Exploring the Gifts of God

ACIM Lesson 166 – I am entrusted with the Gifts of God.

Streamed LIVE, Sunday August 18, 2024. Watch here

Embracing God’s Gifts: A Journey of Self-Discovery and Divine Connection

The Illusion of Separation

When you identify yourself solely as a physical body, separate and alone, you unknowingly create a distorted image of God. This limited perspective can be frightening, as it projects your own fears and limitations onto the divine. ACIM teaches us that this perception is merely an illusion.

Reflecting Your Thoughts in the World

ACIM Lesson 166 reveals a profound truth: your thoughts and beliefs are mirrored in the world around you. The world that God wills for you is not one of fear and limitation, but rather one filled with:

Happiness
Joy
Abundance
All things good

By accepting God’s will and opening your heart to receive, you align ourself with this divine vision of the world.

The Power of Extension

One of the core principles in ACIM is the concept of extension. As the text states:

“To extend is a fundamental aspect of God which He gave to His Son. In the creation, God extended Himself to His creations and imbued them with the same loving Will to create.” –T.8.VII

This passage reminds us that you are not only fully created but created perfect. By embracing this truth, you tap into your innate ability to extend love and create in alignment with God’s will.

Choosing a Happy Dream

As the dreamer of your own reality, you have the power to choose a happy dream. You can do this by:

Sharing the gifts God has entrusted to you
Extending forgiveness, kindness, compassion, and understanding to all
Recognising your role in saving the world through love and light

The Divine Exchange

When you align ourselves with God’s will and share His gifts, you participate in a beautiful exchange. As a teacher of God, you offer your service, and in return, God offers His thanks.

Embracing Your Divine Purpose

Remember, you have been entrusted with the gifts of God. By sharing these gifts with others, you fulfil your divine purpose and contribute to the healing of the world.

As we journey through ACIM Lesson 166, we’re reminded of our true nature as extensions of God’s love. By embracing this truth and sharing our divine gifts, we not only transform our own lives but also contribute to the healing and awakening of the world around us.

Next Steps: Embracing and Sharing God’s Gifts

Read ACIM Lesson 166 to prepare for this week’s session. Spend time with the ideas, allowing them to sink deeply into your consciousness.
Daily Reflection: Set aside a few minutes each day to contemplate the gifts God has entrusted to you. What unique talents, experiences, or perspectives do you have to offer?
Practice Extending Love: Choose one act of kindness or forgiveness to perform each day. Remember, even small gestures can have a profound impact.
Mindful Awareness: Throughout your day, pause and remind yourself: “I am the dreamer of my dream.” Use this awareness to consciously choose thoughts aligned with love and abundance.
Journaling: Write about your experiences as you practice sharing God’s gifts. What changes do you notice in yourself and your surroundings?
Visualise God’s Will: Take a few moments each day to visualise the world as God wills it – full of joy, peace, and abundance. How does this vision differ from what you typically see.
Join us on Zoom where I’ll do a deep dive into this profound lesson. Scroll down to get the details delivered to your inbox!

Remember, embracing and sharing God’s gifts is a journey. Be patient and gentle with yourself as you practice these principles. Each step you take aligns you more closely with your true purpose and the divine love within you.

May you be blessed in the heart of God’s grace, and may you continue to shine your light brightly for all to see.
With love,
Dehyana

Read ACIM Lesson 166

Lesson 166
I am entrusted with the gifts of God

1. All things are given you. ²God’s trust in you is limitless. ³He knows His Son. ⁴He gives without exception, holding nothing back that can contribute to your happiness. ⁵And yet, unless your will is one with His, His gifts are not received. ⁶But what would make you think there is another will than His?

2. Here is the paradox that underlies the making of the world. ²This world is not the Will of God, and so it is not real. ³Yet those who think it real must still believe there is another will, and one that leads to opposite effects from those He wills. ⁴Impossible indeed; but every mind that looks upon the world and judges it as certain, solid, trustworthy and true believes in two creators; or in one, himself alone. ⁵But never in one God.

3. The gifts of God are not acceptable to anyone who holds such strange beliefs. ²He must believe that to accept God’s gifts, however evident they may become, however urgently he may be called to claim them as his own, is to be pressed to treachery against himself. ³He must deny their presence, contradict the truth, and suffer to preserve the world he made.

