Abide  In  Me  and  I  In  You

from  Focalization of Deity

Uranda   April 10, 1954

When our Master walked among men on earth He extended an invitation to all of us, to all men and women everywhere who are willing to share in that body of Being by which God may be glorified on earth. In the 15th chapter of the Gospel according to John we find these words:

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

"Abide in me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

"Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

"These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."

How can we enter into the joy of the Lord and let it come into life in the fulness of that which is of the divine design? There are so many wonderful things contained in these simple words, these magnificent words the Master spoke. We would not be branches without fruit to be taken away; we would be branches which bear fruit. But if we are beginning to bear fruit the promise is that we shall be purged that we may bring forth more fruit. No one here would be content bringing forth just a little fruit if he or she had the capacity to bring forth more fruit. After all it is in the fruit of our lives that we find satisfaction, that we begin to know the joy of the Lord. The Master indicated that it is through the Word, the Word of the Father, the Word of truth, that we may become clean. To purge is to cleanse, and we are to become clean through the Word of the Father, the Word of truth. We remember His word, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free"—free of those things which contaminate, free to enjoy the clean expression of life.

The particular point of truth upon which I would meditate with you tonight, the particular aspect of that truth by which we may be free to live and to know the joy of the Lord, is this: the Word of the Father through the lips of the Master to us, "Abide in me, and I in you.... He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit." "Abide in me, and I in you." What do these words mean to us tonight?—"Abide in me, and I in you." Many people in many generations have puzzled over the significance of these words. Many have wondered how it would be possible to abide in Him and He in us. Actually, on the surface it sounds like a rather ambiguous statement, but it was repeated a number of times, the same basic truth presented in different ways: "Abide in me, and I in you"; "He that abideth in me, and I in him"; "If a man abide not in me"; "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." We recognize that the Master established on earth a consciousness of the focalization of Deity. If we abide in His body of Being, providing a means by which His spirit may act on earth, we are abiding in Him, and if His spirit is in us He is abiding in us.

Recently we gave consideration to this principle of focalization, recognizing that the center, the point of focalization, contains the essences of Being which must be expressed in the enlarged manifestation of creation. We noted that a part of the pattern of creation is indicated by the expanding expression of differentiation by which the seemingly minute essences of Deity are expressed outward into a larger pattern where they may be seen in magnified form through the form of creation. The focalization must contain the essences of Being which are present in those who are focalized.

The LORD of Lords and KING of Kings provides the centering, the focalization for all mankind. While He walked among men, we saw His love, the truth of word and action and attitude; we saw the effect of such function in relationship to life in a practical sense, but it was still the essence of Being brought to focus in the body of a man, and that essence of Being was not allowed any adequate expression outward at that time. The world sought to destroy, to crucify; but man could not and cannot destroy God. He may prevent the manifestation of God in himself, but he cannot destroy God. And so now we recognize that we, in this generation, in this time and place, have the privilege of allowing at least a part of the essence of Being contained in our Lord and King an opportunity for enlarged, magnified, differentiated manifestation. If you, by your life, can cause some seemingly little part of our great King to be differentiated on the basis of the individual expression of your own being, and made manifest, magnified and enlarged so that those round about may see it, is this not a worthwhile use for life? And if by the pattern of action in which we indulge we prevent that manifestation of the essence of Being in Him and we do not let it appear on earth, let alone permitting it to be magnified and made visible, of what value is life to us? We say that God is great, and that is true; but human minds are inclined to measure greatness by bigness.

We recognize that there is greatness that is not necessarily bigness in the sense of form; bigness of heart, bigness of spirit, greatness of vision, but not necessarily greatness of form. And if we have a man or a woman upon earth who has this greatness of heart, this bigness of spirit, and his or her form is not very large, is it not true that others begin to give form to that spirit of greatness? They begin to share it, to give it form, that it may have meaning.

