Via Christa: Via Christa Life: Sermons: Edna Lister’s Sermons 1953

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Edna Lister’s Sermons 1953

The Mystery of All Beauty
Edna Lister speech; March 4, 1953, Tacoma, WA, Matthew 6:33, Matthew 5:25, John 21:22.

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."–Matthew 6:33.
"Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him."–Matthew 5:25.
"What is that to thee? Follow thou me."–John 21:22.
The universe operates under regular and immutable law in every detail of its being. Since we are each a microcosm of the macrocosm, we, too, are subject to these same immutable laws. Therefore, we may experience physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual ill health if we disobey any of these laws.
Yet, to understand law, we must begin with the laws of Spirit. The following three laws cover all phases of life, beyond the physical—"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."–Matthew 6:33. "Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him."–Matthew 5:25. "What is that to thee? Follow thou me."–John 21:22.
When you proclaim, "I have done this," ask yourself how you did it. You can obey all metaphysical laws, follow a suitable diet and get enough exercise, yet still not become beautiful of face or form as a result. On the other hand, many women and men may be physically lovely or handsome, but utterly cold emotionally.
Finally, you ask, What is the mystery behind real beauty? The answer is to mix all your soul's food—all love, all thinking—all your soul's lesser powers of being with the greatest power of heaven—joy.
Beauty's great secret is so simple—to do everything in life in joy, with enthusiasm. Joy, enthusiastic joy is beauty's secret.

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Gifts and Giving
Edna Lister outline, May 24, 1953, Buffalo, NY, Matthew 7:7-12

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Gifts and Giving
Edna Lister transcript, Edna Bender, scribe, May 24, 1953, Buffalo, NY, Matthew 7:7-12

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets."–Matthew 7:7-12.
These verses contain three outstanding verbs: Ask, seek and knock. Scholars have interpreted them many ways, and no other words have been subject to greater misinterpretation.
Remember, every letter has twenty-two hidden meanings and interpretations under our mystical Kabbalistic work. Taken together, the various shades of meaning form the complete and true significance.
Ask, seek and knock are action verbs. A materialistic scientist is willing to tear down his formula to cooperate with other scientists and rebuild. So should you, according to this pattern: Ask what? Seek where? Knock how?
You could become unbalanced on these points. Escapists are afraid to ask, and others pound so hard on heaven's doors that they muddle the answers they seek. Finding the center point of balance can be difficult.
"If ye then … know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?"–Matthew 7:11.
Evil is turning your back on the Light, a definite personal choice. It's a shame how most people seek the world and its shadowy darkness rather than facing God's Light.
What "good gift" does the Father give you? 'G' symbolizes the soul who has nearly completed the initiations of the Zodiacal Path, the first cycle of unity, one who has almost perfectly polished his soul to be enfolded in Light.
The words gift, give and good each have four letters. Three words times four letters equal twelve. Thus, "Give good gifts" added equals thirteen, the number that symbolizes the Via Christa, the Way of Christ.
If you give your children good gifts, how much greater will our Father give you? Your children include all those souls for whom you are responsible, all those on your lines of Light and responsibility.
"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets."–Matthew 7:12.
God gives us tremendous leeway, but cannot set aside divine law. He will say, "Child, you must pay your debts." You cannot go bankrupt with God, which is reassuring. I once saw the Heavenly Reserve Bank, and it is so huge that God cannot possibly default.
