Week #4 of the 7-Week Series, “7 Prayers That Will Change Your Life”
So we’ve been doing this series on prayer. And one of the things I want you to open a space to is that: Most of us — whether we realize it or not — need more prayer support. Most of us need to be spending more time in prayer. When we’re feeling anxious or upset or cranky, what I want you to see is that: When you’re feeling out of sorts; when you’re feeling on edge; when you’re feeling empty; when you’re feeling burned out, I want you to see that is, by definition, your time to spend more time in prayer.
Over and over again, we need to be full. If there’s good that you want to do in your life; if there’s things that you want to overcome; and things that you want to create in your life, I’m going to suggest today that you need to be spending a good portion of a day — not the whole day! — but more than just a few moments in prayer on a regular basis to fill up your soul. Because we need it!
Now, can you live your life 100% out of your ego? Because you have free will, you can! But the question that I have for you tonight is: Can your ego fix your ego? Like, if you’ve got an ego issue, can your ego jump in there and get underneath the hood and, like, fix it? Right? If you have a personality issue; if you have a personality problem; if there’s a need in your personality; or maybe if people aren’t finding your personality as charming as you do [congregation laughs], can your personality heal your personality?
What about your intellect? As smart as you are, can your intellect heal your intellect? See, one of the things that I truly believe is that much of what is written now that we call “self-help” is valid; it’s good! And where Unity kind of diverges from that path is: Unity believes that, to really heal — to really help; to really make a change in your life — that it can’t just be your ego solving your ego problems. Or your intellect solving your intellectual problems. Or your personality solving your personality problems. That it has to be an opportunity for us to experience more God! There has to be a spiritual component to it.
Like, there has to be a way for us to say, “Okay, Spirit; what is it that needs to be healed in me in this situation so that I don’t continue to create the same issues over and over and over again?”
How many of you can see that maybe you’ve had the same problem more than once? And what I want you to see is that, after we’ve had the same problem multiple times, we could then maybe begin to believe that our ego may not be able to solve it. That we actually might have to go to God and say, “Okay, Holy Spirit, what is it that needs to be healed in me so that I don’t continue to create this situation?”
Over and over again, we have a very high belief in the nature of humanity. We believe that each and every one of us was created in the image and likeness of God. We don’t think that you’re broken; we don’t think that you’re “less than”; we don’t think that you’re terrible; we don’t think that you’re a worthless sinner. But also, no matter how fabulous you are, it doesn’t mean that you don’t need God to take your next step! Like, that there is a spiritual process that we’re all in.
Albert Einstein said that, “You cannot solve a problem at the level that it was created.” So by definition, if your ego is creating problems in your life, would you trust your ego to solve it? Many of us do! [Laughs] Right? Many of us do! It’s like, “Well, it’s an ego problem; I’m going to go to my ego, because it knows me best.” But the truth is: No; it doesn’t! Right? Ego knows your own insecurities; your fears; your wounds. And it does its best to kind of play with those, and so nobody notices how messed up you feel on the inside!
But God loves you! And the power of God at work in your life knows exactly how to heal you.
So we’ve been doing one prayer at a time: one a week for the last four weeks. And this week the prayer is: BE YE TRANSFORMED. Be ye transformed.
Now what’s fun about that prayer is when you say it to everyone else. [Congregation laughs] Like, when you’re in the parking lot and you want everybody else to drive right, you just say, “Be ye transformed! Be ye transformed! Be ye transformed!” But I want to suggest to you that that’s not really what this prayer is for.
How many of you have tried to change your parents; your children; your neighbor; your boss; your co-worker; your spouse? And they just refuse to get on the right page?
So when we’re praying for the transformation of others — and I believe that’s healthy! I believe it’s healthy to pray for the transformation of others! But it’s not healthy to pray for their transformation when we’re telling Spirit how to change them. Because we’ve got a little too much skin in the game. Like, when we’re praying for the transformation of others, we actually have to trust that the Spirit of God in them knows the highest and the best way to transform them. And our job is just to move into alignment with that.
But really where this prayer becomes powerful is when we begin to say it to ourselves! When we invite the activity of Spirit into the places where we feel stuck; where we feel the same repetitive situation over and over and over again; and we say, “Be ye transformed.” Because there’s something about when we just say it honestly and it’s like, “God, I’m finally ready to be transformed. I’m finally ready for this situation to be different. I don’t need to keep making the same situation a hundred more times. Be ye transformed.”
