TABLE OF CONTENTS
GLORIFY THOU ME ......................................... PG. 9
"IS THIS HE THAT SHOULD COME" ........................... PG. 23
CHRIST AND EVOLUTION .................................... PG. 31
THE AUTOMATIC POWER ..................................... PG. 41
BEHOLD! - WHAT MANNER OF LOVE ........................... PG. 53
COME - EAT AND DRINK .................................... PG. 65
THE LOST WORD ........................................... PG. 75
HE THAT LOSES HIS LIFE .................................. PG. 85
THE DREAM ............................................... PG. 93
LET THE CHILD BE BORN ................................... PG.101
THE CHRIST MASS ......................................... PG.112
NOW IS THE DAY .......................................... PG.121
POSSESSION .............................................. PG.134
LEAVE ALL - FOLLOW ME ................................... PG.147
PROTECTION .............................................. PG.158
YOUR HERITAGE ........................................... PG.168
FREEDOM ................................................. PG.178
THE TIME OF SEEING ...................................... PG.185
TAKE NO THOUGHT OF THE JOURNEY .......................... PG.189
AN END OF PRAYING ....................................... PG.193
OUT OF THE CLOUDS ....................................... PG.204
SURRENDER ............................................... PG.218
GLORIFY THOU ME
"Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own Self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was," is the prayer for the final manifestation in the flesh, of the WORD. It is a wonderful revelation, to note that Jesus is not asking for something new and strange to happen to Him. He is merely asking for a return to visibility of the Glory that He already had experienced, and had already manifested, before He came into the "world" known to him as the world of Jesus the Nazarene. It is the same "glory" that we are all seeking, vaguely and through divers manners and methods. Many believe that something has to be created or changed, instead of something being "restored." "He restoreth my Soul," is the same idea. Something is restored that man has lost sight of, and in this thought comes the happiness that it is possible of manifestation because it has already been. Glorify Me with the SAME glory I had with Thee before the beginning of the world of belief - the world that I have drawn to me, by accepting the idea that I was separated from the Father consciousness, and therefore was independent, and had to function through a world of problems and difficulties before I could attain to the PERFECTION and GLORY that we find out later on was always an integral part of our Divine heritage.
It is the awakening to the fact that the Man, made in the image and likeness of God, has always been perfect, and that nothing can, or does, change this eternal fact. The Human sense, having blinded eyes, must again become cognizant of the Facts of BEING, and align itself again with the Truth of Life - and this is all that takes place.
The wearisome idea of working to change things by "taking thought" about them - especially when we are told that it will do no good - has to be uprooted. It is a plant that our Heavenly Father has not planted, and therefore it must go.
The endless dreams of perfection, joy, glory, and expression that have passed over you are but the faint remembrance of the "Glory I had with Thee before the world was." And it is just this realization which causes us to be "quickened" into a newness.
"Awake thou that sleepest," Takes on an ever-increasing meaning and life. Awake to the fact that we are not trying to change anything, or that we have anything to build or make, but something definitely to claim, by true prayer - the prayer to the Father. A prayer to the Power within to restore that which has eternally been our heritage. A perfection and glory which transcends any of the human limitations which we have added to ourselves through identifying ourselves with a personality. It is Wonderful!
"He restoreth My soul" - my sense of things. The He mentioned herein is the FATHER within - the Father, to whom this prayer of restoration is addressed. "Father, Glorify Me." The ME that is here expressing in a body which has come under all the beliefs of the human race is to be resurrected and lifted up out of the tomb of human beliefs. The "dead" are to raised up in glory. We are DEAD to LIFE eternal as long as we are identified with a body which is separated from God.
"As HE is, so are we in this present world." Do you begin to see that we are approaching something different in the revelation of Truth? It is all so wonderful, and is all there, awaiting the coming of the Master. All the good and all the joy that we ever dreamed of demonstrating are THERE in the realm of Reality, awaiting the appropriation of it: awaiting the coming of one with Recognition. It is Wonderful! Father, glorify ME with the same glory I had with Thee before the beginning of the world.
"As HE IS, so are we in this world." What do you mean by HE, and where do you place HIM? Jesus distinctly told us that the "Father within, He doeth the works." We have heard this over and over, and still there is a tendency to pray "up", or "out", or somewhere other than contacting this glorious Power in the only place possible to contact it - the WITHIN. Within the consciousness of man is the only possible place to know God. Not a separate little God shut up in a body, as if it were a mummy in a sarcophagus, but a point of contact where the personal touches the impersonal, where the point dissolves into the circle. It is Wonderful!
Over and over again we hear the various things that are to be derived from contact with the FATHER, and presently we will GO within, in the true sense of the word, and commune with the FATHER in secret, and the Father which SEETH in Secret will reward thee openly. That is, the Word shall become flesh and dwell among us. We shall see it with our eyes, and handle it with our hands, and the Glory of the Lord shall have been made manifest to the WORLD. What world? Your world - the world that revolves about you.
As HE is, so are we in this PRESENT world. Actually we are at this instant in the state of perfection in which we were created, or else the whole idea of God creating Man in HIS image and likeness is a myth. Because we do not perceive, it does not argue anything in favor of its not being true. There are many things you did not see or hear that were there all the time, but which you see and hear now. Your eyes are "holden," because the scales of believing in human appearances have so distorted the normal and true vision that you cannot see this perfection. It is wonderful, however, to know that we are beginning to discover that we have this Divine Heritage, and that we are entitled to it, and that only ourselves can keep it longer away from us.
"Who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?" We have been hindering ourselves by the acceptance of appearances as real - and by the looking to man for our Wisdom, instead of turning to God. It is Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful!
When we begin to examine just HOW "HE IS" - just WHAT "HE IS" - we begin to see that all the dreams of a lifetime have emanated from the memory of this "Altogether Lovely" creation of God which is our True Self. In spite of all the arguments, beliefs, and proofs of the human world, this "Altogether Lovely" manifestation will come into being when we begin to "return" to the Father's House - when we begin to return to the Father's consciousness, and find there the unchanged perfect creation as it was in the beginning before the world was.
It not only speeds the journey, but adds joy to it, to know that we are not going to fight for what we think is ours; we are not going to try to establish our claim to an inheritance; we are merely going to ASK the Father for this inheritance with positive assurance, and then "let" the same GLORY come through into expression in us. "Yet [yes, even after all this false manifestation and belief] in my flesh shall I see God." Yes; after it has passed through a thousand and one beliefs, which have seemed absolutely hopeless and impossible, YET, even after all this shall "I" (You) see GOD in the flesh. Why will you SEE HIM? Because HE will come forth in all the GLORY which was, and IS, yours always.
Be still. Come before HIS Presence with joy and praise. JOY and PRAISE for the TRUTH of being. The stillness of the human mind, which is always seeking things that it may consume upon its lusts, opens the way for the rebirth, or reappearance, of the GLORY which has been eternally yours before the beginning of the world. It is Wonderful!
"It [the human sense of life] is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
"It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body...."
And as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
"Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed."
"In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."
"For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."
It is so glorious to realize that this identical mortal, the you that has seemed so full of beliefs of sin, sickness, and death - this identical MORTAL must and will put on IMMORTALITY. So long we have thought, we must shuffle off this mortal garment in order that we could inherit the Spiritual Robes of Immortality; we are beginning to see that we are awakened from the "dead" beliefs of sin and mortality into the glorious reality of the Sons of the Living God, clothed upon in garments of Light. It is Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful! Clothed with light and thanksgiving. Filled with the Holy Ghost, and raised up into Immortality. Again we are brought back to the GLORY which was ours before the beginning of the world. It is Wonderful! And all this takes place in the twinkling of an eye, when the last trump shall sound, when we shall have come to a full and absolute agreement with the Father within, and accepted this Immortality and Glory.
"The Heavens declare the GLORY of God; and the Firmament sheweth His Handiwork." Everything is full of the Glory of the Lord, when once we are filled with it. It is the LIGHT which dissolves the darkness of human thinking and reveals the true state, and which is able to say quite definitely, "Arise and walk." It sees through the shadows of belief back to the GLORY which is the Divine Right of the individual, and calls that GLORY into manifestation. Revelation and Realization follow along in natural sequence. We are coming into the Kingdom as something more than a place of imagination. The former things have passed away. The former beliefs of attaining Heaven and harmony have passed away, and the NEW DAY, the NEW HEAVEN, the NEW Earth are revealed HERE and NOW. It is Wonderful!
"Father, glorify Thou ME with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was."
The Father within, He knows it all - the how, the why, and the wherefore: whereas the little human Prodigal tries in his limited way to tell God what to do, and just what to bring out. He holds his measure and outline up to God, and says, "Please make it appear after this fashion." It is like asking the sun only to shine in your garden. The GLORY that is yours is so much greater and more wonderful in its manifestation than anything you can think, or than anything that has ever entered into you heart to conceive, that comparisons are odious and futile. "The GLORY" that you are beginning to experience is something beyond what the human mind has outlined as "just about perfect." It is the flowing revelation that will come with healing in its wings, and will come showing new and wonderful capacities and ideas to mankind. New expressions and new means of appreciating the perfection of this GLORY will be borne in upon you. Be still - you are in a new day - the old order changeth. Do you hear?
The Old order includes all the limitations and all the hard and set rules of the human mind, with its elegant learning and wisdom, which are to be cast aside as nothing but so much useless baggage.
Ideas, capacities, and abilities that have existed since before the world was are to be revealed to you - be still. You do not have to talk it over with anyone. You just have to be STILL, and ASK the FATHER to "Glorify you with the glory that was yours before the world was, and that glory will be sufficient to bring out of the darkness of human belief all the wonders of HIS LOVE. Some glorious things await YOU. Be still. It is Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful! Heaven and earth are full of THEE.
"I Am here, I Am there, I Am everywhere."
We are in the PRESENCE HERE and NOW, and in this Presence we find the fullness of Joy:
"In the Silence of the Presence of your Father indeed is the full consciousness, the realization of perfection; the ultimate blessing, the dissolution of all worldly beliefs, for your Father and you are One. For heaven is here and Now. You are washed clean indeed. Personality has returned to the things earthly, and the Higher self reveals the Inner Brightness, that Incandescent White Christ Light, which goes ever and Now before you, leading you to greater paths of truth and understanding, on towards the Limitless expansions, the higher heights and deeper depths. You have It. You are Free. I Am with you and within you. You are caught up in the Rapture of your Father, in the glorious White Christ Light - that effulgent radiance, free from all bounds and limitations. It is so, and so it is. According to your faith be it unto you, Now and all through eternity. So rejoice always in the Lord."
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."
The direct application of the illustration - "as in a glass." We know how perfect and correct the image in the glass is, when we step before the mirror; and so, when we step before this GLORY, with an open-free consciousness, to "let" the light come into expression, in and through us, just so shall the same image be produced in us - the image of perfection and beauty; the image of success and happiness and expression. It is Wonderful! And it is written: "from glory to glory." On and on into more and more wonderful experiences of the Presence: things we have not thought of, or dreamed of as possible, come to us as the Revelation breaks over us with its flood of Light and Power. "As in a glass." Do you hear? Do you see the difference in this Prayer to the Father to "Glorify ME," and the prayer which is constantly trying to get some little gift away from God? Taking the little gift is merely holding, for a short space, the shadow of substance, when all the while "Glory after glory" awaits you. It is Wonderful!
As you have borne the image of the earthly with all its limitations, so shall ye bear the image of the Heavenly. Something definite and real about this statement. An assurance that this will and must take place. It is Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful! "Heaven and earth are full of the Lord."
The child that was born within, whose name is WONDERFUL, came to lead you into all things. The recognition of the Christ within is the open door through which this new and mighty Revelation is taking place.