This brings us to the point of action. You are accountable for all your negative thoughts and imaginings, which circle the world seven times, gathering their own degree and kind before returning to you.
Negative people can tune in your negative thoughts and express them, but you are responsible for lifting what they add. You can tune in others' negative broadcasts, too. This reciprocal-return principle works for good when the thoughts are good, but otherwise, watch out!
The whole universe operates under the law of forgiveness, which eventually cleanses every taint. For example, we can be breathing the same air today that our Cold War enemies breathed last night.
To "forgive" means to "give for," and your privilege is to choose what you give. Neither God nor the heavenly Councils above take cognizance of a family's judgments of its members, for they have the soul records and know the whole truth.
You cannot know how often or how sincerely another has knelt before God, asked forgiveness and had his record wiped clean. So, how dare you declare someone a sinner and charge a double debt, to him and to yourself?
Jesus forgives sins, and you must too. Forgive your adversaries, stop seeing sin, noticing it, looking for it. Heal your self of blaming. Ask the Father to love the person enough through you. When you have given enough love, they stop knocking on your door.
Criticism is a gift when you know that you cannot receive anything but good gifts. Think of those special "sinners," who block your way, as gracious gifts from your heavenly Father. Look at a sinner and mentally say, "I think you are wonderful."
The other fellow's criticism is a chance to give more love. You need not like what he does, but pour out forgiveness and enthusiasm lavishly, instead of dribbling it from the teeth out just because it is law. Hold your eyes on the Light and graciously lift all demands to make them into Light.
Asking puts all this in action. Ask in a positive voice for new ways to expand. Jesus said, "Ask in my name believing." That is law. Ask once then thank God graciously a thousand times an hour in advance of receiving.
Nothing happens unless you ask, believing you have it, and thanking opens the way to receptivity. Ask and receive graciously. Seeking finds forgiveness. Seek new and ingenious ways to make others more comfortable.
Knocking opens the door to receiving. Knock with a velvet glove or a padded mallet, which is how the Master knocks, in inevitable, unwavering persistence. Desire is knocking, so open the door and say, "Come in, Father. I know You have already supplied the miracle. Let it become visible."
The law is, "Give, and you will receive." Give enough love until you burst with compassion. Giving vitalizes everything. You may receive two ways, on opposite poles of receiving. For example, the husband in one family was out of work, his wife was sick and could not cook. Her friend phoned and said that she and her husband were bringing a complete dinner. The wife thought her husband would love it. He praised it when it came and later phoned his friends to tell them how fine it was. That telephone call lifted the givers and the receivers in their current trouble.
The other pole is this: Her friend called to say that they were bringing dinner. The sick wife said, "Oh, you shouldn't have. It's too much," and her husband protested all evening from a sense of false pride. By the time the givers left, they wished they had never given their friends dinner.
Are you a gracious receiver? If another gives you love and appreciation, receive the praise joyously and graciously, thank God, and give Him the credit. Maintain a constant watchfulness over giving and receiving to do great things.
You need an eternal flaming desire to know more and to express God in serene action. Ascend into poise, peace, serenity, and patience. You will not need peace or patience if you stand in poise, for you will have become law.

