In The Christ

In  The  Christ

from   Directions for the New Day #59

Uranda   January 8, 1947 

The instruments of accomplishment for the work of God on earth are comparatively few.

Comparatively few are willing to devote themselves completely to the accomplishment of the Divine Program on earth.

In the Book, we read, "Pray without ceasing", and we recognize that only as we let that which is of the Spirit of Truth and the Fire of Divine Love, find manifest expression through us that we can fulfil that admonition. That unceasing prayer must be the expression of life; it must be the meditation of the heart; it must be the spirit of what we think, and say, and do. 

It is our custom to conclude prayer with the words—In the Christ. I have sometimes wondered if the significance of those words was fully appreciated. If we are not In the Christ we cannot truly pray, and unless we are In the Christ we cannot receive the answer to our prayer. Only that prayer which is In the Christ has power, and only he who is In the Christ is in position to receive the answer to his prayer. Merely saying the words In the Christ is of small avail. That which is signified by these words must be a Reality in us if we are to know the Power of God working in and through us on earth. What does it mean to be In the Christ? 

It is true that there are varying degrees of being In the Christ. An individual who may find himself engulfed in the whirlpools of darkness may, through Response, find himself, in the twinkling of an eye, In the Christ, enfolded in Light, Love and Life, in Spirit and in Truth, so that he is lifted up into the Christ. Without attunement in the Christ, or actually being in the Christ, no individual can receive the answer to prayer, and the Power of the word in prayer is dependent upon its expression in the Christ. Those who worship God in Spirit and in Truth, not merely with their lips, not merely with claims of belief, not merely by actions propounded by men, come to know what it is to live In the Christ. 

We have spoken of the expression of life as if it were a sea. The ship of life that drifts cannot hope to come to a definite harbor. The direction of response is the direction of movement. The wheel in the pilot-house is the cycle of response, under the control of the wind and the waves and that which moves this way and that—or under the control of the captain and the pilot. What is it that controls us in any given deed, in any given act? That which, to the outer view, may seem to be a right act, to be condoned or encouraged or commended, may be done in a spirit and in an attitude, or for a reason, that makes it a wrong act. The reason for action, the motivating for the center of control, determines, basically, the rightness and the wrongness of action. A ship on the high seas maintains contact, by radio, with the mainland, with the point of higher authority. As the ship on the high seas utilizes radio and related methods of perception and communication, so must the individual use the Spirit—that is, through the Spirit be attuned to the Mainland, to the point of higher Authority. That which we have called prayer is the process of maintaining that attunement.

There are tens of thousands of individuals on earth who sincerely, earnestly, seek to do the Will of God but obedience to that Direction, in harmony with the central Will of God can be effectively made manifest only through those who act and receive, who speak and receive—In the Christ. Being thus tuned in, they are a part of the expression of the Divine on earth, by means of which the Will of God is done on earth as it is done in Heaven. The instruments of accomplishment for the work of God on earth are comparatively few. Comparatively few are willing to devote themselves wholly, completely, entirely, to the accomplishment of the Divine Program on earth. The human mind can so easily find excuses for turning this way or that, so easily condone laxness of function in the Central Current of Reality. 

What is the center of control in each word that is spoken, in each thought of the mind, in each act?—is it In the Christ or is it in the realm of human desire and human fancy? Prayer, to be prayer, must be In the Christ, and he who is not in the Christ, or at least attuned in the Christ, cannot receive the answer to prayer. Moment by moment, day by day, we are either tuned in or we are not. We are moving forward, individually and as a Unit. There is much in your unified endeavors and functions which I can properly commend, and I praise God for the fulfilment that is being made manifest in you and through you. To increase that fulfilment, to make that activity more effective that we may prove true to our responsibilities and worthy of those blessings which we have enjoyed, and do enjoy day by day, we need to be in tune. 

The word that is spoken In the Christ must be received by reason of attunement In the Christ. The Word of the Lord accomplishes that whereunto it is sent, but the fulfilment of that Word is in the Christ. Human strength, human wisdom, in the human word not attuned, cannot avail in bringing fulfilment of the victory. The Word of God is sure and certain—In the Christ. The Power of God is absolute—In the Christ—and so it is that only as we worship Him in Spirit and in Truth can we know that attunement In the Christ, by which we may come to abide in an expression of life abundant In the Christ. 

He came that our joy might be full, not to take joy away, not to subject us to slavery, but that we might enter into the Glorious Liberty of the Children of God, and that our joy might be full—and when human reactions are such that it sometimes appears as if human beings thought that God was trying to take away the joy of life and undertaking to establish some sort of bondage and slavery, the human being that begins to fight against the Spirit of God in order to maintain its independence and liberty, is, of all creatures, most truly bound by the chains of darkness, and subjected to imprisonment in the realm of the prince of this world. When we speak or hear the word In the Christ—let us Let it truly he so, in us, for except we be In the Christ, the word cannot find fulfilment in us. Only as we are In the Christ can we be members of that Body by means of which the Word is made flesh, to dwell among men and to draw them, by the irresistible Cords of Love, into the Way, the Truth and the Life, that all who will may worship God in Spirit and in Truth. 

Beloved Master and Father of us all, we thank Thee that, through the outpouring of Thy Spirit, we are privileged to be In the Christ, so that Thy Word may accomplish that whereunto it is sent, in us and through us, for Thy Word shall not return unto Thee void, but shall accomplish that whereunto it is sent.

In the Christ

Aum-en

© Emissaries of Divine Light