Aren't you glad there is a counselor, somewhere, and somehow, here and NOW, willing and ready to free you from all sin, and from all condemnation? He that the Son sets free, is free indeed.
The awakening to the GLORY which was ours before the world was, begins to put to flight the condemnation we have held over ourselves and others, and, with the coming of this GLORY, the cause of all condemnation also moves out of the picture. It is Wonderful! "Neither do I condemn you," is as applicable to you as it is to anyone else. The "I" within will speak this freeing word to you, when you are ready to forsake that for which you have been condemned, and it shall pass out of sight and out of memory. It is Wonderful!
The first heaven and first earth have passed away, and the new Heaven, the new "Word made flesh," is appearing out of the clouds of belief.
The glorious part of this NEW Heaven and Earth is the same glorious thing we find in the resurrected Jesus. He presents a Body which is not a "spirit," but which has flesh and bones, and which partakes of food and drink; in other words, He presents the "Word made flesh" without all the so-called fleshy limitations. He presents the body which was raised to the point of incorruptibility.
"In the beginning the Word was with God and the Word was God and was invisible. When you began to realize this, you came a little nearer to God: or the Word, the invisible word, came a little nearer to your conscious realization. It began to materialize itself - the word became flesh. The kingdom of God is not visible until it has been made visible by Him that livith for ever and for ever. It is Wonderful! But 'I' came to materialize the things that the human mind thought not to be. Once upon a time you were invisible, but today you are visible, and the kingdom of heaven shall also in like manner be made visible. It is written, 'As He is, so are we in this world.' and we are Now materializing the things that we realize and we are bringing into conscious realization the materialization of things that have been hidden from generations. That is where we are Now - we are at the point of materializing those things which have heretofore been purely mental and invisible."
This materialization is brought about by the Recognition of the "Glory" that is ours, and the Glory is revealed by the Father within.
"Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own Self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was."
It is Wonderful, because it transcends any earthly concept of Glory, or Heaven, and at the same time it reveals to us this practical, livable state of existence; reveals to us that consciousness of Life which transcends the laws of the human mind, and finds it natural that the Child of the Living God should be in a state of joy, and peace and plenty.
Finally man comes to realize that the Natural state of man is one of health, happiness, and success, and the old belief that all these things are unusual, and can only be induced if the right word or treatment be said, is passing away. Demonstrations are not given us to be wondered at, but as a natural functioning of the God Power; as a natural emanation of the GLORY which was, and is, ours, before the beginning of the world of belief in which we became lost. It is Wonderful!
"Arise, and shine; for thy light is come, and the GLORY of the Lord is risen upon thee," - this is so, WHEN it is SO to YOU. Do you hear?
"IS THIS HE THAT SHOULD COME?"
"Is THIS He that should come?" Eternally the question is asked as a long line of teachers, preachers, so-called Messiahs, books, and systems of Truth parades across the line of vision. The answer is, many times, "Yes, this is He," only later to be turned into a bitter, "No, I was mistaken." The eyes of the Seeker again scan the horizon, looking for another who apparently never comes.
"Is this He that should come, or look we for another?" has been asked since time began, and will continue to be asked until the individual ceases his looking for a Messiah - in the old sense of the word - and becomes aware that the glorious Revelation that the search is ended and that "HE that should come" has come. Until man stops looking for a Messiah who is to save the world, and turns within and gives a full and glorious recognition to the Christ, he will never find HIM.
When man awakens to the glorious truth that the HE that should come is the risen Christ in the midst of him, he realizes the eternal question is answered, and from that moment it is just a matter of recognition.
"Is this He that should come?" Yes, this is the HE that should come. This is the "HE" that has been standing in the midst of thee, knocking on the door of your consciousness, while you have been running hither and thither, looking for a personal teaching or system, and have denied the "HE that should come." It is wonderful and glorious - it is self-revelation.
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." This very Messiah that men have been seeking in the world of relative beliefs stands at the door and knocks, and awaits the recognition. A flood of light overtakes you, pours over you like a waterfall, covering the whole face of the earth. Light bursts forth and reveals the Kingdom of Heaven Here and Now - a real heaven and a real earth, for the first heaven and the first earth those imaginary states of consciousness, have passed away, and something living, tangible and real has come into manifestation. "Yet in My flesh shall I [yes, you] see God." Yes, in this very flesh shall you see this God power in manifestation. And if you do, what do you suppose will happen to the appearances of disease and age, and all the limitations you have held about you, while you were dreaming of the first heaven and the first earth?
The Inner Lord, the Christ of which Jesus told us so much, and showed us so much, is asking you, "But whom do YOU say that I AM?" The answer is usually the same: "Some say that you are one, some another." Some say that you are this teacher or that teacher; of this or that nationality; or a representative of this or that system. What of it? It is all talk of and about a subject until you can answer for yourself, "But whom do you say that I AM?" What are you going to do about it? How much longer are you going to deny ME, and get the reaction to this denial? Awake, thou that sleepest. Stop looking for a Messiah, and recognize the Presence within you. Fling open wide the doors of your consciousness, and LET this Glorious "He that should come" come in, and let HIM rise, and rise, and rise, with healing in His wings, and cover you with His floods of healing light and revelation. It is Wonderful!
Think of it, Beloved! All the revelation you expected to come from some Messiah will now come through the risen Lord, because you will have the Single Eye and Ear and be able to perceive and hear what the voice says through any avenue or channel. It is Wonderful! Until you "hear THE voice," in the truest sense of the word, you only hear "a" voice, and mistake it always for the Messiah. "Is this He that should come, or look we for another?" is at last answered by the recognition of the Presence, and THEN the automatic power of this recognition starts to fulfill the Law; "If you ask anything in my name [nature], that give I unto you."
When you hear the answer to your recognition of the Inner Lord, speaking with authority, "Behold, I AM HE that should come," you experience a thrill of freedom and joy, and you begin to see that all things are possible to God. "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty." Filled with the Light of this new day, you begin to "call upon ME," and find that "I AM close at hand," and ready to bless, to save, to heal. It is all glorious. "This is My beloved Son, in whom I AM well pleased," is said of the body (embodiment), and you will find that your body begins to express "the" condition which causes the Father within to be "well pleased."
This Inner Lord, this "He that should come," speaking to your body, "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee," causes you to experience a new sense of health, which is more in the terms of light than the old idea of human power.
There is no doubt that every man, no matter how low he may have dropped in the scale of human belief, has heard the "knock" at the door; but note that it is necessary to hear more than the "knock." The knock is merely the urge of the power. It is necessary to "hear" within you - yes, you, the reader - and cease the useless "denying" the Christ within yourself and stop the endless seeking in another for the Truth. Until you can give the Glory to God, and recognize this Christ within you, you will not be able
to hear the VOICE. You will always hear the voice of some person, and yet it says the still small Voice shall say, "Turn to the
right," "Turn to the left," etc., and that all guidance will be given to you from within. Until you can accept your Divine heritage as a joint heir with Christ, you will be found eating the crumbs under the table of one of your supposed Messiahs, and yet in some strange, remote way resenting this humiliation that you have brought upon yourself.
The recognition of the Inner Lord does not bring a sense of arrogance or conceit. Contrary to this, it brings the first loverly sense of meekness and humility; and why not? You begin to realize that the fighting and excitement belong to those who are seeking things and fighting for them. You have become "meek," because you know that the MEEK inherit the earth, and there is no question about it being a legitimate inheritance. It is wonderful, the floods of light that are pouring over you now, NOW that you have answered the question, "Is this HE that should come?"
"Greater is HE that is in you, than he that is in the world" - you may rest assured, Beloved, that the Christ within you is greater than any teacher, or lecturer, or preacher, who ever claimed to be the Messiah. Greater is HE that is in you, because that very HE is the point of contact between you and the Infinite God of all creation.
The HE that was in Jesus made Him what He was, and changed the carpenter's son into a glorious Master. The HE that was in Him enabled Him to offset the beliefs of the millions about Him, One, with God, is a majority, and it was just this recognition of the Christ within that enabled Jesus to show forth the LAW, which set aside every human belief.
When the five thousand were in the desert, hungry and a great distance from food, they all testified to this situation as true. There was plenty of evidence of the lack of food, and apparently no way of getting it. There was plenty of proof of the impossibility of acquiring anything in the immediate time it was needed, and yet this volume of proof and testimony did not affect Jesus at all. One can stand against five thousand, if that one knows that "Greater is HE that is in you, than he that is in the world." When you begin to see the Law as given to us by the Master Jesus, you begin to understand all the workings of the Law. "One, with God, is a majority," over a million beliefs and proofs, however time-honored and reverenced.
It was the desire of Jesus to show this crowd of five thousand how it was possible for them also to become one with God; but most of them only saw the so-called miracle, and the next day they were looking for Him again; not seeking the light, but the loaves and fishes, showing how utterly they had misunderstood the revelation. "You seek ME after the loaves and the fishes and cannot find Me."
Until a man has recognized the simple teaching of Jesus, and found the "HE that is to come" within himself, he will constantly be either building up or tearing down. He will, each year, get a new craze for another teacher or system, and each time he will turn many awry by telling them this is the "only" one. He has only heard the "knock," and not the "Voice."
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent ME, HATH everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life!"
It were well if you read and re-read this statement, and note the tense of the verbs, and rejoice in the presence of the Almighty God. The Lord thy God in the midst of THEE (yes, you) is mighty. Do you hear? "My sheep hear My voice."
"Is this He that should come, or look we for another?"
"The government shall be upon HIS shoulder and HIS name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, and of the increase of His government there shall be no [not any] end." The heavens are pouring out floods of revelation upon you as you read, and upon me as I write. The WORD is going out, "I shall pour out My blessings on all mankind." The richness of this Love has come to you, and "He careth for you." Nothing else matters. If God, the Inner Lord, careth for you, then all is well with you. It cannot be other wise. The automatic working of this law may come through any channel or avenue, but the power of recognition lies within you.
It is not that anything must or will be done to you by any man, and yet any man may be the materialized evidence of what you have called for. It is Wonderful! "Is this He that should come?" Yes, this is HE that should come to unto you, with healing in His wings. The government of your life is upon the shoulder of this newly recognized (born) child, whose name is Wonderful, the mighty God. Do you begin to see how you can give up, and "lean on ME"?
"Beloved, NOW are we the sons of God." But this NOW may be three thousand years away, or it may only be a moment away, or it may be NOW. All this depends upon your willingness to recognize the Lord within you as the HE that should come.
"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork." We can come whole-heartedly to the throne of Grace, and bear away the Blessings that are so freely given to us. We recognize ONE God of all, and His name is WONDERFUL. Yes, this is He that should come; it is the He that is the ONE (triumphant) against the five thousand, with their avalanche of belief and proof.
"Is this He that should come?" Arise, my Soul; adore thy Maker.
CHRIST AND EVOLUTION
Christ is not the product of evolution." The Christ has not been evolved from a seed or monad. The I AM that I AM was before Abraham, and before everything else that has had anything to do with evolution, whether mental or physical. Many people conceive that Christ is virtually a product of the nineteenth century. Because more books have been written, and more lectures given, on Christ during the past fifty years, many think that Christ was practically created to accommodate a modern sense of religion, or to make some Prophet outstanding. "with or without a body I AM just as operative"; and so we are beginning to see that if every lecturer, teacher, book, and organization purporting to give the world the message of the Christ were to become non-existent, the Christ would be just as operative, and just as present. It is a wonderful thing to realize this. It will take out of the beautiful Truth all the personal teaching, and free you into the possibilities of the Inspiration, direct and without intermediary.
