March 25, 2017
March 21, 2017
Breathing-out and Breathing-in
Breathing-out and Breathing-in
from the Positive Power of Spirit
Martin Exeter November 2, 1986
Life is simple. Because of this the real experience of life eludes many people, because they are hung up with complexity. It really doesn't matter what anyone else does. To get down to this sort of brass tacks is very reluctantly accepted by the pallid sort of people who constantly undertake to blame somebody else or to judge somebody else, imagining that that will take the spotlight away from their own behavior.
From my own standpoint, back along the way in particular, I was aware of some extraordinary behavior on the part of various ones who were associated with the Emissary ministry. But what difference does that make to me? It makes a difference to them presumably, but insofar as I was concerned I had the responsibility of providing the stable point in spiritual orientation that was required. And I don't see anyone else anywhere being in any different position. Most others didn't see themselves that way. But finally, there are those who do. Regardless of what anyone else may deem to be their required behavior, one simply assumes responsibility for what one knows for oneself. As there are those who do this, the fact of being with one accord begins to put in an appearance. It certainly isn't based at all in one's own behavior in the past or the behavior of anybody else. It is based in the immediacy of spirit that is present now, to be given expression now in the fulfilment of the responsibility of providing the essential focus of spirit on earth. One has to do that for oneself; no one else can do it, after all. And when that attitude of responsibility is taken it makes utterly no difference how anyone else behaves. One still has that focus point of responsibility.
The behavior of others, if it can throw one off from providing that point of focus, indicates immediately that one is not assuming responsibility for the unwavering expression of spirit. "Someone else did it to me. They caused me to feel that I wouldn't be able to express my beautiful character if I was in their vicinity." Well I don't know how beautiful my character is, but I do know that there is the responsibility of providing the spiritual point of focus, and I trust that there is no one around who can cause me to deny that. Is not this, again, something that any one of us could say with respect to ourselves? People are very revealing of themselves. There is no necessity to judge anyone. They paste it up all the time. You just observe, that's all. It doesn't make any difference to oneself because one simply still has the same responsibility as before, no matter how anybody else behaves. So we accept this, surely, as the basis for living.
The theme these days may be said to be the spiritual expression approach. How simple. How very simple. Why indulge in complexity, which brings so many other things into the picture which have no business being there, and particularly the behavior of other people? I suppose in one sense I could say, I don't give a damn how anyone behaves. Do you take that attitude too? I don't mean that there is no concern to provide what is necessary in the way of a stable point for other people, but whether they accept it or not is their business. One may say of oneself, "Well I'm going to keep it steady, that's all, and do it for whatever length of time it needs to be done or for whatever length of time I'm on hand to do it." This is an indication of the nature of my own attitude in this regard. And it's because there has been something more or less stable there for a period of time, that the results of that have put in an appearance. In the ordinary course of events human beings want instant results. Nobody can wait. Patience is increasingly something of the past, left behind.
Let the positive expression of spirit be maintained—primarily by men, but also in concert with those women who will agree to it—and let the creative process work. There is a simple summary of the reason for one's presence on earth, and how the part may be fulfilled. Complicated, complex? I don't think so. Simple. The complexities are a means of evading the simple point. "Well things are so complicated!" This is a statement that is frequently made by people. No, they're not! They're absolutely simple. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. It's just as simple as that. Well we'd better get around to letting the heart be purified then, that what is thought may be true—and then, so is he—the truth is revealed.
"I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the creative process. The creative process is not something separate from me." Can we say that? Only when that can be said are we in place, and it is only then that it is safe for someone else to associate with us. Back along the way I wasn't sure whether it was safe for others to associate with me but I was darn well going to find out. I find out by discovering whether it's safe for me to associate with me! And it is basically the same thing for anyone. There was someone of whom I was aware who took that attitude with respect to himself and opened the door for me. As there are those who take this attitude for themselves the door is opened for others, but only that way—not by meditating on it, not by discussion, not by trying to learn the laws of life, whatever they may be, but simply by assuming the responsibility for oneself to maintain that focus of spirit of which we have become aware. Let us not deny that. We are aware of it. Because we are aware of it we have the responsibility, whether we like it or not. There are a lot of people who aren't aware of it, but we are. So there is no excuse there, or anywhere else for that matter.
