This
week's message is taken from the work of W. Frederick Keeler,
specifically from his book, "Christian Victory
Instruction." It is an instruction on how to commune with
the Intelligence, Power and Spirit that for lack of a better word, Is
G-d. It provides us a "way" in which to receive
through prayer by "asking-believing" what we select.
This book was edited by Alma M. Morse. I am presenting this
material without modification. Note: The author refers to
G-d as He, Him and Father which was customary for the period in which
this material was written,1945. There is a powerful lesson here
for those willing to seek it.
Editor's
note: The Practice of the Presence of God is the fundamental
method for all who would develop the Spiritual Powers. Out of it
comes: Healing, Guidance and Intuitive Knowing; the "Higher
Mysticisms"; also genius and invention. It is simply the
continual referring all matters to the Presence in constant
inter-communion. That is the highest Good in our daily
living.
To heal the troubles of life, all of them, there is one basic
method. This method in its first conception, and under one
all-inclusive term is The Practice of the Presence of God.
No untoward, no unpleasant thing can occur in the Presence of God.
God can only Love and Create. He cannot defile nor, of course,
can He be defiled. Sin, sickness, disease, hatred, bias,
contempt cannot occur when we are before Him consciously.
If we are to picture Him sitting in His court as King of the Universe
we could not imagine other than serenity as being before Him.
Whatever transpired there, would occur in Peace, Poise, Happiness and
Security. The place, the state, the occurrences would be
perfect. All this of course is not actually a picture because
there is no possibility of picturing Serenity. We can
nevertheless picture serene people. We could picture a happy
occasion. The occasion would then out-picture the happiness -
that is, Happiness as Reality would register within people and become
manifest in the situation before us.
So it is that the things of God, the powers and qualities of our
Creator can and do register within us, and upon our lives.
God can only register Life and the true things of Life upon us or upon
our daily existence for us.
The things of Life are states, conditions, powers. We know these
as Principles. God must certainly exist, live and move in
Peace. Peace is one of His Principles. It is a phase of
God's Goodness.
We cannot think of God without thinking of Peace. The further
fact is that we cannot think of God, Our Father, the Creator of the
Universe, without being in Peace.
To come into the consciousness of God, is to come into Peace.
The more we are conscious of God, the more Peace we have. But a
far more correct statement is, the more Peace we are.
Where there is real life there is Peace. It is equally and
axiomatically true that where there is Peace there is real Life.
If we knew perfect Peace we would know God. If we knew God we
would know perfect Peace. But we must go further with
this. To know Peace we must be peaceful. To be peaceful we
must be Peace itself. We only know that which we are. We
are that which we know.
All of this reasoning is an exercise of "Christian
metaphysical" consciousness. In it our consciousness is
active. It is active about God and about Peace. Should we
continue this activity, this thinking of and about God, we will arrive
at Peace. MORE THAN THAT WE
WILL ARRIVE IN THE PRESENCE.
God is always present. We are before Him and with Him
always. No man can escape his Creator.
But the conscious Presence of God is another thing. We could be
beside a river and know little of it. We can ignore almost
anything. Some people rarely look at the sky, but it is there
all the time. The sky is also beneath our feet, although we
cannot see it, because we cannot look through the earth to its other
side. We have to reason that the sky is there, and no one can
deny that it is there.
So it is with God. He is here, there, everywhere. One way
and the best way to come into the Powers that God has for us is to PRACTICE
BEING CONSCIOUS OF THE FACT THAT HE IS PRESENT.
The thousands of stars became known to those who spend hours looking
at them, studying them, being consciously present with them by
directing their thinking mind toward them.
Dwelling mentally upon a thing makes us acquainted with it. We
must associate with that which we wish to understand. The man
who loves dogs comes to understand dogs. And he understands dogs
because he loves them, thinks of them, and relates with them.
If we love God we come to understand Him. If we understand Him
we understand His great Powers and we come into and under His Laws and
subject to their great Protection.
We come to see and know those things to which our mind is directed.
Because of all this, we find that to practice being conscious of God
brings us into His powers and abilities.
We practice the presence of God by thinking about Him. the
simplest way to do this is to think and act just as though He were
actually present.
What would you do now, this moment, if God were present? Very
well, He is present. Do it.
If you are sitting you would find yourself sitting more at ease should
you think of God as being present.
Practice this, and you will find that all nervous tension will
disappear. You will relax. At the same time you will be
more awake. You will not be able to think disagreeable thoughts
while you think of this Presence. You cannot do both. You
will think of God and His Goodness. One cannot worry and think
of God at the same time.
