I think a lot of people have a hard time being a friend, not that they do not want to be friendly. It’s just that they don’t know how. To be a friend I think that we should learn to assess the needs of the other person and then be to them what they need. It seems that quite often we think the other fellow needs just the thing that we have to give, merely because we believe that it is right and it works for us. Maybe this is true and maybe it isn’t, but we should be sure before we talk. Sometimes we are apt to talk at great length to someone, and have a sincere desire to be a friend within our heart, and the only impression we get across is that we are “preachy” and think we have all the answers. This isn’t true in a lot of cases, but if the one to whom we are talking thinks it is, then all of our effort is lost. Our good intentions somehow didn’t get through. There are many people who are lonely, people who know the Lord and people who don’t know the Lord. There are many people with heartaches--people who know the Lord and people who don’t know the Lord. All of them need friends, but not all of them know how to be a friend. Being a friend is everyday living, not just sometimes when you visit someone. Wives and husbands and children need friends, and being a friend is everyday living right in the home. A man comes home from work. Whether he has worked hard or not doesn’t really matter. He’s been away a long time and the time is twice as long if he loves his family. He comes home and he likes to have his wife “talk to his heart.” Sometimes this isn’t done with just words--it’s done with, maybe a touch or a look, or it maybe the tone of voice that carries the message. The tone, the look, or the attitude communicates more effectively than words. It’s the same with a man. He can growl or kick the cat, or he can be understanding of his wife’s needs. She’s had a hard day too. And it’s the same with others. We must learn to understand their needs. Sometimes there is more communication in silence than ten thousand words no matter how well intended they were. What people want and need is to know they have a friend, not a phonograph. I think this kind of understanding should be the aim of every Christian. He can tell others of Christ more effectively if he learns when to be silent and just be around, and when to talk, and what to say. Too many people have been turned from the church and discounted Christianity because all people knew how to do was talk. They didn’t know how to listen or just say, “How are the kids” Or, “Boy, I’m tired, how about you?” Or maybe just be quiet and be available. Their heart was in it, but they talked without knowing the need that was to be supplied. To be a friend is the greatest joy we can experience. To be a Christian is the basis of all life; but to share this gift of love with someone else brings a joy that knows no bounds. Being a Christian is not just going to church and singing songs, and listen¬ing to the preacher, and telling someone else what they should do, but being a Christian is washing the dishes, washing the car, going to work, cleaning the house, visiting the lonely, and just being a friend everyday.

There is not such a great gulf between those who believe the doctrine of the Trinity and those who believe that God is one. The doctrine of the Trinity opens the door to harmony by saying, “These three are one.” The Trinity tries hard to explain God but it runs into the same difficulty that has always been encountered when explaining the things of God--carnal understanding. Flesh just can’t know the things of God (1Cor. 2: 11). Trinity is inadequate and admits it! After fashioning minds to accept the “Personages” of God they turn around and in effect say, it wasn’t so because these three are one. The doctrine of “oneness” stops short of things too. They feel that the one and only God is Jesus Christ and that is His name! It is true this is the only name by which we know God. You see, God never had a name, but God is not contained in a name either. I would like to suggest that we look further into what the Bible says in regard to “Oneness.” I know of no other word to use; but by using the term “Oneness,” I do not refer to the doctrine of Oneness. I might as well define what I do mean. Oneness is not only Jesus being made one with God, but it is the believer being made one with God as well. The understanding of this is where the flesh falls short every time. I feel the truth of this Oneness is quite evident throughout the Bible. Jesus prayed to the Father and said, “That they all may be one, as thou Father art in me and I in thee, that they also maybe one in us.”--John 17:21. There is no thought of merely being “in accord with” or of having a “singleness of purpose” as some would have us believe. One is just a number, not many, just one. So when I use the term “Oneness,” that is what I mean. It is my desire that these words will help to establish harmony between those two groups of people who believe the doctrine of the Trinity and the doctrine of Oneness. These words are meant to “put together” not “take apart.” I can put together only by talking about the Spirit of God, because it is only in the Spirit that we are made one. Here, again, I must define my words: Spirit is God--not part of God, but all of God. The Spirit is the Father God that Jesus represented. “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”-- John 1:1. There is no disputing the fact that Jesus was the Word because the Bible plainly states, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”--John 1: 14. In Jesus dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form (Col. 2:9). It is extremely difficult for me to consider how God, the Father (as a person) could dwell within God, the Son, another person, but I can understand a Spirit dwelling in a person. “And the Word was God.” The Word,” (Logos in the Greek) does not suggest a person. God is not so easily defined. Logos is a dynamic thought, not man’s thought. It is the dynamic, or expression of Divine thought, that existed in the beginning that was made manifest to us in the form of the flesh so we could see it. “We beheld His Glory…”--John 1: 14. When I look to the flesh, the only thing I can see is Jesus. It is not the flesh that is God; it is that which is in the flesh--the motivating force (Spirit) that is God. God entered the flesh because through Jesus He could express Himself in such a manner that man could understand. God dwelt in Jesus. Jesus’ flesh was made alive by God. Herein He was the Son of God. The believer’s flesh is also made alive because God dwells in the believer (Rom 8: 11). The same thing that made Jesus the Son of God makes us the Son of God. There came a time when Jesus gave Himself up to the Father. He is no longer in the flesh; he gave that up so we might also become Sons. While He was in the flesh, God was in Him reconciling the world to Himself. Now He has committed unto us the words of reconciliation (2 Cor.5 19). As God worked in Christ, He now works in us, both planning and doing what He desires (Phil. 2:13. We can look to Jesus in the flesh and see Him as the Son; and because we are flesh we can see, and in a measure, comprehend the great compassion and love that He showed forth to those about Him. But because we believe Him, we have received a new dimension of Life by God’s Spirit dwelling within us. We have the privilege and favor of being with Him in the place of glory that was His when only God was, or as the Bible says, “Before the world was.”-- John 17:5. This is the place of our Spiritual abiding; it is the place in the Father’s house that Jesus prepared for us. It is the place in which He received us to Himself so we could be where He is. It is the fulfillment of this prayer that He expressed to the Father, “Father, I WILL that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me.--John 17:24 All of this transpires in God. This Oneness is in the Spirit--it is not in the flesh. In the flesh I am a Son of God, with God’s Life in me. But when one sees his position in God, he will inevitability come to the conclusion that God is all in all and that in Him we have all been made one (Eph 1: 10). Jesus spoke in recognition of two things. He spoke, recognizing His position as a Son in the flesh, and He spoke recognizing His Oneness with God in the Spirit. Consider these remarks: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30, or “Before Abraham was, I AM.”--John 8:58, or “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.”--John 14:9. These are Spiritual facts because they recognize a position found only in God. Then speaking from His position in the flesh, as a Son of God, He said, “All that the Father hath told me, I have told you.”--John 15:15; and again, “The words I speak are not my own, but the Father who dwells in me.”--John 14: 10. There are many words which Jesus uttered that become understandable only when we consider this duality within Jesus, but to suggest the thought is, for the moment, enough. Jesus reigned as the Son, until He put all enemies under His feet--even death (1 Cor.15:26). When God raised Jesus from the dead, He gave Him an incorruptible body so at this time there did exist two Gods—God, the Father, and God, the Son. Let’s consider these things for a moment: Jesus was resurrected from the dead. He had a material body. It was one having form and substance--it was not Spirit. He was emphatic about that. He said, “A Spirit does not have flesh and bone as ye see me have.”--Luke 24:39. Death no longer had any power over Him, He now could live forever. Jesus could have restored the Kingdom to Israel or do anything He wanted to because He had triumphed over all things. He was Lord of all (Acts2:36). Jesus had received the nature of God, the Life of God, the power of God. He literally was all of God in the flesh (Co1.2:9). But there was a God who was Spirit too! What would have happened if this condition continued? To understand this you must understand somewhat of the nature of man. The Bible is quite plain when it comes to exposing at least one of the weaknesses of the flesh. Flesh CAN NOT SEE, nor will it BELIEVE, anything outside its own realm (Rom 8: 7). Therefore flesh can’t understand or believe God, who is Spirit. Jesus could have remained in the flesh and all men would have flocked to Him. They would have beheld His miracles, and argued His wisdom, but THEY WOULD NOT HAVE KNOWN THE FATHER GOD, who is Spirit. No man can truly know Jesus without knowing God! Yet there were those who claimed to know Him. “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?” By their very words they showed forth their ignorance of who Jesus really was. Jesus said if they had known the Father they would have known Him; but because they knew Jesus only AFTER THE FLESH, they did not know the Father. Had Jesus continued to exist in the flesh, no man would have known God. Although the fullness of God dwelled within the body of Jesus, man did not see God; they only saw another man, one possessed of powers beyond their comprehension, but a man nevertheless. They did not perceive the Spirit. The whole plan of God would have crumbled at this point if Jesus had not given Himself to the Father. Jesus was to reconcile man unto God and man was not reconciled. His place of abiding was not yet prepared. The Holy Spirit (God) did not dwell within man. Here is the paradox that would have happened if Jesus had stayed “in the flesh.” Men would have believed Him because of His works--things they could see. This is the thing that Nicodemus based his belief on (John 3:2). But because Jesus spoke not of Himself, but of God, men could not believe because God is Spirit and no man can understand the things of God--only the Spirit knows the things of God (1 Cor.2: 11). So Jesus had to go away if man was ever to know and abide in God. The fullness of God dwelled within Jesus, and only Jesus. Had Jesus remained in the flesh, no man could ever have had the Life of God within Him because God had already committed Himself. He had given Himself to this man Jesus in whom He was well pleased. He was satisfied. He had found the man worthy of His love. God loved the world to such an extent that He gave Jesus over to Satan (death) and let Him go through the torments of hell, just so we would not have to taste the penalty of sin. What a tremendous thing this is! He was forsaken by God, which IS the penalty of sin, then God raised Him from the dead and rescued Him from hell. He gave Him authority over all things and in effect said, “It’s up to you.” Now the final test of love was up to Jesus. God had lifted Him up above all principalities and all power and made Him Lord of all. He could have established Himself in this world or He could have established us in God. He desired that we know God as He knew Him, so His prayer was, “Make them one, Father, EVEN AS we are one.”--John 17:21 He tried to explain this to the disciples. He said that He was in the father and the father was in Him (John 14:10). Jesus knew the futility of trying to make the disciples understand this amazing thing, but He told them about it anyway. “I have told you about these things before they come to pass so that when they come to pass, you might believe.”--John 14:29. He said that the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things (John 14:26). He would bring to mind the words that they were hearing now and they would understand. “At that day,” Jesus said, “Ye shall know that I am in the Father, and He is in me, and I am in you.”-- John 14:20. In order for this to happen He had to go to the father. This is what He had started to tell His Disciples. It was disturbing news to them. They sensed a termination of their relationship with Jesus in the flesh; but they had no inkling of the NEW, and more COMPLETE LIFE, that was in store for them in the Spirit, and they were troubled. “Let not you heart be troubled,” Jesus said, “You believe in God, believe also in me. I go to prepare a place for you and when it is prepared I will come again and receive you unto myself so that where I am there you may be also.”--John 14:3. But Jesus knew that when He left, the world would see Him no more. He also knew why He was going to give Himself over to the Father, (no man can see God). But He also knew (as no one else had ever known, because He experienced it) that when God had given a man Spiritual Life He also gave him Spiritual eyes. So He told His disciples, “In a little while ye shall see me no more, and yet, in a little while ye shall see me because I go to My Father. Because I live you shall live also.”--John 16:16. He promised them, “I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you.” Then He told them plainly, “It is necessary for your sake that I go away because if I don’t go away the comforter will not come”--John 16:7 If the Comforter did not come, we could never have the Life of God. There would be no such thing as a New Birth because that comes only because Jesus prepared our dwelling place in God. Had the Holy Spirit not come, we could never have known the things of God (1 Cor.2:12), but Jesus did go away! The world will see Him NO MORE, but we see Him because where He is, there we are also. We can behold His Glory because we are hid with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). Listen to the words of the Bible: “And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him that God may be All in All.”--1 Cor.15:28) This has already been done! All things were put under Jesus feet! This is the ultimate--One God! Man has come into the knowledge of the One God by Jesus Christ. God extended Himself into the realm of flesh by Jesus Christ and man’s ears heard God’s Word from His lips. He came from God and we called Him the Son of God. Remember Jesus had said that the Father is greater than I. He returned to God so that we might know beyond all doubt that there is but One God. He came from God and He returned to God (Spirit) so that we might be one with God. He returned to God so that the Comforter, the Holy Spirit (God Himself), could dwell within us and we would know no division! Had Jesus not given Himself to the Father, there would have been two Gods--one Spirit and one flesh. Man cannot worship two Gods! One cannot worship the man Jesus and worship God at the same time. “God is Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.”-- John 4:23. Jesus was the first born among many brethren; and because of His love for us, we are made accepted in the beloved. We live in the Father because Jesus lives in the Father. He has given us the Holy Spirit so we may know that all He has said is true. This is our guarantee! I hope now that you have begun to see how Jesus has taken us beyond the limits of persons and places and things and placed us in Himself. The Bible says that we are not of this world even as Jesus was not of this world (John 17: 14). Our Life is no longer of the flesh--flesh divides, and we are not divided. Flesh cannot please God--that’s why we are new creatures (literally a new creation). We are made this way because God dwells in us. “Ye are not in the flesh if so be the Spirit of God dwells in you.”--Rom 8:9. It is through Jesus that we entered into oneness in God. Jesus said, “No man cometh to the Father but by me.”-- John 14:6. He gave Himself to the Father that God maybe the only God. Then because Jesus asked Him, God gave Himself to everyone who believes Jesus. Because we believe, we have entered into God! There should be no contention between those who believe the doctrine of the Trinity and those who believe that God is One. Our understanding of God should go beyond the limits of the flesh and be enlightened by the only God, who is Spirit. The doctrine of the Trinity is a good place to start; but not to stop. We must go further! If Jesus had stopped and not given Himself to God, no man could have eternal life. On the other hand, had He not been a faithful Son, we would not have an abiding place in God. My desire is that we know the Son and His relation to the Father, that we will understand the love that caused the Son to give Himself to the Father; and above all, that we today, right now, KNOW AND ACCEPT OUR POSITION IN GOD! There should be harmony with our brethren who believe that God is One. They too must go on to understand that as God is One so are they, in Christ. To be one with God is the miracle of Salvation. We are made to be a NEW CREATION while we are yet in this mortal body. We must reckon ourselves to be dead to sin. We must consider our lives (our desires in this world) to be no more, because it is God who is now working in us. He plans what is to be done, and He is the only one who can do it. He is our place of rest. When we are willing to listen to God and let Him work, when we are willing to say, “Not my will, but thine be done,” we are in a position to learn more of God than we can ever imagine.

