Grace Is Everything!

ACIM Lesson 169: By grace I live. By grace I am released.

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Embracing Divine Love in Our Daily Lives

Grace is Everything! These words resonate deeply with those on a spiritual journey, seeking to connect with the divine presence in their lives. Today, we’ll explore the profound message of A Course in Miracles (ACIM) Lesson 169: “By grace I live. By grace I am released.” This powerful lesson invites us to reflect on the nature of grace and its role in our spiritual awakening.

The Essence of Grace

Grace is not just a concept; it’s a living, breathing force that permeates every aspect of our existence. It’s the unconditional love of God, freely given to all, regardless of our perceived worthiness. But are we truly prepared to receive this boundless gift?

To fully experience God’s love within the dream world we call reality, we must first acknowledge a fundamental truth: we’ve been mistaken about our identity and the nature of the world around us. This realisation is both humbling and liberating.

Our Bodies as Living Temples

Consider for a moment the idea that our physical bodies are not mere flesh and bone, but moving temples for the spirit of God. Within these temples, the divine essence lives, moves, and expresses itself. This perspective shifts our relationship with our bodies from one of judgment or dissatisfaction to one of reverence and gratitude.

The Game-Changing Power of Forgiveness

Undoing the ego’s thought system through absolute forgiveness is nothing short of revolutionary. Life, in many ways, is a game. When we play to win by purifying our hearts and minds, we elevate ourselves to a state of grace. This isn’t about competition with others, but rather about transcending our own limitations and false beliefs.

The Altar of Grace

ACIM beautifully describes the nature of grace:

“Grace is not given to a body, but to a mind. And the mind that receives it looks instantly beyond the body, and sees the holy place where it was healed. There is the altar where the grace was given, in which it stands. Do you, then offer grace and blessing to your brother, for you stand at the same altar where grace was laid for both of you…In the holy instant, you and your brother stand before the altar God has raised unto Himself and both of you” (T-19)

This passage reminds us that grace is a shared experience. As we receive it, we’re called to extend it to others, creating a ripple effect of divine love in the world.

Living by Grace

By grace, we live! This isn’t just a statement; it’s a declaration of our true nature. When we align ourselves with this truth, we naturally express love, praise, and gratitude for the Divine. It becomes not just a practice, but a way of being.

Prepare For ACIM Lesson 169

  1. Reflect daily on the concept of grace in your life. Where do you see it manifesting?
  2. Practice extending grace to others, especially in challenging situations.
  3. Read ACIM Lesson 169 in preparation for our live stream session on Sunday, September 9th. This will deepen your understanding of today’s message.
  4. Join our upcoming live stream to discuss these insights and share your experiences with our community.
  5. Keep a gratitude journal, focusing on moments of grace you experience each day.

Remember, embracing grace is an ongoing process. Be patient with yourself as you navigate this beautiful, transformative journey.

See you soon,
Love Dehyana

Lesson 169
By grace I live. By grace I am released.

1. Grace is an aspect of the Love of God which is most like the state prevailing in the unity of truth. ²It is the world’s most lofty aspiration, for it leads beyond the world entirely. ³It is past learning, yet the goal of learning, for grace cannot come until the mind prepares itself for true acceptance. ⁴Grace becomes inevitable instantly in those who have prepared a table where it can be gently laid and willingly received; an altar clean and holy for the gift.

2. Grace is acceptance of the Love of God within a world of seeming hate and fear. ²By grace alone the hate and fear are gone, for grace presents a state so opposite to everything the world contains, that those whose minds are lighted by the gift of grace can not believe the world of fear is real.

3. Grace is not learned. ²The final step must go beyond all learning. ³Grace is not the goal this course aspires to attain. ⁴Yet we prepare for grace in that an open mind can hear the Call to waken. ⁵It is not shut tight against God’s Voice. ⁶It has become aware that there are things it does not know, and thus is ready to accept a state completely different from experience with which it is familiarly at home.

