“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” Human beings all too often fail to recognize the great significance contained in these basic statements of the Master. They are inclined to put the Kingdom of Heaven off till some hereafter, till after they are dead and gone, or until after some great and monumental change shall come in the future, imposed arbitrarily upon human beings. They forget that the Master said, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”; that is, at hand; that is, here on earth, within reach and available to each and every one of us. And then, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”
Human beings who give attention to religious or spiritual things sometimes seem to imagine that they are not supposed to inherit the earth, they are not supposed to have any of the material things whereby they may have their meaningfulness as men and women increase. If we, as human beings, have the potentiality of meaning, we recognize that there are two things vitally necessary to us: first, the human beings with whom we live and serve and work. We cannot have meaning alone. Meaningfulness depends upon our relatedness to others. And secondly, if the expression of our lives is to have meaning, we must have something of the earth, that is of the material aspect of being, if we are to have the forms through which to work in order to allow that which is in us to have meaning. Our meaning depends upon our relatedness to others and, in the sense of maintaining dominion, upon our relatedness to material things.
The Master specifically recognized this, but few have noticed the great import of His words. “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” Now He did not say that we would have to go out and buy the earth. He did not say that we would have to go out and fight to win it, to gain control of it. He did not say that we would have to go out and labor for a few thousand years to get it. He stated that there was a process by which we might inherit. We recognize that all things, regardless of appearance, regardless of present circumstance, regardless of misuse or abuse, all things, in fact, belong to God. And if God is our Father in Heaven, and if His Name is hallowed to us so that we do not violate our position in relationship to Him as true children, as men and women in Christ, we begin to see that it is not a matter of establishing ownership with respect to the earth or material things. Any such questions are of minor import. Ownership is vested in God already, regardless of what human beings may think about it. Ownership belongs to God, now, and if we function correctly in relationship to God we inherit, or receive, into the range of our use and control those things which are necessary to the effectiveness of our lives on earth.
The responsibility in the field of stewardship is something which human beings only dimly recognize, the opportunity of allowing our lives to so function that we may inherit that which God owns on earth. If our uses of that which is on earth are no more important, no more right, no different in nature and character from the uses to which these things are already being put by others, then on the basis of this we have no right to them.
In the world as it is we have what we might call, according to the human concept, a necessary evil, the medium of exchange, and many people imagine that money is the root of all evil. But there is no factual or authoritative statement to that effect. It is the love of money that is the root of all evil, the love of money, or the symbol, the medium of exchange, by which the human being thinks to get power, by reason of which he thinks to gain possessions, or to establish his own meaningfulness, or gain his own desires—a selfish, self-centered process in which most human beings are engaged. There is nothing wrong with money or any other material thing, as such. Material things are not evil, although they may be put to evil uses by ignorant or evil human beings. Once we begin to see that the medium of exchange from the Divine standpoint depends, not upon the stability of human governments but upon the stability of the manifestation of the Kingdom of God on earth, the reality of good citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, we can begin to see how it is that material things yield naturally, easily, to the Spirit of God, if they are set free from slavery to the spirits of self-centeredness, greed, selfishness of every sort, misuse, and abuse.
The memory of the purpose for which God created us in the beginning is important here; for God created man, “in the image of God created he them, male and female,” to have dominion over the earth and all the things that are therein. Man has so forgotten his Divine Purpose that he imagines that physical things, material things, the things of the earth, are constantly trying to escape from him. When man functions in self-activity this is true. Material things are constantly trying to escape from you if you are misusing them, if you are not functioning according to the Divine Design. But once you begin to provide the spirit and atmosphere, the Pattern of Divine Dominion which God intended for material things, you begin to find that material things love to come to you. They may be prevented from doing so by self-centered and self-active human beings, but that does not alter the fact that material things of every sort love to come under the Divine Pattern of Dominion.
Material things are not trying to escape from you when you function according to the Divine Design, but, rather, those material things are seeking you. Those material things are so established in the vibrational realm that they love to yield to you, just as the substance that is being drawn into a growing plant loves to yield to the sun, the warmth of the sun, the air, and the water—the elements of Divine Control. Growing things love to grow. They enjoy it, and find satisfaction in it. Material substance, the earth itself and all the things contained therein—animals, birds, everything that God made—love to yield to the True Pattern of Dominion, and only because man has violated that Pattern of Dominion and tried to establish substitute controls do the things of the physical realm try to escape from man.
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Here is a vital distinction with respect to a basic attitude. If your attitude is based upon the pattern of abuse and misuse, so that consciously or subconsciously you imagine that material things are trying to escape from you and you have to use some peculiar means of force to get them and to force them to remain in your control, you are then, by that very attitude, guilty of the same thing which we find in relationship to the tyranny of Red Russia. It is carried to its extreme there, and they have extended the same attitude toward human beings, refusing to recognize the dignity of man, refusing to acknowledge the reality of moral responsibility, but let us be sure that we are not supporting that attitude, which manifests in such tyranny, by our attitude with respect to material things, that material things are trying to escape from you and that you must get them and imprison them and hold them by some arbitrary means, then your attitude is supporting that attitude of tyranny. Whether you have ever recognized it or not, it is true. Material things are not trying to get away from you except to the degree that you may be functioning in self-centeredness, trying to impose a false pattern of government or dominion upon them.
The basic matter in this point is clearly established in the Master's word: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and his right-useness,” His right patterns of action and living, correct function, “and all of these things shall be added unto you”—the things of Heaven, yes, but how shall the things of Heaven appear if not through the form of physical substance? They can only appear by physical means in this world. Nothing can appear except by reason of form. Spirit has no meaning except by reason of form. Mind has no meaning except by reason of form in the physical realm of things. And until we begin to actually recognize that, we cannot have the correct attitude toward physical things.
We, being centered in God, must partake of the Nature of God and the Power of God in order to begin to let the Divine Pattern of Dominion manifest, and then physical things, material things, love to come under our dominion. Just as you, in your right pattern, find it a joy to respond to God, so do material things, including the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms, love to respond to you. As there is a mineral kingdom, as there is a vegetable kingdom, and as there is an animal kingdom, there is supposed to be a vibrational, or Heavenly, Kingdom on earth in relationship to all material things. Here we have the statement, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”
The things of the earth will be seeking to escape from those who abuse them, and they will be seeking to respond to those who correctly use them—the meek. Who are the meek? Moses was spoken of as a very meek man, and he was one of the greatest leaders of all time, one of the most stable of all the men who ever lived, one of the strongest. Meekness does not mean weakness. There is a vast difference between being meek and being weak. The individual who is weak is inclined to arrogance to cover up his weakness but those who are strong can afford to be meek. Only strength of character, based upon the Principles of Reality, can permit one to begin to be truly meek. When we begin to consider meekness, without the false concepts of weakness, we can begin to sense the reality of nobility, the nobility of character, the nobility of men and women who allow a pattern of dominion to manifest, without the arbitrary misuses and abuses which appear through those who are weak.
When we see such a structure as is made manifest in Red Russia, and we see the abuses of power, we see there the evidence of weakness. Now I am not suggesting that we, as a nation, should close our eyes to the danger, because those who are most dangerous, whether as criminals at large, in the sense of individuals, or nations, are those who are basically weak. Those who are strong, in a true sense, are never dangerous. But the weak, while they may have a certain physical strength, do not have moral and mental, or intellectual, strength with which to govern on a safe and sane basis. So, meekness signifies strength of character and nobility, and only as there is the reality of that strength of character can there be meekness.
A little illustration might be in point here. When boys are beginning to move into the pattern of manhood they begin to have a great deal of interest and concern in physical strength and they are inclined to go about shoving one another, pushing, wrestling, perhaps a little fighting, in order to do what? In order to demonstrate as to whether or not they are strong. After they become men, and become aware of the fact of their physical strength, they are not always trying to push somebody around; they are not always trying to pick a fight. Anyone who is trying to pick a fight, and push someone around, is thereby demonstrating weakness and his own personal conviction of weakness; otherwise he would have no subconscious need to try to convince others of his strength.