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Aspiration and Prayer
Edna Lister outline, May 31, 1953, Buffalo, NY, June 7, 1953, Cleveland, OH, 1 Corinthians 13

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."–1 Corinthians 13.
Aspiration means "an ardent wish or desire, chiefly of spiritual blessings. The act of aspiring or of ardently desiring what is noble or spiritual." An aspiration sets a goal. You can go no farther than the height of your aspiration, or become any greater than your aspiration. Without aspiration, you have no further need to do anything. Instead, you are "virtuous," filled with smugness, and self-satisfaction.
Prayer comes in several stages or degrees of effectiveness. Mental prayers can make you no more than a ceiling bumper or a cloud climber. You can pray from your hair roots, from the ceiling, on clouds or before thrones. Yet you must move from the mental to the spiritual, from demanding to letting.
True prayer is a yearning toward something or someone greater than the self. You need someone (as a personality) to receive your prayers. Prayer is "worship of" and "devotion to."
You can have devotion to principle without yearning, but principle is usually not enough to satisfy the soul. Who was ever able to yearn over law? Principle can satisfy a few souls, mainly the agnostics, but not everyone.
No prayer is successful without a high degree of aspiration. Aspiration means to be resurrected from old ways of being into new life. Prayer is how you ascend in consciousness. Love is the key to successful prayer. When your prayers are love-filled, you have miracles every hour.
You must love something enough, and you may choose between God and the world. Most people love to possess someone or something, but the wise soul knows he cannot afford selfish love. We all need Mother love, which is generously giving.
Consider this—when a mother shares a pie among her family of five, she may choose to take a piece herself or to take none at all. If she takes no piece, she short-changes herself and the souls of her entire family. Her sacrifice is invisible, for others rarely notice what you do not do. A mother who takes even a tiny piece of pie lets her family see the ensample of a sacrifice, provided she says nothing about it, which would defeat the whole purpose.
Love fulfills Wisdom, which is the basis of all law. Love is neither sentimental nor weak. Love is the strongest thing in the universe, yet gossamer light, and no burden to carry. Grief and sorrow add weight, and self is the heaviest weight in the world. Nothing can stand in love's way, and nothing can resist its flow. When you add action to your love, you move it into the "to do" stage, where it becomes universal and all powerful in your life.
Joy is the action you need. You can reach your goals by aspiring to joy consciousness. Through joy you become because joy is love in action. Do you believe this?
Love is a compound of joy, devotion and the Mother Love of God. Love is timeless and measureless. Some speak of selfish or unselfish love, which is a false comparison, for no self may taint love or it is no love at all.
When love possesses you, you become timeless, measureless, infinite and limitless in unconquerable faith. Faith is atomic power and faith is substance, nourishing, sustaining, renewing, and creating energy in the body.
Prayer of faith is desire to reach the golden silence, a state of joyous devotion. Joy is the moving activity of all fulfillment. From aspiration, which is a yearning, you move to fulfillment, resurrecting your aspiration, and ascending to joy in prayer.

