-
"Raise your minds from the thoughts that seek to grieve,
for I would have you know that even as the body can
be triumphed over, so too can the enemies of the mind
be grappled with and despatched. Try during these sacred
hours of communion to come a little closer in touch
with joy of the heart.
-
"Perhaps this seems like folly but you can do it. There
are also many in the Spirit World who are anxious to
link with you that bright and glorious thing called
joy. Perhaps joy to you means something different to
us in the Spirit Realms. Unconsciously on earth it
is associated with material possessions and the company
of kindred minds. In fact, it can be expressed in modern
term as: 'having a good time'.
-
"But this is a very inadequate expression of a great
and wonderful gift. Certainly, to us, joy includes
the companionship of kindred souls. But that which
represents so much to you, if it were offered to us
would be regarded in the nature of a white elephant
- something cumbersome and in the way, something to
be discarded at the first opportunity.
-
"When you see with the eyes of the spirit, those things
to which I have referred seem painfully crude, ugly
and uninteresting. In the Realm of Spirit, the gifts
in our possession are the same as those you possess
in your sleep state. They are so superlatively refined
that in investigating their intricate wonders, the
mind is held and fascinated but as yet incapable of
grasping one tithe of what they represent.
-
"I would like to take you through the simple sentences
of the Lord's Prayer that contain the greatest wisdom
imaginable. Like all things precious, that wisdom has
to be sought for by the minds of those who wish to
love God.
-
"The words, as said today, are not the same as those
spoken by the Christ. As is the case with all translations,
the meaning of a word is changed here and there. Although
the meaning of the whole is not lost, yet the inflections
of the meaning of certain words lose in value by the
process.
-
"Unfortunately, in the first line - to the mind of
man - comes a sense of distance from the words: '…which
art in heaven'. In teaching the spiritually untrained,
it is essential to attract the mind away from the self
to those high reaches into which self can find no place.
This is a simple explanation of a very telling fact.
The Christ said: 'Our Father which art in heaven' in
order to separate the mind of His hearers from the
world and its main distractions, and to fix them on
a Supreme Being.
-
" - 'Hallowed be Thy Name' - is a mark of direct deference
from the child to the Father who loves him. It brings
into being the sacredness not only of His greatness
but also of the tie that links them together. 'Our
Father - Hallowed be Thy Name' shows love and adoration,
yet the 'Our Father' makes it impossible to separate
the child from His Creator.
-
"To the majority it seems that evil reigns alone and
that God in despair has turned aside. But that is quite
wrong. 'Thy kingdom come - Thy Will be done on earth
as it is in heaven' means that those who are faithful
shall see the first sign of God's rule upon the earth
and of His Will being carried out, stronger and more
dominant than any obstacle to this great privilege
that for so many years has been held in trust for man.
Those who wish to love and serve the Master shall indeed
see His Will being done upon the earth as it is in
Heaven.
-
"Accustomed as you are to think along lines of management
and contrivance you take this sentence literally, which
is not entirely incorrect. The daily bread to which
our Saviour referred was the food of the Spirit, which
gives all power, all peace, all reassurance, whatever
the day may bring, and whatever strain upon the body
that contains that which belongs to God. By praying
for this spiritual manna you are calling down upon
yourself those most precious gifts of Holy Spirit.
In so doing you are providing for the day in a material
sense because the children of God are not forsaken.
His Hand provides that which is necessary and those
that love the Master never go empty handed. They have
the necessities of life. It is the broken faith that
lets the evil in and that is the tragedy of it all.
-
"You are exhorted - for your own sakes - to tear out
of your hearts and minds the bitter fangs of unforgiveness.
As much is expected of the child as is forthcoming
from the Father. If you pray with sincerity to be able
to forgive those who have injured you, then on making
the crossing through the veil you shall see indeed
that the hurt that seemed to remain was by imagination.
-
" - 'Forgive us our trespasses' - again and again we
have to make this petition to the Father. It should
not be necessary for me to tell you that His loving
Heart never would or could shut us out. Over and over
again these spiritual battles go on in the heart and
mind of man. The higher side cries out to be free from
the lesser and yet that lesser at times appears to
be the stronger, and anguish follows as a natural result.
-
"In spite of the clamour of the physical mind, God
hears the cry of the Spirit within and never ceases
to help and encourage it to get free. Do not he disheartened
by these battles. They seem so terribly destructive
to you, as if in a few short hours they had the power
to pull out the bricks of the foundation of your faith
so that the whole would topple to the ground. This
is the trial of those who wish to do better. To those
who do not wish to do better, the tragedy does not
seem so intense. Do try and read between the lines
and strive more earnestly to gather in some faint conception
of the love and compassion of your Father.
-
"God came down to earth as the Christ as man, to lead
His children out of temptation into the safety and
protection of holiness. It is at this time when the
help of your loving Father is needed the most and given
unstintingly. Strength for the spirit is readily available,
courage to go forward - even in great depths of despair
- and the love and the light of a loving Father surrounds
each one of His children watching over them as they
traverse this dangerous ground.
-
"Here you have the revelation of the Christ as the
Saviour of the world. Christ has indeed delivered us
from evil. He is going to prove to suffering humanity
that evil has to give before the power of God.
-
"The word kingdom suggests Ruler. God does indeed rule
over all, even in rebellious hearts His rule is wonderfully
strong. Again and again His love gets through separating
the spirit from the wilful mind, surprising even its
owner by feelings and aspirations for which he has
no explanation. This has happened within the frailest
and the vilest, even those who have deliberately turned
from good to evil. Now and again the love of God breaks
through and in the compassion shown to an animal, or
one sunk in greater misery than themselves, so the
spirit within is demonstrated for all to see - all
who wish to find God in everything and everywhere.
'For this is the kingdom, the power and the glory'.
Think of these words because they seek to convey the
joys of eternity, the perfect unity between man and
his Creator in those bright days that shall come, for
it is ordained. It will be just as day pushes aside
the night, the sun in the heavens, by its very strength
and brightness shall banish all thought of what has
been because in the present is the power and the glory
that is of God.
-
"God's kingdom is for ever. There is no end to His
creation, worlds known and unknown, seen and unseen,
plane upon plane of consciousness, universe within
universe and continuous creation going on and on for
ever. Continuous, never ending love. So may it be.
-
"Words are not of so much importance as you might think.
When you say this prayer, or any other. we over here
do not receive the actual words as they are repeated.
You understand it as the spirit and intent behind the
words, and to a degree you are right. Behind the motive
of your prayer lies the past experience of the soul
that counts enormously.
-
"When you pray, the spirit within - which perhaps has
had a terrible uphill fight - is seeking to express
itself; while you are only conscious of a tired mind,
a sense of distance from the Christ, and a feeling
of separatism from the veneration and holiness that
you think should be the setting of prayer.
-
"Remember this, that which the spirit has taken on
lies behind the prayer that is uttered. You shall find
hereafter that because you wished to pray aright, the
prayer was right in the sight of God. Because you wished
to contact with holiness, holiness was able to draw
near, and because you wished to pray from your heart,
that prayer counts not only from the heart but far,
far deeper than that - from the great well of Spirit
that is so deep that the echo is not received by the
mind of the body and much grieving is caused by the
consequence.
-
"God understands everything and everyone. Prayer to
Him is not a matter of words but of the wish to rise,
and the longing to be free, and the effort that is
put into the struggle to achieve this great and glorious
end.
-
"Hold on to that which is highest. Wish to be, as God
would have you to be. Pray for strength. In God's Name
strength will be given you and you shall be free indeed.
Hold on to the staff of faith that never fails to support
- if only the grip is there.