This is how I feel--not the feeling in my flesh, but that feeling in my Spirit. That is the real part of me. In this Spirit part of me there is no desolation, there are no fears; all is at rest. It is not a rest that is but for a moment; it is a rest always; it is a rest complete. This Spirit portion of me absolutely knows the strength of God; and because God is strong, my soul rests. I have rest in my soul because it is God that does the work. There is peace and thanksgiving because my soul has found this rest. I can not enjoy this rest when I become careful of many things. Whenever I begin to do something that I think is work for the Lord, whether it is physical activity or mental thought, I become fretful and disturbed. I become driven with my own lack of knowledge and understanding. There is no rest within me at times like this, and so I must say that these ways are not of God. I learn from God without conscious thought, and I never learn from God when I consciously try to think and say I will learn this or that. This used to bother me, but now I have found that when I cease from my trying, then God impresses His thoughts upon my mind; then my mind has received something for which it did not work. I have been made conscious of God’s thought because I had no thought of my own. This amazing turn of events used to bother me. I would say, “How do I know this is of God?” Then, as I saw the Word, I realized how foolish I was. I desired to learn of God, I was born of the Spirit, and God’s Spirit was within me. The reason God’s Spirit was within me was to teach me. It was not just to make me feel good. It was to reveal God and to teach me about Him. God’s Spirit is not bound to my senses; so what more natural way for God to teach me, then just to make what my mind would call an “impression.” I have learned that God teaches me in this fashion. I never receive these impressions unless my mind is at rest. I have become weary from trying to learn, from studying, and just plain disciplining myself. I did not want to give up, and yet I couldn’t feel that this driving that I felt was quite right. I figured that if I did not keep at it, I would be a slacker and never receive anything from God. Yet, as it was, I was in desolation; there was no quickening of God’s Word within me. At times like this my mind would become so tired that I would just “let go” for a bit, and not struggle and strive. It was at these times of rest that I received these impressions from God, and His Word became very real. It was vibrant with an aliveness that my mind could never conjure. Then it was that many things became plain, and the things of God seemed so much more enlarged. These things came to me without any effort on my part. I could not see how they were connected with my thoughts or abilities in any way. The only thing I knew is that when God’s Word became alive to me in this fashion, I was very conscious of the closeness of God and of His care for me. There would be no doubt to plague me until I began to analyze it with my mind; and then all of the sanctity would break down, and it would become a dead thing. It was because of this that I came to realize that my mind was evil continually. Then I saw the meaning of the words that I had read so often in the Bible. “Capture your mind, renew it, and bring it to the place of obedience to Christ.” I began to see in so many ways how God works through me. For instance, I learned that there was no struggle to follow the leading of the Spirit and speak in tongues; and yet, for many years I had thought that it required perseverance and sacrifice on my part. Then I found that there was no struggle at all. I found this rest in other things pertaining to God--in Interpretation and Prophecy, and many other things. But my mind still kept the “Moses Seat;” and wherever my mind ruled, Christ did not, and in that thing I had no rest. So I found at my place of rest was a place where I ceased from my own efforts of trying to figure things out, of ceasing to worry about what people would say or think. I found that for me, it was a place where I worried about nothing. There was no need to worry because my God said that He would take care of me. I found that this was not only my place of rest, but it was my place of revelation. It was here that I learned from God. I would offer my mind to God and He would breathe His thoughts upon it. I was not swept off my feet by the strength of my revelation; indeed many times I did not even know God was there. I had thought it was a trick of my subconscious mind and that I had just recalled something that I had previously known. But my knowledge never gave me the sense of peace and sureness that these times of revelation gave. Gradually I came to know the leading of God. I don’t call it “imagination” any more; I will not give the flesh credit for establishing my faith--only the hearing of God’s Word does this. So I say, “Thank You, Jesus,” and live in His peace. My mind has developed an awful habit of wanting to figure things out, and I suppose one of the most pleasing compliments someone could give me is to say I have a sharp mind. But one thing I absolutely must face is that my mind is not Spirit; it knows not the things of the Spirit, and therefore it can not generate faith in God. My soul has been created a Spiritual-living thing in Christ; and it is in my soul that I receive things from God. If I wish to know the peace of God and live in the place of rest that God has provided for me, then I will capture my mind and say, “Come, let us learn from the Lord.”