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Prayer: The Soul's Aspiration
Edna Lister transcript, Margaret Pratt Doan, Ruth Johnson, scribes, June 7, 1953, Cleveland, OH. Matthew 6:6-13

"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen."–Matthew 6:6-13.
Aspiration means "an ardent wish or desire, chiefly of spiritual blessings. The act of aspiring or of ardently desiring what is noble or spiritual." The first expression of life and the first movement in civilization must be an aspiration. To attain any goal, you must aspire, and your aspiration inevitably brings you to that goal. You cannot advance, achieve, or express life without aspiration. You cannot become any greater than the goal you aspire to, or go farther than the height of your aspiration.
Without aspiration, you feel no need to do, but remain filled with self-exaltation, self-satisfaction and "virtuous" smugness. Such a soul is a square peg in a round hole, unhappy unless he can force everyone to do things his way.
The soul's aspiration is rooted in desire. Aspiration toward attaining a greater goal than what you have ignites the flame of desire. The body's death begins when the soul's aspiration dies. So, first you must desire and aspire to possess something, then put enough flame in your desire to do what you must do.
Prayer is the soul's aspiration vocalized, in many stages of desire, beginning with the savage who worships a stone or a fetish. People pray in many ways, but valid prayer must be free of self. The psychological and metaphysical grades of prayer are usually demands on God—"I want. Give me"—but skull-bumping aspiration ascends no farther than your hair roots.
At the intellectual level, you find the Christ-is-within-me type who has devoted himself to principle, which is a valid approach to God, but is still demonstrating. He demonstrates the right behavior if God continues to answer his prayers. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Ceiling-bumper prayers are nothing more than mental statements of principle, law or fact that contain no love, aspiration or devotion, yet here you begin to see a goal greater than self. Next come the cloud-climbers, those who do see a goal greater than self. However, they devote themselves to principle, so they climb the ladder to the clouds, one rung at a time.
You need to know that someone is on the other end to hear your prayers. Belief in God as just principle alone does not open the floodgate of Light. Who can hunger for cold principle? When you add personality to your conception of God, you ascend the ladder of Light and law to seek the throne above.
Aspiration is a resurrection from the old to the new, born of a burning desire to know that God, as a Father, unlocks the Gates of Light. To open the floodgates, seek and listen for the Master's knock at your "door" at the crown of your head.
After you accept that the Father yearns over you, your aspiration becomes passion to become and to do, which brings you to the love of God. Now you compose your prayers in joy and devotion to God as personality. You yearn for God, the world, including family, friends and organizations.
The Lord's Prayer is our ensample of prayer for all ages, and covers the great avenues of life. When you yearn for more truth, you step from resurrecting the old to ascending to the new, and ascension becomes a constant act.
Yet no ascension is possible without the compound of joy and love, a longing, devotional attitude toward God who is that dependable principle. The all-encompassing feminine principle of love is taking us home to God. Love is the glory in your soul, as joy is the energy in your body.
Love is Light, the strongest element in the universe, yet so gossamer light that you may bear it without feeling a burden. Emotions of grief, sorrow and self-pity taint love with the weight of self, and self-pity is the heaviest burden in the world. And you can misuse love.
For instance, possessive mother love squeezes the loved one to death. So you must add the divine principle of action to the full love of God to express love in the outer. Joy is the great activating factor.
Joy, Love and Wisdom are the trinity from which all laws manifest. Joy is energy as love in action that fires your enthusiasm and makes you conquer worldly challenges. Love is joy in action.
Your prayers ascend to God's throne when you aspire to reach the Source of Light to supply your answers. Joy in action amalgamates your devotional love of God, your aspiration and goal become one, to be an instrument to release joy.
Resurrect all good, forgetting the old as you balance aspiration with joyous prayer and love. Almighty Light as Power returns over the line of devotional love you have built to God's throne, and you become the servant of all Power and Light, according to your physical capacity.
You no longer measure your aspiration in prayer, which now partakes of unconquerable faith's timeless, measureless quality. Faith is atomic substance and energy, the Holy Spirit's transforming power stepped down to use you because you have become a sun center of Light on earth.
You do not consider your acts as selfish or unselfish, but become that limitless quality of unconquerable faith, "the substance of things hoped for." Faith fills your mental body atoms, nourishing and sustaining physical cells to renew and recreate them. The Light goes before you as the Spirit of the Lord.
The same power that creates also can destroy form. Reach to the Source and stand steadfastly when a challenger causes you tummy butterflies. Declare him perfect, and that God moves through. Ascend.
Almighty Power is Light as the Holy Spirit, which answers all prayer, from lowest to highest. Step into the Source of Supreme Light and limitless Power and let it use you according to God's perfect will. Joyous activity will fulfill your success and take you to your goal. Aspire greatly.

