The Holy Family

from

The  Holy  Family

Uranda   August 23, 1953  Class

I have here the record of certain words spoken by our Master when He was on earth, and according to the record, these are the words in the 11th chapter of Luke, beginning with the 11th verse: “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” Is there any earthly father present who would give his son a stone if he asked for bread? a serpent if he asked for fish? or a scorpion if he asked for an egg? Certainly not. Not one among you, being a father, and I doubt if there is anyone here who would so function.

Our Master said, according to this record, “If ye then, being of limited vision, understanding and function, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more”—not just equally with this—“how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” And what a need there is for the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. We all know something of what it is to feel the working of that spirit of our God, but there is certainly a need for a greater baptism of the spirit than has yet been made manifest here, than you have yet shared or known. And our Master said, “How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him.” The question then arises, have you asked Him? And another question follows: How do you ask Him? What do you ask? The Master expressed so many times, in so many ways, this idea of God's willingness to give. “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom”—not in some hereafter time but now. It is your Father's good pleasure. And if we would give God pleasure, we should receive that which He offers.

“How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” How should we ask Him? How better can we ask Him than to prepare to receive the Holy Spirit, to do those things we know to do, that we should do, that the Holy Spirit may properly manifest through us? If our children come to the table at dinnertime expecting food, we may, as parents, look at the child's hands and face and find that they need washing. But having washed them, we let them come back to the table, and they are ready to receive the food because they are reasonably clean. Well now, if this is so, and it is, how do we ask?

The compulsions of life are often very effective persuaders. The fact that a person gets hungry enough is a good persuader. And so it makes me ask this question of myself: “How hungry are these people here? How hungry are they for a greater baptism of the spirit? Are they going to stand afar off and say, ‘I would really like to know more of the outpouring of the spirit but...?” But what? If the table is prepared, then the way to ask, insofar as our Father is concerned, is primarily simply to come to the table, is it not? Not to start begging and asking for something that is already provided, demanding it in some other fashion. No, that would not be very courteous—it would not be honoring our Father or our Mother.

Your heavenly Father. In our meditations there came a point where you began to really recognize your heavenly Father and your heavenly Mother, and we recognized the deeper meaning of that commandment: “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” The mere fact of physical parenthood does not necessarily make a person worthy of honor. But our heavenly Father and our heavenly Mother are worthy of honor. There is no question on the point. And to what degree have you so lived that you honor your heavenly Father and your heavenly Mother?

It sometimes seems to you that the heavenly Father is far away, but He is not. We have recognized that your heavenly Father is a part of the Shekinah Pattern of Being, as likewise is your heavenly Mother. The Father, spoken of as your heavenly Father, may carry back to the point of the One Who Dwells, but that is, as far as we are concerned in this outer world, not of immediate importance. The presence of the One Who Dwells is revealed by the fact of the evidence of the Presence of heavenly Father and heavenly Mother. And you are the only begotten Son or Daughter of your heavenly Father and your heavenly Mother. For the reality of the Fire, the Fire of God's Love, is your heavenly Father, the focalization of the positive aspect of Being in the realm of that which is the vibrational sphere directly related to you as a human being. And the Light that glows, or the reality of Truth, is your heavenly Mother. The Life that manifests through your body, is the Life that is in you; and that Life that makes you a human being is born of your heavenly parents, your heavenly Father and your heavenly Mother. These are the Shekinah, or the One Who Dwells.

So who is it that is going to give you these gifts? Do you have to look to some invisible being? No, you do not. Your heavenly Father indicates the reality of the Presence of the One Who Dwells, yes. And the way the Master used the word Father, very often the One Who Dwells is definitely indicated—it carries back to the One Who Dwells. But, you remember, we saw that the word Father signifies primarily Shekinah, and wherever we find the word “Father” here, as the Master used it, it means Shekinah. And the centering of Shekinah as such is your heavenly Father, the Fire that burns eternally, the creative Fire.

The Master said, “How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” Now where there is a true home, a true family pattern, and the child asks something of the father, that does not mean that the child is ignoring the mother; for the anticipation of the child is that father and mother will work together in Oneness, that if they agree on earth as touching something, it is useless to argue, it is useless to struggle, it is useless to do anything but just accept it, because that is the way it is. When father and mother agree, that is it—that is final. And so it is in the heavenly pattern of Being: when Father and Mother agree, that is it. And on what basis do Father and Mother agree? Are they arbitrary, just withholding some good thing from you? No, the table is prepared, the table of God's provision, and that includes the baptism, or the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, God's will for you.

