Let Ceilings Be Broken
Martin Cecil May 9, 1962
Our Master, when He was on earth, spoke a little about that which should unfold in the future. He was chiefly concerned with living in the present, providing instruction in that regard and offering an example, but He did on rare occasions speak of that which should unfold in the days to come. Some have taken that to mean that everything was set, that the experiences through which human beings were going to pass were established by God and could not be helped, could not be changed. Our Master recognized something of the divine factors which would be brought to bear in relationship to the world. He knew what the cycles were to be in that sense, and He also was aware of the very well-entrenched human reactions which appear in consequence of these influences. And so, without setting any particular date, He was rather keenly aware of what human beings would do, not because they had to do it, but because of their well-established attitudes and manner of function in the self-active state. In fact He was rather careful to indicate that there were no set dates for the fulfilments which should occur. He said, “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” There have been many prognostications ignoring those words which our Master spoke.
All these things are determined by the divinely established cycles and the way in which human beings react to them. It may be slowed down or it may be speeded up, according to the nature of that reaction, but the general outworking is clear enough, human beings having proved that they are the way they are. How much suffering, pure unadulterated hell, there has been within the scope of human experience all down through the ages. We are living at this present time and we can recognize over the past number of years that there has been appalling suffering on the part of millions of human beings in this world, and at this present moment there are multitudes of people in dire straits. There is that which is the deliberate inhumanity of man to man. There is that which simply occurs by reason of what are called economic circumstances, etc. But if we stop to consider the matter, we must recognize that a considerable proportion of the human family is subject to awful conditions. We have had our troubles as we have moved along the way of life, but when we examine the experiences through which vast numbers of human beings pass, and are passing, that which we have known of an unpleasant nature is liable to fade into insignificance.
We have in so many ways so constantly been richly blessed. That places upon us a very special responsibility. This responsibility really rests upon very large numbers of people who likewise have been blessed in many ways from the standpoint of external circumstances, but how few pay any real attention to that responsibility? In order to settle the conscience, when it becomes too active by reason of an awareness of some suffering somewhere in the world, perhaps a little contribution is given to some charity or other, some missionary endeavor, but any real, deep concern beyond the immediate environment, insofar as most people are concerned, is just simply not there. Possibly someone may come along and deliver a lecture or make a speech and stir people up for a little about something or other that is happening somewhere. There is a little interest for a few moments and then it all fades, and human beings revert back into their self-centered states.
So the world keeps moving along the lines that our Master prognosticated, because of this lethargic state, and intense self-centeredness which keeps human beings from seeing anything much beyond the ends of their noses. Everything else seems so unrelated, so far away, and yet we are all members of the human family, and if part of that family is in bad shape, we are actually in bad shape too. But because we have an external circumstance that is the way it is, what tremendous opportunity we have to do something about the situation. There are those who are so thoroughly embedded in their self-centered ways, so involved in their mental approach to things in the world—mental or physical—that they have some sort of an interest in life which keeps them from looking at things as they really are, and they remain self-satisfied, for the time being at least; but there are those who cannot help but take a look at the world and, seeing the way their fellows are, begin to awaken to the realization of something higher, better, the potentiality at least. But in that awakening, what shall they do, where shall they go, how shall they act? There may come very easily a sense of futility: “What's the use? What can we do?” Things are on such a tremendous scale, what can one or two or three people do? We have the privilege of recognizing that there is something that can be done. We know that all the efforts of self-active human beings will end in failure. That is a foregone conclusion; they cannot succeed.
But there is something which can be done, and we recognize the possibility of playing a part in that which may be done. But I wonder how fully awake to this possibility, this potentiality, we are. In theory perhaps we see it, we recognize that the divine provision is available, the power of God may work if the machinery is on hand to let it work. But in this regard we find that the same human tendencies which are easily observed in the world in general persist in relationship even to those who have begun to catch the vision, so that there is a continuing insistence upon the old human approach, the maintenance of old patterns of attitude, etc., which prevent the individual from moving beyond a certain point. There is a ceiling. Human beings come up against that ceiling and then there is a tendency to become self-righteous and self-satisfied. “We have seen the answer, we are really something.” And when that sort of an attitude begins to appear all progress ceases and nothing of any further value can appear in relationship to such a person.