Because you become more aware of the Christ, He does not grow larger and more powerful. He has always been All, and you are coming more into alignment with Him. The building at the end of the street does not grow in size as you approach it; it may seem to, but it remains the same always. It is interesting to know the Unchangeableness of God, and a good thing to contemplate. Nothing can be added - no personal doctrine nor opinions can be added to HIM - and nothing taken away. There He stands - absolutely Changeless and Eternal.
You are merely in a process of becoming aware of that which is. As you begin to see this, you will find that what you formerly thought of as the Power coming down into expression is merely you coming into better alignment with the Unchangeable. As you meditate on this Changeless Power, and examine more and more the nature of it, you will see why the "signs" follow automatically; they could not do otherwise. You will begin to understand the difference between the old idea of making God do your bidding, and letting yourself come into a better alignment with the Unchangeable Power, which is ever active, and which is independent of every man-made theory, belief or opinion, book or teacher.
"Be still, and know that I am God," carries more with it than a command - it carries Revelation; in the stillness of this contemplation, does one perceive the naturalness of Life? Most people consider the manifestations of God as unnatural and miraculous, and hence intermittent in their appearance, but we are beginning to see that the unnatural thing is that we, the children of the Almighty Ever-present God, should be subject to all sorts of human beliefs and laws.
It is this awakening that is now taking place, and it is the very joy of recognizing that Christ is not a product of evolution, that gives us the victory. Just think how wonderful it all is that Christ IS and that He is not the product of human research and study, but that before all this, and when the Morning Stars sang together, HE was, and is. Verily, verily I say unto YOU - what do "I" say unto you, Beloved? You who are reading this very line. I AM saying something unto you. The "I" which is not the product of evolution, but which is the seed-time and harvest, both in one, the Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh - I am "saying" something unto you, right now, that it is making your heart burn with the fire of the Presence. It is flaming up in you now, like a glowing pillar of light, and bringing to your remembrance all things whatsoever "I" have said unto you.
"I" have said many things to YOU, before you came through all the tiresome belief of being evolved through the endless incarnations, filled with terror and shame. "I" said many things to "You" when you were with ME, and "I" now hear you asking: "Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own Self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." Before the beginning of this world of human beliefs that you have hugged about you, drawn out of the mist of human acceptation and fear - judging from the appearances.
"Glorify Thou Me with the same Glory I had with Thee." We are beginning to recognize that we have already tasted of this "Glory," this radiance of the Soul - this something, the light of which is again breaking through the bars of out self-made prisons of thought.
We are not asking for a NEW glory, or for an evolved state of goodness, but the SAME glory - that which does not come under the belief in birth, growth, maturity, etc. We are asking for the manifestation of the Power within us, which says "Look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest," that Power which finds its flower before the seed, and the harvest before the planting. All this beautiful symbolical language gives us a witness to the fact that Christ is not dependent upon evolution. The slow laborious efforts of the human thought trying to produce the perfect, or the increase, fall into the ditch before the Power which says, "Before they call, I will answer." Before they formulate a request, I will supply it from the never-ending Source of the All. It sidesteps all the human intellect and reasoning, and gives a free and beautiful manifestation and showing forth of the Power, as Here and NOW, complete and changeless.
That which was true with you "before the world was," is still true. It is simply that we are coming back to it, through the recognition of the Power which is not a product of evolution.
What is the good of talking about the things that "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man," and then trying to square these manifestations with the Power that will bring them into manifestation by the narrow and distorted human reasoning? Who can teach you the way of Inspiration? Is there a course in any university that will produce this marvelous quality in you? Do you have any difficulty in perceiving Inspiration, no matter in what limited degree it is shown forth? "He was inspired," you hear people say - and it beggars all description. No one can force Inspiration, make it, or create it, and yet it can be "let" into manifestation by a Recognition of the simple truth: "I can of mine own self do nothing; the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works" - and, before this Recognition, a whole lifetime of human limitations and restrictions goes down, like a house of cards in a hurricane. God does not have to be evolved in you - God is always there, awaiting Recognition.
"Behold I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." The Power is eternally there, urging upon you the Consciousness of its Presence. Urging you to open unto ME and "let" that transforming influence into expression - that which suddenly changes everything at His coming. Suddenly, as a thief in the night, when you are least expecting it all - in the twinkling of an eye; it happens before you can breathe - this Power, which is above evolution, brings Itself into manifestation, and the thousands of beliefs and appearances must fall into the limbo of nothingness. "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? I say unto you, Lift up your eyes and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." I say unto you, "Lift up your eyes." Can you for a moment imagine just what must take place in the space of time between "I say," and "Lift up your eyes"? It is no greater, and no more upsetting to the human belief, than that which can and will take place in you, when you recognize this Christ within you as something real instead of something that you have to grow to, and something that has to be evolved by the slow centuries of human thinking and reasoning. "Behold I make all things new." What must take place in the old worn-out beliefs and their manifestations, when the Power that makes all things new comes into manifestation - instantly and without the slow process of evolution, or growing, or creeping, along through the jagged channels of experience? What is experience to the Power that is of too pure eyes to behold iniquity?
"Heaven and earth are full of thee" - and you are in earth, and then suddenly you are in Heaven, and so you are filled with the Lord, and, if you are filled with the Lord, what else is there for you to be filled with, and what human analysis can evolve this Lord into something that He has not always been, and is? It is marvelous how the Light is flooding over us - I as I write this to you, and you as you read it. "Blessings, blessings, blessings, so many we cannot count them," foe Heaven and earth are filled with the Lord, and His blessings. The blessings that do not have to be evolved by a slow, long process of human reasoning and belief, but which are eternally waiting to come into manifestation in answer to that state of consciousness which has discovered that, "Before they ask, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will give it unto them." That is pretty quick, and it is wholly outside of the ken of the human reason to cope with. There is nothing in the intellect which can make it possible for a man to be answered before he asks - and so it is charged off to the "unnatural or supernatural." It is called a miracle because it has set aside a human belief. Now we are learning that it is natural, because it is redeeming a human belief, and freeing us from the narrow confines of that belief, causing us to see that it is so before we asked. It is so, that Christ, the I AM, existed before anything else existed, and it is also true that this Word is becoming flesh, and is dwelling among us NOW.
Heaven and earth are becoming one - the Word is becoming flesh, and is dwelling among us. "You are in heaven, speaking to those on the earthly plane of existence." We are all caught up to the height of this Recognition of the Presence, and are speaking the freeing word of Life and Changelessness into the world of expression. It is Wonderful!
"For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep," "not discerning the body of Christ." It is marvelous to know that when we stop looking to the body of beliefs and turn our attention to the Body of the Father within, and the body of the Christ, the embodiment of the Word made flesh, we are instantly healed, and lifted up to a place where health is a natural and normal state of life. Many are sick because they perceive their own human sense of body, and find it full of ills to be cured and healed, and many are completely asleep to it all. "Awake thou that sleepest, and Christ shall give thee light" - awake and arise from the dead! The Christ that shall give thee Light is the Christ whose body you are invited to perceive. The perfect vision shown to you on the mount of vision - the perfect stature of the Christ within you. Turn you attention to this Perfect Body of the Christ and perceive its perfection, and these manifestations will take place in you. It is Wonderful!
"I am fearfully and wonderfully made." This is the Christ body, or the embodiment of the Christ, which you are invited to contemplate. It is the contemplation of this body which raises the cripple up from the temple gates and makes a fine strong manifestation out of a rack of disease and limitations. Perceiving this body of the Christ is the thing that will change your "vile" bodies to bodies of Light, and which will deliver you from the body of death; many other things will take place because you have looked upon, and perceived, this body of the Christ as it is, and not as some evolved product of the human imagination. The Word must become flesh and dwell among you, and only when it does is it real and true; otherwise you have an imaginary heaven and an imaginary God, both of which are useless to you on the earth plane. But when you begin to perceive the body of the Christ, you find it permeating the very fiber and tissue of your body and universe, and the manifestation of the Word becoming flesh takes place, and it is well.
"You shall eat My body and drink My blood" - you shall find a full and plenty of everything desirable in this body of the Christ which you are asked to perceive.
"Awake thou that sleepest, and Christ shall give thee light." Christ shall show you the Power of this new and wonderful Body, and shall give you the Light of the New Day and Revelation. Suddenly the belief in an evolved Christ gives way to that Christ which was, and is, and ever shall be - eternal in the heavens, filled with grace and truth, filled with the Power to make Himself manifest. "Christ is not the product of evolution." Christ is HERE and NOW a reality, to be perceived and LET into expression in the flesh. It is Wonderful! And So It Is.
THE AUTOMATIC POWER
It is a fine, healthy feeling that comes with the realization that you cannot change God by praying to Him; that you cannot change Him by saying words or thinking things. An avalanche of false beliefs slides into the chasm of oblivion when you begin to recognize that God is changeless.
We have wondered into a far land, full of strange doctrines, which led us to believe that we could make God do our bidding. "Oh, no," comes a great protest from a mass of souls who daily are telling God what is wrong with the world and the other man, and are also instructing Him how to better them. "Oh, no," also comes from an army of people who believe that the purpose of treatment is to make God alter His mind.
Many people have come to believe that the study of Truth is for the purpose of gaining a power which would enable us to do things that we otherwise could not do. These same people believe that certain ones have more God-power than others, and that the Truth can be copyrighted and restricted to personal interpretations.
So it is a healthy thing to know, and feel, that prayer cannot change God; that man is neither able to change God nor His Power, and that no teacher or leader has any power to make God do his bidding.
It is Wonderful - this revelation of the changelessness of God. That Changeless Principle of Life, to which nothing can be added, and from which nothing can be taken; eternal in the heavens (Consciousness), and which fadeth not away. Think of the assurance that immediately comes to you. A Changeless Power - eternal, always present in all ways, instantly available to any man, at any place; without words of formula, and without an intercessor.
When you have awakened, you will realize that prayer, treatment, words, affirmations, or thoughts are powerless to change the eternal nature of God. You will be glad to know this. You will be glad to discover that all these ideas are mearly means of aligning one's self with the Changeless Principle of Life.
Nothing you can do will hinder God, nor help Him. You can only hinder or help yourself. You may believe what you want to regarding God, but that will not make it so, any more than believing evil about a person, or place, or thing, makes that so.
The Power of God is beyond the measure of the human mind. It acts so unceasingly, so unfailingly, and with such precision, that it can be termed automatic. Certainly it is an Unconditioned Power, untrammeled and unlabored, and it is this very Power which many of us have believed we could make do our bidding. Of course, many will emphatically deny this, but that does not change the fact that most people have thought that prayer was either for the purpose of making God change His Mind, or for making something happen that would not have otherwise taken place.
Many of you have thought that until you "treated," or prayed, or said words, that God remained static. You had, apparently, to generate the Power. I AM not accusing you of anything when I set this down on paper. It is never going to hurt you to be honest with yourself and confess your sins, and get rid of them. You were acting to the highest of your ability, but if it has not brought you a hundred per cent results in the fulfillment of the promises given to us by Jesus, then you had better look again into the promises and see where you stand.
One of the happiest discoveries you will make in this new awakening to the True use of prayer is that God is omni-active, whether you see it or not. He watching over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. The {Power is always active, automatically active, without hindrance or help from you, or any other person, organization, nation, or thing. Aren't you glad? Even while the tired human mind is asleep, the power of God is automatically expressing.
What, then, is the use of prayer, or treatment, or affirmations? What, indeed, but the power to align us with the glorious fact that God, the eternal active Power of the Universe, can and does express in perfect and eternal harmony, to all those who align themselves with this Power. When I move with the current of the river, I have little resistance or hindrance; and so, when I align myself with God, and LET that mind be in me which was also in Christ Jesus, then the resistance to problems and beliefs passes away. It is Wonderful! "There remaineth a rest to the people of God." The People of God are those who are LETTING God run His Universe, and who have come to believe that the omni-active Power of God is ever in manifestation.