How many people we have known in the pattern of our lives where that was true—a person, not necessarily a great ruler, not necessarily known to many people, but a person whose natural greatness of spirit, of understanding, caused others to share that spirit, to give body to it in a pattern of appreciation, love, quiet recognition. We have seen this in relationship to people we have contacted along the way of life, because we have surely all known those who were noble, those who had dignity, understanding, a great spirit. And we have seen how others tend to give form to that greatness of spirit when it is present; if it is there, someone begins to give it form, to appreciate it. Perhaps somewhere along the path of your past life someone by a word or a deed encouraged or helped or in some manner blessed you. There was a greatness of spirit; there was something of courage, of faith, of confidence, and responding to that expression of friendship you, by your action, gave form to that spirit which had blessed you; you let it have meaning in your life.

If this be true in the pattern of our friendships along the way by which we have come, how much more is it true in our relationship with our Lord and King: a comparatively little center in one Being, one King, not so great in the sense of a large body but infinitely great in the sense of that which is contained in essence within Him. And we say we appreciate the love that He revealed on earth and that He offers to mankind in this hour, we appreciate His spirit. And what is His spirit? It is the Holy Spirit. We say we appreciate the blessings we have known by reason of the fact that He is our Lord and King. But we see that it is only as we give form to His spirit that we can show that we have any appreciation or gratitude or recognition. If we do not give form to His spirit in actual fact in our daily lives, can we say that we appreciate Him? Where is the fruit? Where is the evidence?

Now suppose that in form, in size, you are almost as big as our King—the size of your body almost as big, perhaps as large, and yet that which is contained in Him needs to be differentiated, expressed on a magnified basis, so that it may be seen and known. And He suggests to you when you come before His throne, "Here is this aspect of Being, here is this seed, a perfect gem, but it has not been seen by the world. Here is something which many should see, something which should be magnified and given form on earth. Here, take this part of Myself, this essence of My Being, and let it be enlarged in you so that this aspect of the central essence may be magnified, differentiated and shown forth to the world." If the King offered you some such opportunity, would you say to Him, "Dear Lord, I do appreciate Your generosity in offering me this opportunity and I know full well that the world needs to see You and know Your spirit, but after all, dear King, I have something I want to show to the world. I know You will forgive me, long-suffering and merciful as You are, I know You will forgive me if I decline Your gracious offer. If You will just pardon me, I must hurry on my way and reveal to the world this marvelous thing that I want to display." Probably none of you would be so, what shall I say? arrogant, or what have you, as to actually think such a thing or say such a thing to yourself or to our King, and yet what of the pattern of action of life itself? What of the things we do? Are we saying some such thing by our attitudes, by our daily lives? Must we say it with our lips to declare it? I think not. We need not say it with our lips to declare that we are revealing some essence of Being from the King. What is it that we display by our lives?

If we are the expanded expression, the differentiation of His aspects of Being, then all together we are what He is. If we try to take it in our hand and use it for our own purposes it will not be there, but if we let it be magnified in us, if we let ourselves become magnifying glasses so to speak, then each little essence of Being that is contained in such concentrated form in that centering of Being is revealed. He grants us the privilege of revealing a part of that. He does not say to you, "Now you must take the whole essence of Being of what I am, everything I am, and you go out there as one person and you reveal everything that I am." If He were to ask that, would it not be unreasonable? He revealed something of it in His own life on earth, but do you think He revealed it all? I do not. His own words show that He knew that He did not reveal it all. He just made a start and He said the greater works are yet to come. So if we take some little part of that which is contained in the essence of Being in our Lord and King and let that be magnified and enlarged and so differentiated in the individual aspects of Being and yet so blended with all of our fellows that it may be seen in the right setting, in the right relationship to all other parts, are we not fulfilling our mission? "Abide in me, and I in you." Is this not a picture of what it means to abide in Him? To be a part of His body? What body? The body of Jesus? Oh no, no! The body of God—to be a part of the body of the King.

Now your body is a means by which some aspect of His Being, His eternal Being, may manifest and be magnified and revealed on earth. "I in you, and you in me." "You are contained in that body of Being which is focalized in Me," saith the Lord. "You are contained in it. You are in Me, I in you." Once we see this principle of focalization and the expanded expression of differentiation from Center outward, in the creative action, we can begin to realize that we can be in Him. We do not have to go somewhere else. We do not have to go through some fantastic experience. It is not something of mysticism. It is something which is practical and natural; for you came into the world equipped with the capacities of body and mind and heart which would permit you to reveal on earth some aspect of our Lord and King, something of Him. Not the wholeness of Him. It would take all the children of men, the whole of mankind, to reveal all of His essences on a magnified pattern. But that greatness that is contained in His Being needs a greater body to be fully revealed and adequately appreciated, and the body of mankind was designed for that purpose: that the differentiated aspects of the Being of God might be made manifest on earth, magnified, the beauty and the wonder and the glory.

