You Will Be Surrounded By What You Express
from Learning To Welcome Changes
Uranda July 22, 1954 Class
Changes come—sometimes they seem long in coming; sometimes it seems that we must withstand unpleasant or difficult circumstances for a considerable period of time, but changes come—and the fact of change is one of the great Truths which should give us joy, assurance, confidence. If we hold steady, rightly centered, maintaining the right atmosphere, the changes that come will be according to God’s choosing. One of the things that we need to remember in life is that if we are to be successful, we need to learn to welcome change; we need to learn how to use change. Many people fight against the changes that come in their lives, others wish for changes, or at least they say they wish for them, changes for the better, but they continue to do those things which reproduce old and difficult circumstances. But as we learn to welcome change and use it to advantage, instead of fearing it and resenting it, welcome it and use the opportunity which changes bring, in this we maintain the evidence of newness, the evidence of growing. We have considered in time past the reality of the evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells. That evidence, to the human mind, very often at first seems to be very far away—rather intangible, something almost impractical. But as we watch the unfolding changes, we learn to recognize, near at hand, the evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells, for if there is growing, if there is progress, if there is beauty, if there is love, if there is nobility, if there is anything fine within the scope of our vision or comprehension, it is evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells. All of the qualities which we love in others are qualities which come to us into manifestation, into the realm of our relationships, from the Divine Source. There may be tendencies or characteristics which are not of reality which appear for a little time, but we know that they must pass away, one way or another, and we see ever increasingly the evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells.
Tonight I should like to share with you the meditations of my heart, by which we may in oneness together move into a deeper, clearer realization of the sense of personal relatedness to that which is of God. The Divine order of things is something that we must bring to mind—the movement of the stars in their courses, the certainty of the rising and the setting of the sun—the Divine order of things which permits the manifestation of life on earth; the evidence of control, of the working of Law, the evidence of the constancy and consistency of God. These background evidences tend to lose their meaningfulness when the human being feels his mind and heart rent with chaotic, conflicting patterns of thought and attitude. But we know that we can let that control come into our lives, gradually but certainly displacing disorder and chaos, establishing that which is orderly, that which is natural. The invisible Spirit of Life which makes it possible for us to act. The invisible Spirit of Love which makes it possible for us to feel and know a sense of personal relatedness with others and with God. The invisible Spirit of Truth which permits us to comprehend the beauties of Life—to look at the sky as it appeared this evening and see that beauty; the beauty of a sunrise or a flower—the Divine Design. So many beautiful things. The working of an invisible Spirit in us, through the invisible capacities of mind and heart, and the body has meaning, nature around us has meaning, we have meaning one to another. We consider the evidence which convinces us of the presence of those who are around us. We may say, “I can see the physical form. I can shake the hand, I can touch, I can hear with my ear the voice that is sounding.”
The evidence of the physical presence of our friends; the evidence of the physical presence of those whom we love—and yet we have all passed through that experience of sharing the final rites wherein the physical body through which the friend or loved one had been evident in our lives was laid to rest—the physical body, and we have seen that physical body; we have seen the evidence of the presence of that physical body—and yet, the results of another evidence, something we could feel that people sometimes call the feel of death. Simply the feeling of the absence of life—not death—the feeling of the absence of life which is called death. But death is not anything—it is the absence of something, the absence of life. And we could see that physical form and yet it was not the evidence of the presence of the one we had known or loved. The evidence of the presence of that one was no longer there, even though we could see the physical form. The evidence of the presence of the one who was loved was gone, and yet the physical form remained. The physical form of-and-by itself may be the means by which this evidence of the presence of the one we love is made manifest to us on a practical, comfortable, happy basis, but that body, in-and-of itself, did not provide the evidence of the presence of the one we had known. The Spirit had gone from the flesh, and the meaning had gone from the flesh, the evidence had gone from the flesh, and that one, with all of the qualities we had loved, all of the nobility, had ascended into another realm of life.
