The Intervening Provision

from

The  Intervening  Provision

Martin Cecil   April 16, 1978  pm

“After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven:

and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said,

Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.

And immediately I was in the spirit;

and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.”

There is One who sits on the throne, not half a dozen. We have some awareness of the reality of the One Law, of the truth as it relates to what has been called focalization—this is a fact of life. The reality of life, the true Tone of Life, is made evident because of this fact. There is One who sits on the throne. In order that this might come out of the realm of imagination into the realm of true experience the throne which is in heaven must be made known. The composition of that throne is angelic—it is formed of angels who function in heaven, in the realm of cause, revealing the reality of the One who sits upon the throne. It is because of this One, because of this Supreme Point of Focus, that agreement, oneness is made possible. This One who sits upon the throne we have seen as relating not only to an invisible point but to an undimensional point. The throne itself is dimensional. It is a reality in heaven, the realm of cause for this earth. The heaven and the earth are the two aspects of the dimensional world, but the throne is set in heaven. This is certainly invisible from the earthly standpoint but quite knowable from the angelic standpoint.

There is then a heavenly facility by which the One extends His authority and His government into the world. That authority and that government spring alone from that One. We may speak of that One, we may identify that One by using words, perhaps the Lord God, the LORD of Lords, the Lord of Love, but the use of words does not acquaint us with that One. We are only acquainted with that One to the extent that we are actually centered in that One, that all our love is offered to that One, nothing whatsoever held out. The first great commandment is supreme. The whole capacity to love in the human sense must be yielded to the One who sits upon the throne if the first great commandment is to be kept. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all.” How is this to be done?

We have considered these matters before but let us look at it again. Is it a matter of endeavoring to love some invisible God figure somewhere? No. That would be an endeavor to love a concept of the mind. It certainly wouldn't be loving God. The only way by which we may love God is through the provision which He has made by which we might do so. It might be said to be an intervening provision. There is something between the yielded human heart and God, something to provide a connection. This was emphasized insofar as the Christian religion was concerned when considering the part that Jesus Christ was supposed to play, but the concepts that have been developed around this idea have certainly not revealed what the truth is, because, for one thing, the truth is not a concept of the mind.

There is a reality in heaven. There is the throne, upon which the One sits. The throne is in the heaven. The One is above the throne. The only way by which one may come in yielded love to the One who is above the throne is by reason of the throne. We are using symbolic words to describe something here. There is a very specific configuration of angels who provide the connection between the One and the yielded human heart. This is not a haphazard jumble of angelic beings—there is a very specific configuration. That configuration was described in this particular chapter in earthly terms, and those earthly terms have not meant very much to human beings generally speaking, because they had no experience of the reality which was being described. However, as we noted this morning [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2020/09/configurations-of-angels-from-spirit-of.html] there is something that can be spiritually discerned relative to what are spoken of as the Four Beasts. In focusing in upon this I am not ignoring all the other symbols that are used to complete the picture, but merely to look at something that relates to our own present experience.

We took note of what was portrayed for us by the choir. The choir as a whole was made whole by reason of these four groups. There were four groups in the choir by reason of the people who composed those groups. Each group had a very particular part to play in the whole. That part was distinct from all the other parts and yet it required them all put together for the reality of the whole, the choir, to be known. This may well also be a portrayal relative to the throne of which I have been speaking. There is the necessity for this throne to become known in heaven on earth. It is a reality in heaven already; it doesn't have to be made so. But because human beings have been functioning in the earth, in the realm of effects, utilizing effects as causes for their actions, they have been below the veil and the heaven has been unknown. There has been speculation about heaven, but the reality has remained unknown and must remain unknown as long as the earth of human experience is held out as something separate. The heaven is then hidden—there is a veil between. Most people imagine that all that can be known about heaven is based in religious concepts or a fanciful roaming in the realm of imagination. The realm of imagination has seemed to human beings very often to be very real; sometimes it's very real in the dream state; but we become aware of the fact that what is real must be experienced to be known and it can't be experienced as it is merely on the basis of imagination or of an endeavor to believe something.

Heaven is a present reality and the throne is present in the heaven. The design by which the yielded heart may receive the truth of heaven into spiritual expression on earth is present. It is present by reason of the fact that the angels who compose it are present. We recognize those angels as being present insofar as we personally are concerned by reason of the fact of incarnation in human form. The presence of the angel in human form sustains the life in that human form and was responsible for the building of that human form in the first place. So certainly the composition of the throne is very close. It's very close to each individual. The very cause of life in personal experience is a part of that throne.

