Keep a True Lent, by Charles Fillmore, [1953], at sacred-texts.com
Keep a True Lent, by Charles Fillmore, [1953], at sacred-texts.com
THE HOLY TRINITY is known as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Metaphysically, we understand the Trinity to refer to mind, idea, and expression, or thinker, thought, and action.
God is first in the Trinity. God is mind and is everywhere present. God is principle, law, Being, Spirit, All-Good, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, unchangeable, Creator, Father, cause, and source of all that is. God as Spirit is forever accessible.
God as principle is the unchangeable life, love, substance, and intelligence of Being. A parallel may be found in the principle of mathematics or music. Principle does not occupy space, nor has it any limitations of time or matter, but eternally exists as the one underlying cause from which come forth all true ideas.
In universal God-Mind is a substance that includes the seed of all visible substance. It is the only real substance, because it is unchangeable, while visible substance is in constant transition. God as substance does not mean matter, because matter is formed; God is formless. The substance that God is lies back of all matter and all form. It is that which
is the basis of all form, yet enters not into any form as finality. It cannot be seen, tasted, or touched, yet it is the one and only "substantial" substance.
Second in the Trinity is God's idea of man. It is called Jehovah in the Old Testament and Christ in the New Testament. The second in the Trinity is also called the Word, the Son, the Logos, the anointed One, and the I AM.
The Word of God is the revelation to man of the powers and possibilities of his own being. The searchlight of His Word discloses the presence of secret springs and living streams of energy and life. Man's consciousness is lifted up by the wisdom of the Word, and he finds himself master of the powers and privileges of infinity. He says with Jesus, "All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth."
To produce works, there must be a working power. This is exactly what the Word is--the working power of God.
Every known process has a regular sequence from inception to conclusion, and each step in the sequence is taken according to recognized principles. The Word of God conveys to the world the concepts of the Most High.
Persistent meditation on the Truth contained in the Word of God opens the mind to Spirit. Then all words become quickening life and nourishing substance in both mind and body. "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly."
In the silence go before the altar and lay your problems before the Lord. The altar is that place in consciousness where you are willing to let go of the lesser for the greater, to let go of personality and enter into individuality of the Christ.
While in this closet of prayer, fix your mind powerfully on the consummation of a certain idea until the idea nucleates a certain amount of thought substance. This is followed by a spiritual quickening, or the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, third in the Trinity.
The function of the Holy Spirit implies distinct personal subsistence: He speaks, searches, selects, reveals, reproves, testifies, leads, comforts, distributes to every man, "searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God."
In concentration the Holy Spirit works through the divine substance to bring forth the fruits of Divine Mind. The Holy Spirit is the teacher. The teacher and the student use the same principles; but the teacher arouses and inspires the student to greater achievement. The Holy Spirit today is urging us to greater spiritual effort.
Another word for the Holy Spirit is "the Comforter," Jesus said: "Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I go, I will send him unto you. And he, when he is come, will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment."
The mission of Jesus was to open the way for the Holy Spirit to enter into the minds of men. "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me."
We may understand the relation and office of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit by analyzing our own mind and its apparent subdivisions during thought action, because each person is a perfect image and likeness of this great universal first cause--God, the Father.
Your word is the power through which you make your belief manifest. Simple belief in or assent to the truth of a proposition never gives understanding to anyone. There must be mental action; changes in the mind are necessary before the new state of consciousness takes up its abode in you.
Therefore, in answer to that frequently asked question, "Who is the Holy Spirit, and what relation does it bear to God and to Christ?" the apostles knew the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Trinity. The Father is always the first, the Son or Word second, and the Holy Spirit third. The terms Father and Son express an eternal, reciprocal relation. The Holy Spirit is the infinite "breath" of God, as the Son of His infinite "Word."
God-Mind is located and appears wherever it is recognized by the mind of man. It thus follows that whoever gives his attention to Spirit and seals his
identification with it by his word (the Son) starts a flow of Spirit life and all the attributes of Spirit in and through his consciousness. To the extent that he practices identifying himself with the one and only source of existence, he becomes Spirit in expression, until finally the union attains a perfection in which he can say with Jesus, "I and the Father are one."
In making your demonstrations, work for the conviction in your own heart that you are a son of God; next, declare it in word and carry it out in the acts of your daily life. After declaring it, if you fail in demonstrating yourself to be a son of God, determine why. "Ask, and it shall be given you . . . knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Perhaps you have neglected some of your spiritual powers, or you may be dissipating your energies on the sense plane.
Be that as it may, when you ask in the silence of Spirit to be shown why you do not demonstrate the powers that Jesus of Nazareth demonstrated, the Holy Spirit will in some way reveal to you your lack. How that revealment will come about, no one can tell you. But if you are patient and trustful, you will be guided and directed so that all the links in the chain of your being will be brought together and harmoniously joined, and the Son of God will be revealed in you.