When we think of it this way, we realize how much there is of meaning in our lives that is actually invisible to our eyes. The evidence of the presence of a human being is not dependent upon the physical body but dependent upon a Spirit made manifest through the physical body—not visible, invisible. The invisible something that characterizes you, that makes it possible for you to live and share the joy of life is that which we love, that which we know in those around us. And this invisible realm that means so much to us, that we can all sense and realize and perceive in various ways is likewise the beginning of the evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells, the Divine Source, God, Deity, whatever name we might use—the evidence of the Presence of God. I have seen so many people in the years of my ministry, so many hundreds and hundreds, yea, thousands of people, who did not know God. Some of them imagined that they could not know Him; others were desperately trying to know Him—but to all there was a feeling of vagueness, of uncertainty, and something far away, something unrelated to themselves, and they could not receive the evidence of His Presence. They did not know how to look; they did not know how to see, to hear, to know.
Gradually, some of them, a few of them—some of those few might even be here—a few began to learn how to perceive the evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells. But as much as we have seen and known, as much as we realize of this evidence, we know, inherently within ourselves, every time a word is spoken which, once spoken, we know that it somehow was not just right; every time there is an action or attitude that should not have been, there is a knowing that the evidence of the Presence was not sufficiently strong in that moment, as far as awareness was concerned, to provide a means by which the perfect centering might be maintained.
“And ye shall receive power after the Holy Spirit is come upon you.” People imagine that to have the Holy Spirit, they must go through some kind of fantastic experience. We have come to know that the Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of God, has three primary aspects, just as light has three primary colors—the Spirit of Life, the Spirit of Truth, and the Spirit of Love—and if these three aspects of the Spirit are in you so that you can move physically, so that you can think mentally, so that you can feel any appreciation or love or concern for someone else, then the Spirit of God is in you now, and you do not have to get it, you do not have to go through some fantastic experience to find it—it is in you now. And if it is, and there is not enough power made manifest in life, we simply need to allow the release through us in daily living of more of that Spirit. More of what Spirit? What is the Spirit which is released? We cannot release any Spirit unless we have the Spirit of Life from God in us, for even the most evil of human beings has the Spirit of Life from God in him—something of the Holy Spirit is in him or he would not have the power to move one finger; he would not have the power to swallow water or food, he would not have the power to blink one eye. The Spirit of Life from God is in him, regardless of how he uses that life. So, if we express any spirit that is not of God—envy, strife, jealousy, fear, hate, resentment, whatever the evil spirit may be—we are using the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Life, in us, as a means by which to express a spirit which is not of God. We are stealing something of God’s Spirit and using it for purposes contrary to God. That in and of itself produces conflict and brings about weakness.
Some people think that by such function they can have power over their fellows; they can get money; they can get position; something—but when they think they are getting it or when they think they have gotten it, what do they have? A great emptiness. A vast emptiness which we can feel and know in the world in relationship to those who have thought they were getting something when they were stealing the life force from God and using it for evil purposes—a vast emptiness. And if a human being anywhere steals this life force from God and uses it for self-centered—really not evil, you know, just a little bad; just not light; not really evil—but purposes that are not of God, and a sense of emptiness comes in. Sometimes that feeling of emptiness turns into a horrible feeling of desperation in human hearts, an overwhelming thing. Why? Because they have established an attunement—they have produced in themselves a relatedness to that vast emptiness. Having it, knowing it, what do they have? Nothing! As far as their perception is concerned, as far as their awareness is concerned, they have the evidence of the absence of the Spirit of God. Life is held to be a cheap thing, and wherever we are not aware of the Presence of God in some way, whether we think of it as God or not; wherever we are not aware of the Presence of that which comes from God, we are aware of the absence of God.
We have come to realize that Heaven is at hand, within reach, available to anyone, anywhere; and hell is not a thing in itself, any more than death is a thing in itself. What happens when we begin to consider the evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells, and we begin to be careful to express in attitude and action, in thought and word, only those things which provide the evidence of the Presence of God. We express in thought, in word, in deed, in attitude, one thing or the other; that which is the evidence of the absence or the evidence of the Presence. Every time you speak, every time you have an attitude, every time you act, without any exception, you are providing evidence either of the absence or the Presence of God, and the Spirit of God working in and through you. If you are revealing the absence of the Spirit of God and giving evidence that the Spirit of God is not present in you, then you have one result, but if in speaking, in attitude, in action, you are providing evidence of the Presence of the Spirit of God in you, you are helping to produce Heaven, and gradually the invisible realm begins to be visible in relationship to yourself.