We assume together the responsibility for providing, as individuals, that focus of spirit, so that others may be safe in associating with us. Has that always been the case for you? I know it hasn't always been the case for me in times past but I trust it is pretty safe now, safe enough to get the job done if there are those who will assume the same stance. I have never suggested that anyone assume a stance that I have not assumed myself, but I certainly have suggested that that stance be assumed. And there are those who have taken me up on it. Thank God for them. Some of them are here present no doubt. But it is only when it is actually done that there is something of weight present on earth, one might say an immovable mass. And from the immovable mass proceeds the irresistible force. I think many have thought of spiritual expression as being rather a fanciful thing. I have suggested that one should never underestimate the power of spiritual expression, but of course to know what that power is there has to be spiritual expression—one's own. Then you know the power of it. That power is an open invitation to all whose hearts will permit them to come near into an awareness and experience of the creative process.
We have seen the creative process as centering in our King. "I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the creative process. Abide in me, and I in you." Sharing this, the door is opened on earth for anyone to come home to where they belong. Whether anyone does it or not is beside the point. If our continued stability is dependent upon others being affected by it according to the way we think they should, we won't be stable for very long. But when it doesn't matter at all what anyone else does, then finally there is a point of stability. And there are those who will be drawn by the magnetic force of it, the power of it, the power of love we say—a very different sort of love to what human beings have thought of as love. It is the creative power operative throughout the whole universe now. What do human beings know about it? Virtually nothing. They know nothing about love, in other words. But to participate in the creative process is a participation in the moving power of love. To do that requires a pure heart. The pure heart makes possible the movement of spirit to emerge out of heaven into the earth.
"Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." That particular wording was preceded by something concerning peace. "My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Human beings are great at talking about peace, rallying about peace; even, it seems, fighting for peace, as though peace was a human production. Human beings cannot make peace. Peace is the evidence of a pure heart, that's all. Without a pure heart peace remains unknown, impossible of knowing. So words are bandied about concerning peace which have no bearing upon the experience whatsoever, and never could have, no matter how fancy the words. Let the heart be purified.
We are aware that repentance is required if there is to be a pure heart, and we are also aware that repentance is not a one-shot deal. We have seen it related to the analogy of breathing. Repentance is breathing out. If we breathe out it becomes most necessary to breathe in again. When there is repentance, so that the old controls that operated in our existence are relinquished that way, they are breathed out. Let them go. Then there is air, the air of the spirit, waiting to rush into the space created by the breathing out, by the repentance. There can be no experience of the purifying power of the spirit unless the spirit is breathed. It won't be breathed in until you have breathed out what needs to go, until there has been repentance.
The clutter that has maintained the disturbed confusion in human hearts must be breathed out. "Let not your heart be troubled." Repent! Breathe out the trouble. "Neither let it be afraid." Breathe out the fear. And behold, breathing in becomes an absolute necessity. I don't know if you have ever tried breathing out and holding it; it won't last very long. You have to open up with a gasp, breathe in. Some people have tried repenting and holding it, weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth, casting dust and ashes upon their heads. What a useless undertaking. Just breathe in. "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." Breathe in. When the Lord God created man He breathed, as it is put, "into" his nostrils—but I think it was "through" them—the breath of life. Well that was both breathing in and breathing out. We do it all the time. Let it portray for us how we operate spiritually. We have an attitude of humility and repentance constantly. We know we are associated with something that is pretty rancid here on earth. Let's breathe it out. Repent. And breathing in, it is the breath of life. The heart is purified this way.
The heart is a useful organ by means of which the blood is circulated, but it is the breathing mechanism that purifies the blood. And we may see in that that it is not an unnatural process. There has been some sort of a big deal made about repentance, some sort of a big deal about exhaling. But we simply do it. And because we do it we inhale. The breath of life is then in our nostrils once again, and the experience of peace comes. "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God" and all that characterizes God, peace included. No human beings can get peace. All they can do is to permit their hearts to be purified, so that they need no longer be troubled or afraid. Then the experience is peace, peace given by the One who breathes life through the nostrils of man. That wasn't intended to be something merely of long ago—just a momentary artificial resuscitation, somehow bringing life into the dust of the human form, and thereafter let her rip! The breathing is the natural process divinely designed by which the heart is purified and kept pure. And we share that as we choose.