The word acknowledge* is used in the following scripture: “In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy path.”--Prov.3:6 To me, this is a very wonderful thing--that my whole life can be directed by God. But I have a responsibility too. It’s found in this word acknowledge. What does it mean? I looked it up in the dictionary and it’s even better than I thought. It says: l. To admit as true Isn’t that wonderful! First of all, we are to admit that God is true--in all our ways. To acknowledge Him is to say, “He is true.” That gets us off to a good start. If we don’t acknowledge that He is true, we might as well not go any further. If we did, we would be entering an area of doubt, and doubt is not in the world in which I wish to live! So, in all thy ways admit that He is true, and He shall direct thy path. 2. To recognize the authority of The Bible uses such wonderful words, doesn’t it? Most people are satisfied to use a word in only a small part. But here is acknowledge, a word with several usages; but the Bible makes full use of the word. If God is true, then it naturally follows that He has authority. We would say, “Of course, God has authority.” But the real question is: Are we willing to recognize His authority in all ways of our life? Again, it breaks down to a simple truth: God can only direct us when we do recognize his authority. Too often we say we recognize His authority, but we don’t, because we modify things with our own reasoning. In all thy ways--recognize the authority of your God--and He shall direct your path. 3. To respond to Again the full usage of the word astounds me. Naturally no one can direct my path unless I followed their direction. Yet, how often have I cried for God’s guidance when all the while I refused to respond to his Word. I wanted my own ideas to come about. But here again, I can see a wonderful progression. If I recognize that God is true, and I recognize God’s authority then, I must ask myself, “Should not I respond to Him?” So, in all my ways, I must respond to God and He will direct my path. 4. To state that one has received notice This does not state one will receive; rather, it says that one has received! That’s faith. I suppose that our greatest hindrance to our Spiritual rest is the fact that we feel we must see what we call “concrete evidence” before we are willing to say, “I have received.” We feel that we are only being honest when we adopt this attitude. I can not really say I have acknowledged God’s Word unless I say, “I have received it,” because God’s Word says that I have received. My flesh will say, “Not so!” But my God says, “It is so.” Therefore, it’s best that I say “Flesh, you are a liar, only God’s Word is true.” So, in all thy ways, say that you have received from the Lord, your God, and He shall direct thy path. 5. To express thanks for This rounds out the definition of the word acknowledge. Isn’t it beautiful? How full the Word is! To acknowledge God means: I know you are true. I recognize your authority. I respond to you. I have received from you. And now I thank you. There’s not much more to say, so in all thy ways, give thanks to your God, and He shall direct thy path. *Webster’s New Word Dictionary (1967), School and Office Edition

Many times I have been asked to give an example of acting on God’s Word. I have found this a rather difficult thing to do. It has to do, as I see it, primarily with your attitude. The Word of God makes a statement. It is not a wishful thing, but a clean cut positive statement of fact. This fact, however, is not clear to our natural mind; we can not reason out the logic back of this statement, therefore, in ourselves, it is hard to know how to act. An example to me that is outstanding occurred when my Dad died. This question of acting on God’s Word came up in my Bible class on a Monday. God’s Word came to me and I told my class to notice it. We read, “Surely, He has borne our grief and carried our sorrows.”--Isa.53:4. I told my class that this was not a wishful statement, but that it was very plain, and that the way to put this in operation was to actively think about that when conditions of sorrow and grief would engulf them. Sorrow and grief is something that we do not take upon ourselves. It is brought about by conditions over which we have no control. Therefore, it is as though a load were being placed upon us, and it seems such a personal thing that no one else can take it. It seems as though it is something that we must take. This is not true. The Word of God declares that Jesus took them for us. So I within myself say, “I am not going to carry this load of sorrow because Jesus has already carried it.” My mind will be plagued by this sorrow; it will persistently impose itself upon my con¬sciousness; but because I believe that Jesus bore this thing, I am not about to do something that Jesus did for me. I don’t want to be overcome by grief, and I don’t have to be because Jesus took my grief for me. He did this because He loved me and did not want to see me in sorrow. So because of all of this I resist thinking about these thoughts of sorrow (resist the devil and he will flee from you-- James 4:7); and I think about the Love that removed me from the bondage of sorrow. Then I praise the Lord for His great Love; and I find that as long as my thoughts are turned in this direction, sorrow and grief have no hold over me. These are the things that I taught my class. That was on a Monday. The next morning I received a call that my Dad had died. Dad and I were very close. I was the only son, and Dad and I had a lot of respect for each other. Even though I was aware of the Word of God, I was not immune to the grief that pressed upon me like a flood. It is this particular kind of grief that comes only once in a life time; so I told myself that if I believed the Word of God, here was the time to put it into practice. I did. I made confessions to my sisters of what God had done, that He had carried my grief and I was so thankful for it. I could see that they did not fully understand, and then the thought hit me that I was expected to show grief or people would think that I did not properly love my Father. I was perplexed. I loved my Dad and I didn’t want people to think otherwise, so I thought that it would be all right to show a little sorrow. But that was playing with fire. I found that I couldn’t open the door to sorrow just a little bit. I found that in accepting a little I was overwhelmed. Then again I thought of Jesus. Jesus asked me what I thought His reasons were for bearing my sorrow. The only answer I could think of was that He didn’t want my heart to be broken. Then He reminded me that He came to heal the broken hearted. When I saw that, Jesus asked me again why He would want to heal my broken heart. The only answer that I could think of here was that He loved me. Now I saw that in accepting even a little bit of sorrow, I was turn¬ing from the love that Jesus had for me. I couldn’t do that. I loved my Dad, but I loved my Jesus more. The love that I had for one and the other was a love in two different realms. I loved my Dad in this world, but the love I had for Jesus reached out of this world into the realm of God. I turned to the Love of God because I found that everything I needed was in Him. I didn’t much care what people thought, whether they thought that I loved my Dad or not. I knew I did, my Dad knew I did, and Jesus knew I did; so once again I turned from the thoughts of sorrow and I held on to the truth of God. Jesus did bare my sorrows, and He did carry my grief; so I refused to let them get a lodging in my heart. I thanked God for doing this, maybe it was a blind thanks at first. My only foundation was the Word of God. Jesus said that He did this so I had to believe it. I didn’t feel it, but I believed it. By pure faith then, I thanked God for what He did. I felt as though I was being untrue to the memory of my Dad, but then I knew that Jesus would never cause you to be untrue or false to anything. When I saw this, I realized that it was nothing but Satan’s activities. If I allowed thoughts of grief to master me, they would cause me to be sick, and I knew that wasn’t from God. So I fought them with everything that was in me. I fought them because I saw that it was just another way that Satan would like to destroy me. I fought them by reaffirming over and over again that God’s Word was true and He did do this thing for me. Once I had made up my mind that it was really God’s will that I should not have to bear my sorrows, when I saw clearly that it was Satan’s pleasure for me to have a broken heart, I just utterly put it out of my mind. I praised God and reveled in His Love. But one thing I found--I couldn’t for one instant fool around with Satan’s ways. I found that Satan is always just around the corner, but I also found that with my thoughts on Jesus that “corner” was a million miles away. So, this is the truth of it in this particular thing, and in this particular way. I acted on God’s Word. The victory of His Word was something that I did not experience until I thoroughly believed it to be true. The reason for this was that my attitude did not change from the ways of the flesh until I changed them. That’s when I really began to praise the Lord, because that was when I saw He loved me.