And until that manifestation of the Holy Spirit is a reality in you, you have not let the Father's will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Where is heaven? It is at hand, it is right here. Where is the Father? Right here. The Father is with you wherever you are. Your heavenly Father is the reality of the focus point of the Shekinah of your God Being—and so likewise your heavenly Mother. And if you drive them out of the house of your body, life will cease to manifest in your body and you will no longer be a human being. What is left has to be buried. So it is your Father's good pleasure, and therefore also your Mother's good pleasure. Your Mother, your heavenly Mother, never is at odds with your heavenly Father. If it is your Father's good pleasure, your heavenly Mother has agreed on earth as touching these things; and by the very fact that they have agreed on earth, if you do your part and come to the table and accept and receive, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?

By your presence here you are asking. Yet did you ever see a little child come to the table, get seated, receive the food on the plate, and then proceed to play every sort of game, fiddle with it or ignore it, doing anything but eat? So sometimes children come to the table and get the food on their plate—they have gone that far—but they do not receive it into their mouths, into their bodies. That is our next step, isn't it? I would say you have come to the table, and I trust your hands are reasonably clean. “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?” What is His holy place? The place of the Holy Spirit. And the answer comes: “He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.” That is the answer. So if you have clean hands there is no reason why you should not eat, and the food is on the table. But if your mind or your heart, your emotional realm, either or both, is preoccupied—with what? Those things that disrupt the connecting factors between spirit and your being on earth, in the realm of the Sea of Glass, the contact point with the pneumaplasm. Why do we talk about tranquility and serenity? Where do tranquility and serenity work? In the heart, primarily. They have manifestations of effect in the mind and in the body, but serenity is a matter of the heart. And if there be no serenity in the heart, there is preoccupation with something beside the art, the act, of really receiving into yourself that which God would give. The Master used symbolism here in describing the point, in relationship to food, and I have carried out that theme. We must receive it into ourselves for ourselves. But what is it that will prevent the lack of serenity?

We remember in the Book of Magic where mention is made of the Sea of Glass. The word is: “a sea of glass like unto crystal.” The Sea of Glass, clear as crystal—there is a picture of serenity: no flaw, no disturbing vibrational factors, quietude, serenity, the acceptance of the Divine Design, no pushing, no pulling, no demanding, no requiring this or that of the Father, a perfect willingness to receive as the Father gives, with complete trust that the Father's giving will be right not only for you but for all. And there needs to be no friction pattern to be sure that things work out correctly, no resentment necessary, no rebellious spirit lest God receive someone into the kingdom who is not in your estimation ready. Just to receive it for yourself.

To want it, to try to demand it and get it in some fashion? What should be our attitude? To start wanting the Holy Spirit all at once? That would not do any good. You shall not want. If you start demanding it, no. What is your attitude? From whence does the Holy Spirit come? From God. And it is the evidence of the Presence of God. For we find that the Shekinah of the Old Testament period is the Holy Spirit of the New Testament period; they are one and the same thing. That which is translated Holy Spirit in the New Testament must always be read Shekinah if you would understand it truly—or Holy Ghost. Holy Ghost? Yes, Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit, Shekinah, because both Old and New Testaments are talking about exactly the same thing, not two different things. The Holy Spirit is Shekinah. So if we are to receive Shekinah, is it done by wanting? No, by a genuine willingness to share with God the release of that which is of God, which is the evidence of the Presence of God on earth. Your heavenly Father, as the Master uses the term, is the control point of Shekinah, the Head of the Shekinah Family, but it includes the Whole Family. If you receive the Holy Spirit, you receive the evidence of the Presence of this Holy Family in your House of Being, your body.

Your body, your flesh, all of the wonderful mechanisms of your body, were designed for a particularized manifestation of the Child of the Holy Family, the only begotten Son of your heavenly Father. But you must receive into your body, into their places, their mansions, their rooms, the reality of your heavenly Father and your heavenly Mother, or their Child will not abide in you in the reality of Life. The manifestation will diminish and become less and less, unless you receive your heavenly parents. And that means that the room of your body, your being as a human being, which was particularly designed by God for your heavenly Father, is your heart, your emotional nature—for your heavenly Father. And your mind is a capacity, as your heart is; it is a room in the body of your being, a place if you please, especially designed for your heavenly Mother, the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit of Love and the Spirit of Truth bring forth the Spirit of Life, and these three are the Holy Family, the Holy Spirit. And would you receive them? How? We must do it intelligently, with understanding: the Holy Spirit of Love in the heart, the Holy Spirit of Truth in the mind, and the Holy Spirit of Life in the body.