In the past year I have watched changes taking place in you—to me, you are not the same people. Changes come with absolute certainty, providing evidence. What evidence? Either the evidence of the absence of God or the evidence of the Presence of God. I have seen a light come into your eyes, health into your faces—changes. Not perfect yet, no; more changes are needed, but I have watched these changes come. Almost all of you have shown some wonderful changes and progress, wonderful—for you are more and more letting the evidence of the Presence of God be made manifest when you speak, when you act, when you display an attitude. But to whatever degree self-centeredness has continued to rule, and your words and attitudes and actions have revealed the evidence of the absence of the Spirit of God in you, well, changes came that way too—up or down. But the more we come to absolutely realize this invisible realm that has such meaning to us, not something far away but right here, because the attitude may be expressed in a tone of voice, in an action, in a gesture, in something done, and yet there is an invisible something that gives meaning to that gesture, act or word—an invisible something.
Words—words can be spoken by the million and mean nothing. You have heard people say, “Thoughts are things.” Thoughts are things through which something else must move. Thoughts in and of themselves can be dead things—no power—they may be things, but the mere fact of a thought has no meaning. The feeling, the current, the spirit that flows through that thought is the important thing. The word—have ever heard anyone say, “I love you,” and have it fall absolutely flat, just not mean anything at all—just words. Words are things, but it is the invisible something that works through the words that make the words wonderful or meaningless. Words, repeated like parrots; words, and yet the words have meaning; not on the basis of the words, but of the something that is in the words—the invisible something that gives evidence of the invisible heart or feeling nature. Actions, empty actions or actions filled with love, or actions filled with resentment; actions with feelings, wrong feelings, no feeling or right feeling—three kinds of actions, that is all the kinds of actions there are in the world. Just three kinds: actions without feeling, listless actions that accomplish nothing; actions that reveal a spirit of resentment, hate, attunement with the wrong spirit; or actions that reveal the invisible Spirit of God. If we, by our lives, refuse to let that invisible Spirit of God have evidence of its Presence, how can we find fault if our lives are empty?
If we insist upon stealing the life force and giving evidence of spirits that are unworthy of us, how can we complain if there is emptiness?—evidence of the wrong thing we are producing, and it is invisible, an invisible spirit? Or when we speak, when we act, when we display an attitude—we are bringing into manifestation the evidence of the Presence of the Spirit of God. Now here there must be choice, here there must be deliberate choice and deliberate doing. Sometimes the human being says that “I cannot help it.” Whether he or she knows it, that is a lie—you can! You can deliberately choose, if you will; you can deliberately choose to reveal the evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells, just as you can deliberately choose to reveal the presence of envy, hate, jealousy—what else? Fear. It is a deliberate choice in any case, whether you know it or not. It may not be deliberate with respect to the conscious mind only, but it is still deliberate, whether we are willing to face the fact or not. “Perfect love casts out all fear.” How are we going to have perfect love? Is it going to just somehow appear in the sky—be handed to us on a silver platter? No, if you are going to have perfect love, you must express perfect love with the consistency of the nature of perfect love—deliberately, in attitude, in word, in action.