I want to talk to those of you who wish to live for the Lord more than anything else. You see, some people think that if they go to church on Sundays, that’s all that is required. Then if they should go to church during the middle of the week, this of course is just so much better, nothing can top that. The scriptures seem to teach something else. They teach of a life that is completely given over to the Lord. This includes your time of worship in the gathering of believers; it includes your time spent in the privacy of your own home; it includes the time you spend in making a livelihood; it includes your recreational life. There is NOT a breath of your life that God does not want. Sometimes we find it difficult to comprehend just how we can give attention to our life and at the same time consider God. Yet we never find it difficult to take time to consider our home, our loved ones, our business, or ourselves. These things have lodged in our consciousness and they remain stable. We work and we study so that we might be better prepared to care for our loved ones, or to prepare a better and more comfortable security for them. Many times a man leaves his home in the line of business. His wife and children are left behind, but the real man doesn’t forget them. He is anxious to return, his love is there, his thoughts are there; soon, he hopes, he will be there. He has left ties behind him, and they pull on him. He will return! These are facts. Now let’s learn something from them. The scriptures tell us not to be concerned about obtaining material, or earthly treasures, but rather be concerned about Spiritual, or heavenly treasures. Very simple reason-- because where your treasures are, there will your heart be also. The children of Israel were delivered from Egypt, but their hearts were still tied to the leeks and garlic of Egypt. In every crisis their thoughts returned to the land of their familiarity. They died in the desert. Peter was a fisherman when Jesus called him. Three years later he despondently said, “I'm going fishing.” He still remembered the former things. When Jesus was with those Disciples they said, “Where will we go, to whom shall we turn? Thou hast the words of Eternal Life.” This cannot help but be the results of one who sees Christ, and hears His words, and heeds them. But it must be in every phase of living that this takes place. I’m concerned about whether you can survive when Satan shall try you. I’m concerned about the area of weakness that we have. To know that Christ is strong, is wonderful; but to know wherein we are weak is imperative because it is only in our weakness that we experience the strength of God. Let’s investigate a scripture. “A man’s enemies shall be they of his own household.” The area of human love is perhaps the strongest thing in our physical make-up. I believe that it is even stronger than self-preservation. “Greater love hath no MAN, than this, that he lay down his life for a friend.”-- John 15:13. This being our strongest point, it becomes our weakest point in the eyes of the Lord because we must lay down our life if we are to partake of the Life that is Christ’s. He will not “share” His Life with us, He must reign supreme. The Life that we Live must be His if we are to be truly Living in His Spirit. This is so because Spirit and blood cannot mix. The Lord will only occupy the areas of our lives that we give to Him. Now, listen to this: “If any man love the world or the things of the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Isn’t this clear? If we are to have the love of the Father within us, we must give this area of love over to Him, or He will not occupy our lives in this respect. Christian stability, therefore, is based upon the totalness of the area of our lives that Christ occupies. He occupies only the areas given to Him. So what follows? Simply this! If there are areas in our lives that have not been given to the Lord, then they still exist in our physical mind, and they remain physical strongholds. They are the treasures in the world to which our heart is tied. They are our worldly strength, but they are our spiritual weakness, because they have not yet been brought into subjection to the Spirit. Am I in danger of returning to the elements of the world? As long as they exist in my life, the danger is there. I must give all areas of my life to the Lord. Only then can I be assured that only God exists. Only then does He become everything to me.

I think a lot of people have a hard time being a friend, not that they do not want to be friendly. It’s just that they don’t know how. To be a friend I think that we should learn to assess the needs of the other person and then be to them what they need. It seems that quite often we think the other fellow needs just the thing that we have to give, merely because we believe that it is right and it works for us. Maybe this is true and maybe it isn’t, but we should be sure before we talk. Sometimes we are apt to talk at great length to someone, and have a sincere desire to be a friend within our heart, and the only impression we get across is that we are “preachy” and think we have all the answers. This isn’t true in a lot of cases, but if the one to whom we are talking thinks it is, then all of our effort is lost. Our good intentions somehow didn’t get through. There are many people who are lonely, people who know the Lord and people who don’t know the Lord. There are many people with heartaches--people who know the Lord and people who don’t know the Lord. All of them need friends, but not all of them know how to be a friend. Being a friend is everyday living, not just sometimes when you visit someone. Wives and husbands and children need friends, and being a friend is everyday living right in the home. A man comes home from work. Whether he has worked hard or not doesn’t really matter. He’s been away a long time and the time is twice as long if he loves his family. He comes home and he likes to have his wife “talk to his heart.” Sometimes this isn’t done with just words--it’s done with, maybe a touch or a look, or it maybe the tone of voice that carries the message. The tone, the look, or the attitude communicates more effectively than words. It’s the same with a man. He can growl or kick the cat, or he can be understanding of his wife’s needs. She’s had a hard day too. And it’s the same with others. We must learn to understand their needs. Sometimes there is more communication in silence than ten thousand words no matter how well intended they were. What people want and need is to know they have a friend, not a phonograph. I think this kind of understanding should be the aim of every Christian. He can tell others of Christ more effectively if he learns when to be silent and just be around, and when to talk, and what to say. Too many people have been turned from the church and discounted Christianity because all people knew how to do was talk. They didn’t know how to listen or just say, “How are the kids” Or, “Boy, I’m tired, how about you?” Or maybe just be quiet and be available. Their heart was in it, but they talked without knowing the need that was to be supplied. To be a friend is the greatest joy we can experience. To be a Christian is the basis of all life; but to share this gift of love with someone else brings a joy that knows no bounds. Being a Christian is not just going to church and singing songs, and listen¬ing to the preacher, and telling someone else what they should do, but being a Christian is washing the dishes, washing the car, going to work, cleaning the house, visiting the lonely, and just being a friend everyday.

Speak convincingly! It can’t be done unless you really believe what you say. Of course, believing is not all there is to it either. If you are not interested in getting the idea across—if you think, “What’s the use?” Or if you think that those to whom you speak will get along just as well without hearing what you say, all of these things will rob your words of power and strip authority from your voice. If you speak, speak for God! If you are not convinced that God is worth talking about, don’t talk. But if He is a vital, dynamic force in your life, then speak. Speak, knowing that others need this vital dynamic life of God in them, even as you do. Speak, knowing that there is only one path to God and that is to actively believe in Jesus Christ. Wipe from your mind any thought that there are “other ways.” Speak, knowing that he who disagrees does not understand, and you are speaking words that will help him to understand. Speak, knowing that the things of God cannot be obtained unless there is an intense hunger for them, and your words will reveal that hunger. Speak, knowing always that God gives life to your words. Do not look for interest to be kindled in the face of those who hear you, but speak, knowing that God kindles hunger in the needy heart. Do not become discouraged, or faint of heart, but keep ever before you the knowledge of God’s tremendous power, and of His love which is the only balm that can heal the broken heart. Speak confidently, because God is with you.

God’s Nature in me--what is it? The Word says that I have been made a partaker of the Divine Nature. I am born in sin--bound by it. When I recognize this fact and accept its reality, I realize I need help. Jesus is my help, so I come to Him. He tells me that He has taken ALL my sin and it has become His. That frees me of sin. He tells me that He has paid the supreme penalty--death. He taught that greater love hath no man than this that He lay down His life for a friend. Then He shows how much greater the Love of God is because He commended His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for the ungodly. Some Christians are not really sure about the death of Christ, but He died not just physically, but spiritually. This is the thing that caused Him to sweat as it were, great drops of blood. Physically He had power to lay down His life and to pick it up again. Spiritually, only God could give Life. God had turned His back on Jesus. Jesus was a sinner, made so by my sins, and He paid the complete cost of my sins. Satan can never bring an unpaid sin to the attention of Jesus. Jesus paid it ALL. He settled the debt COMPLETE. Maybe man might overlook something, but not God or Satan--they know EXACTLY what sin is. Satan presented the bill for the whole works and Jesus paid it all. Satan cannot touch Jesus with sin ever again. The only sin that Jesus ever had was my sin, and that’s gone. It doesn’t belong to Him any more, He is free of it. I became free from sin WHEN Jesus took it from me and placed it upon Himself. And now it is gone. In Christ ALL my sin is removed. In Christ, sin IS NO MORE. Jesus says the transaction is completed, there is no such thing as sin any more. God says that all sin was blotted out- -it is no more. The page is clean, the book is white; it is not even stained. God laid EVERY sin on Jesus and He PAID the price. He is no longer under its condemnation; and because He is free, I AM FREE. In fact, I am as free from sin as Jesus is free from sin. I believe in Jesus. He IS my Life, He IS my Righteousness, He IS my forgetfulness of sin. God does not remember sin--IN HIM I will not remember sin. “God is Light and IN HIM there is no darkness at all.”--1 John 1:5. Sin IS darkness. It is not the manifestation of God’s nature in me when I remember sin. I am a NEW creature--PERFECT, Spiritual, made so by God. This new creature DOES NOT commit sin. The old creature has passed away; the new has no memory of the old because ALL things have become new. Faith does not remember sin because whatever is not of faith IS sin. How then, if I am a NEW creature, can I say I am following in the path of the Spirit and yet be ever conscious of my sin which before God doesn’t even exist? “How often shall my Brother sin against me and I forgive him, till seven times?” Jesus answered and said, “Not till seven times, but till seventy times seven.” The scriptures say, “Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ.” How about it, are you letting?

