Additional Information for Our Text Study

A hearty welcome to our Text Study!

We are here together to explore, study and practice what we read in the Text of A Course in Miracles. 

The syllabus is set up to begin on January 1st with approximately five readings per week. Syllabus available at this link.

If you miss a reading or two, keep going, you have 7 days in the week to complete the readings. The ego will like to keep you bogged down with judgment and fear as you read. Thoughts like “I’ll never be able to understand this,” “I can’t keep up,” and “Everyone gets this but me.” Ignore these statements from the ego and keep reading, at some point it will come to you either now or later. It’s all okay. Be gentle and kind with yourself in this process.

You can do it as I and Jesus have complete faith in you!

Let’s join in prayer together.

Enter the sacred sanctuary within your mind with Holy Spirit as you reflect in silence on the following quotes. Ask of Him, ―What do I want to come of this? – What is it for? – and ―What is the purpose?
When you feel that you have clarity from the Holy Spirit about the goal of the program for you, spend some time journaling that message.

1. Before you begin your journey through the ACIM, take time to sit in meditation with the Holy Spirit.

• Declare your dedication to your study,
• Become aware of your motivation for this study,
• Answer, “What is your purpose or goal?” “What is it for?”
•  Journal your responses.

2. The important dedication with this study is to the openness and willingness to learn, even if you have been studying A Course in Miracles for many years. Be open and willing to learn new insights.

3. Dedicate at least 30 minutes – 1 hour to daily study.

4. Before you begin your actual daily study, sit in silence for a few minutes. This is your time of clearing and readiness so that you may receive the gifts offered to you today.

5. You may divide your time between morning and night, if you feel that is more doable with your personal schedule.

6. The Text is the foundation of A Course in Miracles’ thought system, whereas the Workbook for Students is for direct practical application of the Text’s ideas. The Manual for Teachers which is helpful in answering questions that many students may have. However, as we read and reflect with Holy Spirit we can become aware of application it in our own lives if we are open to it.

• Read through each section three times.
• First, read from an objective perspective. Get the feel of the reading and its content.
• Now, read as if Jesus is speaking to you directly as your teacher.
• Take notes or highlight as you read. Jot down items that stand out to you or seem to raise questions within your mind.
• Finally, read in 1st person. Replacing the “you” with “I”.
• Be with the words and then contemplate on how you can apply what Jesus is sharing in the reading to your everyday life.

7. As you read, you may find ideas or points that you readily agree with. That is not where the real work is. The real work lies with those ideas that you may take disagreement with or find troubling to you. If they disrupt your peace, make note of these so that you may take those to the Holy Spirit in silence and await His Interpretation.

8. If you have questions on the reading or do not understand what you have read, stop and be still for a few moments. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to understand what you have read. Sometimes you may receive an answer right away, other times it may come to you later.

9. Journaling is highly recommended either in an audio journal or a written journal. This does not have to take up a lot of time. It could be just one paragraph with a few sentences that summarizes what is in each section. In the journaling process, it is taking those ideas and concepts you have just read, reflecting and putting those concepts into your own words. You can also reflect on your life and how you can put into practical application those very ideas you have just read about.

• Remember that this is an individualized curriculum. The Holy Spirit will work with you in your life, using your life’s experiences, to help you to understand the Course’s thought system. How you come to understand it may differ slightly from someone else.

10. Be open to other people’s experiences or thoughts on the Course. It is helpful to your journey if you share with others and they with you. You can do this by joining a study group either in person where you live or on the phone or online, like our MiraclesOne Phone Studies and Online Forums. Listen to others, yet always ask your Inner Teacher for discernment.

11. Trust that your Inner Teacher, the Holy Spirit, will guide you all the way.

12. As you journey through A Course in Miracles, remind yourself not to be attached to the ideas or your study in any way. Remember that it is easy to make the Course itself another idol. It is not important to memorize quotes and espouse those to others. We are moving from the words on the page to living them in our lives. Use your mistakes, your failings, your misunderstanding, and your disturbances of peace, all as tools for your awakening.

13. As Jesus tells us in the Workbook for Students Introduction which also holds true for our study of the entire book:

Remember only this; you need not believe the ideas, you need not accept them, and you need not even welcome them. Some of them you may actively resist. None of this will matter, or decrease their efficacy. But do not allow yourself to make exceptions in applying the ideas the workbook contains, and whatever your reactions to the ideas may be, use them. Nothing more than that is required (Workbook, p. 2).

© Copyright 2013 Rev. Deborah Phelps
These “Suggestions” are excerpted from I am Entitled to Miracles! Simple Ways to Apply the Principles in A Course in Miracles by Rev. Deb Phelps. Do not reproduce or share without prior permission. This excerpt is included here for students of MiraclesOne classes.
To purchase the book – www.miraclesonebooks.org

I like to start with the Preface because I know that most times when I have read a book in the past, I have ignored an Introduction, a Forward, or a Preface. Here in the Preface I can learn a great deal, if I am open to it.

Miracles begin with a decision to share a common goal. Whether it is with ACIM here as it states with Helen and Bill or myself when I join with the Holy Spirit. Miracles can and will take place when I provide the little willingness. That’s what Helen and Bill’s story is about. The little willingness and out it grew.

“There must be another way.”

When I come to the place where I cannot take it anymore, then I surrender and I look beyond how I think I should fix the problem. I am open to something totally new and not the way I had handled it before.

In my turning to Him, it was because of coming to the point in my life where I needed to see that the road that I was on was leading me nowhere. Coming to that fork in the road I needed to see that there was another way that I could travel. I needn’t suffer any longer. And so joining with Holy Spirit with my “little willingness” has brought me out of the darkness and into the light.

Granted situations still occur, emotions still arise, yet I am sure that there is no turning back, no reason to go back to that fork in the road because overall the road has been smoother than the rocky road of pain that I had traveled.

“the story shows that with God all things are possible”

Is not my own experience a reflection of the same as I ponder my own life? All the chapters through the pages of my life, each twist, each plot, each drama has showed me at this point in my life that as I have turned to God, all things have been possible. I have been carried throughout. My healing has been possible because I had turned to Him and accept His help.

“provide a way…to find their own Internal Teacher”

No longer did I need to seek outside of myself for the answers. No God “up there” and seemingly unattainable, no priest needed to mediate for me. I can tune into the Divine Source myself, talk with Him, ask questions of Him and most importantly receive from Him. No special powers needed, no acquired knowledge, no certification needed, nothing but the willingness to hear and listen to the Voice of Truth telling me of my worth and the Love the Father has for me.