Therefore to practice the Presence is absolutely to heal one of
worry. This becomes so remarkable and extends so far into our
lives that when we can practice the Presence perfectly, we come to
know why we should not and need not worry. And the knowing of
why we should not and need not worry is the answer to our
problem. In other words, the practice of the Presence becomes
Direct Knowing.
Direct Knowing of what?
The Direct Knowing of that which will solve the problem you have been
having in your mind.
This is because God Knows and when you come to Him in Peace, that
Peace which comes to you is your Peace and God's Peace at the same
time. It is God's Peace for you. And in God's Peace for
you is the Knowing and the Healing of all things for you.
All this that I am saying is perfectly logical.
We have a Creator or we would not be here.
Having a Creator, He knows all about us and what is best for us or He
would not have created us.
Thinking as though you were in the Presence of God is the most simple
kind of thinking and the most powerful thinking.
But most of us have a false habit of believing that we must do
something in the nature of a great or mysterious mental stunt in order
to come into the full powers of being.
To practice the Presence will cure us of such nonsense and will show
us the way.
He who approaches God habitually in consciousness will surely
experience healing and will come into a guided wisdom.
To practice the Presence by thinking in special prayer times, we
simply do our best to rest alertly in His Peace. In thought we
dwell upon and within His Peace. We endeavor to think as He
would like to have us think.
He is our Father, our Protector, the One who loves us. We praise
Him. We sit before Him in Peace. We offer Him the good
things of our heart and of our thoughts.
In turn we accept from Him the Good Things He has for us.
At first we do this very simply but we find that a sort of science
develops within it all. We speak. We rest. We listen
with our hearts, not with our ears, and He speaks to us in Spirit, in
intuitional ideas. It becomes prayer and answer-to-prayer and we
find that our troubles dissolve. Not only does our troubled mind
become more calm, more perfectly at Peace, but our whole life changes,
and everything about us changes for the better. Friends come
into our lives, and things that are easily recognizable as being
better for us occur.
Within a reasonable time we prove that we are dealing with a
tremendous Law of Good, for our good, for God's Good, and for the good
of everyone. No one can deny this, nor does any one ever deny it
who has really and repeatedly tried it.
We soon learn that we cannot blame God, nor demand of Him because it
becomes very apparent that we increasingly share with Him the very
powers of Life.
This does not mean that one or two or a dozen attempts of this kind
will accomplish all this. But it does mean that it will all
occur perfectly according to our ability actually to come into the
Presence. It is something to be learned and it is something God
will help us learn. IN FACT,
HE WILL GIVE US THE PERFECT ABILITY TO COME INTO THE PRESENCE IF WE
PERSIST IN THE SEEKING.
You can act as though you were in the Presence. This practice
consists of doing that which you are doing as though God were present,
as though you were actually before Him.
AT FIRST DO NOT TRY TO DO THIS ALL
THE TIME.
Decide to make a business of doing some simple act for a short time in
the Presence, and do it as perfectly as possible.
Suppose you are taking a walk. Take this walk, or a short part
of it, as far as you easily can, as though you were walking before
Him. You will find that it will change your entire state of
mind, and that afterwards flashes of inspiration and revelation may
come. In fact, you can definitely Choose that new, original and
genius-like talents will unfold and that new convictions will come to
you.
Results will also come as improved changes in voice, language, manner,
and personality. One such mental sitting in the Presence can
completely eliminate a cold, even for beginners. Its
possibilities are without limit.
To return to your walk: you will find that any awkwardness or
peculiarity will tend to disappear after a few trials. But
always, he who practices the Presence should attend to its main
tenet. Give little attention to details. Keep in the
Presence. Bring your body into the Presence. Bring
whatever act you may be doing into the Presence. Bring your
loved one, or the one you wish healed, into the Presence. Ask
for the things you wish that God would give you, but ask gently.
And of all things, praise. Praise Him. Should you be in
the Presence of God with complete consciousness, the grandeur would be
so great that you would Praise Him and you could only Praise
Him. Well, praise Him, give thanks to Him from where you are in
your own consciousness. Turn to Him. Fix your mind upon
Him as best you may. Do this always easily and peacefully.
Let there be no emotionalism. Keep your poise. Accept His
Poise. Keep His Poise.
When you finish, especially at first, be done consciously and
completely. Nevertheless recall yourself to the Presence as
often as you can or will during the day.
Pick up that pin as though you were doing it for Him. Tie that
package for Him. Eat for Him. Live with Him for the moment
until these moments become your days, and your days become His days.
AND
SO IT IS!
Keep
the
faith!
Rev.
Henry Bates
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