You cannot, just by some arbitrary means, cause this Holy Family to manifest in you; but it is your Father's good pleasure that they should manifest in you. You must let your body be prepared to receive the Child, the Holy Spirit of Life. You must let your mind be prepared to receive your Mother, so that you honor your Mother with your mind, never violate the Spirit of Truth, never discredit, never dishonor your Mother, your heavenly Mother. And so the Holy Spirit of Truth comes into your mind, and if you treat your Mother rightly she will remain there, always. And then your heart. In your heart, in your emotional nature, in your feeling attitudes, you must honor your heavenly Father, the Holy Spirit of Love. If you bring into your heart, your emotional nature, those spirits that dishonor your Father, do you think He will stay in your heart? No, He will begin to go out; and if He begins to go out, do you suppose He is going to leave His wife behind? No, He will take His wife with Him. You must honor your Father if your Mother is to stay. And if you dishonor your Mother, do you think your Father will stay? If you dishonor Her, your heavenly Father will depart also and take Her away.

Receiving the Holy Spirit is not something fantastic; it is not as if we have an emotional spree and imagine that we are getting the Holy Spirit. It is something that is done deliberately. How does a child eat if it begins to eat of that food that is set before it? There is a series of deliberate actions—dipping the food, getting it into the spoon, lifting it to the mouth, taking it into the mouth, taking the spoon out, chewing the food. And then spit it out? No. We had a whole series of deliberate actions but we missed one. He must deliberately swallow—not spit it out, not expectorate. He must deliberately swallow. I have had various groups who showed interest in receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, and various opportunities have been extended to these various groups in time past. But they came to the table, they came to the service, they sat in their chairs or in the places provided, and they sat. They listened to words that I spoke, but they sat. “Feed us, make us eat it if you can.” They kept the mouth clamped tightly shut, sat like bumps on a log and said, “Give it to us now.” And they went away without receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now you must admit those folks were not very wise, were they? They probably were far, far from here, probably someone else. That would not apply to you here, I am sure. So now, what is required of you? You have to deliberately do something. If your child will not eat, do you start prying its mouth open and shoving it in? And if it will not chew, do you just push it down its throat? No. You say, “Well if you get hungry enough, you'll eat.” And so you take the food away—and make him wait till the next meal, and probably he will not go into his little act. So I have been using that principle. If you did not really receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit at one time, well we would wait until you would begin to show hunger.

Now what kind of a Child of God are you going to be? Go into a little act of some kind? Or are you ready to deliberately do your part? If you think you are going to sit there and listen to me, and just sit like those other folks I told you about, it will not be tonight or tomorrow night or the next night. It will never come until you deliberately do your part. And remember, the child has to deliberately pick up the spoon, dip the food, deliberately lift it to his mouth, deliberately take the spoon out and leave the food in the mouth, deliberately chew it and then deliberately swallow it. And only then do the automatic processes take over. But unless you deliberately do something in the first part, you will never get to the point of the automatic processes. And if we are good children of God, real children of God, we are not going to object to deliberately doing our part without playing around and making too big a mess out of it.

What is it that you have to deliberately do? There is a whole series of things which you must deliberately do—a whole series—and they must be worked out carefully, prayerfully, correctly. One is, of course, coming to the table, responding to the Father, beginning to draw near. And you may say, “I have taken that step.” All right, well and good. Two, you must sit down at your place at the table. Have you come to rest in your place at the table? Have you, now? Or are you still looking for your place at the table? How do you find it? Are you looking at the colors of the different dishes and the way the table is set and so on, deciding, “Well I'd like this place or that place. I don't know which place I want”? Does it make so much difference to you which place? Or is it just enough to sit down at the Father's table, any place He gives you? Are you concerned about place and still trying to decide what place you want, how you want it, where it shall be, what recognition you shall have, where you shall sit in relationship to the Father or somebody else? “I don't want to sit by so-and-so; I want to sit by so-and-so!” How about that? Or are you so thankful for the opportunity to sit down at the Father's table that you are not concerned who is sitting at your right or your left, or who is across the table from you, or what the place is? When the Father says, “Sit here,” are you ready to take your place?—no arguments; just to take it. If you are, then you are ready for the next step. The food has to be passed, or the plate prepared for you; then you have to deliberately begin to eat it.