"When ye pray" - and then the explicit instruction are given for true prayer: "Be still [do you know what still means?] and KNOW that I AM God." Being still is not telling God of all your needs, and how they should be met. The Automatic Power is always expressing. It is Wonderful!
"I have a way that ye know not of" is the law of the Automatic Power, working through the intricate mass of human beliefs, moving unseen through the condition or situation you call hopeless, and arriving at a destination that was formerly considered impossible. "I have a way that ye know not of," and that is the way of God. "God's ways are past finding out." Do you hear that no human mind can figure out how the power of God can accomplish what the human belief and intellect have long since found as impossible of accomplishment? "All things are possible to God,"
but do not forget that you are not the little person who controls God, and makes Him do your bidding, by saying words "at" Him. The Power which says, "Before they call, I will answer," certainly must be fully aware of the whole thing, before you put it into words. It is Wonderful! The Power is ever willing and ready to be LET into manifestation.
The glorious sense of prayer is for the purpose of RECOGNIZING the Presence of God, and casting the human will away. "Not my will, but Thine, be dine," is like handing over limited human power to the Infinite Power of God. A tired child running alongside of an automobile, at the rate of five miles an hour, is suddenly picked up by the car, and carried on at a hundred miles an hour, while his body remains perfectly quiet. Do you get the idea of the futility of human struggle? "Cast thy burden [of belief] upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee" was the invitation given to you; and it is just this Recognition of the Presence that makes it possible for you to see the way, and to accomplish that which was impossible by yourself.
We cannot assist the Power in any way, except by following the laws laid down by Jesus: "Lean on Me." While we sit quietly in the swift-moving auto, our body also attains the velocity of the car, without any effort on our part. The effortless action of God is here pictured forth. "I have a way that ye know not of." It is Wonderful!
When you wish to speak to someone thousands of miles away, you turn the little dial of a telephone and presently you are in conversation with that one. It is marvelous what has taken place between the receiver of the telephone at one end and the transmitter at the other. All the automatic action which took place, is almost past understanding - to the average person at least. You sit comfortably at home, and all this unseen power has found your friend thousands of miles away, and put you in touch with him. Think of what you have been saved by this working of this automatic power. Think if you had to perform that operation yourself. It might take you days or weeks to make the journey to speak with your friend, which was done for you in a moment by the automatic connection. This is a poor illustration of the Power of God, but it gives some idea of the "way that ye know not of," and how it can and will put you in touch with the "answer" to your problem.
"Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth." The receiver is ready to receive the WORD. He is not telling God what to do. He has aligned himself with the God Power by his Recognition of the Presence of the Power. Yes, to such an extent that he says: "Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth." What is he going to hear? He will hear the Will of God spoken in his inner being, which will move him into the ways of peace and joy, and glorious Revelation.
Prayer is the Glorious Recognition of the Presence, and the letting go of the human desire. When you loose your life, you will find it. When you ally yourself with the God Power, and LET that mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, then it can and does work in a "mysterious way." We are beginning to understand why it is often mentioned that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made," and that God is terrible and fearful. These words are used because the human mind is lost in the amazing Power which works through beliefs, and overturns impossible things and comes back with the answer. It is almost terrible to contemplate the Power so grand, so overpowering is it in this automatic expression. "Bless the Lord, O my soul: and forget not all His benefits." "Come unto ME all ye that labor and are heavy laden [with beliefs], and I will give you rest." It is glorious to know that God is expressing always, and that He does not have to be started into action by your prayers. The moment that you pray aright you are moving with this Power, and you are learning to take your attention away from the appearance, for the appearance is what you have been hypnotized by all these long years. Nothing happens on the outside that must not first take place on the inside. "Be still, and know that I AM God."
When you perceive the Power, when you pray aright the prayer of Recognition, then, "having done all," you "stand and see the salvation of the Lord." How will it come? It will come in the way all automatic power comes into expression - unhindered, unstopped by any combination of human beliefs, no matter how powerful they may appear to be. It is Wonderful!
When Marconi discovered, by his deep contemplation, the principle of wireless telegraphy, he knew that the world all about him "knew" that it was pure imagination. He looked out on a group of learned men who were ready to give the lie to this Recognition. He looked out on a world read to "laugh him to scorn" because he said he could go against its best beliefs, but he stayed on the point of Recognition. He was "praying without ceasing"; he kept his attention away from appearances, and kept it fixed on the principle which he had seen in the secret place of the Most High. So presently he overturned a whole world of human knowledge. It is wonderful how Jesus gave us all these glorious laws of life. Do not judge any more from the appearance of your body, or your world. Go within and contemplate this Presence, and soon you will overturn a whole lifetime of human beliefs. "All things are possible to God." Do you hear?
When Jesus said "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand," they laughed at Him, and people are still laughing, and people are still "trying to make it appear." But those who have eyes can see that He was, and is, true and just. His daring in going one step further, and locating the Kingdom of Heaven within you, was to completely undermine the very foundation of a time-honored religion, whose only claim to life was a lot of promises of heaven and happiness after death. But He said it, and so great were His understanding and Love that He was willing to prove it even unto the last enemy, so that we might see that "Every mortal mind is a liar and the father of it," and that "Nothing is impossible to God." It is Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful! "If I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there," but not until you recognize this. The moment you recognize it, you are praying the prayer which will instantly release you, and put you into Heaven. It is this very Recognition of the Presence, and the staying on this point, disregarding the outward conditions, that has made this possible. It is Wonderful! Do you begin to see that "He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep" and that "He is mindful of his own"? His own are those who "Hear the voice," and ally themselves with this glorious Power, and LET it operate through them.
"The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is strong and mighty." Recognize this fact, at stop looking at the world of unbelief, and the world of evidence to the contrary, and you will suddenly see your hell turn into Heaven. No wonder, then, you are told to "salute no man by the way." If Marconi had saluted, or discussed his revelation with every man in the street, his glorious power to bring it out into expression would have waned. "Be still, and know that I AM God" - that which is told in secret "shall be proclaimed upon the house-tops." Do you begin to see the NEW DAY dawning? It is glorious to know that you do not have to change the Mind nor the Will of God by prayer, but that your prayer can and will be just the true Recognition of the Presence here and NOW.
Think of Jesus saying, "The maid is not dead, but sleepeth." What about all the testimony of the senses, and the human understanding? You begin to see what RECOGNITION of the Presence means. It is the Open Sesame to the King's Treasures. It is Wonderful!
And you - yes, you. I speak to you. You, who are reading this very line; you can lay your book down, and turn in true prayer and RECOGNIZE this glorious Power. You can contemplate it, and listen for the instructions that are forthcoming right now, and you can arise and confirm it, and decree it, and stand and see it into expression. You are right now filled and thrilled by the down pouring of blessings that is pouring over you like great falls as I write these lines to you, so glad am I to speak to you direct. It is Wonderful! You are blessed, flooded with the Light of God, and your universe is aglow with the Light of Life, and your body is aglow with the Light of Life, and it is all in the dazzling White Light of the Presence. "Be still, and know that I AM God." It is Wonderful! Blessings, blessings, blessings.
"Having done all," stand and see. Having made your Recognition, stand by it, and take your attention away from appearances and verily "it shall come to pass" by a way, and in a manner, that ye know not of. From the moment the warmth of the mother bird penetrates the shell of the egg, something is happening, though nothing appears on the outside: and it is just this warmth of the God Love which you put into your Recognition that causes the constant leavening of the meal of belief to take place, even though nothing yet is appearing. It is Wonderful! Heaven and earth are full of THEE. "The heavens declare [do you hear?] the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork." It is Wonderful - Praise God, sing Hosannas - or Recognition - write within your heart, "Not my will, but Thine, be done," and let this glorious Will of Heaven - Here and Now manifested - take possession of you. When my will is Thy Will and Thy Will is my will, then the Will of God is being done; and the Will of God, through you, is that glorious individual expression of the Son of God.
"Unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation."
The Second Coming is taking place. It is the Coming of the Consciousness which Recognizes the Omni-active Power of God, unchanged by the human thinking or ideas, and that has a greater mission in life than the working out of problems. Some time that problem-state must end, and the Revelation of the Power which is "of too pure eyes to behold iniquity" must be revealed. The Second Coming of the Christ "without sin unto salvation" is what we are looking for. The fulfillment of the promises of God, Here and NOW. It is Wonderful!
"I will stand upon my watch ... to see what He will say unto me."
He - that "Lord in the midst of thee" - has much to say to you when you are still, and are at the point of Recognition of the Presence. It is Wonderful! He shall call thee by a new name which no man shall utter - that is the name of Power and Expression.
BEHOLD! - WHAT MANNER OF LOVE
"BEHOLD! what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us." Suddenly the light of revelation breaks through the clouds of human belief. The "BEHOLD," as we see it here, is a command to look upon something. There is no element of trying to change or make, or shape things into a new and different pattern. There is no calling forth of the human powers or capacities to argue or to think something into a new light or place. The command is "BEHOLD." "BEHOLD." Look upon, recognize, see, and perceive something that actually exists. "BEHOLD" - something that is already in existence and does not have to be coaxed into the picture by thought. As a man in a dark room, feeling his way about, suddenly touches the electric switch. He does not alter anything in the room; he does not make anything; he does not add anything nor take anything away, yet suddenly everything is changed. "In the twinkling of an eye" everything has been changed for him, and yet nothing has been changed. The things which acted as ugly stumbling-blocks in the darkness of the room are found to be most useful and beautiful. Everything is in harmony, which before seemed to be naught but evil to his darkened vision. This command
"BEHOLD" is somewhat the same idea. It is the capacity to "look again" referred to by the Prophet when the appearances seemed to be so fearful to the servant. It is the capacity of revelation, instant and glorious. Coming into alignment with the idea back of the command "BEHOLD" causes one to become aware of that which eternally has been, and which has been veiled from the eyes because of the human belief; because of the thick veils put before the eyes by accepting the human reasoning and appearances as real and true. "BEHOLD" is an insistent command. No one can do it for you. You cannot see it through the eyes of another. You can only suppose that it is so, but you will have to come up and up and up, to the point where you can stand at the level of the "BEHOLD." It is something that transcends the thought process of trying to make it happen, and easily slips into the swiftly moving stream of life and recognition. HERE and NOW it all IS, and yet here and now nothing but discord seems to exist, to the human senses. "BEHOLD" - look upon it. It is not a call to you for help, nor yet for cooperation or assistance. It is a direct invitation to "Look again," and see that whereas the fields had hardly been planted, they are now "WHITE," and the laborers are few. There are few who will take to the high road of "BEHOLD," because they stop to salute too many men along the way, and exchange too many opinions. They will find plenty of confirmation of any doubt they may have, and plenty of so-called "help" which will be but a temporary salve rubbed on the outside, which will perhaps ameliorate for a moment the torturing disease within, but which can never cure it.
"BEHOLD" - it is something that is done alone, and at a moment you think not. It is brought about by the contemplation of a possibility. The RECOGNITION of the God-universe in counter-distinction to the changing, chaotic thing created by man. The mind that has made this Recognition is then at the "watch." Not a conscious watching, and looking for signs and wonders, but unconsciously it has Recognized and accepted The Presence, and is "waiting on the Lord," regardless of what has seemed to take place in the world of things. It is the mind that is "standing in the innermost sanctuary," unmoved, unafraid, and calm. "In a moment ye think not," "I" come into expression.
After you have accepted the fact that there is an OMNI-PRESENCE, then the eyes that were "holden" are freed, and they "BEHOLD." They "BEHOLD" the glory of the only begotten of the Father. It is Wonderful! It is the gift of every man and not a limited few. It is not brought about by years of study. It is given freely to the consciousness that can become as a little child and BELIEVE that GOD IS.