Prayer is the Soul's Sincere Desire
Prayer is the soul's sincere desire,
Uttered or unexpressed,
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast.

Prayer is the burden of a sigh,
The falling of a tear,
The upward glancing of an eye
When none but God is near.

Prayer is the simplest form of speech
That infant lips can try;
Prayer the sublimest strains that reach
The majesty on high.

Prayer is the contrite sinner's voice
Returning from his ways,
While angels in their songs rejoice,
And cry: "Behold, he prays!"

Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,
The Christian's native air,
Our watchword at the gate of death;
We enter heaven with prayer.

O thou by whom we come to God,
The Life, the Truth, the Way!
The path of prayer thyself hast trod:
Lord, teach us how to pray!
– James Montgomery

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Gifts and Giving
Edna Lister transcript; Ruth Johnson, scribe, June 14, 1953, Cleveland, OH, Matthew 7:7-12

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets."–Matthew 7:7-12.
These verses contain three outstanding words: Ask, seek and knock. Scholars have interpreted them many ways. No greater misinterpretation has been placed on words other than these. This is not surprising since every letter has twenty-two hidden meanings and different interpretations under Kabbalistic work, which forms their complete and true meaning.
As a scientist may tear down his formula to rebuild and cooperate with other scientists, so should ministers do according to this pattern of inquiry: Ask what? Seek where? Knock how? These are the points on which you can become unbalanced.
Some are afraid to ask; they are the escapists. Some pound on the doors of Heaven so hard that they muddle their quest. Finding the point of balance in the center is difficult.
These three words are verbs of action. "What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?"–Matthew 7:9-11.
What is this evil? Evil is turning your back on the Light. Most people seek the world and its darkness rather than facing the Light.
If you can give good gifts to your children, how much greater can your Father give you? What good gifts does your Father give you?
"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets."–Matthew 7:12.
God gives, but cannot set aside His own law. He will say, "Child, you must pay your debts." You cannot go bankrupt with God. Ask to see the Heavenly Reserve Bank. God cannot possibly become insolvent.
This brings you to the point where you must act. You are accountable for all your negative thoughts and imaginings. Thoughts go around the world seven times, gathering every vibration of the same degree and kind before they return to you.
Negative people tune in your negative thoughts, amplify them, and you are responsible for lifting what they add. You can be negative and tune in their negative broadcasts, too. This process works for good when the thoughts are good.
All souls and all processes operate under the principle of reciprocity, which includes the law of forgiveness. For example, you are breathing the same air today that the Red Chinese breathed last night. Forgiveness cleanses blots and soiled soul robes. To forgive means to give for. Your privilege is to choose what you give.
Neither God nor the Councils above take cognizance of a family's judgments of its members. They have the soul records and they know the truth. How can you know how often another has gone to God, knelt, asked forgiveness, and had his record wiped clean? How dare you declare someone a sinner and charge a double debt, to him and to yourself?
Jesus forgave sins. So shall we. Forgiveness means to forgive your special type of sinner, all those to whom you have charged your special debts of blame. Heal yourself of blaming. See sin no longer. Ask the Father to love the person enough through you instead of blaming him as a sinner. When you have given those who knock you enough love, they stop.
Go out, find sinners and give them a blessing bath. Even their criticism is a gift when you know that you cannot receive anything but good gifts. Criticism is a gift that gives you a chance to give more love.
Asking puts all this in action. Seeking finds forgiveness. Knocking opens the door to receiving. You may receive two ways, and two stories illustrate them.
In one family, the husband was out of work and the wife was sick; she could not cook. Her friend phoned and said that she and her husband were bringing a complete dinner. The wife thought her husband would love it; he praised it when it came and later phoned his friends to say how fine it was. That telephone call lifted both the givers and the receivers in their current trouble.
The other version is this: the friend called to say that they were bringing dinner. The sick wife said, "Oh, you shouldn't. It's too much." The unemployed husband also protested all evening. By the time the givers left, they wished they had never brought their friends dinner. Everyone had a miserable evening.
These are the two opposite poles of receiving. Are you a gracious receiver? If another praises you with love and appreciation, thank God and give Him the credit. Yet, you also joyously and graciously receive the praise yourself.
Ask in a positive voice. Maintain a constant watchfulness over giving and receiving to do great things. Hold your eyes on the Light and graciously lift all payable-on-demand drafts to convert them into Light. Sinners are gracious gifts from your heavenly Father.
Ask for new ways to expand. The law is to give and you shall receive. Seek ways to make others comfortable. Knock politely with a velvet glove and a padded mallet. This is how the Master knocks in inevitable, unwavering persistence, an eternal flaming desire to know and express more of God.
Perfect action is serene. Ascend into poise, peace, serenity, and patience. Stand where poise is and you will need no peace or patience; you will have become law.
"And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."–Matthew 21:22. Believing in what? Believing in God. That is law. Ask once, then thank God a thousand times in advance. Tell Him you are waiting to receive it graciously. You cannot have action unless you ask, believing you have it, and gracious thanking is the way to the receptive point.
Your desire for a miracle is knocking at the door. When you have asked, open the door and say, "Come in. Father, I know You have already supplied it. Let it become visible."
Give until you burst with compassion. Ask and receive graciously. Give enough love, too, for your forgiveness must be lavish. Pour out enthusiasm; do not dribble it from the teeth out just because it is law. Look at a sinner and say, "I think you are wonderful in this one thing."
You need not like what another does, but you can choose not to see it. Give love for it. Your giving vitalizes everyone and everything.

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Accepting and Obeying Law
Edna Lister outline, June 21, 1953, Buffalo, NY, Romans 12

