The Aroma Of Worship-Introduction

There are three primary reasons that I wrote this devotion. My first and most important reason is to share the gospel of Christ with the essential oils community. As such, I have  made every effort to point in some way, to the Gospel of Christ in each devotion. Secondly, I want to communicate to the broader Christian, through the medium of devotional writing, that the sense of smell, as well as all of the other senses, is a gift from God given to us that we may bring Glory to Him by using it to enjoy his creation.

God has blessed us with this wonderful sense and He is worthy that we may intentionally use it in worship of him. Finally, I want to communicate in a very special way that essential oils can be used in many ways that are consistent with the Christian worldview and to reject the notion that one must embrace New Age thought to benefit from essential oils. These are my goals; and, my prayer is the spirit of God will see fit to use this work to that end.

WHAT TO EXPECT EACH DAY
Each day you will find: a brief instruction about preparing your surroundings and your heart, a passage of i, and finally some additional thoughts about the Scripture for that day. I have given some detail here in the introduction about preparation so that each day's instructions will be unique to that devotion. 

PREPARE YOUR SURROUNDINGS

To avoid distractions and promote focus, find a quite room/area. Keep your bible, this devotional, a journal, pen and highlighter near your chair. Also, set your diffuser up with distilled water, each day's devotion will tell you which oils to add to your diffuser for that day. After adding your distilled water and oils to the diffuser for the devotion, start your diffuser and let it run for a few minutes before you get started.

PREPARE YOUR HEART AND MIND

Get comfortable, and breathe in the aroma for a few moments. Clear your mind of cares that take your attention away from focusing on Christ. Breathe in and out slowly. Allow your senses to fully experience the aroma. Let the tension go out of your body and begin to focus your attention on Christ.

Spend some time in prayer of adoration. Celebrate God in your own heart and worship him. Thank him for the specific aroma you are experiencing, for its benefits, and for your sense of smell which he has given you as an avenue of experiencing His blessings in creation. As you are wrapping up this time of prayer, transition into reading the bible passage. meditate on it. Read it out loud repeatedly and let the words resonate with you.

Focus your mind on word, then concepts, and then complete thoughts. Allow your mind to take in what the text is saying. Read it until you have good awareness of what it is saying both in your heart and in your mind; then, move on to the devotional.

GOD'S WORD
Each day you will find a bible passage that will be the focus for that day. All Scripture references are taken from the English Standard Version.

WORTH THINKING ABOUT
This section has my stories, thoughts, and devotional ideas relating to the Bible passage(s) and essential oil(s) for that day.

Reference: The Aroma of Worship: Derin A Stidd

The Aroma Of Worship- Foreward

I love it when people find an area they're passionate about, link it to their essential oil business and let things simply flow...as  a natural expression of who they are. There'[s a passion and grace and simplicity in it all in one. Ideas flow naturally. And it's contagious.

I remember the first time Derin and I talked about his idea for this book, about how he wanted to introduce  - or reintroduce - people to several of the essential oils  ( and particularly some you've seen mentioned in the bible, but might not have even known were essential oils!) He mentioned he wanted to tie the ideas to scripture . make a few "real world" comments, and invite people into a multisensory experience with their father.

He wanted them to know  Him - in their heads. That is, He wanted them to have the information.

He also wanted them to feel Him in their spirit - to become aware of the great love Paul described when He wrote that the Holy Spirit was poured into our hearts. (Romans 5:5)

He also wanted them to sense him - to actually, tangibly "feel1 the physical oils and to smell the very things He had created to bless His children.

As Derin spoke more and more about his idea, I was drawn in. That's what happens when people taaalk about something they clearly love!

I thought, "Yes! People need this. The love of the Father isn't just something to know in your head  or experience in your spirit , but it's also something to feel...to physically encounter."

Think about it.
We are five-sense beings. We see. We hear. We taste. We touch. We Smell. The Lord gave us each of these senses for our good and His glory.