As angelic expression begins to characterize our experience we begin to discover associations emerging. We find ourselves associated with others who are experiencing the same thing. We find this to be true not because we set out to choose this one or that one to associate with, but it naturally happens. Sometimes there has been objection to the happening. Sometimes those who found themselves associating with each other didn't much care for the idea in the human sense, but the human sense really has no bearing in the matter at all—we are concerned with what is the fact, the reality in heaven. Wisely we do not buck that reality. We accept the outer circumstance for what it is; it's there, after all. We certainly do not indulge in wishful thinking, in wishful desires that it might be some other way. Human beings imagine that they can be ruled by their hearts and by their mental concepts, thereby finding fulfilment in some human pattern of relationship. There are all kinds of them set up all over the place and human beings usually insist upon these things. Effective personal relationships emerge when we are not being ruled by our hearts and minds. There is the need for spirit to find expression, spirit which will govern the operation of the heart and the operation of the mind and the operation of the body.

So, as ever, our concern is with true spirit. If the world is to be restored to the One who sits upon the throne, there is only One Way, and that is through what has been spoken of as the Christ, or in other terms the Lamb, or in still another term, Shekinah. This is present in the heaven because of the angels who are present in the heaven, the angels differentiating the spirit of the One who sits upon the throne, differentiating that spirit in the heaven. The differentiation of that spirit doesn't change it; it merely causes it to be comprehensible. As long as it remains undifferentiated in the One, it is not comprehensible. As it is differentiated by the angels in the heaven it becomes comprehensible, and the angels compose the design by which authority and government may be extended into the earth.

It is only on the basis of response because of the throne that anyone can be restored to the One who sits upon the throne. That is in fact the restoration—mankind is to be restored to the One who sits upon the throne. Restoration implies a coming again. This experience of being One with the One who sits upon the throne was known on earth before. It is known in heaven now. Because it is known in heaven now it can be known on earth now, and we have the opportunity of so yielding human hearts in love toward the One who sits upon the throne—but in a specific sense toward that configuration of angels which composes the throne. No man cometh unto the Father, unto the One who sits upon the throne, but by what intervenes. The angelic design in heaven intervenes. Human beings have been trying to come directly to God, usually on the basis of some imaginary figure, but there is only One Way. Obviously, no other way has yet succeeded. So there is the Way, the Truth and the Life. “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The true angelic identity of the individual is the Way, the Truth and the Life for that person, and only through the angel is it possible to be restored to the One who sits upon the throne.

Collectively speaking we have spoken of the Archangel, utilizing that word to describe the focus of the collective identity in heaven—one might say the Throne Identity, the identity of the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne. Now the composition of this throne is of angels, angels in a very specific configuration. It requires a very specific configuration for the creative process to work. It was designed this way, but human beings have been trying to change the design to suit themselves. But the design in fact has not changed; it's the same as it always has been.

If we begin to have experience of spiritual expression in living, so that we begin to know ourselves in angelic consciousness, we find that there are associations emerging, associations between angels. Necessarily the human element tags along, but the association is between angels if it is real, if it is a part of the design, if it is included in the throne upon which there is One who sits. Now we find ourselves in these associations. If we lose our angelic vision and return to the human view then we discover that there are all kinds of things that are not pleasing or not right, we think, in our associations with this one or that one. The angelic association has nothing to do with human likes and dislikes. Human likes and dislikes will distract people from the experience of the angelic association. They get hung up in human nature. We are very much concerned for the clear experience of angelic association. In this regard, there are specific configurations. Four of them are described in this 4th chapter of the Book of Revelation—the Four Beasts, the four living creatures. This is not a complete description of all possible associations necessary to the creative process springing from cause in heaven.

We have an association here in the Chapel. This is an open-ended association because it includes all who wish to be here. However, in the creative process there are associations which specifically include certain angels. We need to reach a point where we can assemble groupings of people without anyone who is not included in the particular grouping feeling that they are somehow being excluded or being put down in some fashion. Because of such reactions we have rather seldom been able to have particular configurations for particular creative purposes—the reactions of others who are not a part of the grouping would tend to nullify anything that was being achieved by the grouping. There is one grouping that has more or less been accepted, and that relates to what is called the Supreme Council.

I don't think there are too many in our ministry who feel that they should be included in that, and that they are being put down because they are not included in that. Because there has been the minimum of reaction insofar as this little grouping is concerned we have been able to make use of it to advantage for specific creative purposes—but there should be vastly more such groupings. If these are undertaken, what is the attitude going to be on the part of those who may not be included in some particular initial grouping? As angels we have our parts to play and that's all there is to it, and we play our parts in relationship to others. If the creative purposes for which we are here as angels are to be fulfilled there is the need for a great variety of these groupings for very particular purposes. The human mind may not understand. Why should it? Why be bothered if the human mind does not understand? Don't identify yourself with it and you won't be bothered.