"My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you." The world doesn't give peace. People are looking all over the place in the world for peace. It ain't there! Peace is simply the evidence, in human experience at least, of a pure heart. Let the heart be purified and peace is known. Let the heart remain impure and peace can never be found. Simple, isn't it? Not very complex, after all. So in this simple way let us share in breathing the breath of life because we're happy to repent and we're happy to receive the Holy Spirit breathed through our nostrils.
I rejoice that in this hour we have shared now in the experience of something of that breathing, that the heart might be purified and that peace might be known.
© Emissaries of Divine Light
March 17, 2017
from
Things of Heaven Pressing In
Uranda February 7, 1953
There are so many things which might be expressed tonight, the things of Heaven pressing to find a way of manifestation, but we cannot let it all appear all at once. It takes eternity for the revelation of the things of God in adequate fullness, and so, that revelation is never ending—in any moment it is but a part. No matter who may be the channel of expression, no matter how many, even if every man, woman and child upon the face of the earth were fully centered yielding to God's will there would not be a complete expression in the sense of the allness, the fullness—it would still take eternity.
But when one senses the pressing of the things of Heaven seeking an outlet on earth, when one feels the need for yielding body and mind and heart to the purposes of that expression of Heavenly things on earth, there is a special inner joy, there is an eagerness, an enthusiasm, but a peace and an inner joy knowing that as we let the things of Heaven find expression here on earth the distortions, the ugliness, the miseries of the world must yield and pass away. And more and more human beings are beginning to know, beginning to be deeply aware of, the fact that Heavenly things are pressing in upon us, seeking the opportunity of birth into this realm on earth.
Every time you let one of God's words pass through your lips you are letting the birth of something from the spiritual realm have meaning on earth. Every time your heart, centered in God's Love, recognizes and acknowledges the pressing in of God's Love and lets it flow forth to the children of men, you are sharing in God's creative work. Every time, in the face of any situation, you recognize that the power of Truth is pressing for a way of manifestation, that the control patterns and the design of Truth are seeking those through whom they may appear, you know in your mind as well as your heart that ill things do not have near the power that the things of God have.
Sometimes the human being gets to looking at ill conditions or lacks or limitations and he thinks to himself, “These things are pressing in upon me trying to overwhelm me, trying to destroy me.” If one yields to such things, they will overwhelm and destroy. But once we begin to realize the power, the consistency, the constancy, with which the things of Heaven are pressing in upon us, we will not imagine for a moment, as the foolish human mind is wont to do, that the pressing of ill things is greater than pressing of the things of God. Any time the human mind or heart thinks that the pressing of ill things is stronger than the pressing in of the things of Heaven, that mind or heart is responding to a lie, to something utterly false. That is believing a lie, and it is making a lie, because in such a case the human being gives his body, his mind, his heart, his very life force to making manifest the evil, ill things which have beset humanity for so long.
Any time there is response to these ill things the individual concerned is helping to make a lie. And concerning the Kingdom of God on earth it is written, “There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth or maketh a lie.” Human beings are just beginning to realize the extent to which they have given their bodies and their minds, their hearts, their very life force, to making a lie—and these are those who begin to realize that they can give these same things—body and mind and heart and the fulness of life force to the making of the form through which the Truth of God is revealed. Which shall it be?
We have presumably made our choice, but to what degree is that choice a constant passion in your heart, a constant light or guiding star in your mind? For if in any moment you yield yourself or your capacities as a human being to that which is contrary to God's design, God's control, God's Truth, then you are in that moment making a lie. And of what avail is this process of making a lie? It only brings destruction, distortion, misery, suffering, sorrow, disappointment, futility. Making a lie produces the ill things that we see in the world, the terror that hangs over the world with respect to atomic warfare, with respect to the attitudes where Truth as such is not known, where Truth is never allowed to control, where the attitude is, “We can make any lie we want to and impose it on human beings and get away with it.” We look and we say, “What a terrible thing it is that a whole nation should become subject to the pattern of a lie.” And how this nation begins to swallow other nations and impose on them the making of a lie!