The old ideas are fast falling away. Veils are being rent ant the eyes are beginning to "BEHOLD." Whenever anyone has come to the place of "BEHOLD" he has manifested that which has been called a miracle; yet in reality he has only glimpsed that which has eternally existed. No law of God was set into motion especially for him. The Law was, and is, eternally in operation. What he did was to get into alignment with it, and it functioned as it eternally has functioned into perfection. To the limited human concept it seemed that something happened in the nature of a special dispensation, but it was merely the natural action of the Law of God. The one who is out of step with the regiment may yet be walking in time to the music he hears, but he will constantly feel the discord of the great rhythmic beat, to which he does not belong, and yet to which he is so strangely attached. He moves forward, but always at cross purposes. Let him "behold," as it were, the rhythm, and he immediately falls into the swing of it, and is carried on by it, and enjoys the strength of the great volume of it moving forward. It is something like that with man and God. All the difficulties are from the action of man, independent of God. Finally man is defeated, and drops out.
"BEHOLD! what manner of Love!" You are not going to create it, nor make it. You are not going to help it be born. You are going to "BEHOLD what MANNER of LOVE." It is Wonderful!
When a man comes to the Grand Canyon in Arizona for the first time, he stands silent, and almost breathless; he finds no words; he actually has no thoughts sufficiently large with which to express the beauty of it all; he is then in the state of "BEHOLD." He is perceiving things as they are, and not as he is going to make them, nor yet as he may imagine them. They are as they are, and they are so far above anything he has ever thought or imagined that he can only look and "BEHOLD."
When you "BEHOLD" that the Presence is HERE and NOW, the same thing takes place in you. Whereas before you perceived sickness, you see the impossibility of the manifestation of God to be sick. You "Behold" something that transcends health and which goes on into the radiant thing called "LIFE" - life unmarred or untouched by the human thought and its dreams of yesterday. All the petty thoughts that you have held about making God do your bidding, by telling Him what to do, drop by the way, in this new light of revelation, and you "BEHOLD." You "BEHOLD" that which is, and the world will say, if you have been desperately ill. "He had a wonderful demonstration"; and so it is, to the human sense. I have no quarrel with this language. The Power that has come into manifestation in you in a demonstration, does not suddenly cease; it is continuous and eternal, and so is the outflowing of substance. Many people make what is known as a financial demonstration, only to presently lapse again into a worse state of poverty. That is because they have "Beheld" only the manifestation, and not the Power back of it. They have grasped at the shadow, and let go of the substance, and they have nothing but the memory of it all. It is Wonderful!
"BEHOLD! what manner of Love." Do you hear the command? It is made to you - yes, to you who have been trying so long to make God change some ugly or undesirable condition or thing in your life. "BEHOLD [gaze upon, recognize] what manner of Love." Even as the man, filled with wonder at the beauty of the Canyon, stands speechless at the magnificence of it all, which so far
transcends any expectations that he had, so you are invited to "BEHOLD" the manner of Love, which has been bestowed upon you, and which likewise so far transcends anything you have ever planned, or thought about, or imagined. "My ways are not your ways"; no matter how high and mighty your ways might have been, no matter if you are recognized as the most advanced person in your line - even then, "My ways are not your ways."
The manner of Love that is referred to is not the manner of Love that you have imagined as due to you for your good works or words. It is something that "eye hath not seen nor ear heard," and something that has not entered into the heart of any man - it is the "Glory" that God has prepared for those who LOVE HIM. And those who LOVE HIM are those who are beginning to acknowledge HIM as HERE NOW, and who have ceased from the foolishness of trying to make God do as they say; and from the vain imagining that He is moved by words to carry out their ideas and plans. It is Wonderful!
"BEHOLD! what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us." Do you hear? Do you see? It says that it has already been "BESTOWED" upon us. It is not something we have to win, or earn or beg for, or demonstrate. It is something that has already been "BESTOWED" upon us; already been given to you - yes, you. Aren't you glad? Can you be still and "BEHOLD," deep in the soul of you, this glory, as of the ONLY begotten of the Father, filled with Grace and Peace? Yes, even though the waves of human emotion and belief are tossing your craft about like an egg-shell in a tempest. It is Wonderful! It has already been BESTOWED upon you, and no man can take that heritage from you without your consent.
You may have sold this precious birthright for the mess of pottage of human belief in systems and methods of making God do wonders, but the moment you awaken from this sleep you will arise, and "BEHOLD, I make all things NEW" - make them NEW to the deadened senses which have been so long hypnotized by human reasoning and beliefs. The temple is cleansed of the money-changers, and the hecklers, and augurs, and the place is filled with the LIGHT of the one who is "BEHOLDING" what manner of Love. It is enough to make you speechless and breathless with wonder. It so far exceeds the expectations and the wildest dreams. It is so marvelous - the Manner and Nature of this LOVE which is already "BESTOWED" upon you. Yes, you.
The Manner of Love - the radiance of it - the fondest dream fulfilled and made possible - the glorious Revelation of the new dimension. "Behold, I make all things NEW" - the Heaven descending out of the clouds, and transforming, and yet at the same time only revealing that which has eternally been. The Heaven which Jesus said was within - a state of consciousness - suddenly descending on to the earth, or becoming manifest. The "Word becomes flesh." Invisible glory concreted into the flesh, so heaven and earth are one, and the double standard or idea of life is swept away in the light that spreads over all. "BEHOLD! what MANNER of LOVE the Father hath bestowed upon us." The NOW of it all comes into being. No matter how long you have worked, or prayed, or waited. The "NOW is the DAY" becomes a reality, and you are standing in the very same place which seemed so accursed, only to find it is hallowed ground.
"BEHOLD" - stand still, and see the salvation of this magic word become flesh. The Transformation of the world from Darkness into Light is only the Revelation of that which has always existed; and so the Revelation that takes place in you, and becomes flesh, is that which has eternally been flesh and which was only veiled from your eyes, because you accepted that as real which you perceived through the darkened glasses of the human belief. It is Wonderful! The darkened glasses being removed from your eyes, you perceive the world in its glorious color and beauty; yet nothing has happened to the world. So it is with the universe of God. Nothing is happening to the perfect universe, created and made by God - called good - and which is awaiting the moment when the Son will arise and go to the Fatherhood degree, and "BEHOLD what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us." "Look again" in the confidence of the Presence, and you too will BEHOLD what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon you. The thing will speak for itself, and you will not have to broadcast it. The letting of the Light through into expression will give the Glory to God, and will cause all men to realize that this wonderful Revelation is something more than talk. It is Wonderful! Be still. "BEHOLD, I make all things new" - the eyes of the disciples are suddenly opened to the fact that they are breaking bread with the one they thought they saw crucified, dead, and buried. They had to "look again," as it were, before they could see. The mist of human belief was thick before there eyes. The human testimony was strong, as it was in the case of Lazarus; yea, strong as it is in the case of you. But it is never strong enough to withstand the glorious inrush of Light and Revelation which takes place when you "BEHOLD! WHAT MANNER OF LOVE the FATHER HATH BESTOWED UPON US."
No matter what the condition or belief, it will all melt away before this Recognition of the Presence. It is Wonderful!
Remember, it has ALREADY been BESTOWED upon you, no matter what the appearances are; no matter how many argue to the contrary. It has already been BESTOWED upon you, no matter who you are, or where you are. This priceless gift is yours NOW. It does not have to be won. It has to be accepted. Can one come to you, then, and say, "Yes, I know, but - " and take from you this priceless gift? No; he can only blind you by words, but you are still in possession of the gift, and the moment you turn from "man whose breath is in his nostrils" you will "BEHOLD" the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. Do you see? Do you hear? Do you begin to feel the presence of this power, independent from every system, or sect, or creed, that was ever established? "In the twinkling of an eye" it shall all be changed. The moment you come to BEHOLD you will perceive it.
"BEHOLD WHAT MANNER." It is so wonderful, so full, so beyond words and imagination, the MANNER of this Love. The hard fight for life, health, and success is over. All the glorious manifestation you have sought for years is wrapped up in the MANNER of LOVE which has already been BESTOWED upon you. It seems to be lying dormant until you awaken it, but in reality you are lying dormant, dreaming the most hideous nightmares of belief, until you awaken to the reality of your Divine Heritage, and "BEHOLD" the beauty and holiness of it all. It is Wonderful! Arise and shine; you are a being of light, in a universe of Light and you are filled with Light and Inspiration of the ALMIGHTY. It is Wonderful! The MANNER of LOVE that is yours - the measure of Love that is yours - the infinite and joyous expression that is yours, for You have been CALLED into expression as the Son of the Living God. The manifestation has been called forth into expression. It is Wonderful!
"BEHOLD, what MANNER of LOVE the Father HATH BESTOWED UPON us." It is Wonderful! And So It is.
It is as if the door to a secret cave suddenly opened and revealed the hidden beauties of the earth - as if a searchlight were suddenly turned into a treasure cave filled with precious gems, hidden away in the dark. It is as if the walls of a dungeon suddenly fell away, and revealed the glory of a tropical landscape to the half-starved, half-frozen inmates. It is as if the shell that bound a full-grown bird suddenly broke away.
"BEHOLD! what manner of Love the Father hath BESTOWED upon us" - upon you and me - here and now. It is Wonderful!\
COME - EAT AND DRINK
"COME, eat and drink without money and without gold." The invitation is to all. It is written in such a way that "He that runs may read," and yet we pass it by, and hurry along into the crowded city to beg for crust.
"The Cattle on a thousand hills are mine, and if I were an hungered I would not tell thee, I would slay and eat."
"Suppose we compare money with the cows on a thousand hills. The cows belong to God, and so do the mines, and precious jewels. God is just the same in reference to all these things that are of the mineral kingdom as He is concerning those things which are of the animal kingdom. It is Wonderful! He said, 'If I were an hungered, I would slay and eat.' Well then, as with the things of the animal kingdom, so with the things of the mineral kingdom. God does not have to ask for anything, or for permission to use anything. He says, "The Cattle on a thousand hills are mine'; and I say to you, 'The gold and silver and all other metals in a thousand hills are mine.'"
Buried deep in this beautiful illustration of the cattle on a thousand hills is the story of the infinite substance awaiting every man who recognizes that the God within him is the Christ Power, which possesses all things, even the cattle on a thousand hills. And hidden away in this simile is the far-reaching truth, that, if a man is hungry, he must partake of his own. "If I am an hungered, I would slay and eat" - shows the step necessary to be taken before man comes into his own. That which is yours, is yours, but not until you recognize it, and, if you do recognize it, then you can use it. You can, in the symbology of the scriptures, "Slay and eat." That is where most of us have fallen down. We have said, "All that the Father hath is mine," but we have immediately begun the process of "begging" for that which is ours. The Kingdom of Heaven is not taken by violence. "Except ye become as a little child, ye can in NO WISE enter the kingdom." He that tries to climb up any other way is a thief and a robber. So it is with the beautiful giving to you of the cattle on the thousand hills. If you try to possess them by any other way than that of pure acceptance, as a child might accept its food, then your slaying and eating will be against the law, and you shall pay the penalty of misunderstanding your rights - no matter how hungry you may be.
The man who has said "The Cattle on a thousand hills are mine," could also say with impunity, "If I am an hungered, I will slay and eat," and no one would say him nay - they would only recognize that he was entirely within his own rights. "Claim your right, and press your claim."
The invitation, "Come, eat and drink without money," must be accompanied by the actual acceptance of the individual, if he expects to avail himself of the gift. It is of little use to "want to accept it"; there is something that "clicks" when he actually accepts and abandons himself to it, and does not build a wall in front of him, about making a demonstration or of using the power - all this has been relegated to the dump-heap of outgrown beliefs. Does the man who has the cattle on a thousand hills make a demonstration, every time he slays and eats, when he is hungry? No, he simply uses that which is his, and he asks of no man the right to do so.