From acceptance to obedience is a long pilgrimage. We ascend from creature consciousness, the Land of Egypt and the midnight-of-the-mind urges, through the Promised Land dawn, where the children of earth are just learning to believe in God. We are returning to the full Light of creator consciousness, the Garden of Eden, as the Elect sons and daughters of God. We are transforming the old into the new, lifting self to soul.
The soul moves from acceptance to obedience, which are twins, one following the other. What is acceptance? What is obedience? The old idea of proper obedience was complete submission to the will of God. The difficulty arises when blind obedience to ideas about God comes before God. This anchors the soul to earth.
Yet Abraham set an example of obedience for all time, when he offered Isaac as a living sacrifice. He received a ram in the bushes from God, as a substitute. To accept willingly is good, but also to declare it good is even better. The secret of acceptance that transforms and renews you is willingness to sacrifice self. An unwilling sacrifice, one that is forced or offered grudgingly, does not transform you.
You transform yourself in four stages, from acceptance to obedience. In the first stage, the soul asks, "Who am I?" Young zeal is slumbering here, and the appetitive soul soul says, "Leave me alone." We call them skull bumpers at prayer since they get no farther than their own heads. They start to climb, but self throws them down the stairs because they are still selfish and indifferent.
The second stage is the first awakening in which soul is teaching the self by outer recognition. Self first sees all the faults in others. "You are wrong" is the most often repeated phrase. They remain ceiling bumpers in prayer because great complacency still fills them.
In the third stage, the appetitive soul finds the will. Will and intellect rule here under the attitude of "my way or else!" The self-centered "I, me and my" majority pulls God down to the level of self. This is the star-grabber stage, though, as the soul begins to reach higher.
Through sacrifice and service you ascend to the fourth stage, to begin crucifying the will, mating the self's desire with will to God's desire and will for you. You become a "throne seeker" in prayer to answer the question, I AM what?
Soul is no longer weak, tired, ill, angry, complacent or asleep, but determined to sacrifice selfish desire to God. Declare, "I am obedient to 'I AM' Christ consciousness as intuition and illumination." Listen for the Voice, whether it be loud and clear or "still and small," it is the Voice.
You find that you have become the Oversoul consciousness, "I AM THAT I AM." Your body is like a filled bobbin, 1 ready to weave perfection for God to see, not man. The will of God is perfect now. Your soul vision is out front and up front.
Leave self satisfaction behind to work at ascension of soul. High vision is your transforming Power. You never reach up if you focus your vision at eye level or below. Your soul's vision must ever recede higher or you stagnate.

1 A bobbin is a cylinder, a spool or reel that holds thread or yarn for spinning, weaving, knitting, sewing, or making lace. A shuttle is a wooden device with two pointed ends holding a bobbin, used for carrying the weft thread between the warp threads in weaving.

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Surrender and Ascension
Edna Lister outline; June 28, 1953, Buffalo, NY, Ephesians 4:1-15

"I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ."–Ephesians 4:1-15.
Jesus descended to ascend. When he took human form, he was in captivity, in bondage on earth. He led "captivity captive" when he conquered life, overcame death and ascended. The Christ method is simple: There is one body, and one Spirit, one Lord (the law of love), one faith, one Baptism of Water and one of Fire.
You move from surrender to Ascension through three steps of transmutation, transformation and transfiguration. First, you make a general surrender of old ideas, which is transmutation. Then surrender your past emotions, thoughts and pictures of imagination, which is transformation. Finally, you sacrifice one piece of self after another in a step-by-step surrender to rebuild the body. We call this transfiguration.
Transfiguration is a combination of your growing love of God and faith of God, which fills you with Light, glory and a desire for more God. All is good. With the sublimation of all life's forces and powers within, you experience the Christing, the unfolding of white soul wings. As Jesus did, you can say, "Father, glorify Thyself as me. Thy Name is Good."
Am I good enough? Do I love enough? Is my effort great enough to pay dividends, and to bring miracle after miracle? When I hear the Voice from heaven calling, does it scare me? Do I hunt the bomb shelter of self and dig in further?
Surrender through Rebirth, Transformation and Transfiguration to Ascension here and now. You can change the world, businesses, dispositions, bodies.
Transforming your ship o' dreams is up to you. Your hold is full of old life ideas, and you need to unload it now. Put in a new load, a new cargo of ideas, mental pictures and thoughts of the love of God. This is how to lead captivity captive and free soul from bondage to self.
Love is the Transfiguration, moving forth on the white wings of joy. Ascension is mine when I lade my ship o' dreams with new molds then fill and cover them all with love.

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Accepting and Obeying Law
Edna Lister outline; July 5, 1953, Cleveland, OH, September 2, 1953, Tacoma, WA, Romans 12