WHERE DOES THE MERCY OF GOD END? ANSWER THAT ONE. IF I AM TO BELIEVE WHAT I HEAR IN MANY CHURCHES, I WOULD ANSWER IN THIS FASHION: THE MERCY OF GOD CEASES TO BE EFFECTIVE WHEN ONE DOES NOT ABIDE BY THE RULES OF CONDUCT AS SPECIFIED BY YOUR CHURCH. TO SOME PEOPLE THE MERCY OF GOD COMES TO AN END IF YOU DRINK OR SMOKE OR ARE WEAK TO THE TEMPTATIONS OF THE FLESH IN ANY WAY. TO SOME, GOD’S MERCY COVERS EVERY FAULT EXCEPT DIVORCE. OTHERS FIND THE END TO GOD’S MERCY WHEN THEY WEAR THE WRONG KIND OF CLOTHES. WOMEN ARE OUTSIDE OF GOD’S MERCY WHEN THEIR HAIR IS TOO SHORT. MEN ARE OUT OF LUCK IF THEIRS IS TOO LONG. ALSO, SOME WOULD HAVE US BELIEVE THAT WE STRAIN THIS MERCY WHEN WE DO NOT ATTEND CHURCH, OR WHEN WE FAIL TO PAY OUR TITHES. GOD WILL FORGIVE US AND EXTEND TO US THE BENIFITS OF HIS MERCY IF WE WILL BUT CONFESS OUR FAULTS AND SHORTCOMINGS, OF COURSE, A TRULY “HUMBLE” SPIRIT WILL CONFESS THESE SHORTCOMINGS BEFORE THE CONGREGATION. THIS IS NECESSARY OR ELSE NO ONE WILL KNOW WHETHER GOD CAN FORGIVE YOU. NOT KNOWING WHETHER GOD HAS FORGIVEN YOU MAKES IT DIFFICULT FOR THEM TO KNOW HOW TO TREAT YOU. SHOULD THEY ACCEPT YOU AS A FRIEND OR SHOULD THEY GIVE YOU THE “COLD SHOULDER.” THEY MUST HEAR WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY AND HEAR HOW YOU SAY IT OR THEY WILL NOT KNOW WHETHER YOU ARE PROPERLY REPENTENT. HOW ELSE CAN THEY KNOW IF GOD WILL BE MERCIFUL TO YOU? GOD’S MERCY IS RATHER UNCERTAIN AND WE ARE INDEED FORTUNATE THAT THERE ARE RIGHTEOUS MEN FULL OF WISDOM, WHO CAN DIRECT GOD’S MERCY IN THE PROPER WAY. WHAT--YOU DON’T LIKE THIS ARTICLE? YOU DON’T BELIEVE WHAT I’M SAYING? OKAY--WHAT WOULD YOU SAY? HOW FAR DOES GOD’S MERCY GO?

What a stupid thing my mind is!! God, who is more real than anything, dwells within me, and He has given me all of Himself, yet I am prone to ignore him and listen to my mind. God says to me that He is Master of all things--He is God. There is nothing that rules or directs Him--and He has given Himself to me! My soul knows that this is true--even my mind knows that this is true, because when I make my mind be still and come into the presence of the Lord, it becomes mute. My mind, even though it is at odds with God, cannot dispute God. It cannot even move when it is in the Presence of God. There is just nothing it can say when God is around. I wish I could picture with words what I can see with my Spirit in regard to this thing. For the sake of illustration, let’s put it this way. Say that your Mind is a person and that your Will is a person and that your God is a person. Mr. Will and Mr. Mind have been real close buddies; they have grown up together. Mr. Will is really the independent one; he has the privilege of doing whatever he wants to do. He has no source of knowledge within himself, but he has the choice of learning from whomsoever he wants. At the present time, Mr. Mind has told Mr. Will that he is the only one capable of teaching him, and Mr. Will has gone along with the idea. One day Mr. Will heard about Mr. God and became quite interested. He mentioned this to Mr. Mind, and old Mind started in. Every time the subject came up, old man Mind put in his digs. Mr. Will was somewhat confused; he had always trusted Mr. Mind and consulted him in everything. Mind had seemed like a pretty unbiased sort of fellow, but now he came face to face with the fact that Mr. Mind had quite a hold on him. The fellow had a power over him--ruled him, in fact. He couldn’t shake the fellow; he was with him every place he went. Mr. Will finally decided that he was going to see this Mr. God. Mind could come along if he wanted to, but he, Mr. Will, was going to have a talk with this God-fellow. All the way over to God’s house, old man Mind kept his digs going. He started out questioning, then he got sarcastic, and then downright insulting about this Mr. God. Finally, Mr. Will gained audience with Mr. God, and the things he heard really opened his eyes. This Mr. God seemed real concerned about Mr. Will, and told him about things that Mr. Will thought no one knew about. God told Will the very things that were in his heart; further, this Mr. God seemed to say just the things that Mr. Will needed. Mr. Will asked Mr. God why he hadn’t heard about this before. God told him that he had been listening to the wrong person, and he pointed very significantly to Mr. Mind, who was just standing by not saying a word for once. God went on to tell how Mr. Mind was an alien--an enemy--in the employ of one Mr. Satan. Mr. Will knew that Mr. Satan was definitely no good, but this was news to him--His bosom buddy, Mind, an outright enemy, working for that Satan dog!! Well, Mr. God went on and told Mr. Will all about Mr. Mind, just laid him wide open. The amazing thing about it to Mr. Will was that Mind just stood there and took it--didn’t have a thing to say. Finally, the visit was over and Mr. Will went home. Mr. Mind came with him, and just as soon as they left God’s presence, Mind started in. “What do you want to believe that stuff for? Here I’ve been with you all of your life; I’ve taught you all that you know, and now this God tells you I’m working for Satan. Ha! What a joke!! If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t know anything. This God-fellow hasn’t proved a thing to you. I’ve taught you how to live and care for yourself and how to interpret your feelings. What has He done for you? Just says a bunch of words and wants you to believe it. How do you know whether or not what he says is true? Where is His proof?” And so Mr. Mind kept on. It was quite a problem for Mr. Will to know exactly what to do. It sure seemed that Mind had a few points in his favor, but then so did this Mr. God. Mr. God had a knack of putting his finger right on the spot that counted. Mind talked a good logic, but he could never go right to the heart of the trouble. Truthfully, Mr. Will sometimes wasn’t too sure that Mind really knew the trouble, or whether he was just talking himself into believing he did. But this Mr. God was different. If a fellow believed this Mr. God, there was no doubt about it; He had the answer. Mind certainly had a different philosophy. You could not listen to both of them or you would be so mixed up that you never would know where you were. That’s exactly what Mr. God had said, too. Mind said that you could listen to both. That was contrary to what Mr. God had said, and Mind certainly had kept a quiet lip when Mr. God was around. Mr. Will kept on seeing Mr. God and Mr. Mind always came along and always when they left God, Mind would start in. Mr. Will noticed more and more that whenever they were in the presence of Mr. God, old man Mind never had a thing to say. God could take and expose him right and left, and Mind was absolutely mute before Him. This God-fellow knew old Mind; there was no doubt about that. These two had met before and it was apparent that Mind knew who was Boss. At any rate, as long as Mr. Will stayed in Mr. God’s presence, old man Mind didn’t give a bit of trouble. Mr. Will was happy and peaceful for once in his life. One day Mr. Will decided that he would like to learn from Mr. God, and so he just plain asked Him how about it-- would Mr. God be willing to teach him and come and live with him? Mr. God was agreeable. He said He had been wanting to do this for a long time. There was a condition, however. God told Mr. Will he couldn’t serve two Masters; he would have to quit listening to the old man, Mr. Mind, and just listen to Him. Mr. Will was agreeable, but he wasn’t sure how to keep old man Mind shut up. God told Mr. Will that if he would just stick close to Him, that He certainly wouldn’t leave Will; and that as long as Mr. Mind was in the presence of Mr. God, Mind wouldn’t cause any trouble. Will had noticed that this had certainly been true in the past, and that if Mr. God promised to always be with him--well, the rest was up to him. Wasn’t his name Mr. Will--couldn’t he do what he wanted? He was going to live with Mr. God and Mr. Mind could just face it. Old Mind never could argue with God and so Mr. Will would get a chance to learn a new thing. Mr. Will tried it, and he had peace. He and God were always together. Once in a while, if Mr. Will didn’t seek out God in some matter or another, old Mind started in again--just like old times. The fellow never did give up, but Mr. Will would seek Mr. God and Mind would have to come along, and as always, he couldn’t say a word when he was in God’s presence. Finally, it came to the place that Mr. Will really enjoyed life with Mr. God.