Only reality can stand to be magnified. Something is magnified by the very process of living, and it comes out—the words we speak, the things we do. Something is magnified day by day, and if we do not like the things that are being magnified, if we are busy hiding something in the tent, that is not so good, is it? How about having something beautiful magnified? a gift from our King, something exquisitely lovely so that when it comes under the magnifying glass and it is seen here in the enlarged projection, it can be appreciated.

In the projection you are the means by which something of our King is supposed to be projected onto the screen of life. What is it that is being projected on the screen of life by reason of your living? Something, surely. Is it of our King? If it is, that aspect of His Being which you are projecting into the expression of life, onto the screen of life, is in you. He is in you and you are within the scope of that pattern of Being that is centered in Him. You are in Him and He is in you. When we begin to know the truth that sets us free we can see that when He says, "Abide in me, and I in you," He is talking to us tonight, inviting us to be a means by which something of the invisible King might be projected in enlarged form into the visible realm where men and women may see it. You are a projector as long as life remains in you. Something is being projected through you. What is it? From whence does it come? If it comes down from God out of heaven into you and through you, then you are helping to reveal the greatness, the magnificence, the wonder, the beauty, the glory, the reality of our King. But if it is from some other source it does not look so well projected on the screen of life.

We are projectors. That is the way God made us. He created us in His image and likeness so that we would have the capacity of projecting that which is of God here on earth, revealing it in magnified form, enlarged and made real. What are we projecting? The Master gave the admonition: "Abide in me, and I in you .... If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit." What is the fruit? The projection of that which is within us. "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."

© emissaries of divine light 

The Dawn of a New Day

The  Dawn  of  a  New  Day

from

The Altar and the Shekinah #1

Martin Cecil   January 10, 1971

 

The word Shekinah describes the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells. In seeking to understand the real meaning of Shekinah we have recognized three aspects with respect to it: the cloud of glory, the light that glows, and the fire that burns. 

If there is to be worship of the Lord there must be an altar. The altar provides the place of worship, the means by which contact is made with the Lord, and therefore must relate to the evidence of the presence of the Lord. The altar obviously is not the evidence of the presence of the Lord, the physical form of the altar, but there is something about the altar that is—it provides the means by which the evidence may come to be known. We see this altar as a living altar, composed of physical substance, the physical forms of people, but again it isn't the mere fact of the physical form that is the evidence of the presence. There is something about a physical form that gives that evidence. The glow of life, should we call it?—the cloud of glory.

The altar of the Lord is composed of human beings in form on earth, and it provides the place of worship on earth. The altar of the Lord is, then, characterized by Shekinah. There is the cloud of glory, which is the evidence of life shining round about—the evidence of the life of the angel of the Lord individually speaking, the evidence of the presence of the Lord collectively speaking. It is to this altar that people may come to worship God. The altar simply gives evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells. There is something about the altar that does this. Initially it's the cloud of glory, the fact of beautiful life, glorious life. We know the presence of life because of the physical form. The altar must be there to know it. The life, which characterizes the Lord, cannot be known unless the altar is present, the physical form is there.
 

The evidence of the presence of the Lord is made abundantly clear when there is an altar of the Lord on earth to which people may come to worship because the cloud of glory is there; it shines round about. But initially speaking there is no temple, just an altar, just a place of worship to which people may come if they will; not to worship the altar but, through the evidence of the presence of the Lord, to worship the Lord. 

The altar of the Lord permits the glory of the Lord to shine round about, and it is this which makes possible the true worship of God to be restored on earth. It can't occur at all unless there is an altar at which the Lord may be worshipped. Insofar as mankind is concerned, and in fact all that is on the surface of this earth, there must rightly be an altar which makes possible the evidence of the presence of the Lord in a specific sense, for people to worship. 