4. We have perhaps appeared to contradict our statement that the revelation of the Father and the Son as one has been already set. ²But we have also said the mind determines when that time will be, and has determined it. ³And yet we urge you to bear witness to the Word of God to hasten the experience of truth, and speed its advent into every mind that recognizes truth’s effects on you.

5. Oneness is simply the idea God is. ²And in His Being, He encompasses all things. ³No mind holds anything but Him. ⁴We say “God is,” and then we cease to speak, for in that knowledge words are meaningless. ⁵There are no lips to speak them, and no part of mind sufficiently distinct to feel that it is now aware of something not itself. ⁶It has united with its Source. ⁷And like its Source Itself, it merely is.

6. We cannot speak nor write nor even think of this at all. ²It comes to every mind when total recognition that its will is God’s has been completely given and received completely. ³It returns the mind into the endless present, where the past and future cannot be conceived. ⁴It lies beyond salvation; past all thought of time, forgiveness and the holy face of Christ. ⁵The Son of God has merely disappeared into his Father, as his Father has in him. ⁶The world has never been at all. ⁷Eternity remains a constant state.

7. This is beyond experience we try to hasten. ²Yet forgiveness, taught and learned, brings with it the experiences which bear witness that the time the mind itself determined to abandon all but this is now at hand. ³We do not hasten it, in that what you will offer was concealed from Him Who teaches what forgiveness means.

8. All learning was already in His Mind, accomplished and complete. ²He recognized all that time holds, and gave it to all minds that each one might determine, from a point where time was ended, when it is released to revelation and eternity. ³We have repeated several times before that you but make a journey that is done.

9. For oneness must be here. ²Whatever time the mind has set for revelation is entirely irrelevant to what must be a constant state, forever as it always was; forever to remain as it is now. ³We merely take the part assigned long since, and fully recognized as perfectly fulfilled by Him Who wrote salvation’s script in His Creator’s Name, and in the Name of His Creator’s Son.

10. There is no need to further clarify what no one in the world can understand. ²When revelation of your oneness comes, it will be known and fully understood. ³Now we have work to do, for those in time can speak of things beyond, and listen to words which explain what is to come is past already. ⁴Yet what meaning can the words convey to those who count the hours still, and rise and work and go to sleep by them?

11. Suffice it, then, that you have work to do to play your part. ²The ending must remain obscure to you until your part is done. ³It does not matter. ⁴For your part is still what all the rest depends on. ⁵As you take the role assigned to you, salvation comes a little nearer each uncertain heart that does not beat as yet in tune with God.

12. Forgiveness is the central theme that runs throughout salvation, holding all its parts in meaningful relationships, the course it runs directed and its outcome sure. ²And now we ask for grace, the final gift salvation can bestow. ³Experience that grace provides will end in time, for grace foreshadows Heaven, yet does not replace the thought of time but for a little while.

13. The interval suffices. ²It is here that miracles are laid; to be returned by you from holy instants you receive, through grace in your experience, to all who see the light that lingers in your face. ³What is the face of Christ but his who went a moment into timelessness, and brought a clear reflection of the unity he felt an instant back to bless the world? ⁴How could you finally attain to it forever, while a part of you remains outside, unknowing, unawakened, and in need of you as witness to the truth?

14. Be grateful to return, as you were glad to go an instant, and accept the gifts that grace provided you. ²You carry them back to yourself. ³And revelation stands not far behind. ⁴Its coming is ensured. ⁵We ask for grace, and for experience that comes from grace. ⁶We welcome the release it offers everyone. ⁷We do not ask for the unaskable. ⁸We do not look beyond what grace can give. ⁹For this we can give in the grace that has been given us.

15. Our learning goal today does not exceed this prayer. ²Yet in the world, what could be more than what we ask this day of Him Who gives the grace we ask, as it was given Him?

³By grace I live. ⁴By grace I am released.

⁵By grace I give. ⁶By grace I will release.

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