We can’t do anything about being born again except realize we need to be and believe that Jesus is what He said He was. Then we can rest in God’s Word. When He said, “To as many as received Him, to them He gave power to become Sons of God.” He meant just that, we can rest. I like it this way. It’s sure. I do not have the ability to make myself to be a Spiritual creation because apart from God I am a creature of flesh. No matter what I do, I do it in the flesh. I am born of the flesh, my abilities are of the flesh and the flesh is my boundary. When I BELIEVE Jesus, and RECEIVE Him as God’s provision for my soul, by the power of God I am MADE a Spiritual creature, fashioned after God’s will. Like I say, I can’t make myself a Spiritual creature; but after God has given me Life, there is a whole lot I can do about being strong. The Bible says, “Be strong in the Lord and in the Power of His Might,” but it’s not something that you can just sit and have it come upon you. There is something NEW created when we receive Jesus. We are BORN of the Spirit, so according to God’s Word we become Spirit. This is as different from flesh as black is from white. It’s this difference that confuses people--they want to do the right thing, but they don’t know what the right thing is. I can’t just sit--I have new things to learn. I’m in an entirely new realm, I am in the realm of the Spirit--this is the realm of God. It is a realm in which my flesh senses are completely useless. The carnal mind, no matter how well it is trained in the things of this world, is utterly incapable of grasping the things of God. The things of God are not carnally understood. The carnal mind never has been able to understand the things of the Spirit and it never will be. It’s not made that way. It is not subject to God, it is subject to the flesh. One time I was teaching this truth and someone said, “Oh, come now, we can’t be that bad.” The point is not whether the carnal mind is good or bad--it’s just that the carnal mind is NOT a Spiritual mind. Carnal means “of this world” and Spiritual means “of God.” That’s the difference. Paul said, “Flesh and blood SHALL NOT inherit the Kingdom of God.” Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born of the Spirit if he was to SEE the things of God. The Word of God declares that man can understand the things of man, but NO man can understand the things of God, only by the Spirit of God. This points up to one paramount truth-- there must be communication between the Spirit of God and the 'spirit of man if man is ever to KNOW what God wants him to know. But man is not Spiritually alive in his first estate--he is governed by the flesh. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.” Therefore man, the real man, if he is to know God’s will, must be born of God. When he is born again, he becomes a Spiritual creature and alive to God. As such he has the capabilities of knowing the heart of God. But he must EXERCISE these capabilities! The one who is newly born again is rightly termed, “A babe in Christ.” He is possessed of God’s Life but he is not AWARE of God’s potential in him. He is aware of his potential in the flesh because this is a realm in which he was developed. His senses are alive to his environment, and his understanding is influenced by the circumstances about him. He has learned pain and fear, joy and sorrow, contentment and frustration. He interprets everything about him in the light of his own experience and understanding. This is his whole mode of living. He has attained a high degree of sensitivity to his surrounding. He has found that whatever he puts his mind to will become prominent in his thoughts. If he has disciplined his thoughts, he can control his desires; if not he becomes prey to every thought that presents itself to him. This does not mean that one is either strong or weak, it just means that man is made that way and that is the way he behaves. Man has found that effective advertising is the kind that can make one THINK about a certain thing. If a man is repeatedly exposed to the THOUGHT that brand “X” is the best, when he is ready for that product he will buy brand X. Advertising is something that we are exposed to everyday. It is not the result of our doing, but it is part of our environment and we are conditioned by it. If we wish to learn something we will apply the same principles. The successful actor will study his part--he will research the character he is to portray from every conceivable angle, he will saturate himself with these thoughts until they become part of him. Henry Ford once said that if a man wished to become rich he must think money, talk money, and eat money. In other words, all of his activity, thoughts, and efforts must be along that line. Charles Luckman was a highly successful business tycoon at the age of twenty five. Someone commented to him about how quickly he had attained success. Charles Luckman replied that he was always a success, and then he went on to explain that even before he was in his teens he made up his mind that he would have lots of money and direct many people. He observed how successful business men talked, acted, and thought, and he NEVER allowed any contrary thoughts to lodge in his mind. Thomas Edison was a highly successful inventor, but he didn’t tinker part time. Every moment he could afford was spent in his lab. His mind was saturated with his desires. The doctor, the lawyer, the professional man--all, if they are to be successful, give themselves over to study. The Bible says this to the one who desires to know God’s will, “In ALL thy ways, acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path.”--Prov.3:6 To acknowledge the Lord is not just to SAY that He is, but it also means to acknowledge that what HE SAYS is true. Therefore, we are to accept and acknowledge God’s Word in EVERY phase of our Life. We are to saturate ourselves with His Word morning, noon and night. In order to do this we must KNOW God’s Word. Our churches today teach that we must be faithful in our attendance. They stress that if we are to be faithful we will attend every church activity possible. They teach that this will strengthen us as a Christian. This is not necessarily so. Only if we saturate ourselves with the Word of God will we become strong: if we saturate ourselves with church thought, church activity, and church doctrine, we will become strong in our church, but not necessarily in God! The question naturally arises: “How am I to saturate myself with the Word of God? If I cannot depend on my church, what can I depend on?” There is only one way: “TO LIVE IN THE WORD OF GOD.” The Bible declares that IF you shall CONFESS with your mouth, the Lord Jesus, and BELIEVE in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, YOU SHALL BE SAVED!” This is the secret of POSSESSING that which God has supplied: confessing with the mouth, and believing with the heart that the things God’s Word declares are true. It makes no difference how often we attend church, nor how much we hear the Word of God taught. If we are not WILLING to confess it for ourselves, we are not WILLING to believe it for ourselves. If we are not willing to believe it, we are not willing to RECEIVE IT; and if we are not willing to receive it, we are not willing to POSSESS it.

A ring can represent God’s eternal love. It completely encircles—there is no beginning or end. And it is set with great beauty. It encircles the finger so that it will not fall off. It is sized so it fits individually. But it can be put on and it can be taken off. Even so, God’s love for us may be accepted or rejected. When we accept it, it is wrapped around us by His Word that it won’t fall off. “I will never lease thee nor forsake thee.” A ring is worn willingly, and if worn long enough, becomes part of you—it leaves its mark when removed. Let us accept God’s love and wear it eternally.

