The story in the book of Joshua, like all the stories in the Bible contains messages for you today. When you read Joshua 1:1-23, you will see that after the death of Moses, Joshua took charge of the Israelites as he was instructed and led them into the land of Canaan (the Promise Land).

You will see that this was not an easy task as you read the events that preceded the conquering of Jericho. This story is a powerful spiritual drama that conveys powerful lessons on how to handle any challenge in life that appears to be unconquerable un-beatable in-surmountable in-curable or im-possible.

This spiritual drama is not about the physical battles with the inhabitants of the land they were determined to conquer. Neither is it about the overwhelming difficulties or the grand successes they experienced in outer ways. As it relates to healing your life, this dramatic story of Joshua is about the mental drama that is played out in your mind moment by moment as you try to change conditions in your life. All change first begins at the mental level with decision and commitment. The flood of thoughts that follow begin to form a belief system and general attitude that evolves into a resolute state of mind either of fear or faith.

Victory and success begins in the mind. The Israelites represent the positive thoughts that permeate your mind. As you read this and other Bible stories, you can see a parallel relationship between what is going on in the story—to what is going on in your own life at any time. But to see this healing message clearly, you must be willing to see the mental correspondence to the literal occurrences in the stories. That is the aim of this writing and of this teaching.

The Israelites in the story are spiritual thoughts that are constantly broadcasting on the Universal Spiritual Internet and everyone who is signed on receives updated spiritual guidance moment by moment as they achieve one goal after the other toward the fulfillment of their vision, purpose and mission in life. Every step you take, you will receive a confirmation when you are going the right way, doing the right thing, and saying the right thing. You will hear a Voice in your mind say, “Yes, you got mail!” And when you leave the right path and go astray, you will hear a Voice in your mind say,
“No, you got mail!”

The story of Joshua is one of conquest. It is about the life of a leader and a group of people who could not be defeated because they had the spirit of victory before they set out to possess a land that was already inhabited. They knew that the battle would not be easy, but they had seen how God had brought them through difficult circumstances in the past under the leadership of Moses. And so with words of encouragement from Joshua, their faith was lifted and they achieved the impossible against tremendous odds.

Joshua is that decision and commitment making faculty of the mind. In Bible symbolism, the Israelites are a chosen group of people that represent the positive spiritual thoughts that fill your mind. These positive thoughts cannot be removed from your mind by anything. They are a part of your spiritual nature.

The Bible can be used as a manual for mastering life by ruling your mind to heal conditions, control circumstances and to be victorious in general. Symbolically you see the Israelites as a group of people that was selected at the casting call (in the beginning) to play a specific role on the stage of life as an example to people every where and people of all time an example in how to let God rule your mind to have success, peace, joy, and well being on all levels of life.

Winners in life start from the finished line ! Victory is already theirs in their mind before they begin or set out to accomplish a goal or to achieve success. To ascend mentally to the magnitude of any challenge in life, is the first step to conquering any difficult or seeming impossible situation by faith. Understanding faith reveals that Joshua already had the victory before he started. Joshua knew that the victory was already his because he trusted the Voice of the Vision in his mind. You have heard it said, “When it is time for an idea to be born, no force in the universe can stop it!” You have heard it said, “If you don’t do it, somebody else will.” You have heard it said, “What God has done for others, He will do for you.”

The mission of Moses and the mission of Joshua reveal that success is achieved in two parts. The first phase is told through the story of Moses who led the way to the Promise Land . He instructed the Israelites and trained Joshua to be a leader to take over where he left off. Moses planted an idea or seed (vision) that took root in the soil of Joshua’s mind, then Moses died. The completion of phase one of demonstrating success is receiving God’s Vision which is His perfect will for your life and to know that it is His perfect will for your life.