That individual may have been responding along the way and moving upward, something was being achieved in consequence, there was movement, there was change, something working out, and that was wonderful, a part of the service of the LORD on earth, but then if that person gets to a certain level and refuses to go any further, immediately all that went before means nothing insofar as that person is concerned. Regardless of the fact that something may have been achieved before, because the individual was moving before, all that simply is gone the very moment the individual stops moving, and we have to consider that person on the basis of the state in which he is at that point. We may say, “Well that person was certainly a wonderful provision back along the way,” and we may have some sort of an appreciation in that regard, but as soon as a person hits the ceiling and stops, that person ceases at that point to have any more meaning insofar as the divine fulfilment is concerned. Until he starts to move again, that person is absolutely meaningless. And one cannot gain any credit by saying, “Well, after all, I gave so much back along the way.” You cannot build up credit in heaven in that sense. The treasure that we build up in heaven is a living thing and it has to be maintained in the expression of life, otherwise it vanishes away. The very moment that which has been moving through us as we have been progressing along the way stops moving through us, it is stopped, it is no longer there. One becomes a husk, something which is empty, meaningless. There must be constant movement.
Is there any place we can stop off along the way? Surely not. Is there any ceiling that we can accept? And yet how stubbornly human beings tend to hold to those things which keep them bound on earth, and because they are bound on earth they are bound in heaven. They cannot move any further. This is the state of the world as a whole: they are bound on earth. As our Master put it, it is very much the same as it was in Noah's day: “They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.” They didn't know what was happening; they didn't realize what was at the doors “until the flood came, and took them all away.” We see this same pattern of lethargy. I wonder if it would be helpful if I read something of that passage to emphasize a point. Speaking of that which should occur because human beings were stubborn, because they were blind, because they refused to look, or if they looked they refused to let anything be done, these words were spoken:
“For then shall be great tribulation,
such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved:
but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.”
There is a very definite statement. There have been millions of human beings who have suffered terrible things on earth, but there has been no fulfilment actually of these words, just a little hint of what is coming. The intensity of that which shall appear is absolutely dependent on what human beings do. If there is a pattern of lethargy, or a pattern which tries to take advantage of the situation that is in the world—there is that too; there are many people endeavoring to take advantage of the situation that is in the world, for their own ends. And it depends also upon those who have begun to awaken, who have the opportunity of sharing a vision, and who are offered the privilege of participating in that which may establish a Divine Control Pattern on earth.
There are many things which need to be seen in relationship to this Control Pattern
and what is required from the standpoint of the Divine Machinery
It is what we do in relationship to what we see that determines any value such vision may have, and we always find ourselves, when we consider our ministry as a whole, up against certain ceilings. We keep coming up against them over and over again, simply because those who are charged with the responsibility insist upon maintaining the old patterns of human approach, subjection to the things of this world, the mass consciousness of humanity.
Now it may be that we move to a certain refined level, so that there is the impression that there is something higher than other people, but as long as we stay under the ceiling, we are still a part of that which is included in the mass consciousness and we are in the same position fundamentally as we may observe so graphically in relationship to human beings everywhere who just simply will not wake up. They have no interest whatsoever in waking up. How many thousands there have been who have made contact with that which is offered through this ministry. Some, momentarily, were stirred by it. They thought they could get something out of it; they thought it was going to help them somehow. Because they were self-centered in that sense, and were not willing to let go of their self-centeredness, they found that they could not get anything out of it, and so they were not interested in it anymore. There have been many, many who have come and gone on that basis.
When we consider our Master's ministry when He was on earth, what He had to offer, what was available to the children of men at that time because of His presence on earth, we can perhaps imagine His sense of frustration. Human beings are constantly complaining about the fact that they feel frustrated. Well they do, of course. We have all experienced frustration as human beings, but what about the LORD? What about our Master when He was on earth? Do you remember the very poignant words which He spoke over Jerusalem? “Jerusalem, Jerusalem.” He recognized so clearly all that was possible. He knew what He had to give, and yet human beings refused to receive it. They would go just so far; they would translate what He said into their own terms. If it suited them, well they would pay a little more attention. If it did not suit them they would rebel and away they would go. So it has always been.