I present these things this evening to open a door in your awareness and in the awareness of others who shall have the opportunity of sharing this service later one way or another. We need to get on with the job, and as we do get on with the job, without indulging ourselves in any reactionary attitudes, there begins to be a more specific point of focus and orientation for human beings everywhere. It is by reason of these various groupings that people can be touched in various ways, depending upon what is present with respect to the angels concerned, the nature of the spirit that is being differentiated, and also taking into account the earthly heredity of the particular form of the individual, because we have our connections on this basis with people everywhere. We are designed to use these connections, but we certainly can't use these connections other than in angelic consciousness. Then we are no longer reacting all over the place, we are no longer feeling put down because we were not selected to be a part of this particular group. How does the human mind know where the angel should be? Let it work out on the basis of the angelic expression and it will be right. It is the fact of these various configurations that provides the means of connecting up with every aspect that is present in the consciousness of mankind, so that all who will may become increasingly aware of the specific nature of the connection with the One who sits upon the throne.

No one can circumvent that connection and reach the One who sits upon the throne. Human beings in their human nature patterns like to imagine that they have their special connections, but there is only One Way, One Truth, One Life, and it relates to identification with cause—identification individually, in a specific sense, with the reality of one's own angelic nature; in the collective sense, with the Hosts of Heaven who are all already centered in the One who sits upon the throne and already differentiating that One Spirit. Because of this the restoration of man to his true state is made possible. We share this responsibility. It has been said that we need to grow up. That means that we need to accept the angelic identity. Then we know why we are here. There is nothing personal anymore that we hold out for our own. It is all included in the overall purpose of our presence on earth, and if we need to be a part of one group for a specific purpose and not a part of another group, well that's the way it is, that's what we are here for—and we begin to find out that we actually fit in these configurations. We discover that it is a most fitting state of affairs, a delightful state of affairs, and we see the creative cycles moving and unfolding in all directions, all coordinated by reason of the One Spirit which in differentiated expression is providing what is necessary on earth by which the transformation occurs in human consciousness and man, mankind, is restored.

I am thankful for the privilege of sharing these things with you this evening, that there may be an increasing awareness of angelic associations and an increasing willingness to let those associations take a specific pattern, a specific pattern according to the design of the throne in heaven. That, after all, is what we are here to do as angels. 

© emissaries of divine light

 

Configurations of Angels

Configurations  of  Angels

from  The Spirit of Understanding

Martin Cecil   April 16, 1978  am

In a choir there are a number of individual people offering themselves to the expression of one purpose. Each individual is different, each voice is different, although they fall into certain groupings, four groupings to be exact—soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Regardless of this particular pattern of grouping, each individual voice is still unique, and yet the power and beauty that is generated is generated by the choir as a whole. If what is offered is to be effective there must be the experience of one spirit on the part of all concerned. There is need for someone to provide a point of focus and direction, but the beauty and the power are generated by the choir itself, even though the director is an essential part of the choir—the director may not sing a note. Here is a portrayal of something that is of considerable significance in other fields.

We have a gathering here this morning for the generation of power and beauty which may have an effect upon a large audience of human beings who are not present here in person. When there are those of whom it may be said they are with one accord in one place there is a creative facility available for the use of true cause, for the use of the Lord, for the use of God, whatever term might be used—these fundamentally refer to true cause. True cause is present, the expression of true cause is present, but virtually unknown insofar as human beings in the world are concerned, because they have become involved with another cause. This other cause relates very particularly to the human mind. The human mind tends to think of itself as cause, but the mind itself is an effect. If an effect tries to play the role of cause there is then a false cause present. As long as the function of human beings on earth is wrapped up in this realm of effects true cause remains beyond awareness and is excluded from any true expression in human experience.

That realm of cause which already is present, already exists, already is a reality and always has been, may be referred to as heaven, for the sake of a word. We have seen how human affairs are restricted to the earth. There is a lack therefore of any real understanding of what it is that is transpiring outside of this restricted realm in which they imprison themselves. The practical realm seems to be the realm of earth, and this is considered by most to be all that warrants any consideration. We have seen these things and recognized the futility of remaining embedded in that state. There is the necessity of coming out of it, of awakening, but the means by which we may come out of it is obviously not the false cause of the human mind. True cause relates to what is referred to as true spirit. The mind is quite incapable of understanding or encompassing spirit. On the other hand spirit is quite capable of understanding and encompassing the mind. How often have you made the statement, or heard others make it, “I don't understand”? What is it that doesn't understand? It is the human mind. If you say “I don't understand,” you are saying that you are identified with your own mind. “The mind doesn't understand; therefore I don't understand.” If you expect to experience true understanding and restrict the idea and experience of this to what is possible of your own little mind you will never have any understanding.

There are those who fill their minds with a lot of information. But regardless of the amount of information that has been collected, regardless of the amount of knowledge that is available, there is always the search for more. This obviously gives evidence of the fact that no one understands anything yet. Knowledge is a bottomless pit; there is no end to it. If understanding is to be based upon the ability of the mind to grasp knowledge then the real experience of understanding can never be known. Here is the mind again trying to be cause when it is only an effect. The physical body of man is obviously an effect of something. By the same token the mind is an effect of something—something must be present if there is to be the possibility of mental function. If that something is not present, then all we have is a corpse, and not very much intelligent mental function on that basis.

Be careful what you say. Pause and consider, if you have the impulse to say “I don't understand,” because true identity is in cause. True identity is in true spirit. If there is identity with true spirit then your words would be: “I understand. I may not understand in the sense of mental understanding, my mind may not be capable of encompassing this understanding, but I do not depend upon my mind to tell me when I understand.” This may seem like a peculiar distinction here and may tend to cause those who are identified with their minds to say with respect to this, “I don't understand.” If you feel impelled to say that, then you may know for sure that you are identified with a mind that doesn't understand, because the mind certainly can't understand everything. It is capable of understanding certain things at a certain level but it very quickly gets out of its depth. And then it finds itself in a realm of fantasy, a realm that doesn't really exist in reality. We need to wake from this bad dream. The heaven is the realm of cause, and our identity needs to be there. Then we understand.

Understanding comes to the extent of purity of heart. By reason of this emotional capacity, we may move into a realm of cause where understanding is. It isn't a matter of staying in the earth and trying to accumulate enough information to enable us to understand, because that would never happen. It is a matter of moving over the dividing line into the realm of cause, where understanding already is and may therefore be the experience if our identity is there. You do not grow into understanding. You either experience the fact of it or you don't. You either know identification with spirit, with cause, or you know identification with effect. Identification with effect is a state of darkness. The darkness comprehends not the light, nor ever can. The light relates to cause. If one is restricted to effects one is in darkness, and one will not comprehend the light. And one will be inclined to say, “I don't understand.” Stay in that level and realm of experience and you will never understand, because understanding is impossible there, no matter how much knowledge may be gleaned and stored in the filing cabinet of your subconscious mind. It all remains meaningless. It is a matter of identification with spirit, which is the one place of agreement.

Sometimes it is said that there was a meeting of minds. While momentarily there may be a sense of agreement, it never lasts. Sometimes it is said that there is a meeting of hearts. But that experience is just as evanescent as the other. There is only a true meeting in true spirit. True spirit is uncontrollable by the mind. The mind seeking to establish control over spirit loses true spirit and finds a substitute in its place that might be referred to as evil spirit, wrong spirit, destructive spirit. Human beings are governed constantly by these sort of spirits—human nature is human nature, but why should we insist upon involvement with human nature when we may participate in the experience of angelic nature?

The word “angel” may be used to identify one whose identity is in heaven. If we experience our identity in heaven while we are living in form on earth then obviously there are angels present and in expression on earth; heaven and earth are revealed as being One. And it is this reality in experience that allows the transformation of the consciousness of mankind, but not merely because one person has that experience. We could point to the One who was called Jesus and say, “There is the evidence of an individual who experienced identification in the realm of cause while living on earth.” This fact certainly opened the door, but thus far virtually no one has gone through it. Everybody has fallen down and worshipped the door, if they have paid any attention to it at all. And that is considered the thing to do. But a door is of value because one may go through it. There is no sense to having a door in a room if you are not going to go through it. You might as well fill it in and just put a wall there. It would make no difference to the experience, would it? You might just as well forget about the door. The fact that human beings have remembered the door may, if there is a modicum of intelligence somewhere, suggest the possibility that one might go through it!

As there are those who do awaken to the true experience of identity in the realm of cause it is because there is the experience of spiritual expression. It isn't a static experience: “Let's go through this door and there we are. Isn't it nice to be in heaven? We're now in the realm of cause.” What are you going to do there? Of course the experience of being in the realm of cause is consequent upon the fact that in one's living there is spiritual expression. You only know what you express. As there is an awakening to the reality of cause, so that we begin to be identified with cause, it is because we accept the responsibility in our living of giving expression to the true nature of cause. And we are not always excusing ourselves by saying, “I don't understand.” Oh yes we do! We understand enough for the moment to give expression to true cause at the level of our present experience. It is not a matter of evolving into something in the future; it is a matter of accepting the responsibility in the present moment. We have enough understanding of the quality of right spirit to give it expression. We also have enough understanding of the quality of wrong spirit to refrain from giving it expression. If you refrain from giving expression to what characterizes human nature, human nature will no longer be your nature—angelic nature begins to reveal the true nature of the individual. And this can only be done in living. You only discover the secret of life by living—by expressing the true quality of life. Then life isn't a secret anymore. If that isn't done it remains a secret, it remains hidden; but that is the choice of the individual. As there are those who begin to let this happen agreement becomes a natural experience—agreement in spirit.

This ministry only exists to the extent that there is agreement in spirit. There are those who have tried to make it exist on the basis of agreement in form, but scarcely anyone agrees on this basis. In true spirit there is agreement. In spite of all the disagreement with respect to form this ministry has remained together, because there was sufficient willingness to keep aligned with spirit, in which the agreement was. If we agree in spirit we begin to find that there is a form which emerges in consequence, but it does not emerge because we figured it out with our minds. The mind does rightly play a part in that emergence but only because spirit governs. When spirit governs, the mind moves accordingly, and the understanding of the mind will be what is necessary to fulfil the particular requirements of the expression of spirit in the moment—and the mind in that case may say “I understand this much,” but it minds its own business and it doesn't try to understand something which it does not understand.

The agreement comes in spirit. And those whose identity begins to center there find themselves a part of something that reveals the design in spirit. There is a design in cause, a design which when it is operative into the realm of effects allows the realm of effects to reflect the realm of cause. So the concern is with heaven—the realm of cause. What is needful is that true cause should have opportunity of release into the consciousness of mankind. And that is not going to just happen. Victory doesn't come in the way that human beings think it comes. Knowledge—the human mind trying to be as God. It is self-centeredness that has prevented the transformation of human consciousness which may necessarily and easily be experienced. The yoke is easy and the burden is light. But it doesn't happen just by chance; it doesn't happen because we would like it to happen. It happens because there is a fulfilment of the essential requirements. And those essential requirements relate to the realm of cause.

There is something described in earthly terms in the Book of Revelation which has been very confusing to human minds, because the structures of human consciousness were used to describe something which couldn't be described by the structures of human consciousness. We can describe things around us in the earth but the symbols we use to do that, the words we use to do that, are not adequate to describe something in the realm of heaven, the realm of cause. But there is an indication conveyed by the words that are used in the Book of Revelation, as long as we don't get hung up on the words. Last Sunday that we were considering a couple of verses about coming up hither into the realm of cause and becoming aware of certain things because of that. This was described in some detail in a peculiar way, and the description included something which has been translated as four beasts, four living creatures.

This rather interested me before, when I was speaking of the choir, because within the body of the choir there are these four parts. There are many notes being sung during the course of a number by the choir and they all blend together; they are not all the same note. Sometimes, when we begin to think about the realm of cause and perhaps we talk about the sounding of the Tone, we may think of just one note. Clearly that would become tiresome after a little. There is a vast variety and it emerges on the basis of the fact that there are unique individuals associated in distinct configurations. There were four beasts described, four distinct configurations of angels incarnate in human form. What is being described as being in heaven is the authority and the government of God, the means by which cause may operate in the affairs of men. And because true cause operates in the affairs of men, true cause will then operate beyond human beings in whatever the scope of their field of responsibility really is, and that may go way beyond the earth. The point is that this facility of authority and government should begin to be experienced by those who find themselves identified with cause.

There are these configurations of angels for specific creative purposes. Do you think we are all here by chance? You know better than that. Many human gatherings may seem to be by chance, but this isn't so with us because there is an understanding of purpose. We find ourselves associated with others in relationship to the fulfilment of this purpose. You shouldn't think of purpose in terms merely of your momentary task. That is a part of the purpose, but it is not the purpose. There is far more to it than that, obviously. We are sharing a purpose, and the purpose goes way beyond whatever is done—and yet these tasks are necessary. They give us the opportunity to reveal in expression our angelic nature. If we do that then we begin to move in the greater purpose. The conscious mind may not always know what that is. It doesn't need to. It is fortunate very often that it doesn't know, because if it knew it would interfere. But you know in your identification with cause. There is something beyond mental grasp, which is the true knowing. Then the mind can come along and play its part in the total expression of true cause. That total expression is true spirit, spiritual expression, the holy spirit, complete, not little bits and pieces.

So we have the opportunity of allowing various configurations to appear, not by reason of some idea that the human mind has but by reason of what is impelled by spirit. Then those configurations can be used for the creative purpose. And we may share in letting that creative purpose appear. This is the sole reason why any of us are incarnate on earth now.

© emissaries of divine light

The Reality Of His Majesty's Government

The  Reality  of  His  Majesty's  Government  is Here

Acknowledging  The  Presence  Of  God

Uranda  August 30, 1953

As I was preparing this morning to come here to the Chapel and acknowledge your presence, it occurred to me to wonder, how would it be if I were to walk into the Chapel and act as if I saw no one, act as if you were not here? How would it be if I were to come into your presence and fail, by my attitude and by my word, to acknowledge your presence. And I wondered how you would feel if, in such a pattern of ignoring your presence, I gave no heed to our agreement to serve together before our LORD and KING, to come here perhaps for a little time, maybe notice Martin and talk to him for a few minutes, wander about—and then wondered if perhaps he might ask me a question, “Do you not realize these people are here? These people are here; your congregation has gathered. Have you not noticed?” I wonder how you would have felt. I wonder, too, how God feels when sometimes you walk about without acknowledging His Presence. I wonder what happens in the vibrational realm of being when you act, thoughtlessly—but when you act as if God either did not exist or as if He were far away. To acknowledge the Presence of God!