This weakness is present in Soviet Russia, and it is made evident, manifest, in hundreds of different ways. So, we begin to realize then, basically, that if we maintain that moral integrity, that basic strength of character, we may have to be alert with respect to dangers but there is no real cause to be fearful. We may have to constrain a maniac, but if we have intelligence we are not actually afraid of the maniac. We may have to use strategy, but let us remember that meekness is not weakness but, rather, the basic symbol of strength—strength of character, strength of mind, strength of purpose, nobility. So, the Master said, “Blessed are the meek,” those who are so strong, in actual fact, that they do not have to try to demonstrate their strength by arbitrary means, wherein they attempt to force themselves upon others or convince others of their strength.
“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” Here we have an opportunity to exercise the process of meditation wherein one is alert to true significance, and, recognizing that significance, proceeds on a logical, reasonable basis to comprehend the factors involved. Let us note here: “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” If the meek are going to inherit the earth it is obvious that someone else is going to lose control over the earth. Inheritance is a process by which control of some thing passes from one person to another, is it not? Inheritance is a process by which control over something passes from one person to another. If the meek are going to inherit the earth, then those who are not meek are going to lose control of the earth. The statement reveals that point just as surely as if it were put in so many words. Those who are not meek are going to lose control of the earth.
Our basic approach, then, is not an effort to get control of the earth, or material things, but to become truly meek; that is, truly strong, revealing the nobility of Divine Manhood and Divine Womanhood. If the meek are going to inherit the earth—and the Master said that is the case—it would appear that there have not been very many meek people on earth—and history reveals that. Most human beings have been so subject to environment, prejudice, human desires of various kinds, all the wrong reactions that appear out of self-centeredness, that they have been fundamentally weak; and by reason of that weakness they have been full of contention. There have been manifestations of resentments and hates, there has been conflict between persons, groups and nations—war. A cessation of armed conflict is not peace, not peace as we think of it. Merely because there are no bullets flying between two armies we cannot properly say there is peace, because the conflicts between human beings, individually and as groups, as well as nations, all signify processes of war, and as long as those conflicts exist the process of war is bound to erupt into armed conflict on occasion. Our great concern is that human beings should become strong, and being strong they will be meek, and being meek they will inherit the earth.
One of the things we need very much to remember, as a nation, is that having a strong army, having a strong navy, or having a strong air force, does not necessarily signify that we, as a nation, are strong. We need these things in the world as the world now is. I would not care to have our armies and navies and air force power suddenly removed from the picture. We need such things now because they are substitutes for true strength, but we, as Americans, or Canadians, or members or citizens of the free world, need to recognize that the strength of armed might can be of real value to us only as a substitute, so that having that substitute we have a semblance of peace, an opportunity wherein we may begin to grow strong in fact, as men and women, wherein we may begin to be meek in the sense of Divine Nobility; for once we are strong in the true sense, strong as men and women, we will not need to have the substitute forms of strength, at least not to such a degree; and ultimately, with all men and women becoming strong in the sense of true nobility, there would be utterly no need for armies, for military protection. But we do need armies as police factors in the world, as surely as we need police protection within the nation, as long as human beings are given to wrong patterns of function and given to violence, for they have no moral integrity.
So, all of these things which tend to destroy and disrupt the pattern of our living on earth are signs of weakness, and if we would do our part toward correcting these conditions in the world we must first give our attention to developing moral courage and strength, that we may be truly meek—and then we will inherit the earth, we will inherit the right, the privilege, of living peacefully on earth, inherit, not in the sense of selfish possessions, inherit in the sense of sharing, in living, that all the children of men, without regard to racial origins or color, without regard to the dividing lines of creeds and concepts, may begin to live in peace.
“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” That is a positive statement. They shall. Then our concern is not with getting the earth or the things of the earth; our concern is with becoming meek, so that the reality of God’s Dominion may be reestablished on earth in and through us, and through all who will share in such an opportunity.
We have, in this brief statement the Master made, a focalization of Truth, of basic principle, which bears much more meditation than we have given it at this time. The subject is not in any sense exhausted. And I wonder what would be the result if you, for seven days, kept this one basic statement before your consciousness all the time, so that you consider everything that you do in relationship to it, so that you watch yourself—not to set yourself up as a judge or a spy over someone else—so that you watch yourself in relationship to this attitude which is essential to being.