Now I have been working in the Spirit, in the current of your heavenly Mother, to prepare a table before you. Who prepares the table? Oh, it's our Father's table. It is your heavenly Father's table, is it not? But who cooks the meal? That is Mother's job, isn't it, generally? So, it is the heavenly Father's table, and He prepares it for you—but Mother cooked it and served it on the table. That is my sphere of function, actually. When our Lord was on earth He carried the pattern of Focalization for the Heavenly Father. My responsibilities on earth in Focalization relate to the Heavenly Mother. And I have been cooking the meals and serving them up on the table before you—the classes, and the services, etc. But now the food is served; the feast is prepared; you must eat it. How do you do it? You have to deliberately start receiving that food into the three parts of your body. You must deliberately start preparing your heart to receive the Holy Spirit of Love. And any spirit in your heart that does not belong there, do you get all upset and bothered and say, “Well I don't know how to do this. I don't know how to get it out of my system. I have to struggle with it,” or something? If you wish an outpouring of your heavenly Father's Holy Spirit you had better clean house. You say, “I can't”? Oh yes, you can! How important are these evil spirits to you?—or the unclean spirits, or whatever we should call them. The spirits of resentment—you say, “I can't help it”? Rebelliousness—“I can't help it”? Whatever it may be—“I can't help it” or “I'm justified” or something? Well, then the Father is justified in staying out, and He will. He can wait longer than you can; He can afford to wait. But if He does not come in, it will be too late. And when it is too late it is a sad thing—too late.

So how about deliberately taking the food and masticating? That is the deliberate action with respect to the food and the part. What part? The heart, the mind, and the body. Actually you do not have to pay too much attention to the body as such. Your body accepts whatever is imposed upon it. Your body as such has no choice. Your body as such is never to blame for anything. Your body as such must accept whatever is imposed upon it, right or wrong. Your body has no choice. So where does the choice rest? With the emotional realm and with the mind, with the Father and Mother. So we are not too concerned immediately about the body. It may need cleaning up before life can fully, vibrantly manifest; but that is a secondary matter. Our first concern is getting your mind ready for your heavenly Mother, and your heart ready for your heavenly Father, preparing the room for them in your body. And then they will come in, and something will automatically happen from there on out. It will. It will begin to automatically work out, and it will really happen. But you have to deliberately do something.

You have to deliberately be concerned about your mind as your Holy Mother's bedroom, and your heart as your Holy Father's bedroom. And they have a connecting door. They have a connecting door—do not try to close it, do not try to lock it. But there is the room for your Holy Father, your heavenly Father, the Holy Spirit of Love; and there is the room for your Holy Mother, your heavenly Mother, the Holy Spirit of Truth. Have you welcomed them in, deliberately? Have you made the place ready? Have you watched to see to it that things that do not belong do not get in? You cannot keep them out? Of course you can. That is just self-delusion if you say you cannot. You can. Yes you can! Don't tell me you cannot. It is just a lie. I don't care what arguments you put up, it is still not true. You can. Have you prepared to receive your Holy Father? Have you prepared to receive your Holy Mother? Have you prepared to receive their Holy Child? This is the Holy Family, ready to go down into Egypt, into the darkness of your own being, your body, regardless of its limitations, if you will really receive them. But they will come up out of Egypt, out of that darkness, and you will come up with them and be the Promised Land for them, you the human being.

The Holy Family. Did you ever think how you would have liked to have dwelt along the route that led to Egypt in the long ago? Had you ever thought how nice it would have been to have lived along that route somewhere and to have seen the Holy Family coming along the road and had the pleasure of saying, “Won't you come in? Won't you come into my home? It's humble perhaps, but won't you come into my house and rest awhile and eat? I would love to have the Holy Family in my house.” What do you think that story is telling, the story of the birth of Jesus? It is not a true picture of His birth as a human child. Why is it the way it is? It is not a true picture of the Master's birth as a baby at all, but it is a true picture of something that works out in life. The Holy Father and the Holy Mother, and the Holy Babe. You can welcome them into your house. Would that be a pleasure? a joy? a satisfaction? It can be done in you if you will prepare for it and let it be so. But you must deliberately do your part, otherwise the Holy Family will go right on by down the road, perhaps to sleep somewhere else. But you, each and every one, individually, you can receive the Holy Family; and when you have done so, you have received the Holy Spirit. And manifesting in you, that Holy Family will be in you the revelation of Shekinah, the reality of God made manifest in you and through you. How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to you when you ask Him.

© emissaries of divine light