Be ye transformed!
How many of you back up your computers? How many of you know that you should back up your computer? Okay; good! I should have asked it that way, right? How many of you know that you should back up your computer? And do you know why that is? And the idea is that, if your system gets corrupted with bad programs, viruses, malware, whatever it is, then you have a “clean copy” to restore your system. And the idea is that, if your computer gets corrupted, you can then download a clean copy of your system, and then you can operate from the original clarity of the system.
And what I want you to see tonight is: That’s what I want for you! I want everywhere that you’ve been corrupted; everywhere that you’ve believed less than the highest and best about yourself; everywhere that you have a belief — everywhere you’ve got a little virus working or a little malware working in your system — I actually want you to be able to reboot yourself to the original specifications the moment God designed you. The moment God gave you life. The moment God sent you into the world in absolute perfection. I want that for you!
And the transformation is not about making you something you’re not; it’s about restoring you. Restoring us to the original image and likeness that God has for us. We were created in the image and likeness of God! And every time we begin believe in lack and limitation; we believe in our own self-doubt; we believe we can’t; we believe we’re ugly; we believe we’re terrible; we believe that we’re less than: “Holy Spirit, transform me at depth. Transform me!” So that we actually get to stand and live our very best life. We get to actually live and call forth the highest and the best that’s within us.
And that’s really what we’re about, right?
A friend of mine — a pyschologist, Dr. Keith Witt — said, “Trusting your feelings doesn’t work when you’re anxious, depressed or frightened.” And I want us to see today: How many of you know that, from time to time, you can have a freak-out? Anybody? [Congregation laughs] Anybody capable of having a royal freak-out, where you get to some really dark places? And go into some deep self-doubt? And Chicken Little, “The sky is falling!”? And life looks scary and dark and ugly?
And what I want you to see is: The moment that you notice that you’re not operating from the best that is within you, this is the moment where I want you to be praying with me, “Be ye transformed.”
The moment you get a little wiggy — and that’s a spiritual term. [Congregation laughs] I think Moses used it in the Old Testament once or twice when the Israelites were murmuring. He says, “When you get wiggy, you’ve gotta go to God!” Because over and over again, the moment you’re in self-doubt …
Now there are times for all of us when we’re in self-doubt, and we don’t know we’re in self-doubt. We’re just in self-doubt! But there are times when we’re in self-doubt, and we actually know that we’re in self-doubt, and when we’re actually conscious …. Because you can’t heal what you can’t see. But when you begin to notice that you’ve fallen away or that your life is harder than it needs to be, the moment you notice it, the prayer that I want you to pray is, “Be ye transformed.”
Will you say that with me? [With congregation]: “Be ye transformed.”
Because the moment you give God permission to work in your life, God begins to work. Because you have free will, you have complete authority to say, “No!” to God. And God does not have the right — even for you; even though God loves you — to mess with you when you don’t want to be messed with. Spirit kind of works around the edges, but because you have free will, you have dominion over your own life. You actually have to invite the activity of Spirit into heal you.
Because if you don’t want to be healed, God is very patient. God’s old! [Congregation laughs] Right? [Laughs] God’s … Right? God will wait you out! Right?
Now do I believe that God is old? No! God is timeless; he’s not an old guy in the sky, you know, with the long beard. God is Spirit, right? But I want you to hear that the Universe will wait on you until the moment when you are sick and tired of being sick and tired. And at that moment — when you ask for help — the Infinite moves in your behalf.
“Be ye transformed!”
Together: [with congregation] “Be ye transformed.”
So I had a dream. And in this dream, I’m driving my parents’ 1972 …. Now, remember, I’m old! [Congregation laughs] A 1972 Ford LTD Country Squire. Anybody old enough to remember that car? It had the fake wood paneling on both sides, and it was like the first car my dad ever owned that had power everything. Right? The windows; the door locks. It was crazy! It had the dual seats that faced each other in the way back, so … And, you know, it was a crazy car.
And for those of you car people, it had a huge engine and a 390 with a four-barrel carburetor. And that station wagon: that’s where I learned to drive, and that’s where I got my first speeding ticket. [Congregation laughs] That was my growing-up car, right? I had my first date in that car. Like, that was an important car to me!