“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” Is this not a better way than the way of aggressive conflict which the world, or a large part of the world, is trying to use, dominating other nations? Conflicts—that is not inheriting the earth. It is trying to take it by force, and it cannot be done; it cannot be successfully done. Some of our own problems, right here in the United States of America, spring out of the vibrational factors involved in the manner in which we took certain parts of this earth by force from the Indians who lived here before the white man came. Certain of our vibratory patterns are distorted and must be cleared, somehow, sooner or later. The earth cannot be successfully taken by force, no part of it. We may, while human beings are as they are, have to use force to protect ourselves as a nation from aggression, but we need to see, in relationship to our daily living—personally, individually—the tremendous significance of this Truth: “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”
If you would, then, inherit the earth, and have the earth love to be under your dominion, that portion of it which is rightly yours, then let us, one and all, learn what it is to live in the nobility of true meekness, for it is the only pattern that allows for strength, true strength, the manifestation of the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, of God on earth.
As individuals, and together, we are here in this setting to let the Kingdom come. This is a matter of spiritual government and letting the creative cycle operate. We do not have to make the creative cycle operate; it already is. But if we are associated with it then it may operate in a meaningful fashion within the scope of the human world. Seeing this operation of the creative cycle as the coming of the Kingdom, we would recognize our own roles in this regard. Properly we provide the means for the operation of the creative cycle in a specific sense, both as individuals and as an Assembly. We do not make it work, but the working of it may be brought to focus and allowed to emerge because of us.
The true creative cycle—which has been in operation continuously—has not had an opportunity to be brought to bear in a specific and controlled sense relative to human experience. Human beings have been so busy about their own affairs that there has scarcely been anyone on hand to allow this creative cycle to be brought to focus and to move in a direct and meaningful sense within the experience of human beings. It has been moving, and there has been a certain amount of human reaction to that movement, but nobody knew what was going on or why they were reacting or behaving the way they were, consequent upon such reaction.
Now we have the responsibility of making what is happening intelligible. To do this we have to know what is happening; we have to be participating in the creative cycle itself, associating ourselves with it, so that because of us it moves in a controlled way relative to our fields of service. We provide the means by which the movement of that cycle is not just a generalized thing to which human beings react in all kinds of different ways but is a specific thing, an understood thing insofar as we are concerned, brought to bear within the scope of human consciousness. This can be done because we share that consciousness, and if we let it work through us then we become aware of its working, and being aware of its working there is an awareness of what is happening within the range of human consciousness.
It may be a very small point at the moment, but that is really sufficient. Doubtless there will be some expansion in the days to come, but we are concerned with what is possible now. Insofar as we are concerned, what is possible now relates to a very small group of angels gathered in a rather obscure place on the face of the earth. We are here to let the Kingdom come, and that is to let the creative cycle operate because of us, operate within the range of our own awareness, of our own understanding. And so there is a point of understanding in the total consciousness of mankind thereby provided.
Recently I used a passage from the Book of Revelation, related to the opening of the seals. The invitation was extended to “come and see”, so that something might be thereby understood, something that had before been obscure. To the extent that understanding comes the seal is evidently open—something is seen relative to the creative cycle which is in motion. Some things are described as to what happens by reason of the ordinary human reaction to what is moving from the standpoint of this spiritual creative cycle. Human beings react the way they do; they have been doing it for millennia. So it is not hard to predict what is to happen, as long as human beings behave in their human nature ways. What is predicted could immediately pass away if human beings are willing to let the Kingdom come. Clearly enough this has not been the case so far, and this is one of the reasons why we are here gathered: to let the Kingdom come. This requires that there be those present who have sufficient understanding to let themselves play the necessary roles. Our concern is to play those roles merely so that the creative cycle can operate effectively. And it does not much matter which roles we play, just so long as it allows the creative cycle to operate effectively. So we do not lay claim to certain roles. We just accept the role that is necessary at the particular time to allow the creative cycle to operate.