Another man, seeing him with the cattle on a thousand hills, may also be hungry, and decide to slay and eat, but he cannot, or, if he does, he incurs the penalty for so doing, because he is breaking the commandment, "Thou shalt not steal." He is still under the law, because he recognizes that God is divisible, and that He gives to some much, and to others nothing. He gives to every man (you included) exactly what he will accept from Him; no more or no less. A fountain gives to you just the amount of water you can take away in your vessel; no more or no less; but if you return again and again, with larger and larger vessels, it makes no difference. So it is with God. The invitation to "Come, eat and drink without price," is also the wonderful revelation that the Kingdom of Heaven is free to all who will partake of it.
As long as a man is under the law of human belief, he feels the harshness of the Ten Commandments; they are heavy laws laid upon him, which curtail his every desire. When he is in the Spirit of the Presence HERE and NOW, he is no more under the law, and the commandments become merely statements of what is true. For instance, if a man knows that he has the cattle on a thousand hills, he also knows that at the same time, "Thou shalt not steal" - and so it will merely be a statement of fact that he will not steal, because he will have no need to steal that which is already his. The only reason the thief steals is because he does not recognize the infinite abundance that is his. He always thinks its the other man's; and so it is until he recognizes that it is his. It is Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful!
"The gold and silver and all other metals in a thousand hills are mine." Man must appropriate them if he would use them. It is Wonderful! Yet most people, while claiming this to be true, have only accepted it in theory, and so the actual truth of this law does not come forth. The "Word" must become flesh, to be of any use to you. "Yet in my flesh shall I see God"; and your "flesh" is your manifested world and universe about you, and it is into this very "flesh" that the "Word" must come as a living reality, and not any more as unseen spirit. "Claim your right, and press your claim." "Ho, every one that thirsteth" - the invitation is sweeping, it is open to all. It is Wonderful!
Do you see how it is that we begin the new process of Life by this glorious Recognition of the Presence of God and His fullness? We can then say, "The cattle on a thousand hills are mine" - not to possess in the human selfish sense, but to use when we are "an hungered." It is glorious! Are you afraid to go forth and trust this glorious power, which says: "I go before you and make straight the way"? Do you hear? I said "I" - the I AM goes before you (the body manifestation) and makes the way straight.
"Come, eat and drink." Come, fill to overflowing the vessel of life, and let this filling expand the vessel into a glorious receptacle. "Enlarge the place of your tent." "Launch out into the deep."
"The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof: the world, and they that dwell therein."
Do you begin to understand what it means to become one with this glorious Whole? With this understanding you will cease to talk about "Mine and Thine," and will realize clearly that "all things are Mine, and Mine are Thine." It is glorious and thrilling, this opening of the portals of the Kingdom of Heaven - the Heaven which Jesus told you was within you. "Look not, lo here, nor lo there," is such a wonderful statement. It brings the glorious Truth home to you. "Look not, lo here, nor lo there," for, "behold [do you hear?] the kingdom of heaven is within you. Do you hear? Can you accept it, or will you continue to try to make it so, by words and arguments? "Awake thou that sleepest, and Christ shall give thee light."
No matter how many times you have tried and failed - that is all nothing. One of these days you will PERCEIVE that the "cattle on a thousand hills are MINE," and why this is so; and then, if you are an hungered, you shall slay and eat; you will not be making a demonstration or doing anything to show somebody the power, you will slay and eat because you are "an hungered" or because you have need of the "cattle on a thousand hills" at that moment in a different form. It is Wonderful!
"I Am here, I Am there, I Am everywhere"; I AM the fullness of all things, in all places; and that is the spirit which must be made manifest in the flesh, in whatever form it is necessary to manifest itself at that time. It is Wonderful! No wonder then we are told, "Go ye into all the world - take no thought of the script, the purse, the robe," etc. Why is it necessary to take thought when you recognize that "I Am here, I Am there, I Am everywhere," waiting to be called forth into expression whenever there is a need of Me? I AM everywhere, in whatever forms necessary at that moment, to neutralize the seeming difficulty or limitation, self-imposed by human belief. It is Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful!
"Just what you can ask God for, God can give to you." Do you hear? Do you see? Just what you can ask God for. You know the law of "Asking": "Ask, believing that ye receive." When you ask that way, that is just exactly what God can give you - or, rather, that is all you can accept, because that is all you have asked for. It is Wonderful!
"The things that are material, they are spiritualized, and the things that are spiritual, they are materialized. The heaven and earth are one, for the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ.
I have the victory, and so have you, if you only know it. Faith is the victory. You do not need to fear, fret, nor worry, when you know that you are on the side of Victory. When you know that you are on the side of Victory, you can go forth conquering and to conquer. You realize that God in one man is a majority. All you need to know is that God is within you, and you have nothing to fret nor worry about."
Victory over the belief in limitation is but the revelation of the Allness of God which you have declared for so long. It is merely the spiritual acceptance (which you have already made) becoming materialized, or, in other words, seeing this God in the "flesh" - seeing this invisible consciousness made manifest, in whatever form needed, at that instant. It is glorious and wonderful, and filled with Light and Life.
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Lights." The gifts that comes down from the Father of Lights must not be put upon the open market, and dealt with as so much merchandise. The gift of healing is a free gift, and must be freely given, or it will be reduced to a mental process which is little better than hypnotism. The most difficult thing for the human mind to grasp is the fact that it can only get by giving. There is no reason to this sort of thing. In fact, it is diametrically opposed to all the human laws of gain, and yet there the law stands - only what you give away will you keep, and only by giving away will you get the increase. It is Wonderful! The human mind, hearing the law stated, sometimes thinks to "try" it, and so he gives, and awaits the returns - but nothing comes, and he has lost his so-called gift, because, in reality, he was not giving, he was only investing, and hoping for enormous returns, which come not. You cannot "give," in the sense we are told to give in the Bible, without getting returns. No matter however much may be said to the contrary. No matter however much it may "hurt" to discover that you have not really given anything with all your giving. It is better to understand this, and learn the true giving or releasing of the infinite substance which flows through you. It is Wonderful!
There is no discouragement - you have made mistakes; you have committed sins of omission and commission, and you have done all those things that you should have done, but the Light which comes, when you recognize the Presence of the Spirit of the Consciousness of God, reveals a new order of things in your manifest world. It is Wonderful!
"When you cast your word or gift into the Universal Sea, and look to the Unseen for the return, nothing doubting, and not in a moral way, but in the way of Spirit, you will never lose.
There is no depression in the Realm of God, Depression exists only in the mind of man. All that ever was, is here and now in the fullness of the Presence of God."
We begin to understand that the so-called world depression is merely in the mind of man. A country may be thrown into a state of depression because of the over-production of wheat, apples, potatoes, or any other commodity which is called the very necessity of life. Where is the depression then? The elaborate system of gathering in the shekels has completely disregarded the Truth of Life, but it has not changed the eternal fact that the Presence, in all Its fullness, is everywhere, and instantly available for the one who recognizes it. At the same time, it can be merely so many hollow, empty-sounding words. What then is the statement, "The cattle on a thousand hills are mine," to the person who in his heart knows definitely that they are not his, at that they belong to somebody else, and he cannot get them - no, not even if he wanted and needed them very much.
Be still - do not argue. Surely God IS, and this Presence is enough for you - but remember: "He that is able to hold his tongue is able to take a city."
That city which you are to take is the Consciousness of "the cattle on a thousand hills are mine, and if I AM an hungered, I will slay and eat."
"Go thou and do likewise."
THE LOST WORD
"The Word was made flesh." Ever since that statement has come to the attention of man, he has been trying to find that WORD, knowing that in it is wrapped up the realization of all his dreams and desires.
"My words are spirit, and they are power, and they shall NOT return unto ME void."
What is that something which produces the manifestation of the Spoken Word? From time to time we see a demonstration of the WORD having become flesh or visible in one form or another, but many times the spoken or silent word apparently seems to have produced nothing.
What is the magic WORD which opens the doors to the Hidden Treasures? What is the wonderful Word which will release into expression all the glorious dreams which constantly pass over man, and which he knows are real and true? Yes, even more real and true than many of the things he actually handles with his hands, and sees with his eyes, in the so-called relative world.
The word OM, which means so much to the Oriental, has little or no meaning to the Occidental. The word God, which means much to the Occidental, means practically nothing to the Oriental, and there be plenty who utter both these words, and still remain in trying circumstances of the human belief. People have been known to suffer under most wretched conditions while calling in the name of God - in spite of the law, which clearly says: "Call upon ME in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee."
Many people believe that a word is merely a combination of letters set together to indicate a certain person, emotion, place, or thing. Many believe it is merely a sound made to indicate one of these, but then the difficulty remains in the fact that words are not the same to all races. They are more or less local in there sound or meaning; yet all realize that a given emotion, place or thing, could be in the consciousness of everyone - for instance, they would all know what "LOVE" is, although the word sign for it would be different with each one. The something back of the word would be the same.
"The letter killeth." I may cry, "Peace, peace," and still be in the midst of confusion and chaos; and I may say, "Peace be still," and experience a serene calm.
"Be not like the heathen" - the heathen, in this instance, is indicated as one who believes, by "much repetition," to gain the ear of God.
"One man's meat is another man's poison" - that is why one person seems to attain such wonderful results by the use of certain words, and another experiences nothing.
The Lost Word must be found.
It is not LOST, in the sense that it is gone for ever. It is only lost to you until such time as you are awakened to the glorious PRESENCE of the WORD, with you, and within you, and round about you.
The Magic Word, which is to release everything into expression, comes from the RECOGNITION of the Presence. The magic word that has been lost is clearly printed all over the face of the world, but only "he that hath eyes can see."
The Lost Word has to do with the manner in which we pray. It can only be found when we actually "BELIEVE." Oh, yes, I know we have believed, and we have asked for help for our unbelief; but we have never BELIEVED until we have come to the place where we can answer: "YEA, LORD," when the question is asked, "Believest thou that I AM able to do this?" I did not say, nor ask, did we want to believe it? I said, it is only possible to find this Word when we DO believe it to the point of accepting it.
You can find the word that will do the magic thing for you, if you will. Once you do believe in the Presence and Its fullness, and you begin to TAKE the gifts of Spirit, you will find out that, automatically, you have been using this word. The Word of Words - the open sesame to the King's Treasures - the password through the closed doors, and the right of entrance to the Way of Peace and Plenty.
When, from a human sense, you receive a gift, the first thing you do is to express your appreciation. More than likely, you will say "Thank you," in one form or another. The one who does not say this, rarely is the recipient of many gifts. You only have to look into the records to note that Jesus used this same method. "I thank you, Father," was His Word of Recognition which brought forth the manifestation. Before the slow human sight or intelligence could see the SIGN of the materialization, HE perceived the gift as HIS, and gave thanks for it; and this very, "Thank You, Father," when spoken from the standpoint of acknowledgment for Good already received, will release the invisible to the visible. It is Wonderful! It is this very spoken Recognition and thanks, which makes the Word become flesh, and dwell among you. It is this joyous thanks which opens the doors, which you could not open in any other way. It is this very lost-found Word which changes the face of the earth (your earth) for you, and makes the desert blossom as a rose, right before your very eyes. It is Wonderful!
You only have to become quiet, and give thanks for the unseen gift, and the manifestation will appear. It is a NEW day; we do not first see the gift with the human eye, but we perceive it within, and give thanks for it. Neither do we imagine, because we say "thank You, Father," that that will do anything. We say "Thank You, Father," because we have fully accepted the gift, and its manner of coming into being does not concern us. It is Wonderful! You have this precious Word with you always; you can ASK in the name of Jesus Christ (the Word made flesh), and give thanks that, "before you ask, I have answered." On the unseen side, the answer preceded the asking, and was, in reality, the reason you asked. Before they call, the thing they are calling for is moving towards them for expression, if they only knew it - "Oh, ye of little faith," fits pretty snugly on most of us. Do we ask, and give thanks, and then rest? Well, you answer it.