So I had this dream. And I’m driving … [Laughs] I’m back in the Squire. I’m driving the LTD. And it had little LTD badge on the steering wheel. And, you know, it was like the bomb! And so I’m driving it.
Now anybody else grow up in Southern California? Anybody from Southern California? Now if you’re from Southern California, you know if you use the term, “river,” we don’t really mean it. Right? In Southern California, like, the Santa Ana River is just a cement column that goes underneath freeways. Right? There’s no actual water in it! But we call it the Santa Ana River, because like three times a year, the water runs for like 15 minutes, and we get excited. But that’s … Or the LA River.
And so I’m driving the old LTD, and I’m in one of those three-sided river banks that are now just all concrete. And I’m driving along, and the water starts flowing. And the water level’s getting higher and higher and higher. Finally it’s over the car. And I’m still driving! [Congregation laughs] It’s a dream; it doesn’t have to make sense! Right? So I’m still driving and I’m thinking, “This is really weird.” Like, in the dream I even realize it’s weird, right? Because I’m driving, and now I’m underneath the water. I’m driving along the concrete. And it’s completely water.
And I wake up and I think to myself, “Richard, that was a weird dream.” And I said, you know … Because I try to understand my dreams. I said, so the LTD was a symbol of my childhood; it was a symbol of growing up. And for me, water represents the activity of Holy Spirit. It’s that activity of the Holy Spirit that just always wants to wash me clean. Right?
So I said, “Oh. I still have some issues with my childhood that need to heal. And I need to turn them over. I need to give them to God.”
And tonight I want you to really look at what’s holding you back from living your best life. And I want you to be willing to actually do a little inner inventory. What thoughts? What beliefs? What fears? What situations are holding you back from living your best life? And tonight we’re going to give them to God. We’re going to say, “Be ye transformed.”
One more time like we actually mean it: [with congregation] “Be ye transformed.”
And over and over again, I want you to be willing to let go to move into this greater experience! Romans 12:2 we read, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
So in this quote, I believe that it’s really an invitation to go to Spirit — to go to God. It’s not about you just figuring it out. It’s about us really moving into a higher experience of the Divine. Of really being healed at depth. And this is where …
You know, in this fourth week — in this middle week — this is where we get to make this opportunity to hold nothing back. To truly give it all to God.
There’s another Scripture: Philippians 2:5-6. It says, “Let the same mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal to God.”
This is a huge statement! I mean, it almost seems blasphemous! Philippians 2:5-6. “Let the same mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus, who being the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal to God.”
“Let the same mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal to God.”
See, what I want us to see is that we hold all this stuff — all this woundedness; all this disappointment — all this stuff; we hold on to it. And it really prevents us from knowing the fullness of God. It really prevents us from being transformed at depth. Of knowing that we are the living expressions of the Divine. That we are God’s light and power and wisdom expressing into the world.
And you never have to! You can hold on to your drama and your woundedness and your disappointments and your fears for as long as you want to! But “Be ye transformed!” And as we’re willing to be transformed, anything that we give to God — anything that we offload; anything that we turn over to the Holy Spirit — we’re healed!
[Laughs] I was having a little old 13-hear-old … We’re healed! [In deep voice]: Healed. Right? [Congregation laughs] In my most masculine voice: We’re healed! Right? We’re healed!
And so tonight I’m going to challenge you to not hold one thing back.
Now do I believe that you can give everything to God, and in one week, be totally healed? Yes. What would the cost be? You’d actually have to have the faith to believe that you could turn everything over to God, and it would all be healed. Could God heal any issue — every issue — in your life in one week? Absolutely! But you would have to have the faith to give everything to God. You’d have to trust that, if you gave everything to God, that it would be transformed. That it would be made new. That it could be lifted higher. That it could be resolved. That it could be glorified. That you could have miracles and demonstrations and transformation. That you could actually do it!
And what I want you to see is: I don’t care if you give it all to God this week. But I want you to really look at something significant in your past that you know you’re still holding on to. And would you be willing to give that to God? Like, one situation; one condition; one disappointment; one fear; one wounded place. Would you be willing to give that to God and say with me, “Be ye transformed”?
One more time: [with congregation] “Be ye transformed.”