We have, by our very presence here, accepted individually whatever roles are necessary to let the Kingdom come. Do you agree with me on that point? We would not, any of us, be here present, properly, if this was not so. Our whole concern is to let the Kingdom come, to let this creative cycle move in a creative way within the range of our own experience. And when it is allowed to do this, it has been introduced in a creative way into the total experience of mankind. We are not separate from mankind. If we let it happen, then it is happening for everybody.
Now it is happening for everybody in the unfocused sense already, and there are the usual orthodox human reactions to it, described here in the opening of the seals. If we see this as the orthodox human reaction, we recognize that this has nothing to do with us; this is not our concern. We are concerned to play the role that allows the true creative cycle to be brought into creative expression because of us, and therefore we will not react to the creative cycle which is already moving in the orthodox human ways. Now we need to be alert to this because we have had a habit in times past of reacting to anything that happens in orthodox human ways. We have had some training and some experience of how not to do this, and to some extent, of how to do what is required, how to allow the characteristics of the spirit of God to be the basis for our expression.
We are not reacting to anything. We are merely permitting these natural qualities to flow easily in the expression of whatever roles we need to play. “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” It is so. It is hard, difficult, painful, and everything else, if we react in the orthodox human ways to what it is that is being brought to bear. Now we need to note that it is being brought to bear in a more specific sense here than it is being brought to bear in the consciousness of mankind as a whole. We have come together here for this purpose. Therefore it all comes to focus, and if we have the tendency to react in orthodox human ways, those tendencies will be emphasized, because everything is brought to focus. But if we have had sufficient background of experience, of moving easily in the current of the spirit, then that is intensified too, so that we can do this effectively in our Assembly pattern.
As you may recall, when the First Seal was opened something became apparent: “And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.” We were considering the creative command “Let there be light.” This creative process is initiated by God. The creative cycle is moving as He has initiated it. But then human beings proceed to react to it in their orthodox ways, and what ensues in the opening of the other seals—these first four seals particularly—is descriptive of the orthodox human reaction. The impact of the creative expression of this cycle is sensed as being a divine compulsion—most people don’t sense it that way, but there are those who do—and so on the basis of this that they interpret as a divine compulsion they proceed to apply themselves to the action which they deem to be necessary on the basis of orthodox human reaction.
There may have been a genuine impact initially, but then that has been turned into devious ways, so that human beings proceeded to act according to the orthodox structures that were already present. And if there is a need, apparently, for human beings to toe the line, for instance, in doing God’s will, then someone is going to mount his red horse, take sword in hand and require this. Imposition and manipulation immediately take over. Sometimes that imposition is physical imposition. Sometimes the sword is a real sword which draws blood. It may be the sword of somebody’s mouth—that draws a bit of blood too sometimes. But the intent is to proceed according to the orthodox human ways, to do what is deemed thereby to be necessary, because of the initial experience of the rider on the white horse. And so it goes into a tangent. The devil is still in control. And the red horse is succeeded by the black horse and the rider thereof, and finally the pale horse, and that’s that.
If we can see the nature of this cycle, then the seal apparently is open for us. The invitation was “Come and see.” Well what do we see? If we see these things we see how the creative cycle actually is in operation. There is the rider of the white horse—he is there—but also we see how human beings react to that, and how this distorted state of affairs is maintained. And the experience is repetitive. The same thing has happened over and over and over again, because human beings were governed by the devil, composed of all the mass of hereditary factors that are contained in human experience. And it has been worked out in such a way that many people think that they have great freedom of choice, and the devil encourages them to try to preserve this freedom of choice. That’s one of the “good” things that we should preserve. But by preserving it we preserve his rule. If we see the devil in these terms, we see how futile it is to try to destroy the devil. The only way you could destroy the devil would be to destroy all human beings on the face of the earth. Then all that mass of heredity would be gone—one way of getting rid of it. But as it was put, God is not willing that any should perish.
