself to be hugged and feel loved.

So this is the five centers that we are all aware of – but there are two more – intuition and telepathy. Since this is the year of 7, maybe this is the year of developing these other two. The solar plexus is the center of intuition, and the brain is the organ of telepathy.  These seven centers within us, these lights that God gave us, have been dimmed by the seven sins: pride, anger, lust, covetousness, envy, gluttony and sloth. Remember Naaman? He had a couple of these in play.  Fillmore writes, “The great purifying river of life must wash away these sins and their leprosy from the body.”  It is time for us to move past the darkness of error that obscures our inner light and life.

It says in (Luke 10:1-2) “The Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. Jesus said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”  The meaning of the sending out of the seventy by Jesus is that the seven avenues of expression in man, the seven senses or seven centers in the organism, are to be trained in spiritual ways and their efficiency is to be multiplied tenfold.

So we need to do more than just see with our human eyes this year.  We need to see another human being, but perceive the Christ being that is there. We need to see the sunset, but perceive the true wonder that God has created for us.

When we hear another person speaking, we need to hear beyond the words to the energy that person is putting out. We need to hear what they are really saying to us.

When we are tasting our food, we need to allow ourselves to taste all that the food is. Taste the orange you are eating, but also taste the water that nourished it, taste the sunshine that helped it to grow, and taste that bright orange piece of God that you are consuming to nourish your body.

When you smell that rose, allow yourself to remember the roses you have smelled throughout your life and to recall the people and circumstances.

Also, develop your feeling sense so that you not only feel with your fingers, but you also feel with your heart.

HEAVEN

So what happens when we accept that 2007 is a special year for us? What happens when we develop our 7 senses this year?  Well, we get to experience heaven in 2007.  Heaven is a state of consciousness in which the soul and the body are in harmony with Divine Mind.  It is a state of consciousness – so it happens in your own mind, which you are in control of.  At any time you can choose to be in a heaven state of consciousness.

Jesus described this state of consciousness over and over again in his parables. He said in (Matthew 13:31-32) “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”  This parable shows us how little we really have to do to attain Heaven.  Just a small thought of Truth can develop in our consciousness until it becomes home to higher types of thoughts.  So in 2007 set you mind on God, set your mind on Truth, and allow yourself to live from a Heaven consciousness.

Then Jesus said in (Matthew 13:33) “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened."  The yeast is the Truth, and the woman is the soul.  When a word of Truth is apparently hidden in the inner mind it is not idle, but quietly spreads until the whole consciousness is light with Spirit.

Jesus was telling us that it takes so little to experience Heaven on Earth.  It is a matter of changing your mind, and 2007 is a ripe opportunity to do just that.  It is your choice.  You can live in your same old problems or you can choose to live Heaven in 2007.

Is this the year that you will lose weight? Drop that addiction? Get in shape? Live healthy? It’s entirely up to you. As it says in (Romans 14:17) “For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

So allow yourself to move into 2007 and take advantage of this opportunity to live joyously.  This year promises all the best and all we have to do is to agree to accept it.  Open up and be all that you can be – enjoy Heaven in 2007.

SCRIPTURE: 2 Kings 5; Luke 10:1-2; Matthew 13:31-33; Romans 14:17

REFERENCES: Charles Fillmore Metaphysical Bible Dictionary

Last updated January 13, 2007