The Lost Word has been found - it will work miracles for you. No matter where you are, and into what difficulties you have strayed. The Magic Word will bring it to pass. No matter whether you know anything about metaphysics, or whether you have had a "course of lessons" or not. It works just as well for one as for another. "No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly" - and walking uprightly does not mean that you are governed by a certain system of metaphysics, or a certain teaching. Do you hear, you who read? It says "NO" good thing. Not any good thing will HE withhold. Not a single one. Do you get the idea? Well, why do you not call from the housetops, as well as from the secret place, "Thank You, Father" - "Thank You, Father" - "Thank You, Father," until your very being and life ring with the glorious vibration of thanksgiving?
It is Wonderful! "Thank You, Father."
"Thank You, Father," spoken with the abandon and joy of Recognition. Nothing matters in the sense of human beliefs. "What is that to thee, follow thou ME" - and this ME is not a man, or a system. Follow the glorious Revelation of the Soul within you, the ME, the Christ of God, and be not afraid to thank the Father for everything; and especially when there is no manifestation of it - for in the very place where there seems to be nothing, there is everything, but only to the all seeing eye. It needs Recognition, and it needs thanks of the right kind.
Do you see the reason why Jesus said: "Go into all the world ... without purse, scrip, robe," etc.? But do not forget the WORD, the PASSWORD into the kingdom of Heaven. Do not forget the Password, the thing which no man can take from you, and the thing which is instantly usable and available, anywhere, any time, and under any condition. No matter what has gone before, the "Word is sharper than a two edged sword, turning in all directions," and you have it, you can SPEAK it, and set yourself and see the salvation. See the salvation come by a way ye knew not of; come with such a flood of Light that darkness is consumed in the twinkling of an eye, and that which would hurt or harm, no matter what the argument, will be turned into confusion, dumbfounded - turned awry, put to shame, and confounded, fleeing in ten directions at once. It is wonderful the way this Power will cause you to obey the command, to come and sit at the right hand of God, and watch the beliefs you called enemies, become your footstool. When you are Recognizing the Presence of God, and are giving thanks for the manifestation of the Presence, then you are symbolically sitting at the Right Hand of God, and the beliefs that called themselves your enemies are trampled under foot. It is glorious! It is Wonderful! It is all to the praise of God!
"Praise God from whom ALL BLESSINGS flow." The downpour of blessings has started with the, "Thank You, Father"; The blessings are flowing, gushing out of the Rock. The roaring river of life is pouring over you and your universe - such a deluge of blessings that they are uncountable.
"Blessings, blessings, blessings, so many you cannot count them. Millions, billions, trillions, decillions, and so on and on, until the numbers of the human reasoning are all absorbed in One, and the One, the indivisible Blessing of the Here and Now of this God, is made manifest. It is Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful!"
"Heaven and earth are full of thee." The lost has been found, and it is causing the New Heaven to appear out of the clouds of belief that have made the eye "holden." There, all the time, were the blessings you sought; but until Recognized, and given thanks for, they did not appear in the flesh. "Yet in my flesh shall I see God." Right in the flesh - right in the manifest world, right in the HERE and NOW of Life shall you see God; and no man shall see God" and live after the old standards any more. How can he? How can you live in the old limitations again, when you have seen the Word becoming flesh, by the simple speaking of the WORD?
"Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, Bless His holy Name."
"Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing."
Do you hear? "Thou openest Thine hand." What do you mean by the "hand of the Lord"? You answer it, but be sure you continue to read that the opening of the hand satisfies the desire of EVERY living thing. That includes you - what are you going to do about it? Seems to me as if we should stop right here and say, "Thank You, Father," with the glorious thrill that comes from this Recognition of the Presence.
"Sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace."
Of course you are not under the Law of your former beliefs, if the WORD becomes flesh, through your Recognition of the Presence, for this Presence upsets all human belief about everything, and short circuits the old laws, and makes them null and void. A man who has been crippled from birth, who answers "Yea" to the question, "Wilt thou be made whole?" has suddenly arisen to the heights of Recognition and thanksgiving which burst the limitations of the former laws, and is henceforth under GRACE - Grace, that thing which is above and beyond the shifting, changing, law of the human mind. It is Wonderful!
The old law, "When I would do good, evil is present with me," and all the struggles against the belief that sin had dominion over you in one form or another, are wiped out by the Recognition of this Presence, and the giving THANKS to the Father. It is Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful! And So It Is.
It is true that "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." Do you note the word effectual? - "effectual" having adequate force or power, to produce the desired effect). It does not mean beseeching or begging. There is something in the word that savors of efficiency, and thoroughness and Recognition of the Power as able to accomplish that which it sets out to do. This kind of prayer availeth much. "God is able to make all grace abound towards you." So it is written. Do you believe it? Knowing that the moment "Grace" abounds toward you, the binding human laws relax their hold. It is Wonderful!
The Lost-Found WORD is rending the veils of human belief, and revealing that which has always been, and man begins to see.
"So wonderful; that magnificent, incandescent Purity, radiating from the very Essence of the flowering fount of Life, is the very message which is written on the fleshly tablets of your heart, and is the fulfillment of the Promise, going before you, blessing, healing and saving. Giving life to the dead, delivering those who have long striven for a perfect release from bondage.
By abiding in Me, and letting my Words abide in you, you will attain Now to much higher heights and deeper depths, as new doors are opened to you, and new revelations unfold a New Christianity; and Joy, Peace, and Prosperity will always be smiling down upon you, as the revelation of Love, written in your heart, is transmuted to people who have lived in the torture shell of Fear and rebellion, for lo, these many generations. So many blessings you cannot count them."
HE THAT LOSES HIS LIFE
"He that loses his life shall find it" - in the Universal Whole. When you come to the place where you are willing to merge your personal understanding with the Universal, then you are beginning to experience the "feel" of what it is both to lose your life and find it. The mathematician has long ago lost his book but has found the Science of Numbers and has gone on and on, delving into its infinite depths. When you let go of the idea of a personal life apart from God, and cast yourself into the Infinite Life, you will find the freedom for which you have been seeking so long.
When you accept the Presence as HERE and NOW, as an actuality instead of a theory, then and there and here and NOW you will begin to experience the great power within and without. Whereas before you were blind, NOW you can "see," and see that everything is all right, and why it is all right. The only thing that has ever been wrong has been your viewpoint. You have looked at Life as something divided instead of as a whole, hence you have tried to use the Power and found that it could not be cut to suit the human measures. The EVER-PRESENCE is impartial and impersonal.
Remember this, and use It as freely and as naturally as you do the air and sunshine. The only time you seemingly notice the air is when it is difficult to breathe or when the supply seems to be getting low, otherwise you pay no attention to it. It has the greatest value in the world because it has no value. So with God - only we have strayed so long in the field of human belief that we have come to look upon HIM only at moments of so-called demonstration. Presently we shall find God - Good - more natural than evil, and will automatically accept Him as such.
"If you will continue to be lost in My will, living according thereto, great will be your reward, as the living virtue goes forth from your body; the Father within you healing, blessing, and saving a hungering misled humanity. Wheresoever you go and whatsoever you do you will be a living message, a living Bible seen and read of men. The Truth in you will conquer and continue to conquer, and to captivate the hearts of the multitude. They will awaken to the Christ within themselves; to Life eternal and all the desirable attributes of God, for there is nothing more than God and nothing less than Christ."
Formerly, man thought it impossible to make this connection with God. Now the hour has come. Launch out into the deep waters, and be not afraid, it is "I" the Spirit within you that speaks. "Cast your burdens on the Lord, and He will sustain thee." Your burden that you have carried so long - in the shape of a problem.
That is the thing you are to "cast on the Lord," and bear away a blessing. "Heaven and earth are full of Thee." Everything is full of the Lord and His love. The former beliefs and things are fast passing away - "behold I make all things NEW" - and the NEW Heaven and NEW Earth will be the new order, and the new law which will govern all with perfection and peace. The government shall be upon His shoulders. It is Wonderful! So "claim your right, and press your claim."
The pure Stream of Virtue that proceeds out of you - the Awakened One - is the Word spoken with authority and sincerity, and left to accomplish its glorious mission.
"And it is done! Here and now, and if you will abide in Me and let My word abide in you, you will through constant praise and thanksgiving create such an atmosphere about you that your word, silent or spoken, will continue to bless and heal, and draw all joy, health, love, and life unto you."
We are beginning to HEAR the Master say, "Go thou and do likewise." It is no more a much-longed-for state of consciousness which comes with years of study. It is a command that we are ready to fulfill the moment we rise to accept it as possible. Too much time and thought are given to "getting ready" to receive the Christ, instead of "rising" and going forth with the glorious command, "Go thou and do likewise." This command carries with it all the power necessary to "do likewise."
The atmosphere of Love that the Christ Consciousness creates about you protects you from all the former fears and limitation, and opens a new way for you.
Begin to accept the words of Jesus as if addressed personally to you, and act upon them, and you will suddenly find yourself going into the Inner Shrine and there tasting the joys of the New Day. Begin to accept the Word of Christ as a direct word to you, and you will begin to receive the promises as directly made to you, and their fulfillment shall be swift and sure.
"I have blessed you! I have blessed you! I have blessed you! by the great Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omni-present Name and Nature of God. You are now the partaker; as it is written, 'As he is so are We in this present world.' My peace I give unto you, My peace I leave with you, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 'Christ in you ... and Christ in me will give you the victory ... and from every adverse condition set you free.'"
You have just read something that is said to you, yes, it is for no one else but you - you the reader. Can you accept it? Do you believe that you are at this instant BLESSED with a downpour of blessing that drowns out of your life every evil and adverse condition? Are you beginning to see that it is necessary for you to "take" your good out of the universe. And that, in order to do this, you have first to recognize that it is an actuality? All the promises of God are made to you. To you the promises are made, but they do not amount to anything until you accept them. Can you begin to see the joy in losing your life and finding it in the Universal Whole? The little joys of the human life are so fleeting, and then, all of sudden, we find them all in their true interpretation in the Christ Life. It is Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful! "You are now a partaker in the Kingdom of Heaven as here and now." Sounds too good to be true; that is the way everything about God sounds to the human mind. The human mind cannot grasp Goodness as a never-ending stream of substance pouring into expression, because it has not the capacity to accept this. "Arise thou that sleepest, and Christ shall give thee LIGHT." LIGHT that is so full of substance it will reveal the tangible blessings unto you. "YOU ARE BLESSED." Do you hear? Just now, as you read, YOU ARE BLESSED. Blessed with the great consciousness that recognizes GOD as PRESENT. The joy of ARISING (from the former beliefs and mistakes) and GOING to your Father has come to you. No many how many mistakes you may have made - "ARISE" and accept the Glorious Truth - "thy iniquities are remembered no more."
"As He is so are we in this present world." Do you glimpse the wonderful revelation that is given in this line? Not as HE IS GOING TO BE, but as HE IS. As the Christ IS, as the Perfect manifestation IS, here and now. Do you begin to see what the gift Christ brought two thousand years ago really is? It is something more than words, and yet it is only words until it is addressed to you personally. Until you see that these things have to do with you individually they are nothing but passages from the Bible. It is Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful! As HE IS - do you hear? You had better look up "He" and see just what "HE" is. "As he is so are We in this PRESENT WORLD." Right NOW, right here, and glory be to God. It Is So. And So It Is. Hidden away in a frame of human belief, this precious Truth awaits the coming of the Master. It awaits the one who can sense the real from the unreal. You are THAT one - you are perceiving its truth NOW, and it is becoming manifest to you. The sick, aged and worn-out body is beginning to show signs of awakening in HIS LIKENESS. It is Wonderful! Do not hurry nor get excited. It is all done in the twinkling of an eye; "When the last trump shall sound" - when you have sounded the note of Recognition.