4. Here is the only home he thinks he knows. ²Here is the only safety he believes that he can find. ³Without the world he made is he an outcast; homeless and afraid. ⁴He does not realize that it is here he is afraid indeed, and homeless, too; an outcast wandering so far from home, so long away, he does not realize he has forgotten where he came from, where he goes, and even who he really is.

5. Yet in his lonely, senseless wanderings, God’s gifts go with him, all unknown to him. ²He cannot lose them. ³But he will not look at what is given him. ⁴He wanders on, aware of the futility he sees about him everywhere, perceiving how his little lot but dwindles, as he goes ahead to nowhere. ⁵Still he wanders on in misery and poverty, alone though God is with him, and a treasure his so great that everything the world contains is valueless before its magnitude.

6. He seems a sorry figure; weary, worn, in threadbare clothing, and with feet that bleed a little from the rocky road he walks. ²No one but has identified with him, for everyone who comes here has pursued the path he follows, and has felt defeat and hopelessness as he is feeling them. ³Yet is he really tragic, when you see that he is following the way he chose, and need but realize Who walks with him and open up his treasures to be free?

7. This is your chosen self, the one you made as a replacement for reality. ²This is the self you savagely defend against all reason, every evidence, and all the witnesses with proof to show this is not you. ³You heed them not. ⁴You go on your appointed way, with eyes cast down lest you might catch a glimpse of truth, and be released from self-deception and set free.

8. You cower fearfully lest you should feel Christ’s touch upon your shoulder, and perceive His gentle hand directing you to look upon your gifts. ²How could you then proclaim your poverty in exile? ³He would make you laugh at this perception of yourself. ⁴Where is self-pity then? ⁵And what becomes of all the tragedy you sought to make for him whom God intended only joy?

9. Your ancient fear has come upon you now, and justice has caught up with you at last. ²Christ’s hand has touched your shoulder, and you feel that you are not alone. ³You even think the miserable self you thought was you may not be your Identity. ⁴Perhaps God’s Word is truer than your own. ⁵Perhaps His gifts to you are real. ⁶Perhaps He has not wholly been outwitted by your plan to keep His Son in deep oblivion, and go the way you chose without your Self.

10. God’s Will does not oppose. ²It merely is. ³It is not God you have imprisoned in your plan to lose your Self. ⁴He does not know about a plan so alien to His Will. ⁵There was a need He did not understand, to which He gave an Answer. ⁶That is all. ⁷And you who have this Answer given you have need no more of anything but this.

11. Now do we live, for now we cannot die. ²The wish for death is answered, and the sight that looked upon it now has been replaced by vision which perceives that you are not what you pretend to be. ³One walks with you Who gently answers all your fears with this one merciful reply, “It is not so.” ⁴He points to all the gifts you have each time the thought of poverty oppresses you, and speaks of His Companionship when you perceive yourself as lonely and afraid.

12. Yet He reminds you still of one thing more you had forgotten. ²For His touch on you has made you like Himself. ³The gifts you have are not for you alone. ⁴What He has come to offer you, you now must learn to give. ⁵This is the lesson that His giving holds, for He has saved you from the solitude you sought to make in which to hide from God. ⁶He has reminded you of all the gifts that God has given you. ⁷He speaks as well of what becomes your will when you accept these gifts, and recognize they are your own.

13. The gifts are yours, entrusted to your care, to give to all who chose the lonely road you have escaped. ²They do not understand they but pursue their wishes. ³It is you who teach them now. ⁴For you have learned of Christ there is another way for them to walk. ⁵Teach them by showing them the happiness that comes to those who feel the touch of Christ, and recognize God’s gifts. ⁶Let sorrow not tempt you to be unfaithful to your trust.

14. Your sighs will now betray the hopes of those who look to you for their release. ²Your tears are theirs. ³If you are sick, you but withhold their healing. ⁴What you fear but teaches them their fears are justified. ⁵Your hand becomes the giver of Christ’s touch; your change of mind becomes the proof that who accepts God’s gifts can never suffer anything. ⁶You are entrusted with the world’s release from pain.

15. Betray it not. ²Become the living proof of what Christ’s touch can offer everyone. ³God has entrusted all His gifts to you. ⁴Be witness in your happiness to how transformed the mind becomes which chooses to accept His gifts, and feel the touch of Christ. ⁵Such is your mission now. ⁶For God entrusts the giving of His gifts to all who have received them. ⁷He has shared His joy with you. ⁸And now you go to share it with the world.