Ophelius: “Today’s message is about having one’s cake and eating it.  What does it mean to have one’s cake and eat it?  This is a euphemism used to describe the solving of a paradox about choosing something which is desired at the forgone expense of losing something else, but in this case, the choice is eliminated and both desires are concomitantly attained.  This idea of having one’s cake and eating it can be applied to the spiritual application of doing the Father’s will. In the minds of many of you humans, you have this fear or dread that to do the will of God means you must give up your earthy pleasures and desires to take up your cross as it were.  Much of this fear and dread has to do with the entrenched ideas of the rules and regulations of ecclesiastical authority through religious institutional penance.
 
“This idea of self denial is, in the beginning, true for the purging of detrimental, self destructive habits, and lustful desires that pull one away from the path of light, but this idea of having your cake and eating it has to do with the faith sons and daughters who have made the choice for eternal life and have entered the Kingdom of the Father’s family. It is these children who will find joy in living, loving, and serving the Father; joy in helping and loving your brothers and sisters; and joy in your pursuit for spiritual rewards through truth seeking and faith building.
 
“Once you arrive at this place of joy for truth, beauty, goodness, and the doing of the Father’s will, you will look down at your plate -- the plate that held the forbidden cake, and find the crumbs of satisfaction there as the evidence of things you feared to lose through self denial have in fact been replaced by higher ideals and spiritual desires.
 
“Let go of your fear of self denial and look forward to that place of peace -- that peace that surpasses all understanding -- the joy of knowing you are in the Father’s family and that you have been written into the book of life to be partakers in His eternal inheritance.
 
“He who is master of himself is greater than he who takes a city.”  Be master of yourself, and enjoy your cake!