Because the opportunity is right now. In this middle week, I want you to go all the way with at least one thing. And one thing that feels significant. One thing that feels important. One thing that would really change your direction.
“Be ye transformed.”
One more time together: [with congregation] “Be ye transformed.”
So I believe that there’s a process to transformation. And as we give it to God, we move through these steps — or these stages, if you will. And so I have six stages of transformation that I want to share with you today.
And the first stage is the REALIZATION. And this is that understanding that, if you don’t see it’s a problem; if you don’t realize it’s a problem; if you don’t realize that there could be a better way; if you don’t realize it, we rarely ask for help. There has to be a realization that something’s not working. Or at least that it could work better. Or it could be different. Or it could be more prosperous; more loving. So it all begins with the realization. Because you can’t heal what you won’t see. You actually have to become more conscious to heal. And so the first stage in this is the realization.
And the second stage in this process is when you’re willing to RELEASE it. Because if you see it, but you won’t let go of it, you don’t really get a benefit. There’s no pop! There’s no healing; there’s no transformation. You actually have to see what’s not working, or see that it could work better, and then you actually have to release it. You have to give it to God.
And then the third step — or the third stage — in this process: once you see it, and once you release it, then your soul automatically gets a bump. There’s what I call a REBOUND. So you’ve realized; you’ve released; and then there’s this rebound. There’s this bump where, just in the act of letting it go, your soul gets air. You get happier; freer. It becomes easier. There’s more room for grace. There’s this rebound.
And then in stage four is that you begin to: I call this REINVENTION. You begin to show up differently. You begin to make new choices. You begin to entertain new ideas. You begin to think new thoughts. You actually begin to reinvent yourself. Or actually, more accurately, is: Spirit is actually reinventing you through this process.
The fifth stage is RESURRECTION. And that’s when the transformation that you’re undergoing actually creates a greater version of you, where you’re actually lifted into a new or greater expression of God. Where you actually become more your true self.
And the sixth stage is when we REJOICE and we realize that it’s done.
And the joy is that, once we get to rejoice and we give thanks, the idea is to start over again. And to see the places where we’re still living in limitation and fear or doubt or pain. And then to realize it and then to release it and rebound. And to go through this process of transformation over and over and over again. And we are recreated on a regular basis!
Paul said, “I must die daily.” That there’s this idea that, as we let go over and over again, we become this magnificent expression of God that continually, continually, continually expresses more of the Divine.
“Be ye transformed.”
Together: [with congregation] “Be ye transformed.”
So you ready for your homework? Wow! I’m so excited! [Congregation laughs] Yow!!!
Alright; so here it is! I want you to pick one aspect; one area; one situation in your life that you’ve been putting up with. And I want you to turn it over to God. I want you to realize it and release it. That’s what I want. I want you to realize, “Oh; I’m only functioning at 25% or 50% or 80%, and I know that I’ve got more bandwidth.” And I want you to realize it and release it this week with the affirmation, “Be ye transformed.”
And you never have to do this. You have a God-given right to die with every one of your wounds. You do! You have a God-given right to go out as cranky as you want to be. Right? You do! You can go out as unhappy and cranky and sad and wounded and disappointed and live it out to the very last day. And on the last day, you can be just as ticked off as you are today.
Or you can decide today that you can set your soul free. That you can invite the activity of the Holy Spirit into a deeper place into your soul. That you don’t need to keep that any longer. That you could actually set your soul free by just giving it to God.
Will you pray with me?
Tonight I invite you to honestly look at one area of your life that you know you’ve just been putting up with. Where you’re not satisfied; where you’re not happy; where you’re just going through the motions. And tonight I want you to give it to God. And as you give it to God, I want you to say to yourself, “Be ye transformed.”
And over and over again, I want you to see the places in your life that aren’t working, and I want you to say, “Be ye transformed.”
And we want to focus on everybody else; we want to focus on what they need to change; what they need to feel. We want to focus on what they’re doing right or wrong. And the real spiritual work is when you pull the focus clearly back on you. And you begin to notice the places in your life where you know it’s not working. Where you’re not living your best life. And you turn it over. And you say, “Be ye transformed; be ye transformed.” So in the name and through the power of the Living Christ, we give thanks. And so it is. Amen.
Copyright 2022 Unity of Phoenix Spiritual Center/Rev. Richard Rogers