Keep a True Lent, by Charles Fillmore, [1953], at sacred-texts.com
Keep a True Lent, by Charles Fillmore, [1953], at sacred-texts.com
I AM GOD ALMIGHTY; walk before me, and be thou perfect."
In prayer we need to be deeply conscious that God is the almighty One, the supreme Creator the ruler of the universe, that He is infinite and eternal; we need to know that God is the underlying, unchangeable Truth, "with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning."
God as principle is the absolute good expressed in all creation. When we know God and "worship him in spirit and truth" we recognize Him as this great goodness, which is omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, ready and willing to guide, to bless, and to uplift.
To walk with almighty God is to walk with Truth and to affirm the power of Spirit within mind and body as the dominating mind force; it is to walk in the light and thus to apply in our daily living the wisdom that is from above, acknowledging the Father as the source of all our knowing, as the mainspring of all our actions.
This leads us to the truth that our knowing God brings peace, the serene abiding that never wearies, never questions, never strains for results. He created and controls the whole universe. In God "we live, and move, and have our being."
Mind is the common meeting ground between God and man, and it is only through the most highly accelerated mind action, as in prayer, that we can consciously make union with God, the one and only Creator.
Prayer is the language of spirituality and improves the quality of man's being. Prayer makes man master in the realm of creative ideas. The inner silence of prayer is a great source of spiritual power. There is no exception to this rule in all the evidence of life. "Be still, and know that I am God."
The living Word of God, the creative idea in Divine Mind, may be expressed by man when he has fulfilled the law of expression. To keep the Word is to revolve it in mind, to go over it in all its aspects, to believe in it as Truth, to treasure it as a saving balm in time of need, and above all, to obey the law it sets forth.
The Christ is God's divine idea of man, the embodiment of all divine ideas existing in the mind of Being. The Christ is the "Messiah," the "anointed one." The Christ is the living principle working in man. "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."
"Know ye not that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" Under the direction of the Christ a new body is constructed by the thinking faculty in man. The materials entering into this superior structure are spiritual substances, and the new creation is the body of Spirit. It breathes
an atmosphere and is thrilled with a life energy more real than that of the manifest man. When we come into the realization of our true Christ body we feel the stirring within us of the indwelling Spirit. We know what Paul meant when he said, "There is a natural body, and there is also a spiritual body." The true temple in the "body" of Christ is a state of consciousness. In the inmost center of every man the indwelling Christ resides.
Would you meet your God in this sacred place? Then quietly enter this holy of holies in the name and through the power of Jesus Christ. Here reality reigns supreme. Neither doubt nor fear can enter. You will be conscious only of the great omnipresence of God, where the light, joy, peace, and satisfaction of His Spirit abide, where Truth reigns supreme.
In this inner realm you will find the spiritual ethers heavily charged with ideas that turn to spiritual substance. As your consciousness (awareness) expands, you touch the everlasting truths and you find that every blessing is abundantly added. What seems new is but the unveiling of that which has been forever.
It is of this high realization of oneness with Spirit that Paul wrote in II Cor. 12:4, when the man was "caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for man to utter."
In this realm, attention is given to concentrating
the mind on Truth; the I AM, or inner entity is focalized on God's word until the inner meaning is realized and man is aware of a definite spiritual uplift.
Persistent meditation on the Truth contained in the Word of God opens the mind to a greater inflow of Spirit. Then all words become quickening life and nourishing substance in both mind and body. "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly."
Your thinking Truth zealously and affirming it audibly will dissolve error in consciousness and at the same time reveal greater spiritual illumination. In this consciousness appropriate words of Truth. "Eat them," so to speak. Partake of that with which you form the spiritual substance and which will manifest itself in the Christ, or perfect body. Let "Christ be formed in you." Know that the Holy Spirit is filling your being with its illuminating, resurrecting power and that the all-knowing One shines in you as it did in Jesus and that you manifest greater and greater spiritual understanding.
When man praises the Spirit of wisdom within he expands and deepens and enriches his consciousness. As the Christ radiance lights man's mind, he sees with the inner eye and he finds that Truth is a never-failing light that makes straight his way.
In this high state of consciousness he knows that the divine perfection that exists in the universal God-Mind is brought into direct contact with its image and likeness, the Christ Spirit that was implanted
in him by the Creator from the beginning.
The resurrection of Jesus takes place in us each time we rise to the realization of the perpetual in-dwelling life that connects us with the Father. The graveclothes of mortal sense, which are thoughts of limitation and inevitable obedience to material laws, are left in the tomb of matter.
True resurrection within us lifts up all the faculties of mind until they conform to the absolute ideas of Divine Mind. This mental renewal makes a complete transformation of the body, so that every function works in divine order and every cell becomes incorruptible and immortal.
For the perpetuation or the renewal of youth in mind and body it is well to affirm often: