No More Fear And Unbelief
Martin Cecil May 18, 1980 am
Let us give thanks unto the Lord, for He is perfect. Let us say so not only in words but declare it constantly in our attitudes and actions. The spirit of the Lord is strong. There are increasing numbers of those who accept this spirit as their own. There are those who have awakened to the real nature of spiritual responsibility which devolves upon them. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” If this is so then those who represent Him obviously have a vast responsibility, a responsibility which is actual rather than merely theoretical. The awakening is to this factual experience of responsibility. To accept this in one’s own awareness and experience requires that there should be a dwelling in heaven. Attitudes and actions spring from heaven, rightly. When they do, this is the coming of the kingdom. But it only happens if the heaven of human experience is transformed. Dominion is exercised out of heaven.
The dominion which has been known by human beings has been the dominion of human nature, described rather graphically as the great red dragon, that old serpent, the devil, and satan—these all refer to human nature, which seemingly in some of its aspects is good but in more of them not so good. Here has been the dominion which human beings have known, prevailing on earth for as long as human memory goes back. The dragon has been in heaven, and we amongst others have kept him there. If our behavior is dictated by human nature we have played our part in creating and sustaining the dragon, the devil. Heaven is the place from which dominion extends. The heaven of human experience is not all that heavenly; nevertheless dominion has been extended therefrom, and people everywhere jump to the devil’s command. This has become so habitual that nobody really calls it in question at all. It is supposedly the normal state of human experience.
Finally there are those in increasing numbers who are awakening to the real heaven and the dominion which proceeds therefrom—the heaven of the spirit of God. The heaven that has been known is filled with evil spirits which dominate and control the behavior of human beings. We are very much aware of all this by observation but also from personal experience. The question we may ask of ourselves now is as to how much we have actually awakened to the true heaven of the spirit of God, so that being aligned with the spirit of God in action the dominion of God may extend out of heaven into the earth because we are present. Two of the principal evil spirits which dominate human experience are described by words classifying those who land up in the lake of fire, in the 21st chapter of the Book of Revelation. The first two classes are the fearful and the unbelieving. These words describe characteristics which identify human nature.
Fear is a very dominant control in human experience. There is a certain beneficial blindness which is present in most people, obscuring the reason why they should really be afraid. “Woe to the inhabiters of the earth.” There is a great deal of woe around and no doubt more in the offing, but most people are distracted from seeing what is really happening in the world by various lesser interests. There are a thousand and one distractions served up by human nature which keep people presently from an ultimate panic if it could really be seen what was coming on earth. Some rather troublesome experiences seem to be at hand and visible to most, but still distractions are plentiful, and one can remain easily deceived, which certainly most people are. I do not wish to emphasize particularly ultimate disasters but merely to indicate that while human beings in general are subject to fear, the horrendous happenings that are in the offing have so far been kept under wraps for most. Being subject to fear, however, opens the door for increasing panic on the part of those who have no other awareness than the material happenings on earth. It seems to such that there isn’t any other alternative but to be assailed by all these horrors which become apparent as the efficacy of the distractions wanes. Human beings, self-centered, don’t really see very far beyond their own noses, but even within that range there are troubles.
Turning to the unbelieving—this relates to those who have some vision and are aware in some measure that there might be an alternative, but to those who have this awareness it is largely theoretical. This may have been true, and has been, for most of us. How much awakening has there really been to the factual state of disintegration on the one hand and of integration on the other? Those who have some vision in the matter of integration, the possibility of a new world somehow, usually see it in terms of some sort of imposition, perhaps by cosmic forces. In Christianity the cosmic force is the second coming of Christ, but there are many other ideas as to an anticipated new age. It is mostly imagination—there is unbelief. Those concerned would say they believe in whatever their theory is, but factually it’s unbelief. What is needful only comes when there is the experience of the true heaven, when there is the acceptance of the responsibility for the earth and the world in the name of the Lord.
That’s too much to ask of a mere human being. Of course there are those in high human places who feel themselves responsible, in a way, for the earth and the world, or at least portions of it. But from our standpoint if we cease to be unbelievers we find ourselves naturally with this responsibility now. There is nothing coming other than disaster in the experience of mankind if there are not those present on earth who see and know otherwise. Only as there are those present on earth is the way open for something other than the disaster. The disaster comes inevitably, without those who have taken responsibility for the earth and for the world in a factual way. How much could it be said that this is true of us? Or are we still distracted by all the things that are immediately in our vicinity and sometimes even by the terrors beyond? We hear the story of them over the TV. How much attention is paid to the things that are at hand so that they are allowed to blot out the real responsibility which is present? We do have some immediate environmental responsibilities, but if these are blown up to gigantic size because we are so concerned with them, we see virtually nothing beyond, and we certainly have no part in representing the Lord with respect to the earth and the fulness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein.
This statement is absolutely all-inclusive, isn’t it? It doesn’t exclude the little things which you need to attend to, the little private, personal life you have: “This isn’t the Lord’s, this is mine! This is what I do.” Perhaps some of us have reached a point where we are able to explain this satisfactorily by saying that what we do we are doing for the Lord. That’s a nice thought, but is it actual? Is it in fact what is happening, or are we still subject to a distraction? How great is your awareness of the actual spiritual responsibility that those who come in the name of the Lord carry? That responsibility is the earth and the fulness of it, the world and they that dwell therein—all-inclusive. I rejoice that there are some who are awakening into the actual experience that this is so. I bring it to your attention this morning, that you may take an honest look at it with respect to yourselves. We all need to do this. But there are so many distractions which are considered worthy of our involvement with them, so that we get carried away into the heaven of human nature, where the dragon dwells and where he dictates in fact to us what we do and how we behave.