And so the Recognition goes on. The Living Word becomes manifest.
When you are speaking the word; when you are feeding the hungry, or healing the lame, then you are really in Heaven.
"You are in Heaven, the Heavenly State of Consciousness, the Heavenly Jerusalem; in the spiritual state of Consciousness; teaching men on the material plane, in mortal consciousness that the kingdoms of the world have become the kingdoms of our Lord Jesus Christ."
The day of teaching from the limited human consciousness is
over. It is only a mental play that accomplishes nothing lasting, or worth while. When you have lost your life and found your life in Christ, you are teaching from the pure consciousness of Heaven, and this PURE WORD is interpreted to the human plane, and is heard and seen - "My word shall not return unto ME void."
"Tarry awhile in Jerusalem" - the Four-Square symbolical city of Peace, where the Fourth Dimension Consciousness becomes a reality. "Be still, and know that I AM God," not that I am going to be God, but that I AM God - so tarry a while in Peace. It is so wonderful for you to sit quietly in the blessings that are descending all about you, HERE and NOW.
"There is no ending to the blessings that are in the Storehouse for those who truly love the Lord, and will keep his Holy Word. New Mysteries are being revealed to the children of men every moment, and they are now ready to receive them, for they have become conscious of the Ever Presence of God right here in there very midst, manifested within and without. It is more than human tongue can tell, the Glories of His Righteousness and the Wonders of His Love; this mighty Holy Love that transcends all limitations and breaks down every thought of segregation, and other abominations that are not pleasing in the sight of God."
All the things you have been seeking are yours when you accept the word as spoken to YOU - not to another. The storehouse holds all the unfulfilled promises of your life. Nothing has been lost - nothing can be lost, except the limitations of a personal life.
THE DREAM
I dreamed I was standing on a street corner, and saw a man struck down by a passing motor-car. I ran to him, and began wondering how I could best help him. For some time I went through the motions of ordinary emergency thinking. I called "Help,"and began lifting him up and examining the nature of his injury. All this time it seemed very real to me. I think I even suffered a little to see the pained expression on his face. People began to run towards us, and one of them said, "It is no use; he is past help." Something in that phrase awakened me, so to speak - I remembered that I had the power to call upon the Lord, and have Him answer. "Call upon ME in the day of trouble, and I will answer you."
I immediately "spoke the word," but, instead of helping the man, I awakened myself. It had all been a dream, and of course there was no accident, nor injured man to assist, or to heal. All that was necessary was for me to awaken, and find that the whole picture had been a miasma of the human mind. I could not have done anything for the man I saw run down in my dream. There was no possibility of my helping him. It all seemed rather ridiculous, when I thought of it, that I should have tried to help a dream man who had been hit by a dream car, and who had sustained a dream accident - and yet, while I was gazing upon it all, it seemed real enough.
The interesting point to be considered was the fact that the moment I "REMEMBERED" my Father, at that instant, the manifestation of evil was revealed as non-existent. It had never existed anywhere but in my human thought. It called to mind the fact that the Prodigal, sitting in his filth, had only to remember his father to instantly make the dream, which had become so real to him, disappear.
When I thought over the dream and the awakening, I seemed to recall to mind that every time I had dreamed of trying to help anyone with the Truth, it had immediately awakened me. I presume we could say quite definitely that the application of the Truth had been eminently successful; that the spoken word had been fulfilled, since that which had seemed to be had been wiped out of the picture.
This process of AWAKENING to the REALITY of Being when we pray is what is promised by Jesus Christ. "Awake, thou that sleepest." We are asleep when we accept the human dream as real, and we immediately "run to help," and proceed, along material lines, to do what we can. True Prayer would simply awaken us to
the true state of Life, wherein evil does not exist. That is precisely what happened with the cripple at the Temple gate. A moment before, he was held fast by the dream of the human belief, and then he was awakened. This awakening we may chose to call healing; or we may like better to say it is "The Revelation," since nothing happens, because that which is shown forth is too quick to happen. The human mind has not sufficient power or speed to function so rapidly. It appears suddenly, and the body that has been bound by the dream of years, instantly is freed into glorious power and health. The dream of forty years is no stronger than the dream of five moments. Because you had been caught in the web of human dream, and seemed to intensify it by trying to rid yourself of it, or by gazing upon it, does not argue one iota for its obstinacy, or its reality. "Call upon me, and I WILL answer." I will without doubt.
Do you begin to see something? Do you begin to see that the man in the dream is not healed, but that the whole dream is wiped out of your mind by an actual awakening? Do you begin to see that we are not in the business of healing a reality called sickness, sin, or lack, but that we are in the process of REMEMBERING to CALL upon ME, and that this very remembrance does not change the dream, but actually eliminates it by revealing the reality of life? That is why it can happen in the "twinkling of an eye." That is why it can come through into expression "by a way ye know not of." Imagine a man crippled for forty years; imagine what a
physical change would have to take place to be able to see him, instantly in perfect, radiant health, running, leaping and praising God.
The moment we take our attention away from the appearance we place it on the Father, upon whom we are invited to CALL, with sure and certain success. The moment you call you will be awakened to the fact that there was nothing to be healed and you will perceive the Son of the Living God revealed in all His perfection. It is Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful! Heaven and earth are full of the Lord. "Awake, thou that sleepest," awake to the glorious truth that you are seeing the evil in a dream, and that you can best help the situation by calling upon this POWER and turning your attention away from the appearance.
Of course, many will say that this is just an illustration, but many will also arise and testify to the fact that they have actually had awakening from a consciousness dream, just as suddenly and as perfectly as the awakening from the dream of sleep. It is Wonderful!
Whatever of evil you are experiencing is the hypnosis of the dream, or belief, in a power apart from God, and
it is the return to ONENESS which awakens you from your belief. A belief is all you could possibly get rid of.
You surely cannot get rid of anything that is real, since the real is eternal and fadeth not away.
"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My WORD shall remain for ever." The heaven and earth that the
human thought may have created out of its limited beliefs may pass away (in fact, you have a different idea of
heaven now than you had as a child), but the glorious POWER of the WORD shall not pass away. It is eternally being
fulfilled.
"God spake and it was done." There is an air of finality about this. No question about the results. No one imagines that after God spake, some human belief spake, or put in an argument against the "God spake." There is a consciousness that comes with it that is final, and makes you know that, no matter what man says, or argues, or tries to prove, when "God spake" it was done, and there is no further question about it. It is just this God spake idea that functions through us when we begin to accept the Power of God. "I will walk in you and talk in you." What is meant by that? Does it mean that this "God spake" power is going to talk in you and not be all-powerful? Is your peevish little personality, with its negative beliefs about itself, going to interpose a word which will off-set the "God spake"? You answer that. What do you think? "God spake and it was done," and there is no "maybe" about it. "Let there be light, and there was light." This was before the appearance of sun or moon. All this beautiful symbology is given for the purpose of recognizing "that something" which goes beyond the human teaching and reasoning and causes you to experience the Power of this "God spake." The Voice of God, ringing through the Universe, does not take dictation from man, whose findings are all wrong, and without foundation. No matter if these findings have functioned for a thousand years in a given way. Either God IS stronger than your belief about Him, or else He is nothing. "Awake, thou that sleepest, and Christ shall give thee light"; and that is exactly what you do when you pray. You awake from the dismal belief in evil, either in yourself or another.
"My word shall not return unto Me void, but shall accomplish whereunto it is sent." Do you hear the finality if this statement? It does not say perhaps or maybe, it distinctly states, "My WORD shall NOT return unto ME void, but SHALL accomplish whereunto it is sent." And this is the Word of God, not the word of some teacher, lecturer, book, or organization. It is the "God spake" word, which is the light of Revelation, which reveals that the perfect creation of God is for ever intact. "Before ye call, I will answer." It is all Wonderful! "Be still, and know that I AM God"; and then LET that mind be in you which functioned in the man Jesus, and the "God spake" will happen, in and through you. This word of God will awaken you from the dream of evil in your conscious world, just as, when you pray in your dream, it immediately awakens you to the truth about the situation.
It is glorious to know that the days of the hard taskmaster are over - that "NOW" [at this instant of recognition] are we the sons of God." The hard taskmaster is the personality, with its beliefs in birth, family, nationality, education, breeding, etc. As long as you are identified with these limiting beliefs, you must take on the nature of them, and go down under them. "Call no man your father" does not make you an orphan, but it gives you freedom to recognize your true Parent, God. All the limitations you took on in the dream - that you were "born in sin and conceived in iniquity"; that you were a creation of the dust, and must return to it; and that you must gain your living by the sweat of your brow - give way before the Revelation of your true heritage as the Son of the Living God, Joint-heir with Jesus. It is Wonderful! Do you begin to see and feel the glorious awakening that is even now taking place within you?
"Awake, thou that sleepest and Christ shall give thee light." Awake from the dead beliefs that have hypnotized you so long. Turn your attention away from the man in the dream and his supposed injuries, and "call upon ME and I will answer you." It is glorious. "God spake" - and surely the Voice speaking through you, when you pray in this fashion, is the Voice of God.
Jesus recognized the dream state, and in one instance, when told of death, said, "The maid is not dead, but sleepeth. I go to awaken her" (awaken her to the reality of Life, awaken her from
the deaths of beliefs). "The dead shall hear My voice and arise."
The God spake is the WORD which awakens man from the hypnosis of human beliefs, and brings him back into alignment with Life Eternal. "This IS life eternal, to know ME." The Voice of God speaking through you will make the un-manifest manifest. "I AM the resurrection and the LIFE; though a man were dead, yet shall he live." If a man were actually dead, in the sense that the human mind interprets the word (the end of all things), then could he be made alive?
The Voice of God, the (God spake and it was done) WORD, is spoken through the temple of your body. It brings the floods of light, and makes as naught the dreams of fear disease and death. It searches the joints and marrow, and goes into the hidden places. It is wonderful, the God spake WORD, speaking itself into expression by the power of awakening the sleeping senses. "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." The Glory of this "God spake" Word is risen upon you and has awakened you from the dream of human belief. In a twinkling the picture of evil disappears, disintegrates, and goes into nothingness.
"He watching over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps." The God spake" Voice in the midst of thee is never off duty, and is instantly available. "Cal upon Me in the day of trouble and I WILL answer."
LET THE CHILD BE BORN
"God does not bring to birth and then not bring forth." So says Isaiah, and he gives us one of the most wonderful statements of Truth. So many of us have, so to speak, "brought to birth" an idea which seemingly was never born. So many times we have done everything in our power to make the manifestation, and nothing appeared. So many times the sign of rain which was in the skies, over the parched desert of human trying, only turned out to be clouds without rain. Yet Isaiah states:
"God does not bring to birth and then not bring forth."
He is stating a definite and sure thing. The Child must be born - that is, brought to birth by the God consciousness. There is no escaping it. "My word shall not return unto Me void, but shall accomplish whereunto it is sent," is another way of stating the inescapability of the law of Truth.
Job tried, in every conceivable way, to appease the "wrath" of God. He begged, besought, and offered everything, in exchange for freedom from the terrific problems that were upon him; and yet, instead of seeing the manifestation that he sought, he seemed only to add to his condition. Up to a certain point it seemed as if every move only added to the burden that was already to heavy for him. Then suddenly the Law came into action, and the Child, so to speak, was born.
The strange thing about man is, that he