But can you say, right here on Sunrise Ranch, that you do not at any time under any circumstance give yourself to the making of a lie, by any attitude, by any word, or any act? If you give yourself, your body, your capacities, your life force to the making of a lie, even if it is for only thirty seconds, then you are supporting tyranny. We cannot devote ourselves to the making of a lie here even for a moment and say that we are not supporting that which holds terror for the free world. The free world? Free only in part, because the world has not found that freedom which is the glorious liberty of the children of God. Freedom? “And ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free.” But the Truth cannot make you free while you give yourself to the making of a lie.
Human beings so often limit the idea of a lie to some expression of the lips stating something that is called an untruth, something contrary presumably to the facts. What are the facts in the world? Can anyone of you describe the facts in the world? I could take anyone of you or all of you put together and challenge you to descriptions or expressions of the facts on the basis that is supposedly the expression of Truth, and in very short order have you so confused and confounded that you would not know where to turn unless you knew enough to turn to God and Truth without regard to the seeming facts. Very often facts are not the Truth. That you need to know. Very often facts as they relate to the temporary existence of things, the distortions and the lies, very often facts are not the Truth. What is the Truth?
Truth is always beautiful, always wonderful, always harmonious to God's Love. The Truth always makes possible the expression of life, not destruction but creativeness. So there needs to be an enlarged vision with respect to what it means to make a lie, for in any moment under any circumstance in which the individual gives himself and his capacities to subjection to the wrong spirits in the world—the spirits of fear and shame, or the spirit of greed, or selfishness, self-centeredness, we could name a long list—in that moment the individual is using his God-given capacities, the privilege of life on earth, to make a lie.
The Master said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” it is within reach, it is available. And He said, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all of these things,” the things of God, the things of Heaven, “shall be added unto you,” on earth. But how shall they appear through you if you are giving your mind, the thoughts of your mind, your heart, the feelings of your heart, your body, the actions of your body, to the making of a lie? This is the equipment which God created by which He might make the Truth evident and give it form on earth—Man, created in the image and likeness of God so that he could spend his time on earth making the Truth. The Truth is—yes. The Truth is in Heaven. The Truth is in the vibrational realm. And it is pressing in upon us always. But the Truth does not have form out here in this realm unless human beings give themselves to the business of making the Truth, making it have form, making it have meaning.
Where is the Kingdom of God? The Kingdom of God is in Heaven, yes. But where is it supposed to be? Your body is supposed to be the Kingdom of God, your mind is supposed to be the Kingdom of God, your heart. Filled with what? The things of the unreal world, the distortions, the lies that may be pressing in? Must one yield to those things? How about the things of Truth, the things of God's Love, the things of Life that are pressing in upon us? They are there, and all we have to do is to choose that to which we shall open ourselves, that to which we shall give our capacities. As it is put, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve. If Baal be god, then serve him; but if the Lord be God, then serve Him.”
Blessed Ones, we have reason tonight to have a deeper realization of the fact that the things of Heaven are pressing in upon us, and upon all the peoples of the world. Blessed are they who yield to the things of Heaven and refuse to yield to the things of hell. There are enough people who give themselves to the making of a lie. We cannot, while we give ourselves to the making of a lie even in little things, say that we are doing our part toward removing the tyranny, the brutality, made manifest—man's inhumanity to man, life without dignity, life without vibrancy, physical life where hate has become a substitute for love, a veritable hell on earth where human miseries are taken for granted. We can see it and say, “That is terrible. If it gets too close we will have to fight against it, we will have to use bombs and guns and every means at our disposal.” But are we doing our part in the front line? Is there a line remaining here on Sunrise Ranch, a line between those who are dedicated to the making of a lie and those who are dedicated to the making of the Truth? Does that line ever run through you, the front line?
We talk about the heroism or the cowardice of men at the front, men facing physical death compelled to obey orders—but is that the only place where there is cowardice? I would suggest that it comes very close to being a complete reversal of the proportions. Only a few of those men who have quavered in the face of shock and shell have hesitated. There are certainly many evidences of heroism. But what about the front line right here? Not just over in the next valley or the next town or the next state, or the next country. How about the front line right here? Is there ever any cowardice? Or is there ever any heroism? What is it that is pressing in upon you? If your attention is centered on the ill things that may press in, you will become subject to them and they will distort and spoil and make life miserable.