Self-centered human beings. And even those who began to respond, even those who were included amongst the disciples, did not get very far, did they? One betrayed. People hold up their hands in horror at that. Judas, what a terrible man he must have been. He was one of the disciples! He was one of those who were responding in the pattern of our Master's ministry. Our Master said something to the effect that “one of you is a devil.” What did He mean? Well in this specific instance one was coming under the control of the self-active mind of man and was consequently going to act in a manner that was destructive. But he was one of the disciples. Strangely enough, he loved our Master. That is why he destroyed himself after he saw what worked out. That was not his intention at all, that it should work out that way, but it did, and so he killed himself. There seemed nothing else for him to do. He loved our Master and yet he did what he did.
We see how even those who were closest to our LORD when He was on earth had so little understanding of what He really had to offer, of what was really being rejected; and they maintained their little ceilings, they insisted upon their limitations of vision, upon their patterns of action as human beings. Is it very different today? When we begin to consider our ministry as a whole there are so many deliberately maintained ceilings, where the human being refuses to move beyond them. He justifies them in his own consciousness in various ways; he is serving the LORD, after all. Judas was, too, you know. Self-justification. The evidence of serving the LORD always appears on the basis of a pattern of agreement between those who do serve the LORD. Therefore, if in relationship to any sphere of function there is a failure to experience that, surely something needs to be done about it, that there might be the evidence of serving the LORD.
The disciples, you remember, were bickering amongst themselves very shortly before the conclusion of our Master's ministry on earth. They were wondering who was going to be greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. We find human beings tending to fall into that snare on occasion. Perhaps not just the way that it is portrayed in relationship to the disciples, but human beings are always endeavoring to protect their own egos, their own self-importance. They are so touchy about things. They take offense so easily if they think they are not being treated the way they imagine that they should be treated. Who is going to be greatest? He who is servant of all. The one who serves the most, the greatest number, most effectively. We cannot serve by maintaining the human ego, the human pride, by refusing to participate in those patterns of function which allow for the manifestation of agreement.
Recently we have been considering the vital importance of maintaining a clear pattern of pneumaplasm, of keeping the atmosphere right. We cannot keep the atmosphere right if we are subject to external things. If we are subject to our feelings, certainly we cannot keep the atmosphere right. We recognize that there is the necessity of being positive in the expression of Divine Being, but how very seldom those who do take a positive stand do it under the dominion of God. Almost invariably it is a reaction to the circumstance. If there is the necessity to be, what shall we say, a little bit aggressive—perhaps I take such an attitude on occasion—it must be on the basis of control, it must be on the basis of the fact that one is under the dominion of the spirit of God. And if it is so, one acts on the positive basis very forcefully perhaps, but one is never carried away by that forcefulness. One can stop it just like that, if that is the right thing to do. One can always tell if that which is finding expression through oneself in a more or less forceful fashion is of God or not, by checking as to whether one can stop it.
We must be under the right control, so that we can use a current of forcefulness. It might even appear for the moment to be indignation, or anger, or something, to those who do not recognize what is happening, but there certainly is a current of feeling. There must be a current of feeling for anything effective to be done. So we begin to let a current of feeling flow in relationship to some forceful action. If the current of feeling takes control of you, then you are wrong. If you are in the driver's seat, and you are simply letting that current of feeling move, and you can build it up or let it settle down or stop, according to the need, then you begin to be right.
Nothing ever is achieved in relationship to the power of God at work without a current of feeling. The spirit of God is not a cold, unfeeling thing. It is love. The manifestation of the power of God's Love certainly carries feeling with it, but always there must be control, and it must manifest in the correct design. One must know what one is doing. There is so much still present in the feeling realms of various ones who play their parts in this ministry which is simply being maintained there arbitrarily. It does not belong there at all. It can be relinquished and pass away. If it is not, the individual hits the ceiling and that is that. He cannot go beyond that ceiling, and immediately a person comes to a ceiling he ceases to have meaning in the ministry of the LORD.
So how vital it is that we should let our values be made straight, so that we know what is important and what is not important. How people feel so strongly about the things that they think are wrong, and anyone who insists upon letting feeling manifest in relationship to that is bound to establish a ceiling for himself. The current of feeling needs to move in relationship to the things that are right, and if we deal with something that is wrong, we deal with it on a controlled basis and the current of feeling which is used in relationship to it will be God's Love. It always is when we function correctly, but God's Love manifests in various ways. It is not just sweet lovey-dovey, you know. There is that wonderful gentleness, sweetness, in relationship to God's Love for those who respond and yield to it, but it is hellfire too, you know. That is the way human beings have translated it, and that is the way it seems to anyone who comes up against it without response. It is a very forceful thing. It is the irresistible force, and painful too, if the individual fights against it.
