Am I God?

Every Sunday, at the end of our service at Unity Spiritual Center Denver, we recite the widely popular and often repeated Prayer for Protection by Unity minister and poet laureate James Dillet Freeman. The well-known portion of the prayer, which follows, has appeared in hundreds of publications, many not related to Unity.

The light of God surrounds us.
The love of God enfolds us.
The power of God protects us.
The presence of God watches over us.
Wherever we are, God is.

We, along with many Unity ministries, in an effort to lessen the dualistic language, use a derivative version, as follows, which affirms our unity in God by adding affirmative statements following each line.

The light of God surrounds us.
I am the light of God.
The love of God enfolds us.
I am the love of God.
The power of God protects us.
I am the power of God.
The presence of God watches over us.
I am the presence of God.
Wherever we are, God is.

Today, as I ponder this prayer and consider our derivative version, I wonder…

Am I the light, love, power and presence of God?

What is the light of God?

Metaphysically ‘light’ represents wisdom according to The Revealing Word. Further it represents spiritual illumination. The light of God that surrounds us is the consciousness of Absolute Truth. We can consciously connect with it through prayer and meditation. In doing so, our minds are illumined by divine knowing. As Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).

What is the love of God?

God is love (1 John 4:18). Love, in its purest form, is God, the Creative Life Force Energy, in action. It is a word that describes the movement of God Energy. It is impersonal and unconditional. We make it personal as we demonstrate it. It is, period; irrespective of person, place or thing. It enfolds us in that it is the Life Energy in which we live, and move, and have our being (Acts 17:28).

What is the power of God?

“There is only one power, God the Good Omnipotent” is an affirmation we often say in Unity. God is all power. We, created as the image-likeness of God, are endowed with the ability to use that power. The master teacher Jesus said, “All power is given to me under heaven and earth” (Matthew 28:18). From a metaphysical perspective, he meant that we, through our Christ nature, have power over our thoughts and feelings, thus the power to master our world. Therefore, that power protects us from getting trapped in our thoughts of separation, lack and limitation.

What is the presence of God?

God is not a disembodied spirit as one might infer from the idea that it “watches over us.” The presence of God is an experience, not a thing. God is not a spirit: God is Spirit (John 4:24). The presence of God is the self-existent reality of the Absolute Good that God is. That the presence of God watches over us implies that It sustains us, and It is the fulfillment of our every need as the Source of all in any moment.

Considering the above, can I with all sincerity and conviction affirm that I am the light, love, power and presence of God?

An affirmation is a statement of absolute truth. Contrary to what some have suggested, an affirmation is not a statement of what we hope will be true, as in “I will win the lottery.” Statements such as that are not affirmations in the truest sense; they are, instead, statements of intention or visualization.

Therefore, when I say, “I am the light of God,” I am making a statement of absolute truth. The essence of who I am is the illumined consciousness and wisdom of God even if the human aspect of me does not live in constant realization of it.

I am the love of God because, in truth, I am created in the image-likeness of and am the expression of Creative Life Energy in action. I may not live as though I am conscious of that truth at all times, but that does not make it less true.

The power of God is my power to use my mind in ways that allow me to manifest a life that is in alignment with and reflects the qualities of the divine as me. “I am the power of God” is a statement of truth because the power of God is an ever-present reality of my being.

I can unequivocally affirm, “I am the presence of God.” The first of Unity’s Five Basic Principles states that God is Absolute Good and present everywhere. Since God is present everywhere, the presence of God is present as me. It is true, even though I may forget it. Truth is always true, and my forgetfulness does not negate it.

Each time we repeat the Prayer for Protection and state these affirmations, we condition our conscious minds with Truth. As we continue to condition our minds, we align ourselves more wholly with the conscious awareness of who we are. In our conscious awareness of who we are, we live more fully as the light, love, power and presence of God, in all the ways that we can and do understand ‘God.’

Join us Sunday, March 12, at 10:00 as we explore further our understanding of ‘God’ and how our lives are affected by what we believe ‘God’ to be. The title of my lesson is Am I God?