Growth, from acceptance to obedience, is a long pilgrimage from creature consciousness to become sons and daughters of man in the Land of Egypt, through the Promised Land as sons and daughters of God, and back to the Garden of Eden as creators. The way is hard.
You are learning how to believe in God. Think! People take time out to think whether God is, whether they can trust Him. Why do this? To believe, to know that God is, transforms your whole life, and lifts self to soul.
Ask, What is acceptance? What is obedience? They are twins, working together as one.
The old ideas were unquestioning acceptance and obedience. Yet putting blind obedience first, as puppet-like unthinking submission to the will of God, anchors you to earth, to experience delay and difficulties.
Another old idea is that man is merely the plaything of the mysterious unknown. "It must be God's will that I am a weak worm or experience illness." This led to self-punishments such as flogging the body and wearing hair shirts. Hair-shirt martyrs fill the earth today. The other extreme is willfulness that takes and grabs, offering no payment for what it snatches. The extremity of willfulness is born of fear, and we call it atheism.
Yet, we have an example for all time in Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his only son. When he and his son Isaac arrived at Mount Moriah, the place of sacrifice, the Lord provided a ram in the bushes. Abraham's acceptance and obedience set aside the need for such a great sacrifice.
The secret of acceptance is instantly ready willingness to sacrifice self. To declare people, events and conditions good, transforms and renews life. An unwilling sacrifice, grudged or forced, does not transform.

“Without an identity with God, you can never know who you are,
why God made you, why you are here, what you are supposed to be doing,
or what your reason for being really is.”–Edna Lister

You grow through four stages from acceptance to full obedience. Yet, you may sum the whole of life's questions in "Who am I?"—which is the first question soul asks regarding its identity. Without an identity with God, you can never know who you are, why God made you, why you are here, what you are supposed to be doing, or what your reason for being really is.
In the first stage, young zeal is slumbering. Nascent desire says, "Leave me alone." As skull-bumpers, they start to climb but fall back, throwing the responsibility for everything that happens back onto situations and other people. They are selfish, indifferent, butterfly chasers and escapists.
The second stage describes the first awakening of the soul. Their most favored statement is, "You are wrong." As ceiling-bumpers, they see all the faults in others and the world, but not their own.
They are complacent, self-satisfied and "holier than thou." Yet, how can a rational soul learn what fills the appetitive soul without seeing it on the outside first? You must learn to recognize what is wrong before you can clean house and ascend.
In the third stage, the soul finds its will power, and will and intellect begin to rule. The most oft repeated phrase is, "Do it my way" or else. As star-grabbers, their selfish "I am" forms a majority with God. Their attitude is "I can drag heaven down for my use."
Finally, in stage four, you learn sacrifice of the self through the 33rd Degree of Christed service. Here you become a throne-seeker in prayer, who worship God as personality and principle. To do this, you must complete your crucifixion of will, mating will to desire. Your only sacrifice is that of self's desires to soul.
You no longer say, "That just took the heart out of me," or, "He put me on a spot!" What spot? You are stouthearted and able to do, no longer weak, ill, angry, complacent, tired or asleep. I AM become that soul, I AM. When you know that I AM is obedient, intuitive and illumined, you have found Oversoul's I AM THAT I AM consciousness.
Your body then becomes a bobbin 1 filled with Light to weave a pattern of perfection for God to see, not man. Listen for His Voice, whether still and small or loud and clear–it is His Voice.
Focus your vision up front and out beyond self. You never reach any goal if your vision stays on or below the level with your eyes. Soul vision recedes ever higher.
Move high and out of the world to work at this. Stand in your Garden of Eden, where your soul is free. Then you will know "Who I AM." I AM transformed.

1 A bobbin is a cylinder, a spool or reel that holds thread or yarn for spinning, weaving, knitting, sewing, or making lace. A shuttle is a wooden device with two pointed ends holding a bobbin, used for carrying the weft thread between the warp threads in weaving.

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Surrender and Transfiguration
Edna Lister outline; July 12, 1953, Cleveland, OH, Ephesians 4:1-25