We may deal with wrong things in a current of power, but we cannot use that current of power until we ourselves are under control. I think occasionally you have been aware of a current of power working through my words, perhaps a little bit now and again this evening. Do you have any impression that things are going to get out from under control? that I am going to get carried away by my emotions and we are going to have a wonderful emotional display of fireworks? There is control. There is feeling, too. That feeling is used in order to achieve something, but the feeling does not control. The power does not control. The truth controls. And when it does, it is right; and when it does not, we are wrong.
There must be control, there must be an understanding of design, if God's power is to be used in the achievement of God's purposes in a creative sense. And it is this, the working of God's power on earth creatively, that can begin to deal with this circumstance which is moving toward its appalling climax, this world circumstance. If there is nothing to deal with it, well that is that. And the only thing that can deal with it is the power of God. And the power of God, to manifest on earth creatively—not just as a consuming fire—must have an instrument on earth that is under control, through which it may work. Then it may be used on earth on a controlled basis, to achieve the divine purposes. And we must keep moving through every ceiling, so that we do not get stuck anywhere, so that we do not persist in maintaining human patterns of limitation which keep us from coming under control, so that the power of God may be used.
The power of God is used through an instrument that is one thing, not a collection of segregated individuals scattered around, but which is one thing. It is used when there is agreement in the instrument—only on that basis. Therefore, what is important? To so respond and yield to the spirit of the Living God, letting go of our limitations which prevent such response and yielding, that we may be in position to act with intelligence in the right current of feeling with respect to the establishment of those patterns of agreement which permit the power of God to work. If we do not have those patterns of agreement the power of God does not work through us. It either functions in God's way or not at all, at least not creatively. There is a fire kindled already that will burn and burn, but what shall emerge out of the fire? Only that which is pure gold.
Wherever a person keeps running into something repetitively, he may know for sure he has established a ceiling for himself. He needs to take a good honest look at his own feelings, his own attitudes, himself, so that there may be a centering in the right place, in God, in the spirit of God. And having found that centering, let us stay there, let us stay centered. How long should it take us to reach a point where we are willing to stay centered? This has very little to do with all the changes that need to work out in the individual. Anyone can stay centered—anyone. There are many things to be worked out, to be changed, within each one, but those things do not work out, nor are they changed, until a person stays centered—stays centered, not just, “How wonderful. My questions were answered and now I feel fine and now I'm centered”—for five minutes. Then the individual goes off on another wild-goose chase. You would be surprised what a flock of geese there is. To stay centered—because it is only as we do stay centered that something really begins to happen. Every time we break that centering we have to start all over again. We go up one step and down again, up a step and down again. It is a way to expend energy, but we don't get anywhere. Stay centered and it will work, but become involved with human patterns of disagreement and you will fail.
Almost invariably where disagreements appear between human beings it is because human beings have such determined and fixed opinions about things. Oh they are going to uphold their opinions, come hell and high water. Is that so important? Is the human opinion important, do you think? Of course, the individual usually says, “Oh it's my realization. It's my realization. I must be true to my realization.” And so here we have a wonderful excuse for destroying the pattern of agreement, for destroying the current of the spirit which permits agreement. What is it that comes first? The maintenance of the right atmosphere or the maintenance of one's opinion? A willingness to yield is so important. The individual imagines that if he ever yielded his opinion there would be nothing left. Well, if that is the case, poor you! It is a sad, sad condition. Are we so insubstantial that we could get blown away so easily? Surely not. Do we have to defend ourselves? our opinions? uphold ourselves and our ideas and our realizations, so called?
Do we have to uphold the truth? Or will the truth still be there, even if it does not have our great strength upholding it? I don't think the truth is going to change. It is not dependent upon you upholding it. We need to let the right atmosphere be established and maintained. Then something can happen. Then we can begin to come under control. Then we can begin to let God's will be done, so that the power of God can work through us because we have an instrument available for the use of the Lord, with all its parts in agreement. Until they are in agreement we have nothing more than anyone else has. Plenty of disagreement in the world—God's power does not work there. It will not work here either. Only as the agreement is established, and as all concerned are true to it, do we have the instrument for the working of God's creative power on earth and the means by which we can do something about this sad state in the world.
© emissaries of divine light