Therefore, if at times I speak rather forthrightly about the devil and the valuelessness of his kingdom on earth—which is civilization and everything else that human beings have made—that is one thing. I’m talking about the devil then. But if it comes down to handling specific situations there is always a human being on hand, the human being who is fronting for the devil perhaps. He may be doing this, but God is not willing that any should perish. So we do not try to destroy the devil, because if we did so, it would destroy that human being. So there is a different, more gentle approach when we are handling the specific situations that arise and are presented before us. If, as has been done by some, the attitude is taken relative to some individual, or perhaps group of individuals, that “what they are doing is absolutely meaningless,” there is a failure to discern what our purpose is. We are not trying to destroy human beings. We are willing to let the devil pass away any time, but he will only pass away to the extent that human beings are willing to let him pass away. This could happen in a moment if everybody was willing, but from my experience, there are very few human beings who are all that willing, even amongst the greatest of the responding ones.
The willingness to let the devil pass away in one’s own personal expression of life is repentance. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, all should be willing to let the devil pass away. Repentance does not particularly mean that all should feel badly. Just let the devil pass away! If in the passing away of the devil there is some bad feeling, well that is all right too, because you are simply interested in letting the devil pass away. So in handling people then, we do not come out with hard attitudes, which might well be taken if there was nobody in front of the devil. But seeing there is somebody there in front of the devil, you cannot do that. It has to be approached quite delicately.
As I before indicated, there are occasions of course when one has to ignore the human being in order to deal with the devil, because if one did not do that it would jeopardize something of the unfoldment of the true creative cycle as it was emerging now. There have been occasions in times past, when our ministry was somewhat more delicate—when it had to be protected. And so some people had to be dealt with on the basis of the fact that they were representing the devil and were thereby threatening the delicate shoot that was beginning to emerge through the soil. And so there have been some who were indeed dealt with that way and suffered the consequences. It is not that we could not deal with the devil, even though people were intervening. We could do it, but we remember that God is not willing that any should perish; so, except in emergency situations, we don’t do it.
We are here in representation of the MichaeltheArchangel, who contends with the devil over the body of mankind, and we do not bring railing accusation until we can get the devil isolated from the body of mankind. Then we can clobber him all we want. In the meantime, “The Lord rebuke thee.” It is a velvet glove and an iron fist underneath. In any case, we begin to see the way human nature behaves. We begin to understand what happens by reason of the fact of the creative cycle that is moving. There is an orthodox reaction, and human beings follow out step by step until they have eliminated themselves from the scene, until the pale horse has ridden the course. Now, having seen that, we cannot be fooled by it. We have no interest in following out that same cycle. We have no interest in the red horse, nor in grabbing a sword, but we stay with the white horse.
When the command was given, “Let there be light,” on the First Day of creation, that light persisted through all the subsequent days of creation. It was not a matter of moving out of the First Day, the light goes out, and now we have a firmament. No, the light is still there. There is the rider on the white horse. Now perhaps we can see this relative to our own experience now. The rider on the white horse had a bow—he had a bow and he had a crown. Here was authority, a crown was given unto him. But he also had a bow, and this could well correlate with the rainbow, symbolizing or representing all the colors of the spectrum. Everything was represented in the white light. “Let there be light.” It didn’t say, “Let there be red light,” or “blue light.” “Let there be light.” This has reference to far more than the visible spectrum, and far more than the rest of the spectrum of which human beings are aware. How could you say where the spectrum ends?—going in either direction, toward the end of the shorter and shorter waves or the longer and longer waves. Somewhere it gets beyond the scope of the human mind to encompass.
So there is a white horse, and we may find an application relative to the rider thereof, who has a bow and a crown, because something is represented of the spectrum of life by reason of your presence. It could be said that the bow is the Assembly, and there is a sense of authority which comes as there is association with the One who rides upon the white horse. We begin to share the LORD’s creative action. We begin to participate in the creative cycle that is moving in an understanding way, and the creative cycle carries the authority with it. No one is going to deflect it. It has the authority. We discover, as we are associated with that creative cycle, that we share that authority. We do not share it in the sense of beating our own chests and saying how important we are. The only thing that is important is the creative cycle, and we are humbly grateful for the opportunity of becoming aware of its importance, and of participating in its action. But it is acting whether we are participating in it or not. We do not make it act. But it is allowed to be brought to bear in particular creative ways when we are associated with it, both as individuals and as the bow covering this particular spectrum of life.