Joshua represents phase two of demonstrating the law of success: the power of decision and commitment . A desire of the heart is latent unexpressed Divine Power that must be and will be expressed one way or another. It will be expressed in your life as a realized goal or it will manifest as depression, anxiety, confusion, envy, and a myriad of other negative emotional symptoms. An unexpressed desire of the heart is an aborted will of God for your life. To delay your blessing is to also delay someone else’s blessing at the same time. Not moving forward to realize a dream or to fulfill a need or desire leads to restlessness, frustration, confusion, anxiety, phobias and other states of dis-easiness.

God’s will for your life is perfect health, perfect wealth, and perfect being. Whatever is needed to bring God’s will into manifestation is already prescribed in a Divine path for your life. There is a perfect way that is uniquely your own, everything and everybody you need to play a role in your life is already there waiting for you. It is in the Joshua phase of consciousness that beliefs, thoughts and attitude about the dream, desire, need, etc. are clarified, organized, and purified. This is the period for building confidence, faith, and trust in God to perform all that He has promised He would do FOR you and THROUGH you.

“The Day After The Victory.” A “day” in Bible symbolism means a period, phase or length of time.

It is the day after you have taken the risks involved in establishing a new experience in your life by making a decision and commitment to action toward a new experience that the unformed Intelligence in your mind begins to speak to you through vision. Joshua learned from Moses how to hear God’s Voice and act upon it without questioning. As Joshua acted and did what God told him to do, then the next step unfolded and he kept leading the children into the Promise Land .

Your way will be guided toward the things that are already in place waiting for you:

• The day after you have made a decision and commitment regarding a business or pursuing a career;
• The day after you have made a decision to get something you have wanted or needed just because you want it;
• The day after you have made a commitment in a personal relationship for mutual joy and happiness;
• The day after you have decided to stop doing something or stop allowing something or somebody to hurt you anymore;
• The day after you have decided you are not going to let sickness, disease or any problem exist in your body consciousness any more;
• The day after you have made any other decision or commitment that will result in a change in your life that leaves the old experience in the past and lets the new thing or experience reveal itself in your life.

The final point in this part of the story of the law of spiritual demonstration is that after you make a decision or commitment there is more "ground to be covered " before success is realized. And this is where fear dwells. There are only two emotions, love and fear. Fear is a negative energy that is already in the land. Where it came from, why it is there and many other questions about fear is not what is considered in these lessons. We simply start from the premise that fear is already in the land (your mind) and now what are you going to do with it? (To be continued).

“The Voice For God”
“IN REAL TIME”

“IN REAL TIME” is a short story about an example of how the “Voice for God” speaks to you and guides you to right knowing and right action in real time. These stories are based on the understanding that there are two voices speaking in your mind all the time the “Voice for God” and the voice of the ego.

For the purpose of Bible understanding the “voice of the ego” takes the form of “Satan or the Devil.” Of course, we believe that a principle key in mental healing is to not give something that is not real power to do harm to us through our belief that it is real.

Based upon the teachings of the Book of Acts and the clarification of terms in “A Course In Miracles” I know that the Voice I hear as intuition or “the still small voice” is the Holy Spirit. “A Course In Miracles” says that the ego speaks first and the Holy Spirit then reinterprets what the ego says. As the Voice for God in your mind the Holy Spirit will always respond whenever you ask for guidance about a matter, concern or need.

“IN REAL TIME” the “Divine Virus Detector” ( the Holy Spirit) is the mechanism that is activated where there is doubt, uncertainty, confusion, indecision, etc. The “Divine Virus Detector” scans your thoughts about a matter and then purifies them eliminating all false conceptions as It shows you the truth about what is happening. What was trying to matter that generated the question or doubt, etc, stops mattering. You will then say or do what is right and what is good for all concerned. This is “Divine Wisdom.”

“IN REAL TIME” you will receive “ Divine Wisdom” which is what “ the Christ” is. The Christ is what Jesus demonstrated. The Christ is the science that Jesus taught his disciples as a set of Divine Principles that can be used as a formula to change your thinking and thereby heal your life.

