Martella-Whitsett - Divine Audacity : Dare to Be the Light of the World

Linda Martella-Whitsett says some pretty audacious things: the mundane is as lofty as the spiritual, enlightenment is temporary, and GOD is not a deity. Her most audacious statement is also the richest and truest: you are Divine Identity. Got that! Read Divine Audacity and embrace the practices and you can't help but start showing up as who you really arethe light of the world.

Janet Conner, author of Writing Down Your Soul and The Lotus and the Lily

Some people simply talk about the wonders of prayer while sharing stories about answered prayer. Linda actually teaches how to pray in a step-by-step, profoundly clear manner. This book will have you saying, Yes! This is what I have always sensed but had no words to express it. Linda empowers us to realize our own True Identity, and then to claim it and live it.

Paul Hassel beck, Dean of Spiritual Education and Enrichment, Unity Institute

How to Pray Without Talking to God is required reading if you want to have a deeper connection with the Divine. Don't miss this wonderful book!

Joel Fotinos, author of Think and Grow Rich Every Day and A Little Daily Wisdom

This book is a refreshing, inspiring approach to prayer that emphasizes one's connection with the Divine, however named, and the essential worthiness and goodness of all individuals. For those seeking a more meaningful connection with the Absolute, Martella-Whitsett is a wise guide.

Larry Dossey, MD, author of Healing Words and Prayer Is Good Medicine

Linda Martella-Whitsett's How to Pray Without Talking to God gives clear and practical ways to apply the wisdom teachings in your day-to-day life. As you read, and more importantly practice, these timeless principles, you will begin to unleash your inherent spiritual power and ignite your divine potential.

James E. Trapp, president and CEO, Unity Worldwide Ministries

This well-researched book belongs in the library of anyone who uses affirmative prayer as the basis of their prayer life; it will take your prayer life to the next level.

August Gold, author of The Prayer Chest, Prayer Partners, and the children's book series Where Does God Live?

Copyright 2015 by Linda Martella-Whitsett

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Hampton Roads Publishing, Inc. Reviewers may quote brief passages.

Cover design by Jim Warner

Interior designed by Maureen Forys, Happenstance Type-O-Rama

12 Powers image created by Rebeca Guajardo Davis

Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc.

Charlottesville, VA 22906

Distributed by Red Wheel/Weiser, llc

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ISBN: 978-1-57174-714-3

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available upon request.

Printed in Canada

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Honoring my beloved husband Giles, my son Adrian, and my daughter Alicia. Life with you sustains me. You are the light of the world.

Awake, arise, and assert yourself, you dreamers of the world. Your star is now in the ascendency.

Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich

Oddly, I, a minister serving a church community, have become less and less religious through the years. I would have expected otherwise; however, the more I have studied and meditated, the less I have relied upon religious constructs for my experience of the One Power, One Mind, GOD. Frankly, I have sworn off separation. Wethe collective wehave perceived GOD to be an inaccessible superhuman, which locates GOD outside and beyond us. We have believed this GOD rewards and punishes, gives and takes away, requiring human suffering and sacrifice. We have thought ourselves to be unworthy of GOD; therefore, we are always striving but never succeeding to please a mostly disapproving GOD.

I propose that there is no such GOD.

My purpose is to transcend religion and to flatten spirituality, to level the field of thought and experience so that there is no higher and lower, no more spiritual and less spiritual. I want that we realize our oneness with GOD. Instead of identifying ourselves as only human, I believe we free ourselves from our limited human perspective by identifying our nature as divine. I want that we revel in our Divine Identity! I want that we create our world and experience life from this realization. In a consciousness of only One, our conscious, intentional thoughts and actions arise from the One Power, One Mind, GOD. In this awareness, our mundane concerns become as spiritual as our lofty pursuits.

We have been convinced that we need to strive for divine approval, to earn our way into the heavenly kingdom. Post-religious teachings change the destination but retain the requirement: working toward enlightenment and learning our lessons. Consider, though, that our only-human striving for spiritual progress discounts the truth of our oneness with the One, the One that is the eternal, irrepressible, immutable All. GOD is all that, and we are one with GOD; therefore, moment by moment we are capable of being all that GOD is. Moment by moment, not by crawling and climbing, we are GOD living, loving, giving, and celebrating.

Enlightenment is temporary. It is moment by moment. Have you noticed that in one moment you can be totally connected, heart-centered, and free; but a moment later when a driver swerves her car into the parking spot you have been waiting for, you become... let's just say enlightenment comes and goes.

Practice makes moments of enlightenment more likely. Practice builds neural pathways that increase the likelihood of enlightened moments. Nevertheless, the most-practiced masters fall off the enlightenment wagon from time to time. Conversely, those who have had little or no education about their Divine Identity are known to have experienced sublime moments of awakened consciousness. Every one of us is capable of expressing, in any moment, something of the nature of GOD. Practice makes us more able. Practice makes progress.

Perfection is not the aim of practice. Athletes practice to build skill, and they must continue to practice in order to continue to excel in their sport. Injured basketball players rarely return to the game at peak performance after rehab; as they resume practice, their abilities resurface. They recall the mentality and posture cultivated through earlier periods of practice. Like athletes, we engage in spiritual practice in order to saturate our minds with the truth of our spiritual capacities. We build spiritual muscle to express our Divine Identity effectively, with increasing ease. With practice, we instinctively know what to think, say, or do to amplify the light of life, love, and all our spiritual capacities in any circumstance.

Any circumstance! Post-religious, New Thought teachings sometimes give the impression that we can get spiritual enough to eliminate all unwanted circumstances. This is not the purpose of spirituality, though. The greatsJesus, Gandhi, Mandela, for examplenever managed to eliminate unwanted circumstances. They were not exempt from human circumstances, and they did not promise us we could become exempt. Instead, they walked through unwanted circumstances as the light of the world, expressing from GOD, the One Mind. My intention is that we become so aware of our spiritual nature and capacities that we walk through unwanted circumstances in the same way we walk through