So, read Derin's book and open your senses as he discusses the smells, the aroma of worship.

Feel the cuts on the Boswellia Carterii tree as Frankincense  - ad healing - is poured forth from the very thing that would seemingly bring pain (isn't that life).

Touch the Hyssop. remember, it was with the Hyssop branch that Moses instructed the Children of Israel to brush the blood of the lamb over their door posts (Exodus 12:22); it was with the hyssop branch too that Jesus was given a sour drink when he said, " I thirst" ( John 19;29). As Derin writes, it's the hyssop that brings cleansing..... 

In the ancient world, essential oils were their medicines. It's what they had. In Jesus' day, then, healers would have walked around with a small bag attached to their waist-belt with small bottles of oil.

Did Jesus use essential oils?
Probably ....yes. Think about it. The wise men brought him three gifts. Two of the three, frankincense and myrrh, are well known for their healing properties.

Does this lessen the magnitude of His Miracles? Far from it. Rather, it invites us to connect to His past in the present moment, seeing and touching and smelling the same experience those who physically met Jesus must have encountered.

So, as you weave your way through Derin's book....May the Lord bless you and keep you. may His face of great grace and favor shine upon you. may you go slow...and savor and enjoy the experience waiting for you. Grace to You,

Reference: The Aroma Of Worship: Derin A. Stidd 

Blocks in The Flow

Taking the Pathway To Heaven

In the Christian tradition, prayer often takes place on the knees, with hands together. Native Americans, on the other hand outstretched and facing the sky, while Muslims put their heads to the ground. Beyond this - the basic physical position adopted - few are taught in any detail how to pray. we may even be given the wrong information. I was taught, for example, to pray only for others, not myself. It took me years, and a certain amount of guilt, to get beyond this notion and accept that it was okay.

In the process of praying for oneself, we often learn what it is we truly want, which may be very different to what we think  we want, to tell other people we want. So imagine this: people praying for other people without being in a position to know what they really want! Indeed, we may not be getting what we need because someone else is praying for the opposite!

I often hear of accounts of people who are so distressed at the thought of losing a partner, they sit at the deathbed, sometimes for days, willing the partner to live. The partner may themselves be praying to die in peace, without having to worry about the partner taking it so badly. Any such cross purpose of wills can take many forms, including praying for people who don't actually want to get better.

This may seem an unkind thing to say, but doctors and healers of all kinds are very familiar with this syndrome, when some one puts up an often subconscious barrier to healing. in these cases, it may be better to pray that the person is led to understand why they did not really want to get better.

Often tainted with ulterior motives. Iv'e heard people say they want a loved one to live for ever, or at least until they themselves die, and they pray for that, although the loved one may be in great pain and would prefer to die now. I recall on a woman saying to me, that she didn't want her husband to get well enough to come out of hospital until she'd had a chance to decorate the bedroom; and another who wanted her partner to get better extra quickly so he'd come home in time for her birthday. Better perhaps to pray that the person being prayed for gets their own prayers answered.

Many people find it easier to communicate with a messenger of God, an angel perhaps, because the infinite consciousness is so awesome. Fair enough, but just make sure you don't pray to the angel and make an idol of it. Give the message to the messenger as a message.

Many people find it awkard or embarrassing to pray and for them the written prayers may be an answer. The same sacred place in the mind, as used in thought or spoken prayer , can be used when writing down what it is you want to say  - in a relaxed way aware of the divinity that permeates all existence. Some put their written prayer in a special place; or create a prayer box : or burn the prayer and watch the smoke ascend to heaven.

In the Shinto religion, prayers are written on little blocks of fragrant cypress wood which are kept at the temple  for that purpose, and then thrown in the fire. Essential oils can be used in a similar way: fragrancing the paper kept in a box or elsewhere and being an olfactory reminder of the prayer in that place; or put on the paper-prayer before it's burnt. In the ancient times fragrant materials were routinely burnt  at the time of prayer and, indeed, the origin of the word 'perfume' is the latin, per fumum, which means by smoke'. Alternatively, prayers can be written on a banner, as in Tibet, and hung outside to blow in the wind. These writing methods may also appeal to people who express themselves better on paper than they do verbally.