“IN REAL TIME” “ the Voice” will help you to make the right choice. You will hear “the Voice” through the power of spiritual vision as It explains the reasons you should think, do or say something as opposed to the reasons that “ the other voice” is explaining why you should think, do or say something different. The decision to follow His guidance is still up to you.

“The Lost Key”
by Ahman

(This story is a personal experience
that further explains the concept of “IN REAL TIME”).

My mother resides in an apartment in a Senior Citizens building. I shop for her and take prepared meals to her regularly. She is becoming more dependent on help to do things she is unable to do for herself these days.

Having some concerns, I asked the manager for a copy of her security key card to be able to access the unit in case of an emergency. I was told that the security policy was that only one key card could be issued to the tenant.

If there was an emergency I could contact the Manager of the building at any time and gain access to my mother’s unit. Nonetheless, I still was carrying an unsettled feeling about not having a personal copy of the key card.

The other day when I entered the lobby of the building, I saw that someone had left a key card on the chair and no one was present. A dialogue started in my mind. I was immediately entertained by the idea that this was “Divine Providence” or an answer to my need. This was the voice that spoke first. In that same moment “the Spirit of Doubt” kicked in to question this thought.

“Doubt” is not always a negative energy. Sometimes it is the serum of the virus detector for truth in your mind. When a thought, decision or action is not right or best for all concerned conscience will speak through the dynamic of doubt. This test for truth should never be ignored.

At the same time that I received the thought to keep the key card, a different Voice spoke in my mind saying, “take another look.” A stream of thought flowed through my mind about the senior citizen who must have left the key behind. I began to think about the possible embarrassment and other inconveniences the person would go through to replace their lost key. And so immediately I dismissed the thought of keeping the key and decided to drop it off at the Manager’s office.

“Oh great!”, the Manager said, “I will trace it by the encoding and see who the key belongs to.” I proceeded to the exit and in the lobby was an older woman who had already emptied the contents of a large trash receptacle onto the floor. The receptacle was placed in the corner of the long row of mailboxes to catch the volume of deposited papers.

“Hello there,” I said to the lady searching the trash. She said, “Hi baby, how are you? I lost my key and I have to go through all this trash just to find it.” I responded, “I found your key here on the chair and I just left in the office upstairs.” The old lady laughed out loud and said, “I am so glad I said something to you and that I told you what I was doing,” and she continued to laugh with the joy of relief that she had found her key.

Of course, it is difficult to describe the peace I felt as I laughed along with her all the way to my car.

To some this might seem like a small thing. To me it is a practical lesson in how to hear the Voice for God in your mind “in real time,” and how to listen and do what It tells you to do in the moment. This practice can be applied to anything that your conscience questions. There is always a dialogue that goes on in your mind. There are always two voices to choose between. There is one Voice that will always only tell you to make the decision and/or commit the action that will be best for everyone involved.

“A Course In Miracles” says, “Everything the ego tells you that you need will hurt you.”

Rev. Ahman is presently presenting a series of lessons on the Book of Joshua in the Saturday morning Bible workshops. The themes or subjects will change as we continue to follow the guidance of the “Teacher” (the Holy Spirit). Each new theme or subject is presented in sets of five week workshops. Through these themes or subjects, we learn how to apply the Spiritual Laws of Practical Christianity as they were taught and demonstrated by Jesus, and the followers of the “ New Way .”

The articles in the THE COMFORTER newsletter will be developed from the present workshop series. These articles will become archived in Lessons In Truth where you will be able to access all previous articles. The next article(s) will continue to evolve out of the theme, THE DAY AFTER THE VICTORY as we continue to explore the inner meanings of the story of the life of Joshua.

For the schedule of the Bible Workshops please check the calendar . When you cannot attend the meetings in person you can always participate by requesting the recordings on audio cassette tapes or CDs. Check the Inspirations Bookstore for the ongoing list of available recorded workshops.