The Lord is made known by the evidence of His presence, by the Word made flesh. His nature becomes comprehensible in this way, so that it may be given worth, value. That is worship. People come in yielded response to this place where the evidence of the presence of the Lord is and they are transformed, and the temple begins to take form round about the altar. The temple is filled with the glory of the Lord. The temple is primarily mankind, but it becomes a temple only as there is an altar first. Then the glory of the Lord may fill the temple and shine round about that again in all the earth, through mankind. But the rebuilding of the altar comes first. 

This relates to what has been called the priesthood, the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek was King of Salem, King of peace—after the order of the King of peace; after the nature, the character, the quality, of the King of peace. This is the priesthood. The priesthood gives this evidence on earth and they compose the altar, the means by which the body of mankind may worship the Lord. People all through the ages have been seeking the Lord, seeking some way of worshipping Him; but the altar has been missing and so it has been a vague thing, so vague to some that they decided there wasn't anything present, there was nothing to worship. It becomes vividly evident that there is something to worship as the altar is rebuilt and the glory of the Lord shines round about. 

Shekinah!—the evidence of the presence of the One Who Dwells, revealed by reason of the altar of the Lord, by reason of the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. Orderly, true to the true design, and of the quality and nature of the King of peace. When the altar of the Lord is rebuilt on earth there is a place of worship on earth, and the children of men may come. Some will come. Some are more interested in building their own altars and calling on their own gods. But the word of the Lord is spoken through Shekinah, "Come unto me!" The altar itself is a vibrant invitation to come again to the Lord. To the extent that there are those who accept the order of Melchizedek for themselves the priesthood begins to take form and the altar of the Lord is rebuilt. The glory of the Lord begins to shine round about as the light that glows again. 

We know that all this comes to pass because there is a cleansing or clarifying process experienced by those concerned. Four barrels of water poured three times: the water of truth soaking the consciousness of those who offer themselves to the experience, and soaking their bodies, all of them. The altar of the Lord must be rebuilt on earth if the temple of the Lord is to reappear, and the temple of the Lord is mankind restored. But it doesn't just happen by chance. There is a creative cycle, a creative process. We have some experience of it. But let us see that it is far greater than some of the concepts we may have developed. It extends way beyond the restrictions of consciousness that we have tended to maintain. As the altar of the Lord emerges rebuilt, this is part of the appearance of the cosmic plan unfolding on earth. We are here to participate in that.

The light that glows is, amongst other things, the light of illumination, the restoration of true understanding. So it comes to us. The light comes gently, and the glory of the Lord shines round about. What blessing indeed it is to know the coming of the light! That's the dawn, isn't it?—the dawn of a new day. What glory fills the sky at dawn! What a moving experience it is for those who are awake, or awakening, to see the dawn.

 

Those who have some consciousness of the truth of these things carry the responsibility of all this into the world. I thank God for you and for others who play your vital and vibrant parts. Glory to God in the highest!

© Emissaries of Divine Light

That  Your  Joy  Might  Be  Full

from  Focalization of Deity

Uranda   April 10, 1954

 

These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full

 

I doubt if there are many here tonight who would say that they have reached that point where their joy is full. Each one here has shared something of that joy, but there are still those parts or places in body and mind and heart where there is that which is not joy, that which does not give joy. But our Master said: "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."

It is God's desire, God's longing, that we should know the joy of the Lord. In another place the Master expressed it with respect to those who revealed themselves as good and faithful servants. "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." How can we enter into the joy of the Lord and let it come into life in the fulness of that which is of the divine design?

It is in the fruit of our lives that we find satisfaction, that we begin to know the joy of the Lord. The Master indicated that it is through the Word, the Word of the Father, the Word of truth, that we may become clean. To purge is to cleanse, and we are to become clean through the Word of the Father, the Word of truth. We remember His word, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free"—free of those things which contaminate, free to enjoy the clean expression of life.

We recognize that from the standpoint of our healing ministry, if there is some ill condition the great need is that the body should become clean, and the cleansing must be carried out until the temple is clean. As the process of cleansing takes place the process of healing takes place.

"Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."

© Emissaries of Divine Light