Last evening in our pattern of meditation we gave thought to that step in illumination which comes when the individual at last realizes that the Kingdom of Heaven is here—how the mind accepts a certain idea. [https://greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2019/09/you-are-manifest-government-of-king.html] The Master said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand," and the human being says, "Well, yes, I believe that; I accept it; that is my belief, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” And one hears it in so many different ways and says, “Yes, I believe that.” Then finally the responding one comes to the point of awakening, as it were, “Why, yes, it is so. The Kingdom is at hand, it is right here. I have had that idea but it is, it really is!” And in that wave of illuminating light and perception and wonderment that the Kingdom is at hand, one finds one’s whole attitude changing. And having acknowledged in actual fact the presence of the Kingdom, the individual begins to speak and act, yes and to think, on the basis of that realization.

But then another step follows. Once we have really begun to see the Kingdom and see that it is here, that we are not just talking about a belief, an idea that is more or less acceptable to the mind, we awaken to the fact that, yes it is, it is right here, right here on earth; and that God’s government extends into our lives. We begin to realize that if there is a Kingdom—and it is—then there is a KING; and there is another step in illumination wherein we begin to acknowledge His Majesty the KING; wherein we begin to recognize within ourselves the reality of His Majesty’s Government, and that that Government is here—that that Government extends into our hearts and minds, our very lives, to the depths of our beings. His Majesty’s Government, and the reality of the KING. And when these things become vivid realizations to heart and mind, there is a deeper change in attitude so that our thoughts up here, on the basis of that change, the thoughts which take form as words and deeds—and we are familiar to some degree at least with the process of how thoughts take form as a word or a deed. Thoughts—something in the outer sense, intangible; something to the human vision, invisible. And yet, though you may not have given much thought to how it is that thought takes form in word and deed, you let that process have meaning every day. There is a thought recognizing physical thirst, and steps are taken and the hand reaches to pick up the glass—observation is made with respect to the fact that water is in the glass; observation is made to recognize that it is clean, and one drinks the water. And so a thought has become a deed.

Likewise, thoughts become words. And this movement of something from the invisible realm to the visible, we recognize, perhaps taking it for granted most of the time, but we recognize it in relationship to our daily activities, whatever we do, something is taking form—out of the invisible. Invisible thoughts become words and deeds. And when we begin to meditate upon it we begin to realize that here is a part of the process by which the invisible things of God take form in our lives. If there is an invisible Kingdom at hand, it is supposed to take form in our lives. If there is the invisible word of God, it is supposed to take form in our lives. And that thought reminds us of the Master’s answer at the time of the test, or temptation—when the devil tempted Him to act on the basis of the devil’s suggestion—and the Master, from the tranquility of His soul and His deep attunement with God, answered, regardless of the things which sought attention in His body: His hunger. He answered, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” And if we see that in the illuminating light, there is another burst of amazement which penetrates to the depths of our being. For we look at the Bible, the Book, and with all due regard for all the wonderful things it contains, and all the revelations of God and His Will, and the fact that these very words are contained in it, we recognize that this little book could not possibly contain every Word of God—that God’s Words are far greater in number than the words contained here. And our Master said, “And man shall live by every Word of God,” not just some of the words of God which happened to get into the record and be printed for our use. And the Master said it. He must have known what He was talking about.

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” And there comes a dawning realization that all the Words of God are not contained in this Holy Book, that there are Words proceeding out of the mouth of God today which are supposed to come into our awareness as thoughts, to be translated into words of our lips, that the Words of God today might appear. Did God cease speaking nineteen centuries ago? Has God been dumb through these nineteen centuries? No. And the Master said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proeeedeth out of the mouth of God.” And so we begin to have a deepening realization that there is a Kingdom, a KING, and that that KING has Words to speak today. It is by His Words that we live, and for nineteen centuries man has limited himself to the Words that were spoken more than nineteen centuries ago. Now the Words that were spoken nineteen centuries ago are very important. They help us to have a means by which we can clearly distinguish between the Words that are proceeding out of the mouth of God and the words that come from the vain imaginings of men's hearts, but for nineteen centuries man has ignored the continued Words of God. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word which proeeedeth out of the mouth of God.”

We need to start giving heed to the Words of God today. We need to let them begin to come into our awareness. And having acknowledged the Kingdom and the KING, and having acknowledged the presence of the Kingdom and the KING, we begin to realize that since these things are taking form from an invisible level—at least as high as man’s own thoughts, from that invisible level—and taking form in word and deed, and that the Words of God are supposed to take form and appear through our lips, a question begin to take form in our minds. A question. And as this question begins to form we remember something of our meditation of last evening: What is it that is greater than I am? What is it that is greater than you are? We found there were four things greater than we are: God, the KING, the Kingdom and the purpose of the Kingdom. These four things are greater than I am. These four things are greater than you are. But in that pattern of meditation we noted that if we truly know this and acknowledge it, realize it, then nothing out here in the world is greater than we are.

