Let us speak of Grace. You are all familiar with the concept of Grace. Most envision it like a miracle. They see it as an event in which God suddenly removes the burdens they have been carrying, and they experience a peace and lightness previously unknown to them. Those who have experienced this often have a difficult time speaking about it because it is so personal, but they will use phrases like, “Once I was blind, and now I can see.” Indeed, is that not a line from the song, Amazing Grace? It is as though the hand of God has touched them and changed their perspective, as well as their entire worldview.

Going from blindness to sight is a fairly accurate description. But disagreements arise over understandings of how and why Grace happens. Some longstanding belief systems on the planet say Grace is something that must be earned. Through sweat and toil, they say, one can prove to God that they are worthy of His Grace. If one works hard and does the right things, God will recognize them for it. Part of this belief is the knowing that they may never receive God’s Grace, but they seek it all the same because that is how they know they are living in accordance with God’s plan.

Others believe Grace happens when one surrenders their will to the will of God. In the Christian tradition, that is usually understood as accepting Jesus the Christ as their “personal savior”. In Buddhism, it is the point at which one surrenders all attachments to the material world and awakens to their Buddha nature. In Hinduism, it is often realized through devotional worship to an avatar of God. By devoting one’s heart to the adoration of the physical representation of God on earth, they experience great blessings and a lightness of being.

Which path to Grace is correct? Truly, they all are. For just as there are many different cultures and belief systems on this planet, there are equally many paths to uncovering the Grace that is already yours. You see, Grace is not a fixed event at a fixed point in time. It is an unfolding—an awakening. At some point on your journey to consciousness, it comes into clear focus. When that happens, your perspective on many things seems to shift almost immediately. And, thus, it feels like an event. But what you experience as an event is no more so than the moment of arriving at your destination upon completing a journey. If you travel from one city to another, the entire journey is the event, not just the moment of completion. So it is with the experience of Grace.

Grace is an Awakening

Let’s go a little deeper. What you experience as Grace is awakening to an awareness of Truth that was previously hidden from you. The moment of Grace is simply the moment you are able to see the hidden Truth once again. This is indeed the life purpose of each and every soul on the planet. You are here to awaken to your True Nature—that which is always in alignment with the Divine Nature of God. They are one and the same and cannot be separated. Ever.

But the primary thing that defines the human experience is the perception of separation. You believe that you are separate from God. You believe that God is one thing and that you are another, and that you must strive to be as much like God as possible (or at least what you perceive God to be). Most believe that if they do so with enough devotion, they will receive the Grace of God in this life. Absent that, most believe they will at least earn a comfortable life after death.

All of that is true in some regard, but it is also much bigger and more benevolent than you think. Because you cannot be separate from the Divine Nature of God, you always exist in a state of Grace. There is never a time in your life in which you do not have the Grace of God. Not one second, from the moment of your birth to the moment of your physical death. What keeps you from experiencing the feeling of Grace are your beliefs about who you are, who God is, and your relationship. You believe you are separate, and so you experience that separateness as something other than a state of Divine Grace. As we have often said, you have free will on this planet. You get to choose how you live your life – where you go, what you do, who you do it with, what thoughts you practice, what judgments you carry, what preferences you have—all of it. And as we have said, your choices are informed by your beliefs.

Unfortunately, when you come into the physical, you are not presented with the full gamut of available beliefs so that you can choose which ones you want. What happens instead is that you are handed a set of beliefs by your parents. What they teach you then becomes your personal truth for many years—perhaps your entire life. These beliefs define how the world works and what your place in it is Over time, you are exposed to the beliefs of others. Your friends, teachers, the media—they all act upon you and influence you in ways that may cause you to question and shift your own beliefs. So, there is a constant reassessment of your beliefs, which sometimes leads you to choose new ones.

That’s how it is designed, friends. Your goal on this planet is to awaken to the Truth that you are always in perfect alignment with the Divinity of God—that there is never any separation between you. But you must get to that awakening through free will, and that requires a constant reassessment of your beliefs. Few are born into the physical with a complete understanding of who they truly are. Even the Masters—those who you revere, like Jesus and the Buddha—went through a process of belief assessment and shift. They knew intuitively that they were much more than just physical beings, but they were also offered beliefs by others that did not align with that knowing. So, they had to work through those disparate beliefs and make conscious choices to seek the Divinity inside. If they had not done so, you might not revere them as Masters today.