My God is a God of Love. His tenderness is manifest to all people. He has caused His goodness to benefit those who do not believe in Him as well as those who walk uprightly before Him. The impatience of His anger is hid in Christ so that it is no more. Once He repented that He had made man, and said, “I will save only those who trust in me.” But now, in Christ, God’s love has triumphed and His grace and mercy extend to all people of all generations. My God is not idle. He does not sit in some far-off place and wait for only those who will come to Him. He covers the Earth. He is found where ever man is found. He woos, and He draws men to Himself. But my God is not articulate; His voice does not drum on man’s ears; He does not speak the language of men. His love comes to us as a gentle breeze--a whisper of air. It is soft and gentle, and can only be recognized in the stillness of one’s soul. My God is seeking those who will recognize His Spirit. Only those who recognize His Spirit recognize God, because my God is Spirit. He is all might and all power, but He is infinite tenderness too. He is the refreshing that is mine in the quietness of my soul. He is my comfort and my encouragement. My God seeks men eagerly because He is anxious that all men everywhere should know Him. He is anxious to restore to His beloved the peace and comfort, the rightness and joy that are His alone to give. He seeks man, but not in man’s realm. Man must turn from his own realm of this world and seek God in the Spirit to find his comfort. He, who came to bring healing to the broken heart, gives the medicine of His Spirit; and only those who are hungry enough to look to the quietness within their souls are restored and made whole. My God has made many things so that I may see with my eyes, and say within my soul, “How great is my God to provide me with such a habitation.” Then my soul shall reach out and touch my God, and be made like Him. Then I am made new; my God has fashioned me after His own will. No more am I like I used to be, but the wound in my heart has been bound up, and anointed with the balm of God’s Love. My God has touched me, and I am recreated. Once my mind would revel in the power that it would receive from God--my mind would strut and be lifted up because of the place of authority that is mine in Christ. But now, my mind is brought low. It can no longer be lifted up with the thoughts of power and might and glory because all of these things belong to my God. My mind must walk the pathway of humility and show forth patience and kindness. My mind must forget itself so that it may learn of the Love that is my God. My God is a God of Love, and I must show forth His Love before I can ever show His power and might. There is a division that my God would teach me. My mind looks at the handiwork of God, and sees the sun and the moon and the stars; it sees the greatness of God’s creation, and it is hushed in awe. The mind studies and learns of the laws that govern the universe, and dreams of power to conquer. Man interprets power to be that which controls the things he considers great and in this interpretation he is blinded to the power of God. . God demonstrated his ability when He spoke a. Word and the worlds came into being, but this was not God’s power. His power is the Love that caused Him to make a habitation for man. His power is the Love that caused Him to give His Son to redeem the man who knew not my God. His power is the Love that recreated man into His own likeness. His power is His Love. My God tells me that His Love is kind, and seeks not its own. My God demonstrated this Love by coming to me so that I might see His way. He tells me that His Love is patient and longsuffering and bares all things. Then He demonstrated this Love by loving those who despitefully used Him. My God triumphed over all these things because of the power of His Love. Even though He had the power to banish resistance with a Word, He knew that this was not the power to win--and so He loved, and because He loved, I am restored to my God and am made like Him. My mind does not understand the power of my God, but my soul knows, and my soul is alive because I am loved by my God.

Discouragement comes to a Christian when he knows in his heart that God’s Word is true, yet he looks to circumstances for verification of this truth. If he continues to analyze things from a carnal viewpoint, he will eventually be enshrouded with hopelessness. Man’s patience has a limit. It’s just like man’s capability to love, to understand, to show wisdom or compassion. If the ability belongs to the man, it’s limited because man is limited. Man can only go so far and then he comes to the end of his patience. Sometimes man defends his rights and says that he has gone as far as is humanly possible. To travel beyond that point is to travel with God. A man who is a Christian desires to be like Jesus. He wishes to show forth the virtues and characteristics of God. He desires to do good. He works hard at it. He is conscientious; then, when he fails, he feels condemned. There is no joy in this approach, no life and no hope of success! Man does not have the ability to show forth the attributes of God. The only love man can show is his idea of love. The only patience man can display is his own idea of patience. Man’s best effort is to emulate what he thinks God is like. Jesus expressed God perfectly. He said that the words He spoke were not His own, but the Father’s. Even the things He did were not done because of His knowledge; the Father showed Him what to do. Jesus had “seen the Father.” Man was excused from his shortcomings because, as Jesus said, “No man has seen the Father except the Son.” Therefore, God had given man the law. Jesus told the Pharisees that God had given them instructions concerning divorce because, in their heart, they did not know the meaning of love. They had not yet seen the Father; therefore, they did not know Him. Not knowing Him, they could not possibly know the meaning of love because God is love. He is also meekness, compassion, wisdom, righteousness, salvation and all things. But the Christian can not show these things to the world until he “sees” the Father. We try very hard in our own selves, but the words spring from ourselves and our actions are the result of our own deliberations. But “when we see Him, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.” When we see Him it is not an “out” for the flesh--it is the end of the flesh. All the work, the words, the doing, the striving has come to an end. Seeing gives the sure knowledge that it is no longer I, but it is Christ, who dwells in me. Regarding the matter of choice, sometimes we think we have quite a selection from which to choose, but it’s largely a matter of our horizons. The question is, “How much do you see?” Man is a creature who ultimately has the freedom of making only one choice. In the final analysis, he chooses either to be a servant to the most high God or to be a slave to Satan. All other apparent choices are incidental. There are two realms in which a man can live--in the realm of God, which is Spirit, or in the realm of Satan, which is flesh. If a man’s horizon is so limited that he sees only the materialism of this world, he is deluded into thinking that he can be whatever he chooses to be. He feels that there is no limit to the multiplicity of his choice. As his horizons expand to include God’s realm, he sees that all his many socalled choices doubled back on themselves so that in reality he exercised no choice at all. If a man is to gain direction and purpose by making a choice, then his choice must be to serve God because only in God is a man freed from himself.

Just a word, it is Jesus. There is power in this Name. To speak this word with our lips will bring peace and joy and strength. It will remove condemnation and fear and loneliness and worry. It is the name that bridges the gulf between man and God. It is the name that makes the unseen things of God real to us while we are in this world of sin. It is the name that lifts our soul out of this body of death and lets us know the reality of God’s Life in us. It is the name that defeats every adverse thing Satan can bring against us.

I have often heard someone say, “My trouble is that I need more of God; I have just got to pray and get more of God; if I only had more of God.” Have you ever thought that way? I have never seen anyone that has prayed that prayer satisfied--only frustrated; and God is not the author of frustration, but of peace. God has revealed something to me--we have been proceeding on a wrong basis and that is why we haven’t gotten anywhere. We have been made to think thoughts of doubt from Satan (an angel of light) that our problem is that we do not have enough of God and that the answer is to have more. That is a spiritual lie. When we asked Christ, to come into our heart, all of Him came, for the fullness of God dwells in Him. It is not by getting more of God; it is by giving up more of ourselves. We have allowed our attention to be moved to a false goal. God’s Word plainly states that of His fullness have we already received and grace for grace. (John 1:16). We surely do not believe God’s Word, therefore, we do not act like people who are indwelt by God’s fullness. God’s Word also says, “You are complete in Him.”--Col. 2:10. All of this came about instantly at the new birth when we became partakers of the Divine nature. What is the answer then? Where is the difficulty? The difficulty is in our thinking. Nothing God has given us is based upon what we can do, but upon what God is to us and what He has already done in Christ for our benefit. The unbelieving mouth of man speaks on this wise. “If I just had more of God, I wouldn’t be so unhappy.” But God says, “If I had more of that man and his thoughts, his unhappiness would cease.” The thing that is the root of man’s unhappiness is the thought that tells him that the God he has isn’t enough. That is why many people just go on seeking more and more experiences. They haven’t found their place in God. Jesus showed that by giving. Jesus gave Himself to God that God may be all in all. We have tried to find fulfil1ment our own way by getting; but the only way that works is God’s way. Many times we are like the rich young ruler that Jesus told to sell all he had and then follow Him. We would rather not have it cost us anything. The truth is we do not need more of God for all of Him is what we have and all of Him is enough. God is not stingy. He has given Himself to us. The real problem is: How much of you does God have? Does He have all of your desires and thoughts? You cannot be happy any other way. The problem is that we already have had much of God, but He has been permitted to have very little of us. This is demonstrated by the very act of thinking thoughts that suggest lack. These are the thoughts that God must have to insure our happiness. One does not attain the fullness of God by subjecting God to himself, but allowing God to subject the seeker. The Bible says to present your body (members) as a living sacrifice unto God (Rom.12:1-2). This is all we can do and all God wants from us. We can never of ourselves rise to the heights of God’s fullness; it is God in Christ who has stooped to the depths of our lowest level and made us by His own mercy and initiative complete and entire In Him. One is not made happy just because he happens to have a lot of God. If he is happy at all, it is because God has been permitted to have that much of him. The key to freedom and happiness is to dissolve in God--lose your life and then you will find it. Jesus said, “But he that loves his life shall lose it.” He that feeds his selfishness and nourishes his ego shall perish, but he who denies it shall live. Presenting our body to God as a living sacrifice is said to be our only acceptable service (Rom.12:1-2). This is all we can do and all God will accept. We can never of our own initiative become, so to speak, more Spiritual or more Godly. Religious accomplishments and spiritual exploits are not so much wrought by us subduing God, as it is allowing Him to subdue us. It is not as we control God, but as He has us. It is not so much us attaining God as it is God obtaining us. While we were yet in ignorance, while we were yet without strength, or one might say before any spiritual ambition, Christ died for the ungodly (Rom. 5:6). Now one can see that the emphasis is not to be stressed so much on man’s attempt to find God, as it is God having already found man through Christ. It is said the shepherd set out to find the lost sheep. The shepherd’s sense of direction is better than the sheep’s or the sheep would be herding the shepherd. The initiative was on the part of the shepherd, not the sheep. If the sheep were capable of finding their own way, Christ would not have come. Sometimes we think that we are so advanced that we forget that we are saved by the grace and mercy of God. Things are to continue on the same basis that they began. “By grace are you saved…”Eph. 2:8. Grace is God’s nature. Paul said that I might be found in Him not having my own righteousness but His (Phil. 3:9). There is a difference in finding and being found. Man speaks on this wise, “If I could just find God!” But the wisdom of God says, “What this man needs to know is that I have already found him. He could not see the way because of his blindness; but because I can see, I in Christ, have sought him out and brought him to the place that I have prepared for him, that where I am he may be also.” God says, “I have already prepared a place for you, and in your new birth I have received you to myself.” God was interested in man long before man was interested in God. God purposed to seek man out long before man revealed any interest in Spiritual things. It is written that God purposed this before the foundation of the world (Eph.1:4). I love Him because I know He first loved me. The knowledge of God’s Love towards me gives birth to the Love I have towards Him. Man says if I could only reach God. The truth of the matter is that man of himself can never reach God. God must reach him and He has in Christ. Man in his ignorance says if I could only get to where God is, but God says you don’t have to--I have already gotten to where you are. Man thinks if somehow I could only reach up to God, but his arm isn’t long enough, so God reaches down (His arm is Jesus) to where feeble man is and lifts him up to His abiding place. Because He has drawn us to Himself, we can be sure that we are there. We are in Him now and He is in us now, because now is when we need Him.

