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When Jesus lifted up His
eyes unto heaven and said, "Thank you, Father," this all-embracing
statement was so filled with revelation that it burst the shell of a
thousand limitations. As Jesus grew in awareness
of His unique parentage, He unfolded the glorious truth that God
desires to be the Father of every man and will dwell in your
consciousness and mine. He spoke of His body as a temple, with the
Father indwelling His consciousness in the manner foreshadowed when
the Shekinah glory filled the old covenant temple. When the Father indwells our consciousness, we too are called "temples" of the living God. Just as Jesus was the embodiment of divinity, we too are the place where the transcendent God is stepped down into visibility. As soon as we recognize that through the new birth we have come into union with God, we begin to bring forth the manifestation, even as the human Jesus manifested the eternally begotten Christ who is the very image of the Father. Just as the principle of
radio had always been there, but had to be recognized before it could
be brought forth, God indwells all who are His sons by new birth and
only awaits our ability to conceive of His manifestation in our
temple-bodies. He is in each of us, but He has to be recognized. With Jesus the man, as with
each of us, nothing is possible, for Jesus said that He could do
nothing of Himself. But when He arrived at the place of recognition
that He was the Christ, then all things were possible because that is
the point of contact – recognition – between God and man. Without this
recognition of indwelling divinity, nothing can take place; with it,
anything can happen. The function of divinity is above the limitations
of human law. It is never necessary to consider the laws we are so
accustomed to functioning by. Jesus, who could no more walk on water
that you can, found this possible because He was conscious of oneness
with the Father within. This transforming influence lifted Him
entirely out of the bondage of law which knows gravity, cohesion,
adhesion, and so on. "You must be born again,"
said Jesus. To be born again is to become one with the Father, so that
you express divinity. We are called "partakers of the divine
nature." It is impossible for you to do the things that you cannot do
as long as you remain in your natural human consciousness, limited by
the five senses and three dimensions. It is possible to accomplish all
things when you recognize that through being joined as one with Christ
you have become one with divinity -- the Father within you. Many attempt to make
themselves "gods," instead of recognizing the Father within as the
point of contact where God becomes manifest. This has resulted in all
sorts of egotistical monstrosities -- from high priest and priestess,
parading a secret power and knowledge before the world, to a Rasputin. The man-made divinity is
one with trailing robes, jewels and piles of gold. In these pictures
of heaven which are painted for us, we see reflected the savage
longings of starved souls for possessions. Never having had the most
ordinary things in life, they finally make themselves believe that
heaven represents a lot of man-cut and polished jewels, and heaps of
gold which have been taken by man, not by God, as a standard of value.
"Awake, you who sleep, and Christ shall give you light." Discovering that divinity
indwells you -- that there is a hidden point of power which is located
in the temple of your being -- is like finding a lost continent. The
old systems of man pass away; the revelation from within takes place. "What therefore God has
joined together, let no man separate." This union of man and wife as
"one flesh" pictures our union with the Father through Christ. This
perfect combination of God and man is what Jesus came to reveal. This
holy union of man with divinity must take place before any can follow
the command, "Go into all the world and preach the good news." You cannot find God in the
loftiest temple nor in the most consecrated spot until the marriage of
your spirit with the Spirit of God has taken place, and the fact of
union with divinity has been awakened within you. Then, even if you
make your bed in hell, or if you go to the uttermost parts of the
earth, you will find Him! Once you have found Him
within, you can find Him in the worst hell-hole, or in the most
terrible enemy you have ever imagined. He is omnipresent and
omnipotent, so that "His kingdom rules over all," even your enemies;
thus the darkness around you becomes light, for with Him both are the
same. A strange feel of God's presence everywhere causes you to
understand why Jesus was able to say to ignorant fishermen, "Go." He
knew that each through this point of contact with the transcendent
God, the moment he was en rapport with Him, could call for and
see manifested "whatever" he asked for in Jesus' name (which is to ask
as if he were Christ Himself). A Byrd flying to the Poles,
a Lindbergh encircling the globe, a Picard ascending into the heavens,
a submarine descending into the depths, or an engineer going down into
the bowels of the earth can instantly get in touch with the outside
world, and talk freely. This had ceased to be wonderful since it
became accepted by all as natural; but at one time it only could have
happened in legend or fairy tale. Now, wherever man goes, if he has a
receiving set we are told he can instantly make the connections and
get into touch with the world. While this in an inadequate
illustration, it will faintly indicate why it was that Jesus could
safely send men into expression apparently so poorly equipped, from
the most common backgrounds, and tell them to do things which to the
reasoning mind were impossible. Until this union with divinity is
discovered or recognized within, you will continue to look to people,
masters, spirits, books or organizations for your help, and one by one
you will explode each of the theories for which they stand. Yet when
you discover your union with the Father through Christ and are wed to
Him, and begin to function naturally from this standpoint like those
who use the receiving set, you will be able to find the truth in
everything, even as a bee finds honey within a poisonous flower and
extracts it. Because Jesus knew the
kingdom of heaven within, it was manifested without. This
contact of Father and son is the one thing necessary. When we are in
union, the results always follow. At no time did Jesus consider, weigh
or handle the evidence by the standard of physical sense. "Judge not
by appearances," He cautioned. Disregarding it all, He went within to
His Father; and whatever He could ask of the Father, that could He
manifest. When you are speeding
through the air at hundreds of miles an hour, the radio is able to
catch and broadcast a concert without difficulty; yet this feat is
past comprehension as far as the average person is concerned. So too
is it difficult for man to understand the presence of God in and
through all things. The radical reliance (faith) necessary to
establish this state of inner consciousness comes only when man leaves
all books, teachers, organizations, etc., and goes within, recognizing
God and praising. Once he has found God within, he can find Him
without, and in every circumstance of life. Nothing happens
without His express will, for He rules over all and "by Him all things
hold together." Can you begin to comprehend that? Beloved, the most important
message in the world may be broadcast and fall unheeded upon the
diaphragm of the unadjusted machine; and though you can find no place
which is not filled with God's inspired radiating presence, without
recognition of inner union with Him you "receive" nothing! If you find it in the
nature of your radio to pick up a foreign station, all you have to do
is to adjust to that station and what follows is natural, not
miraculous. When you stop taking the name of the Lord in vain by
attributing all sorts of limitations and evils to yourself, you will
begin to know the unafraid condition of mind which functions from the
reality of the indwelling divinity of Jesus Christ. This is to "walk
by faith." Once you become aware of
the One who indwells you, at that moment you receive "whatever" you
"ask for" in His name, whatever He has inwardly authorized you to ask
as if He were the One asking. And it is no miracle or demonstration,
but a natural movement of the unseen into the place of manifestation.
But if what you are endeavoring to bring out is not natural, and is
still shrouded with the sleight-of-hand consciousness which is trying
to work wonders or "signs," nothing will happen. "Awake, you who sleep, and Christ shall give you light!" Recognize that you are one with the Father -- the transcendent God -- through Christ, and live your life from a fixed consciousness of that union. |
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