But the things of Heaven are pressing in. God's Love is pressing in upon you. God's Truth, God's Life, is pulsing in you or you could not hear the word I speak. And so, to what do you respond? Do you have it in you to be valiant, to be courageous, to refuse to yield in the face of the onslaught of the enemy? Do you have it in you to advance regardless of the opposition of the things of the world that may press in upon you? Do you have it in you to yield to the pressure of the things of God and let yourself be dedicated now and always to the making of the Truth? Oh so many people give themselves to the making of a lie. Perhaps you never saw as clearly as you do in this moment what it means to make a lie, and that if you are making a lie you are supporting all the tyrants in the world. Yes you are. If you are busy making a lie—even if it is only a thirty-second lie—you are giving support to that monstrous thing. Not until we give all of our capacities as it is put in the first—as our Master put it—the Greatest Commandment, to give all of our capacity in body and mind and heart, with all of our strength and spirit, to the making of the Truth that it may be made evident, that it may be given form, that it shall not press in upon us in vain. And so, as the Master put it, “And ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free.”
You say, “But I know a lot of lies.” Oh, of course, most human beings do. You insist that I believe those lies—oh no! They mean nothing to me. You say, “Well I have been worshipping them a long time. I expect you to think they are important.” You expect me to think that the lies are important. They are not. That is another lie if you think they are important—just another lie. They are not important, not at all. Only the Truth is important, and only if you give yourself to the making of the Truth can you be made free. You can meditate on lies and believe on lies from now until the day your grave is opened and it will do you no good. The only way you can become free is to know the Truth, yield to the Truth and give yourself to the business of making the Truth, making it manifest here and now. In self-centeredness there is always the making of a lie. And then the individual says, “But I want to get into the Kingdom of God. I want peace. I want this. I want that.” You do? You will not have it while you are self-centered. He who is self-centered is always busy making a lie.
Do you think that an attunement will correct that? Not unless you let it bring you into attunement with the Truth. You can be offered an attunement, but if you insist on being attuned to a lie the Truth will not have any influence, it will not make you free. Only as you come into attunement with the Truth in body and mind and heart can you be made free.
We need to be sure that the front line goes on out. We do not need to keep it here on Sunrise Ranch. No one needs to devote time or effort or capacity, life force, to the making of a lie. We can push it on out, extend the line and let those who have been deluded into making a lie begin to see that the Way of Victory is in making the Truth. “There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth or maketh a lie.” But when we let the Truth control we will live, we will serve, we will be letting God's will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. And so the things of Heaven are pressing in upon us. Let us yield to them. Let us open ourselves to the things of Heaven and receive them into the realm of form to the glory of God and the blessing of the children of men.
God is indeed so very good to us. If we could always remember that—as it is put in the Psalm, “Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men.” I wonder if we might paraphrase that tonight, “Oh that we would always praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works which we are privileged to share.” We would remember always that our business is sharing in the wonderful works of God. I wonder if it would make any difference in daily life. The human being does not have to share in the horrible works of the prince of darkness. Unless we do share in the wonderful works of God, can we be any true inspiration to others? Can we let the Light so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father Which is in Heaven?
It takes doing, not just lip service, not just some concept of believing. It takes doing, the life we live, and you have only one life to live. What are you doing with it? What will you do with it? If you let the things of Heaven that are pressing in upon you be the controlling factors all the time you will not be using this one life to make a lie, you will be using this one life to make the Truth so evident on earth that all who will may see and know that the things of God are practical—the only practical things there are—that the way of God is the only true way, that only as we serve our Lord and King can our lives have any real meaning.
The time is now. This is our opportunity. Every moment brings an opportunity. We do not have to postpone it or put it off until some more convenient time. We can so live now yielding to the things of Heaven that are pressing in upon us.
© Emissaries of Divine Light
March 14, 2017
from
Pour You Out A Blessing
Martin Cecil May 30, 1976
As usual after a Sunday morning service, I received quite a number of letters, some of them very excellent. There is one that I would like to share with you this evening. It was written by Pat Zaher. She says:
“The Holy Spirit of Life is evidenced everywhere as a flow out. If I am possessed of the Holy Spirit, my mind may not be able to categorize its qualities, but my heart feels, senses, only a flow OUT—a COMPLETE flow OUT. In heavenly orientation there is in my capacities ONLY that which gives. If there is still any wish to act in such a way that anything, no matter how seemingly ‘needful,’ might flow in—i.e., be pulled toward me—here is earthly orientation. If in my consciousness there are any voids-to-be-filled in me—Satan is still sitting pretty. All the voids-to-be-filled are out there, to be filled with ME—I AM the completeness which flows ever outward, ever outward, to fill the empty places in the world in the cycles of the Lord’s creative purposes. There is nothing else, no other reason to be here, no blessing to be found, no fulfilment to be sought. There is only MYSELF to be poured out a blessing into the earth, always, always, forever and ever without pause and without end. HOLY, HOLY, HOLY!’’