I do not acknowledge anything out here in the realm of circumstance, in the world sense, or in a more limited sense, to be greater than I am. What is out here that is greater than you are? That which is greater than you are, and which you acknowledge to be greater than you are, is that to which you are subject; and if you are subject to that, you are not subject to God, to the KING, to the Kingdom, or the purpose of the King. And so we review these things in thought while this question takes form in our minds, and it is a most interesting question: With what, then, do I agree? With what do I agree? God is greater than I am. It is obvious then that I should agree with Him. The KING is greater than I am and so it is obvious that I should agree with Him. The Kingdom itself is greater than I am, therefore I should agree with the reality of the Kingdom. The purpose of the Kingdom is greater than I am, therefore I should agree with the purpose of the Kingdom.

When it comes down to this business of practical living in daily life, with what do I actually agree? With what do you actually agree? If you are a part of these four things, then you are greater than those problems and difficulties and situations which arise before you. But if you fail to acknowledge the presence of God, the presence of the KING, the presence of the Kingdom, and the presence of the purpose of the Kingdom, if you fail to acknowledge the presence of these four things, and something begins to appear over here, someone speaks a word, presents an attitude, does a deed, and you find yourself tending to agree with that which is less … With what do I agree? Some ill circumstance arises and immediately there is a certain amount of pressure, a certain amount of distraction; your attention is called to that which has arisen—well and good. We are not to be blind; we need to see, but having seen, do we forget the presence of the KING, the Kingdom, and the purpose of the Kingdom—and ignoring the presence of God, agree with the ill condition, agree with the word that was not spoken in harmony with the Divine Design, agree with the concept, the belief, agree with the suffering, the tragedy, the ill thing, whatever it may be? With what do I agree?

Would it not be well for each of us this morning to ask that question of ourselves, seriously, earnestly? With what do I agree? As we meditate upon the point, we are reminded of the Master’s words, “If two or three of you should agree on earth”—right here on earth, “If two or three of you shall agree on earth as touching these things, it shall be done of my Father which is in Heaven.” Agreement. Perhaps in the illuminating light we can perceive more clearly the significance of what the Master said. People have tried to say, then, “Let us get together and agree about some certain thing and God will do it according to our desire.” It does not work quite that way. But there is something else here which begins to come within the range of our comprehension, something else to be seen—for we remember that there is no power but God’s power.

There is no power but God’s power. What then is the power of evil? It is God’s power taken by self-active human beings, misshaped, misused, violated—God’s power. We do have the ability to perceive something of this without stretching the imagination, without trying to have blind faith, for what is the life in your own body but God’s power? Where did your life come from? I expect anyone here in this room, answering that question, would say, in one way or another, from God. Then the light that is in you is a part of God’s power. Has that power of your life, always without a single exception, been used according to God’s Will, purpose, design? Has there ever, in any moment, been any evil thing come forth by reason of the working of the power of your life? Would anyone here dare stand up in this moment and say, “The power of life in me from God has never brought forth any evil thing?” Not one of you would dare to stand up and make that statement. Then God’s power in you has, in some times past, been caused to bring forth evil. It has been made manifest as an evil power, an evil force. And yet it came from God.

It came from God—all power comes from God, and if any power brings forth evil it is because human beings have distorted it, misused it and abused it, making something from God to bring forth that which is contrary to God. This then being true, is there anything done upon the face of the earth that is not in actual fact, God’s action—if man by his evil imaginations of heart and mind has caused God’s power to do evil, is it not in fact, whether it be supposedly good or indifferent or bad—can you point to one thing done on earth that is not done by the power of the Father? Name me one thing, good or bad, good or evil. Is there any evil thing that is not done by reason of God’s power, which, in effect, is a matter wherein man makes God’s power to do evil? Name me one thing.

When two human beings agree to the doing of something evil—and it takes some agreement, does it not, one way or another—then is not the evil which appears caused to appear by the working of the Father’s power, by the working of the Father’s life, by the working of the intelligence, the mind, the heart, the capacities of being which God gave you? Did your capacity of mind come from someone other than God? I think not. Did your capacity of the feeling realm of your heart, the capacity to have the awareness of love, come from someone other than God? I think not. On this basis then, we begin to see that whatsoever is done, is done of the Father—not necessarily according to the Father’s Will. Oh, no! For God’s Will never produces any evil thing. But whatever is done is done by reason of the Father’s power, the Father’s power of life in you, the Father’s gift of mind and heart in you, the Father’s gift of Spirit to you—and whatsoever takes form on earth in relationship to life appears through man, man and woman, every evil thing, every good thing, whatsoever it is, it appears through men and women.