You may recall that at one point, when speaking of the easy yoke and the burden of light, that the Master had said, “I am meek and lowly in heart.” This relates to humility. When we see the vastness of the creative cycle which is moving throughout the whole universe—not just here on earth, but which is brought to a particular focus here on earth for particular purposes—you may be inclined to feel pretty small, but as I say, very grateful that we do have the opportunity of playing a particular part relative to the movement of this vast creative cycle in our immediate earthly setting. “I am meek and lowly in heart.” That is a good description of one’s own experience in playing the required roles. All too often roles have been misinterpreted, for one thing, and blown up into big things and accepted in a personal sense: “Now I am important in the ministry of the LORD on earth, because of the particularly important part that I am playing.” But we don’t play particularly important parts. The creative cycle moving plays a part of whatever importance it is, and if we let it move because we are present, that is our privilege. But we did not make anything important, we didn’t do anything; we just let it move, that’s all. And that, when we begin to see it, because the seals are being opened, keeps us humble.
It may appear at certain times that some individual part is important, but it does not make the individual important. It simply is the part that the individual is letting the creative cycle move with respect to, that is important. The creative cycle is all-important. And we begin to see the nature of God perhaps in a little different light. The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory characterize the nature of God. We could say that our experience of God is this: the extent of our experience of the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory, the extent of our experience of the creative cycle. Because this is what it is. This is descriptive of the creative cycle, and therefore descriptive of God. So we begin to find God is known because of the creative cycle. We can say, “God is the creative cycle. That is what God is.” Within the range of our experience of God, that is what God is. This is the same as saying the Word—the Word that is with God and the Word that is God. So we are not experiencing a person. We are experiencing the reality of what happens, the reality of what is going on, and that is the experience of God.
Insofar as our experience of a person is concerned—I am meek and lowly in heart. That is our personal experience. It does not promote us to become big people. If in our playing of a particular role some intensified aspect of the creative cycle is released because we are there, some human beings who look at it might judge that you were a big person because of that, but you know darn well you are not. You know it is not you. It is God in action. And God is absolute insofar as we are concerned—all Power, all Glory, all the Kingdom is His.
The words “He,” “His,” “Him” tend to make it seem as though He is a person—very big. The English language has its limitations, as all human languages do. There is no word available to describe God because God has remained unknown. He is nameless, indescribable, but certainly experienceable. And when we allow this creative cycle to work we are sharing the responsibilities of government, and we will find, as we let it happen, that certain creative processes occur.
It does not generate a red horse insofar as we are concerned, or a black horse, or a pale horse, or anyone to ride them. Something else happens. And it is as we participate in the actual experience of the happening that the true seal is opened for us. We know God on this basis, and it is not a matter of argument or belief or any of these things, which relate to the devil. But we share the experience of the action of the creative cycle on the basis of the roles that are required of us. And we will play a role as long as it is necessary to play that role, and then we will play another role. Some roles last a few seconds, some may last a thousand years; but whatever it is, we are quite willing to let the role be played, because thereby the creative cycle works, and we find ourselves identified with it, identified with God.
We may find ourselves in position to play some roles that we never even considered to be possible before, or even existed before, because the role puts in an appearance by reason of the fact that the creative cycle requires it of you in a given instant. Then you know what the role is; otherwise you don’t. We are not going to speculate as to what the roles will be for you, you and you. Let it happen, as we share in this creation of the New Heaven and subsequently the New Earth, although the New Earth is moving at the same time as the New Heaven is being created.
In the Book, we read, “Pray without ceasing”, and we recognize that only as we let that which is of the Spirit of Truth and the Fire of Divine Love, find manifest expression through us that we can fulfil that admonition. That unceasing prayer must be the expression of life; it must be the meditation of the heart; it must be the spirit of what we think, and say, and do.
It is our custom to conclude prayer with the words, in the Christ. I have sometimes wondered if the significance of those words was fully appreciated. If we are not in the Christ we cannot truly pray, and unless we are in the Christ we cannot receive the answer to our prayer. Only that prayer which is in the Christ has power, and only he who is in the Christ is in position to receive the answer to his prayer. Merely saying the words, “in the Christ” is of small avail. That which is signified by these words must be a reality in us if we are to know the power of God working in and through us on earth. What does it mean to be, in the Christ?