We were considering this morning the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In this letter of response it is rather accurately and beautifully summarized. That outpouring is characterized by fire. In the story of the Day of Pentecost long ago, when the disciples and others were gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem to be with one accord in one place, there was a mighty rushing wind, or the sound like unto that. But the cycle was completed with fire. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit relates to the fire which falls from heaven—a fire of great intensity. This morning, in the comment period down at my house, I mentioned this matter of fire by which changes are wrought in the internal state of human beings. It has been emphasized that only spiritual expression gets the job done. Nothing that the human mind can do, no manipulations on its part, can accomplish what needs to happen.
The human mind is present in human beings on the basis of the quality of material of which human beings are composed. This quality is present in the very flesh of human beings. As the human mind is simply the consciousness of the flesh, it can be seen that there is not too much distinction between mind and body. It is said that the earthly factors of heredity are recorded in chemical terms within the cells of the body. These hereditary factors, being part of the flesh of the body, are also part of the mental equipment. As long as these hereditary factors, in the earthly sense, are dominant in human experience and expression, clearly there is the fact of what we have called earthly orientation. The individual is simply revealing what is present in his flesh in the earthly sense. In this way the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children even unto the third and fourth generation, and more. And it has seemed to many that they had good excuse for their rather despicable behavior on occasion. As long as earthly orientation prevails, Satan is sitting pretty. The individual jumps to his command, albeit for the most part quite unconscious of the fact that this is what he is doing. He may claim to be free, but no human being in earthly orientation is ever free.
Seeing that this is the condition in which people everywhere find themselves, it may look like an impossible task that it should ever be caused to change. If the mind, which itself needs to change, is looking at the picture, it can really see no way by which anything might be done. Various concepts have been developed as to the possibility of somehow breeding a super race of human beings. This would be the lowest kind of science fiction, I would suppose. No. Only by the Holy Spirit can the changes be caused to appear. The Holy Spirit has opportunity to initiate such changes to the extent that there is a willingness on the part of the individual to let it occur in spite of the dire warnings of the human intellect. We’ve often used the quote from the Old Testament: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord.” This is the only way it works. Human beings have been a little inclined, if they have given any consideration to the matter of spirit, to sit around waiting for the spirit to come and do its work. The fault, if it doesn’t happen, is then easily laid at the door of the spirit: “There I was, waiting—I’d been waiting for years maybe—and the spirit never did anything.” Some excuse the spirit by taking the attitude that the ways of God are inscrutable and therefore we just have to abide in patience until He finally gets around to releasing some of this efficacious spirit. But it isn’t really that way. Human beings may have thought that they were waiting for the spirit when in fact the spirit was waiting for human beings.
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is obviously something flowing out. If one is identified with the expression of the Holy Spirit, which is spiritual expression, then one is identified with the experience of an outflow. This is the Holy Spirit, complete and entire, nothing else. So there is nothing else but the outflow in the experience. That outflow is consequent upon what we have called heavenly orientation. Should there be anything which a person feels he has to get to himself then there is identification to that extent with an inflow. And the inflow state will in that person’s experience frustrate or prevent the outflow. If the outflow is prevented heavenly orientation is dissolved and earthly orientation prevails.
There have been, over the years, many martyrs in the world, some of them so designated because they were burned at the stake. I’m not thinking of those quite so much as the rest of us who have felt, at times, that we were sacrificing something by serving the Lord. We were being very good; we were going to serve the Lord and surely He would look kindly upon the afflictions that we must suffer because of this attitude on our part. What blasphemous arrogance! When we are identified with what is flowing out we have no sense of lack. The Lord is my shepherd; I do not want.