Choose to Allow Grace

So it is with all of you, my friends. If you look to the teachings of all the Masters who have walked this planet—and who still walk it—you will realize that they lived as examples for you to see what is possible in your own life—in your own understanding of who you are and who God is. They came as examples for you to follow back to your own understanding of your never-ending oneness with God and all of life—your unceasing state of Grace.

When you consciously choose to live as the Masters taught, which, as we have said, really just boils down to continuously choosing love over fear, that is when awareness of Grace is possible. Through your alignment with the Divine Love that is God and that is you, lower vibration beliefs begin to shift and morph into higher vibration beliefs. For example, a belief that you are somehow not worthy of being loved begins to shift to a belief that you are indeed worthy of being loved. You feel more empowered, and your standards for the behavior you will accept from others around you begins to shift. Because you know you are worthy of love, you will no longer suffer those who do not offer you love. You may then choose to associate with other people. This may include friends, the people you work with, and even family members. Your demeanor is different—you are more energized and buoyant. You may also find that your physical body begins to shift to become healthier and more vibrant. All of this positive momentum spills over into every aspect of your life.

What is going on here is that you are allowing more and more Divine Grace to manifest in your life. Hear that word: allowing. This is very important. You are not on a journey of achieving God’s favor. You are not striving to please God such that He decides to gift you with His Grace at some point in the future. You are simply allowing the Grace that is already yours to become visible to you through the falling away of beliefs about yourself and the world that would keep you from knowing it. You are going from blindness to sight.

A blind person cannot see any of the physical matter that surrounds them, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, or that they have no innate awareness of it. Everything is there right in front of them—they are simply unable to see it with their physical eyes. Such as it is with your Divine Nature. It is always there within you—every moment of every day. You simply are not experiencing it to the fullest extent possible.

However, as you continue to seek alignment with your Divine Nature by taking command of your thoughts, emotions, and beliefs—as you constantly make choices that align with Divine Love, choices of compassion, forgiveness, patience, and kindness—the Truth of your own Divinity starts to become visible. You start to see a little bit of what was previously hidden. It is perhaps only a slight vision at first. But that slight vision then shifts your beliefs, and that shift then impacts your thoughts, making them lighter and more loving, which leads to even greater visibility. As the momentum builds, even more Truth becomes visible to you. Your greater alignment with Divine Love leads you to seek more of it, and that leads to more Truth being revealed. But it is not God revealing the Truth of who you are. It is you revealing the Truth to yourself.

That is what Grace is, my friends: You revealing to yourself more of the Truth of who you are—your Divine Nature. You may experience it as a sudden awakening that shifts your perspective tremendously. It may seem like your understanding of yourself and the world has shifted overnight. You may suddenly feel and carry more love than you ever knew possible. You may find yourself suddenly able to forgive where you previously could not. And you may suddenly find yourself wondering how you could have ever thought and believed as you did previously, now that you see things from a much higher perspective. It may be all of the above, and it may feel like God just threw a switch in you that changed everything. But be assured, friends, you are the one with your hand on the switch. You gave permission for it to happen. You chose to remove the blockages that were previously restricting the flow of all the benevolence of God. You allowed yourself to see, and thus the Truth of who you are revealed itself to you.

Divine Truth is constant, my friends. It never changes and it never ceases. When you allow it, Truth reveals itself. This is what you all seek—the revealing of Truth. You do not seek the arbitrary favor of God that may or may not be given. It is already given—always. What you seek is your own awakening to this Truth. And by your constant alignment with Divine Love—the love of God that is your own True Nature—it is revealed to you.

This is why Jesus taught that everything he did you can also do and more. And this is why the Buddha implored you to strive onward vigilantly. Keep striving to reach the understanding that all things are possible for you. Keep aligning your beliefs, thoughts, actions, words, and emotions with Divine Love—as much as you possibly can—and watch how the Truth of who you are reveals itself more and more and more. And remember to love yourself deeply for making this journey.

We are complete.

 

 

Image credit: bertvthul