Jesus was the will of God in action. He was the first man to have the Father’s nature. He partook of the nature that had the ability to express equally, what it was when it was yielded to. Jesus said he came not to do His own will, but the will of Him that sent him. This was the will of God. Jesus had the nature then to do the will of God. He yielded to this nature to the extent that he even spoke the thoughts and obeyed the Spiritual impulses and suggestions of this nature. People were healed, comforted, and delivered as a result. God is Spirit. His nature is Spirit. The will of God is a Spiritual will; it is the active expression and manifested attributes of God Himself. Everything that God is is included in His will, His will and Himself are one. The New Testament is the will of God unveiled, the nature of God made alive. When Jesus acted upon the known will of God, he was acting in harmony with God’s Spiritual law of order. He was walking in the Spiritual wisdom of God. Because he walked according to the law of God’s Spirit, he neither got behind the moving of God’s Spirit or before it. He walked in God’s Spirit. He lived in God. Jesus walked in the will of God knowingly. He sought only to do His Father’s will. Because he wanted to do God’s will, God revealed His will (Spirit) to him. If you are to do the will of God, your purpose is to express in your everyday living what God is. God’s desires, wants, the impulses that motivate Him and make Him what He is, would be exercised and expressed in you. You would act like God, you would talk like God, you would even think like God. If you want to do the will of God, you need to know what it is. You must not exert any opposition of your own to prevent His will, His very Self, from being expressed and made manifest through you. In order for the very image and expression of God to come, you must count yourself as no longer the supreme one in your life. In fact you must count your¬ self as no more. You must see yourself dead, and Christ alive in you. You can only count yourself dead to the extent that God shows Himself to be your Life. Then God’s Life will gain the ascendancy over you to the extent that you yield to this knowledge. God and you are one. There is not two of you, but one in Spirit. This Spiritual-you is expressed through the physical body that God’s Life now possesses. This brings forth the expression of the will of God to the physical world. You are obeying His nature willingly. If God wanted us to be everything that He is, He would have to place His nature in us. This He did at the new birth (2 Pet.1:4). He could not give us part of Himself and be free to express all that He is. You could not imitate God’s Spirit, or His will, because you would be doing it externally instead of from the source of expression, the Spirit Himself. You would just be a poor fleshly imitation (emulation-Gal.5:20). Your imitation naturally would not be according to Spiritual knowledge. This would allow circumstances, and other things that the devil might use, to confuse you and overthrow you. If you tried to imitate me, you would at one time or another find yourself in certain difficulties, because you would not know how I would act in this particular case, the same with God. We must not try to be like the Father, but let Him Live His Life through us. You must know that God is in you and expect Him to teach you how to Live. This is Spiritual knowledge. If you acted without knowing, you only would be expressing yourself. God must teach you and you must learn to act on what He teaches you. You can act only as He teaches you or gives you knowledge. God will be manifested through you to the extent that you learn of the Spirit as being your new Life, and conform your way of living to this knowledge. This is not a natural knowledge, but a Spiritual knowledge. God’s will and your will are one. As His will is revealed to you, and you yield to it, God is expressed or made manifest. Actually you will be walking in God. You will be living God’s Life. He longs to reveal His will to you so you can live as He lives and enjoy what He is. Anything outside His will is opposed to Him. It is harm to you. We must know the things He knows and do the things He does and think the things He thinks. It will be more than just doing what God does; it will be God doing it through you, for you are one--one in Spirit, one in speech, one in action, and one in will. It is more than saying what God says. It is God declaring Himself. It will not be a fleshly imitation, but a Spiritual participation. You have a will. This will is the freedom and privilege to do what you choose to express, the freedom to express what you are. It is the freedom to be what you were or what you are now in Christ, the freedom to act for yourself or to act for God. As God makes His will known to us, we are to forsake all to walk in it. His will is Himself revealed to us--it is what He is. He has filled us with Himself to do what He does. He will build His own character and attributes into us until we are matured and developed like He is. “As He is so are we in this world.” I have found that God’s will includes every member of the human race. His will will cause you to be concerned and involved with the interest of every living soul. I find that this is nothing less than the very attitude of God Himself gaining the ascendancy over me. I am beginning to realize that God lives in me, and that He yearns to make Himself known to the ones who are in captivity and are living within the enclosed boundaries of themselves. He wants to reveal His will and show them Spiritual freedom so they can be as free as He is. It is His freedom. There is no freedom outside of God. In the knowledge of His will, He wants to reproduce Himself and His will within the hearts of others, so He can make His great heart of love known to the countless thousands who do not understand Him. God wants that which is mortal to be swallowed up with His Life. God’s will is the will of love, and He seeks to plant within the hearts of men and women the very nature that makes Him what He is. God loves man and desires to have him love Him with His love, which only can satisfy the craving of the human heart. We love one another with His love. What a privilege we have! The Life of the Father Himself is ours--God in us! The knowledge of His will gives us His freedom, His peace, His health, and Spiritual strength. We have everything God is. We that are “born again” have God’s nature--His Spirit. God’s will manifested through His Word will reveal to us what God is. If it tells us what God is, then it tells us what we are in Him, for as He is so are we in this world. What the Bible says is true. We that have been born again have been born with the very Life of God. We have His Life and Truth at the refusal of our own. If we have God in us, then we should walk like God, talk like God, think like God, and act like God (1 John 2:6). This is the Spiritual will of our Father in motion. This is the glory which our Father had prepared for us before the world was (John 17:5).

Praise is being of a single mind. Praise is an attitude brought about because one is thankful for what God is to him, not what God could be to him. He is thankful for what he possesses in Christ now. Praise is the expression of what already lies within; it is what God dwells in. It is not asking, but thanking because one believes he already possesses. Praise is as complete as God is complete. Praise cannot ask as though it did not possess. Praise cannot pray the prayer of unbelief. Praise cannot speak as one who is in need, but as one who has found its need met in praising God. Praise gives no opportunity for doubt or fear. Praise is the voice of one whose mind has been purged from the begging, beseeching prayer. The mind of praise has no room for any thoughts that suggest lack. Praise is not hoping but rejoicing. The mind that is filled with praise is filled with God, for God inhabits the praises of His people. The eye of praise is blind to incompleteness; its ear is deaf to the voice of lack. Praise recognizes no no’s, it only knows yes’s. Praise knows no boundaries; it is as free as God. Praise cannot utter a bitter word, it can only rejoice. Praise is not seeking and grasping, it is rejoicing in the answer. Praise does not seek or find its answer outside of itself, but within itself. Praise knows no lack, because God knows no lack. Praise contains within itself all that could be needed. It is the expression of that which is already within, waiting to be released and given voice. Praise acknowledges Jesus as Lord--Lord over all. Praise is the substance of things once hoped for, the very presence of Spiritual Reality. Praise is already in the heart, your every answer. It is a sure way of letting your mind know who is God! Praise is speaking faith, your spirit listens and is made strong. You open your lips and praise springs forth--the answer to your every need. Your need is met by praising God, not by asking and beseeching. You are praising something out of you that is already dwelling within you. Because you are praising God, you are giving voice to that which was already within. Now you can begin to enjoy it. It has become substance and reality to you. The trouble has not been that you did not possess, but that you did not know what it was that you were in possession of. You have been asking for something that was already yours. That kind of prayer is never answered. Praise is the answer. The answer lies within your praise. Your answer is in God and your God is in you. He inhabits (dwells in) the praises of His people. Praise Him! No more begging--build God a house by faith. It’s done--NOW!