That outflow relates to the fire force—a high-intensity radiation. In my comments this morning after service, someone had mentioned how the program on an audio tape may be expunged by running it through the recorder with the correct setting on the head, so that the electrical impulse would dissipate the recording on the tape. This provides an analogy which relates to what we are talking about now with respect to the fire. For that recording to be expunged from the tape, the tape must be close to the head; it must run past the head, so to speak, so that the radiation from the head can get the job done. By the same token, one may put a tape on which there is a recording into the machine and record a new message on it at the same time that the old one is being expunged. If we consider this analogy in application to ourselves it may be seen that it is important to stay close to the recording head, because the process of the fire is not only to expunge what is already on the human tape but to record a new message, a heavenly message, the message of heavenly heredity.
There is a means by which that untrue recording may be erased and the true recording established in its place. The means is by the fire, the fire which is known by reason of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This may occur in a gathering such as this in varying degrees, according to the closeness of the tapes, in those concerned, to the recording head. If there is even a little gap in between, it won’t work too effectively. The deeper changes that are needed can only occur when there is, in effect, oneness between the recording head and the recording. Perhaps some of the shallower elements on the recording can be changed a little by being in the vicinity of the recording head when there is the development of sufficient intensity. Such changes have occurred in the experience of many of you, and others. If they are real changes, they have come to pass on this basis, because there was some closeness with the recording head experienced by reason of an open heart.
However, we may take note of the fact that there are other heads around. The beast or the dragon, as I recall, had at least seven of them, all ready and prepared to replace the erased recording with another one of a similar nature. That replacement occurs when a person gets too close to one of those heads. If he or she does this, the recording is firmly established to the extent that there is oneness with the quality of spirit which characterizes that head, or those heads. Now, you know when you find yourself expressing a spirit of envy, jealousy, resentment, martyrdom, self-pity, or any of these spirits, that you are one with that spirit and therefore one with that recording head. Then, whatever is put on your tape is either being rerecorded or the recording is being established more deeply.
There is only one way by which the change may come, and that is by being close to the true recording head and staying close. Now, what has often occurred is that those who attended a service, for instance, for the moment came close, so that there was an intensification, a certain measure of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, sufficient to produce some changes in those concerned. Those changes were, perhaps, felt quite vividly during the service because the individual, during that period, was close to the recording head, so that some recording had been made of the true nature. But then this matter of being close to the recording head is forgotten, to whatever degree, when the individual goes forth, and there are all these other recording heads waiting around to re-establish the old message. And the individual goes right back close to the old recording heads, and then wonders why changes don’t seem to occur as is expected. Of course they don’t! We are only safe to the extent that we stay close to the true recording head, because the message isn’t complete yet; in fact, one might question as to when it would ever be complete. There is something to be recorded in every moment that is right and fitting in the moment.
How about the sound that is coming through you, the recording that is playing by reason of you? Does something accurate begin to be heard by others, and then it starts to squeal? Or some other noise drowns it out, or simply a blank? If that occurs, then obviously, in those spaces, you were not close to the recording head. You allowed, perhaps, a bit of dirt to get in between, and so it messed things up. We need to see it clearly, that these works, and greater works collectively, can only be achieved by the fire which falls from heaven. It is not enough that the fire should fall from heaven, but that we should be on hand, close, to let it operate in our own continuing experience, so that all the falsity of our earthly heredity may be blotted out. It is not only a matter of being blotted out, leaving an empty tape. If that should happen, then no doubt seven worse spirits would come in to occupy the space, because you would be drawn close to the seven heads of the beast once again. There must be something recorded. Let the recording stay put because you stay close to the recording head. It is the fire of love which consumes a person who stays close to the Lord. And in consuming, all the distorted patterns are eliminated, dissolved. In the individual sense, those distorted patterns are going to be dissolved by the fire eventually in any case, and that dissolution tends to be a rather painful business. In an attitude of thankfulness for the joy of drawing close to the Lord, so that the fire of His love may fall from heaven, all that is necessary may be achieved easily.
I mentioned this morning that those who have actually experienced heavenly orientation never again experience earthly orientation. They may be aware of what is present in earthly orientation but, as Pat put it in her letter, that’s out there. It is not what I am; it is not what you are. You are poured out a blessing. The fire does not burn the fire. And when you are one with the fire, there is no sense of heat. There may be an awareness of power, but because that power is you it is not uncomfortable. It may, perhaps, be uncomfortable for somebody else who is not open to be one with the fire. If there is resistance to the intensification, it is a painful and unhappy business.