Everything that takes form, every word that is spoken, every deed that is done, it appears through men and women. And human beings have caused the Father to do it, whether it be good or bad. For if man be centered in God’s Will and let God’s Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven, then man, by that very centering has caused the Father to do good things on earth; but if man, ignoring God’s Will, refusing to be governed by His Majesty’s Government, causes evil things to appear, then He has used God’s life force, he has used God’s gift and capacities, that person has then caused the Father to bring forth evil things on earth. Human beings cause God the Father to bring forth good things, and human beings cause God the Father to bring forth evil things, on the basis of the individual human agreement—and the human being tends to agree with that of which he is aware.

Did you ever, thoughtlessly, tend to agree with some idea or action and then suddenly remember, “Oh, I did not think, I forgot, I cannot agree with that. I cannot do that.” You start to agree, “Yes, I will do that with you this afternoon. I will go to town with you.” And then you remember, “No, I cannot. I agreed something else already.” You started to agree with that of which you were aware but you had forgotten for the moment something with which you had already agreed. And what was the result? You started to agree and then being reminded, you said, “Oh, I forgot. I have a previous agreement. I am sorry. I cannot go.” All right—you became aware then of that which had passed from the awareness for the moment, but being aware of your previous agreement, you either made different arrangements with respect to it, on an honorable basis we trust, or you kept your previous agreement. You said, “No, I cannot go.” You tend to agree with that of which you are aware in the moment. Did anyone here ever have to say, “I did not think. I am sorry. I did not think. I forgot?” Did you ever find yourself in a position of having to admit it—if you had agreed with something of which you became aware, in a moment when a further expansion of awareness brought to your mind the fact that you should not have agreed, that you had already agreed to something else? Did you ever? I wonder.

You tend to agree with that of which you are at the moment really aware. And when we begin to be distracted by the circumstances out here in the world, by the things which we face in daily living, there is a tendency for the human being to start agreeing with those things and to forget his agreement with God, his agreement with the KING, his responsibility to His Majesty’s Government in the Kingdom, his agreement to discharge his personal responsibility according to the purpose of that Kingdom—tending to forget the real agreement. With what do I agree? In any moment, when the pressure appears, when the distraction appears, do you forget everything but the distraction and say, “Well, I guess I cannot help it?” You are going to agree with the distraction, you are going to agree with it, with the ill thing, with the hurt—you are going to agree with it. And when two agree, someone over here starts producing something evil, using God’s power to do it, he starts producing something evil—it comes into your awareness. Perhaps in your attitude you do not like it, and yet you tend to agree with it, tend to become a party to it, and then you have joined in agreement with that person to produce evil, to cause God the Father to produce evil on earth, because God the Father gives freely of the power of life, the gift of mind and heart, the privilege of intelligence.

These things God gives freely, and they come from God. What do we do about them? Do we use them to establish agreements with evil and with the doers of evil? Or do we, under the pressure of distraction when these things come into our awareness, remember first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, remember first our agreement with God, with our KING, and with His Majesty’s Government—and then shape our attitudes towards these things which arise, whatever they may be, on the basis of our true agreement? Our attitude toward what someone has said or done, some circumstance, some ill condition, some fact of suffering or tragedy, some economic problem—are we agreeing with the problem or are we remaining true to our agreement with God? And if two or more agree on earth as touching the things of God, true to our agreement with God, then that which is of the Kingdom is made manifest. It takes form out of that invisible realm. It begins to manifest as thought, which turns into action, word and deed; and the things of God take form. Instead of shutting off the Words of God, we begin to live right here on earth, in this hour, by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And if we dare to live, right now, not just the Words that God spoke two or three thousand years ago—as important as those Words were, and are—we can begin to live now, by the Words that are proceeding now, out of the mouth of God.

“Man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” But if we are going to be in agreement with God we must acknowledge His presence and not ignore it. If we are going to be in agreement with the KING we must acknowledge His presence and not ignore Him. If we are going to be in agreement with the Kingdom of Heaven at hand we must acknowledge the presence of that Kingdom and not ignore it. If we are going to be in agreement with the purposes of that Kingdom, we must not ignore the presence of those purposes, so that we agree with something contrary to those purposes. Are we agreeing with the purposes of evil or the purposes of the Kingdom? What is it? With what do I agree? Let each one ask himself that question, honestly, with deep integrity, before God. With what do I agree? And that with which you agree will determine the nature of that which takes form in your life, by reason of the gift of God’s power of life, of mind and heart.

What shall be brought forth through us now and in the days to come. Shall we glorify our LORD and KING? Or shall we agree with that which opposes Him? With what do I agree? Let us not ignore the Presence of God, nor the Presence of the KING. Let us never ignore the Presence of the Kingdom. Let us never forget the reality of His Majesty’s Government that is right here at hand. Let us never ignore the purposes of the Kingdom. When we agree on earth as touching anything, let us never agree with anything that disregards the purposes of the Kingdom. Let our agreement be true to the purposes of the Kingdom, and then shall we find that it is truly true that we begin to live here and now by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And so let it be, in our lives, and in the lives of all who turn to God, whosoever, wheresoever they may be.

© emissaries of divine light