What factual awareness do you have in your own experience that the earth and the fulness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein, are your responsibility? I venture to say that if you have some ideas on this score they are mostly fantasy rather than being factual, because the dragon is still in his heaven. Maybe we are counted among the unbelievers! We’ve heard about it; we know the theory; we can no doubt spout the principles and prophesy doom—but do we actually know what our responsibility is? What is it that makes that knowing possible? We’ve heard about the first great commandment—that’s familiar to us. They say familiarity breeds contempt. How much real passion do we have for the assumption of our responsibilities in the name of the Lord?—or do we have interests on the side? are we still distracted?—passion for the Lord and for the fulfilment of His purposes on earth by reason of the fact that we come to do it in His name. What is it that is paramount in our own expression of living now?
We come together to present ourselves before the Lord—not merely to do obeisance in His presence but to acknowledge the commission that we have received at His hand and to account for our stewardship. We give account for every idle word, every idle thought, every idle feeling too. What is the nature and the quality of the emotions which are actually experienced? In the experience of our emotions, of our thoughts, of our words, of our actions, we are giving account as to what it is that brought them forth. Every day, every moment, is the Day of Judgment. Whether we realize it or not we proclaim loud and clear what it is that is in our heaven, what it is that determines our behavior. No amount of sweet talk can change that—that’s exactly the way it is, and we do give account moment by moment on the basis of what actually does find expression. If there is a sense of being small and insignificant and of little moment, of little value, then clearly enough Almighty God is not dominant in experience. That would be so, wouldn’t it? What is the nature of one’s own expression in this regard?
We have in times past talked about attitudes of complaint that arise—here is evidence of weakness. People indulge in this stuff quite freely, giving account for what it is that determines their behavior. It’s always clear enough to anyone who is honest. Usually complaints arise in a particular way with respect to close-in relationships. One takes one’s first step always in the closest pattern of relationship. If one finds cause for complaint in one’s situation one will have a roving eye then to see if there wouldn’t be something better someplace else. Let there be some honesty in these things, so that one accepts the situation exactly as it is, and handles it in spiritual expression, which does not assume that someone else is behaving in a way that he or she shouldn’t behave on the basis of one’s own judgment. The capacity to handle the situation the way it is is the evidence of spiritual expression, and is the evidence of the fact that one is moving into position to know the truth of one’s own real responsibility, because you reach the truth of your own real responsibility through the circumstance which is right there with you. If you allow that circumstance to distract you on the basis of judgment, complaint, whatever it is, then you never could possibly experience a comprehension of the reality of responsibility in the name of the Lord, responsibility for the world, for the earth, for everything.
Once one begins to handle one’s circumstances in spiritual expression factually, and not in imagination, then all the fantasies dissolve. One comes down to earth—maybe with a bump. That is helpful in a lot of cases, that one may see the time one has wasted looking at the greener pastures over the fence and ignoring the opportunity that is right there. Emerging the other side of the immediate opportunity there begins to be an awareness of the immensity of the responsibility that is now present, a responsibility that cannot be handled if one cannot handle the little thing that is right there. So all that is taken care of with the greatest of ease in spiritual expression. Let us stop blocking the spirit of God from finding release in the action of one’s own living.
The immediate circumstance is the opportunity to prove capability of functioning in that particular circumstance in the expression of the spirit of God, without any judgment but offering oneself into the situation to provide whatever it is that is necessary there—but not to increase one’s own fulfilment. That is absolutely irrelevant. That is what most people want. They want to have their fulfilment: “Now I don’t have fulfilment in this relationship, I want another.” Well if you don’t have fulfilment in this relationship you won’t have fulfilment in any other. That’s for sure, because you never learned how to handle what’s at hand—you never grew up. So we all have these circumstances. We all have people with whom we are associated in one way or another. How do we handle it? In an attitude of complaint? In the view of the accuser, the great red dragon—in the view of human nature. We are here to handle what is now here effectively, and the moment we begin to do that we awaken to the immensity of our responsibility. That is the door. That is the stone that’s been on the mouth of the sepulcher, so that we couldn’t come out into the Garden and assume adequately what we are here on earth to assume.
“The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” In the Old Testament the idea was to go in and possess the Promised Land. The Israelites were very reluctant to do this. They frittered away forty years before they finally found themselves compelled to go in. What do we do? The Lord takes charge of His earth and His world when there are those present on earth who come in His name. By reason of them, charge is taken. He has charge of everything already—that’s true—but certainly not within the experience of human beings. That’s where we come in, that it may be within the experience of human beings. If it isn’t within the experience of human beings then somewhere along the way there won’t be any human beings to have the experience. We are here to have that experience, because we accept the opportunity that is with us now, that we may come through the door into the awareness of the actual spiritual responsibility that we have in the name of the Lord for the earth and the world. We already have the responsibility but we have the power also to exercise that responsibility. That is factual when we have come through the door, and it is known to be factual increasingly by those who are awakening—suddenly awakening to the fact that here is the kingdom and the power and the glory.
It is Here!