Some people speak their prayers out loud, others say them silently in their minds; but why not sing your prayer? There is a whole science to sound, the spiritual use of which includes chanting and the repetition of mantras, as well as song. Sound sets up frequencies in  your whole being, as well as in the that connects you to the divine. Singing is a very open activity - it opens the heart, allows and even demands a flow - which tend to make things spontaneous and honest.  Openness and flow help the prayer reach its destination. Prayer can take place anywhere - on top of a mountain, or at the supermarket checkout.

You see those people on the street? Some of them are walking along praying. people pray on the bus, train or plane, or while walking through a forest. Often, when out and about, the desire to pray comes upon us, and when a prayer is spontaneous it comes from a place deep inside. It is a hear felt, and well received. Feel how the prayer rises from the depths of your being and escapes, riding on your emotion, into that space where it can be heard.

Prayer is quite often presented  as a bargain: if this prayed is answered , I'll pray every day, go to church or temple every week, or help out at the hospital, be a better person, and so forth. Such bargains are seldom kept. They may work for a while but then things drift back to normal. The cosmic consciousness that can see our past and future, knows that.

It's fairly  easy to understand  that bribery in prayer will not work. Suppose someone wants something and says, 'Dear God, if you give me that, I'll give a hundred pounds to the local hospice. ' That's a bribe. If it were that easy people could have all they wanted - including love, health and peace - which is just not the case. This isn't to say you shouldn't give the hospice money- but do it because you feel empathy, compassion and love.

Suffering has played a part in certain branches of the Hindu, Muslim and Christian traditions with people wearing hair shirts and beating themselves with whips. On a less dramatic scale, may people say to themselves, If I really suffer , surely God will answer my prayers. God may not want you to suffer. Try to reach for the light  with faith that things will get better, secure in the knowledge that God will help you if you help yourself.

There's no point in praying for world peace if you constantly row at home or at work. Better to pray for peace in your own environment, and understanding as to why disagreements arise. People who have never prayed, or have not prayed for a long time, may find themselves uncertain as to whether they're supposed to kneel, sit or stand, turn on the lamp or light a candle, put on some music or not.

Regular prayer eventually irons out these questions, and personal routine is found: one you have evolved naturally and feel comfortable with. The prayer can start out extremely simply, and then just be repeated, until you feel you want to add another, different element. As time goes on the whole process will become more refined.

In my practice, iv'e often heard people say they're worried they won't be able to kneel in church because of their arthritic knees. I say, 'Really, I'm sure God won't mind,' but they still worry, so indoctrinated are they in the 'right' way of doing things. it's sad we should think that there is so little understanding in heaven, and God is surely too flexible to worry about a knee that is not. All our prayers will be heard, if they are genuinely said.

As we ask to be forgiven, so too can we forgive: and accept and contribute to universal forgiveness. We must be honest though, to ourselves as well as God. This may be hard to start with, but, from shy and hesitant beginnings, eventually the whole truth will come out and we'll feel better for it. Prayer should not be a duty, but something truly meant. We could read from a standard religious text, or turn to a beautiful poem or passage from a book that strikes a spiritual resonance in us. It's important to be relaxed in prayer, and that is easier when we're genuine and follow our needs.

Prayer has always been a wonderful aspect of human experience, and there seems to be a space reserved in our minds and hearts for it. From this innermost space we travel along a pathway of light, free from mental clutter and genetic memory, past the anguish and the fear, so that place of infinite peace that awaits us like  a shelter in a storm or, on a good day, the most brilliant sun. What gets us there  most surely is love: the most powerful voice or force in the universe. If the message is to get through, it needs love behind it. God is love, and love is what God hears. 

Reference: The Fragrant Heavens : Valerie A Worwood