I have thought many times this past year, with a deep humbleness of spirit and gratitude to God: I know today, I know more love and loyalty to me here and now on earth, among you and others who serve in this Ministry day-by-day, I know more love and loyalty than the Master was privileged to know at any time on this earth while He walked among men. To me that is such a sacred gift, such a blessed thing—love and loyalty. And yet I look back a few years at the beginning of my Ministry—last September we had the twenty-first anniversary. Twenty-two years ago, no one knew, to all intents and purposes, that I was alive. Loyalty? No one had any reason to be loyal to me. Love? No one really loved me—no one really loved me, no one knew me, no one trusted me. There was no reason for anyone to be loyal to me. No money—nothing, as far as the outer world is concerned. I could have said, “Oh Lord, it is impossible. You will have to send someone else.” How did it happen that I began to receive so much love? I must have expressed some, somewhere, somehow, with a little bit of consistency, something that became constant, whether people loved me or not—no matter what people said, no matter what people did, it had to be there; and finally, someone noticed and I began to get a little back, I began to receive back some love, some trust, some loyalty. And finally we are here in this room. After only twenty-two years I can say I have more love and loyalty shown to me now than our Master ever had when He walked among men.
Why are you here? Because you began to perceive the evidence of the Presence of something from God, and because you are invited to share in bringing forth the evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells, and the best that is in you is challenged that you might deliberately—regardless of the limitations, regardless of anything—that you might deliberately begin, through your thoughts and words and deeds and attitudes, to reveal the evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells, to let the invisible Spirit of God have meaning in the world of human beings. Learning to actually do it, not to just dream about it, not just to talk about it, but do it—the evidence of the Presence of the One Who Dwells. And the interesting thing about it is that—it is the just judgment of God that cannot be changed or altered by anyone, anywhere—that each one shall be surrounded by that which he, himself, makes manifest by his thoughts, his words, his attitudes, his deeds. The individual who only reveals something that is not of God—he is surrounded with it, he has to live in it whether he likes it or not. He can struggle, he can strive, he can push, he can bewail his lot, but until he stops giving evidence of the presence of such things, and deliberately chooses to give evidence of the Presence of God’s Love and Truth and Life, he will be surrounded with it; he will be in his own prison, try as he may. Each one is surrounded in his own expression, and he cannot get away from it. He can fly to the sky, he can go down in submarines, he can go to the north pole, he can go to hell, and he will be surrounded with it, whatever it is, and no one can take it away from him, if it is good or bad or indifferent, no one can take it away from him. He is surrounded with it, he is stuck with it, as long as he keeps producing it, giving that evidence. But if we give the evidence of the Presence of God—your presence here stands as evidence that if we keep producing the right spirit, providing evidence of its Presence, someone, somewhere will take notice; someone, somewhere will appreciate it; someone, somewhere will acknowledge it; someone, somewhere will be blessed by it.
You, each one, must make your own choice. You, each one, must deliberately do what you do—and you will be surrounded with what you express, like it or not; and if you do not like it, change the pattern of what you express. Do not imagine that if someone over there would change everything would be all right with you. You must change—and changes come, and learn to welcome them, learn to eagerly welcome change, because if you do and you are letting the evidence of the Presence of God be made manifest through you, the changes that come will be a blessing. You may not always see just how or why or when, but all things work together to perfection for those who love and serve the Lord. And the invisible realm that is at hand right now, here, is made manifest and there is evidence of it in our lives. And when I look at you, well, you are evidence of it in my life. Are you not? Why else are you here? You are evidence of it, and you can provide the evidence for others, on and on and on until it shall be said, rejoicing in love response before the Lord, “And Thy righteousness shall cover the earth. The evidence of Thy presence in right action shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.” So let it be.
If we remember it, we can deliberately choose and we can deliberately act; we can deliberately refuse to express the wrong word and express the right one; we can deliberately refuse to have the wrong attitude and display the right one. We can deliberately choose, we can deliberately act, practicing with deliberation until it becomes second nature—and you will find it is your first nature. It is your true nature, the nature of God made evident in your life. And that is the Victory, that is following our Lord and King according to His invitation, and that challenges the best that is in you. Peace be unto you in body, in mind and heart. Peace be unto you as you let the Presence of the Prince of Peace be made evident in your lives, as you do your part to help produce peace on earth. Unless you help to make peace, you cannot know peace no matter how many around you have peace. You must help produce in your own life the evidence of the Presence of peace on earth if you would know it and share it. Peace be unto you, in the Holy Name of our Lord and King.
© emissaries of divine light