It is true that there are varying degrees of being in the Christ. An individual who may find himself engulfed in the whirlpools of darkness may, through response, find himself, in the twinkling of an eye, in the Christ, enfolded in Light, Love and Life, in Spirit and in Truth, so that he is lifted up into the Christ. Without attunement in the Christ, or actually being in the Christ, no individual can receive the answer to prayer, and the power of the Word in prayer is dependent upon its expression, in the Christ. Those who worship God in Spirit and in Truth, not merely with their lips, not merely with claims of belief, not merely by actions propounded by men, come to know what it is to live, in the Christ.
The direction of response is the direction of movement. What is it that controls us in any given deed, in any given act? That which, to the outer view, may seem to be a right act, to be condoned or encouraged or commended, may be done in a spirit and in an attitude, or for a reason, that makes it a wrong act. The reason for action, the motivation for the center of control, determines, basically, the rightness and the wrongness of action. So must the individual, through the Spirit, be attuned to the point of Higher Authority. That which we have called prayer is the process of maintaining that attunement.
There are tens of thousands of individuals on earth who sincerely, earnestly, seek to do the Will of God but obedience to that direction, in harmony with the central Will of God can be effectively made manifest only through those who act and receive, who speak and receive, in the Christ. Being thus tuned-in, they are a part of the expression of the Divine on earth, by means of which the Will of God is done on earth as it is done in Heaven. The instruments of accomplishment for the work of God on earth are comparatively few. Comparatively few are willing to devote themselves wholly, completely, entirely, to the accomplishment of the Divine Program on earth. The human mind can so easily find excuses for turning this way or that, so easily condone laxness of function in the Central Current of Reality.
What is the center of control in each word that is spoken, in each thought of the mind, in each act?—is it, in the Christ; or is it in the realm of human desire and human fancy? Prayer, to be prayer, must be, in the Christ, and he who is not in the Christ, or at least attuned in the Christ, cannot receive the answer to prayer. Moment by moment, day by day, we are either tuned-in or we are not. We are moving forward, individually and as a Unit. There is much in your unified endeavors and functions which I can properly commend, and I praise God for the fulfilment that is being made manifest in you and through you. To increase that fulfilment, to make that activity more effective that we may prove true to our responsibilities and worthy of those blessings which we have enjoyed, and do enjoy day by day, we need to be in-tune.
The Word that is spoken, in the Christ, must be received by reason of attunement, in the Christ. The Word of the Lord accomplishes that whereunto it is sent, but the fulfilment of that Word is, in the Christ. Human strength, human wisdom, in the human word not attuned, cannot avail in bringing fulfilment of the victory. The Word of God is sure and certain—in the Christ. The Power of God is absolute—in the Christ. And so it is that only as we worship Him in Spirit and in Truth can we know that attunement, in the Christ, by which we may come to abide in an expression of life abundant, in the Christ.
He came that our joy might be full, not to take joy away, not to subject us to slavery, but that we might enter into the Glorious Liberty of the Children of God, and that our joy might be full. And when human reactions are such that it sometimes appears as if human beings thought that God was trying to take away the joy of life and undertaking to establish some sort of bondage and slavery, the human being that begins to fight against the Spirit of God in order to maintain its independence and liberty, is, of all creatures, most truly bound by the chains of darkness, and subjected to imprisonment in the realm of the prince of this world.
When we speak or hear the Word, in the Christ, let us let it truly be so in us, for except we be in the Christ, the Word cannot find fulfilment in us. Only as we are in the Christ can we be members of that Body by means of which the Word is made flesh, to dwell among men and to draw them, by the irresistible cords of Love, into the Way, the Truth and the Life, that all who will may Worship God in Spirit and in Truth.
Beloved Master and Father of us all, we thank Thee that, through the outpouring of Thy Spirit, we are privileged to be in the Christ, so that Thy Word may accomplish that whereunto it is sent, in us and through us, for Thy Word shall not return unto Thee void, but shall accomplish that whereunto it is sent. In the Christ. Aumen