I have noted various ones who are unhappy at times. The unhappier they get the better! Maybe they’ll decide it isn’t worthwhile. But, paradoxically, many people seem to take the attitude that they are only happy when they are unhappy, otherwise why would they stay that way? No one who has been in the vicinity of the recording head could excuse himself on the basis of ignorance. Others, in other places, conceivably might. But we have no excuses; we know better. How a person can lie around, wallowing in a state of unhappiness for months, and even years, always seems to me quite incredible. Here is something I don’t really understand. And yet, it is done. Nonsensical, isn’t it? Particularly if there has been any true vision at all. And why would anyone be in the vicinity of the recording head if there had not been the experience of some true vision? To take the attitude that what had been seen in that sense isn’t worth very much, that all the miseries are worth more, is a very contradictory attitude to take, isn’t it? Quite unnecessary. Not only for the person concerned but for other people, because nobody can indulge himself in unhappiness, for instance, without bumping up against other people. Why not agree with the truth instead of with a lie?
As there is agreement with the truth, then there is a flowing out. And that flowing out is so strong that nothing can check it. Again, the supreme example of that was in Jesus. That flowing out was so strong that nothing human beings could do to Him could check it; it was still there. Now, it is this outflow that is the awakening process. We have noted that the head of the body awakens first. Before the head is awake, it may be in a sort of twilight zone where there is an awareness of something but not very much yet. In that sort of state, the awakening of the body of the Son of God, there was much concern to find others who might become members of the body of the Son of God. There was no real awareness that it already existed, it was asleep. As we begin to awaken we become aware of the fact that the whole body is present. We’re not frantically running around trying to collect one individual in a million to participate in what we think of as our ministry. There is a whole body already on hand. It’s all there, quite complete, quite adequate. You don’t have to make it be; it’s there.
What is needed is that we should awaken to the fact that it is there. Perchance this is what is happening to some degree. We begin to discover that as we emerge from our slumbers there are a whole lot of other people around. “Amazing! I didn’t think they were there before,” but they were. All of you have been around for quite a number of years. I personally wasn’t in position to notice a lot of you for quite a while, and then you put in an appearance. There you were. Where did you come from? You were there all the time. And so it is with the whole body; it’s been there all the time, and will continue to be there.
But if the body is to awaken, that awakening process centers in the head. And there comes an awareness in the head of the fact of the body—the whole body. And then the body stirs and becomes aware of itself. When you wake up in the morning and get out of bed you don’t forget and leave your arm lying in bed still. The arm comes right along; everything holds together. This is true of the body of the Son of God. What is the thing that is of most importance then? That you should get the foot to wake up? What’s the use of an awakened foot if the head is still asleep? No. It is for the head to awaken. And that relates presumably to us, first and foremost, not to those other slumbering people out there. They’ll wake up for sure if we do, but if we assume that our twilight experiences are wakefulness, we may decide that we don’t wish to wake beyond that point, and so nobody else does. But if we keep moving in the cycles of awakening, then we find that the whole body pretty soon is awake with us. It may arise and stand upon its feet on earth. And when it does that, of course, human beings everywhere cannot avoid recognizing that it is so.
As long as the body is asleep, tucked away in the graveclothes, nobody wants to look inside the graveclothes very much anyway. And so it is assumed that there isn’t anything there, of any moment at least. Whatever may be there is supposed to be dead. But when there is the living body on earth, then it is impossible to ignore. That in itself may engender some opposition, but what was it that was said by the One whose body it is? “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” There is no problem insofar as He is concerned, just a void, a void which is filled in the moment because He is poured into the earth through all those who compose His body. But more particularly a creative expression appears, by reason of the control that extends from the head.
We share in this awakening because we participate in letting the fire fall from heaven. That fire burns up all that is not true to itself. The destructive earthly orientation is eliminated and all that remains in the body of the Son of God is the reality of the heavenly heredity. The fire falls from heaven because of that body, and it consumes all that is in the earth. It is thus that the earth is cleansed of all unrighteousness. This is a natural creative process, one in which we have some little experience ourselves already, but there is vastly more to be known. Let us continue to be willing to awaken because of heavenly orientation. And heavenly orientation holds us close to the recording head. Then the job gets done.
© Emissaries of Divine Light
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