Messages From God

THE tender communication from God to His idea, man, is constantly going on. How does He communicate with us? God, good, sends His messages to man in the form of intuitions that we sometimes refer to as angels."God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness, purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality, and mortality. These are some of the ways angels are described in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. These messages from God inspire, nurture, guide, and sustain man. They minister to our every need--providing spiritual enlightenment, guiding us to right decisions, k eeping us safe and joyous. We may feel, however, that we have never received any of these messages from God, that even if they do exist, we have never heard them. Or perhaps we remember a time when we made a wrong decision. Thinking back we remember that something had told us to do things differently--but we had ignored that intuition. We can discern what God is saying to us and act on His guidance as we learn to be alert for the messages He is sending to us. As we put aside any sense of operating on our own, separate from God, and learn to listen humbly to what God would have us do, we will be able to discern His direction in our lives. How can we become conscious of the messages from God we need to hear? Mrs. Eddy points out in Science and Health: "By giving earnest heed to these spiritual guides they tarry with us, and we entertain 'angels unawares.' We receive more spiritual intuitions when we learn to listen carefully and consistently for the angels God is sending to us and heed them. It's important to examine our thought to see if it is spiritually-based or if it is operating from the belief that man is made up of matter. Matter-based thought tends to shut out the angels of God's presence. We want, instead, to cultivate the consistent, attentive, spiritual listening for God's direction that is natural to man as God's creation. While I was in college I tried to find summer jobs to help with expenses. My college year ended later than others in the area, and one year when I began to look for summer work it seemed that there were no longer any jobs available. Turning to God, I earnestly tried to hear what He was directing me to do. My desire was to be of service, to be useful. My prayer led me to telephone a friend who lived nearby. She confirmed that there were no summer jobs available in our neighborhood. She had ended up with a job in an area about forty-five miles away by bus. With her encouragement, I also applied for work there. They did hire me, but to my happy surprise they wanted me to work not at the distant location but in my own neighborhood, where a summer position had just opened up. I was certainly glad I'd followed through on my intuition to call my friend! God's spiritual intuitions are ever near. They illustrate the tender care and love of God for His child, man. Listening for God's angel messages is prayerful, healing activity that spiritualizes thought and enables us to hear and follow His direction. Christ Jesus told us, Matthew's Gospel records, "When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. As we do this we become conscious of the angels God is already sending to us. We are able to acknowledge, comprehend, and heed them. And we will be ready to receive more of God's messages.