Jesus "first descended into the lower parts of the earth and he ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things." The Master descended to lift earth and ascended through the Gates of Light to prove that we could, too.
Through the ages, whenever a soul fails, the Guardian Angels take it from the body to try again. A deathbed repentance pays no spiritual debts, but does take the soul to the College of Ascension to work back to earth and right the balance. All mythologies tell of an underworld or lower worlds.
You must complete earth's lessons. You may pay some spiritual debts by work on the inner, but not all. You must make things right at the level where they first went wrong. Jesus taught his disciples these truths.
Paul never knew Jesus, which is perhaps why he dared to reveal some mysteries when the other disciples did not. He reveals the method: "There is one body and one Spirit… one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."–Ephesians 4:4-6.
The one law to apply is that God created everything of, by, for and from one Light, which includes everything that follows the creative fiat, "Let there be Light." Jesus used the law of nonresistance as complete surrender for the Light to use him, and thus fulfilled his Ascension. He conquered death through ascension of consciousness.
You must do the same, yet you, the soul of you, face three peremptory challenges: Rebirth, Transformation and Transfiguration. Unless you face and conquer these necessities, you cannot return with the life wave with which you descended. (See Glossary: Life wave.)
No one can prevent you from entering heaven, yet you must pass certain grades and earn the needed degrees to enter on time and in your proper position. You could not expect to graduate with earthly class if you lost a year's credit. Unless you made up the credits, your graduating class would not wait for you to catch up with them.
The initiations of Rebirth and Baptisms by Water and Fire are mysteries waiting to be unveiled. A Rebirth is a two-way covenant: God baptizes you with water in your "lower parts," the appetitive soul and embodied rational soul. Baptism is a rite of purification that leads to nonresistance, which protects you from the world, and establishes your covenant with God to surrender self and ascend.
God answers your request to ascend by baptizing you with the flames of the Holy Spirit to burn away the dross of self. God's Power will strengthen and use you to uphold your part of the agreement.
You have the ability to transform your life and consciousness to grow up to the Christed stature. Transformation deals with form and means putting on the new. "Put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."–Ephesians 4:22-24.
You put on the new man when you ascend. You surrender self will, Light enters, and your body becomes Light as you ascend and leave darkness behind. Yet you freeze the body into a pattern of darkness if you wallow in evil, thinking or speaking negatively.
Consider how much time you must then spend declaring it good just to loosen it. It remains ice if you say it is frozen. If you recognize any form of darkness as being yours, not God's Mind, Substance and, you lower your own vibration until your feet freeze to the ice. Everything that comes to you is yours for lifting, which is not same as pondering darkness. How much do you want to have extra credits in heaven? Will you welcome paying the world's spiritual debts?
Jesus' love for us was so great that he glistered [a glittering brilliance] during his Transfiguration because the Father invested him with full heavenly radiance. The Light shone from within him, penetrating his clothing to radiate from him. Jesus had so completely surrendered self to be used by the Light that he redeemed his life sparks, drew them in, and walked in his atomic fire body.
Ask yourself, "Do I love God enough to do this? Is my effort great enough? Are my actions good enough?" You have your personal benchmark measure of surrender when you can finally say, "I have stood serenely and confidently, declaring everything is good" for thirty days.
Love enough recognizes no evil. Sympathy stops short of love, recognizes, names and declares the darkness, then commiserates in sentimental pity. Love enough sends forth compassion to heal. God charges the debt to the builder of a dark vibration, but credits the account of the soul who lifts without recreating more darkness.
Those who live by the Christ Light ascend, declare all things good, and eliminate their inner conflicts. Brace him who needs compassion and his sympathizers, and love them equally with the love of God for God.
Love enough is compassion that touches right and wrong to heal them. God does not judge anyone's choice as being wrong, but says, "Perhaps you could have done better today." Declare it good right now to remain in the Holy of Holies, partaking of the Christed consciousness.
Are you satisfied with your grain of mustard seed faith? After 2,000 years, it's time to let your mustard seed become a mighty tree. Just let it grow and you will find that it has flourished and you have grown into its leaves of all-conquering love.
"By their fruits ye shall know them."–Matthew 7:20. We are the blossoms that God can behold from heaven. Graduate from a tiny mustard seed faith, and let your face shine like the sun. Make every grim place you pass through your present sunny mount on which to stand steadfastly and serene.
Law works for you when you let it. Millions of life sparks, mountains of substance are ready to fill your creative prayer molds. God's Bank contains a vault in your name that holds baskets overflowing with abundance for you and those you love.
Endowed with the Holy Spirit, you stand as one with God, a revelation that frightens some, who run to bomb shelters to escape the Light. As you ascend, your white wings of joy descend. Love enough. Honor God enough.
Have you changed the cargo on your ship of dreams lately? Stow a new cargo of glory. A whole fleet sails under my banner, for God and for us all. You could have the same. If you do not know the ecstasy of Shekinah glory, you have not yet assembled a fleet.
You will know that you have reached the port of transfiguration when you can see the white banners of joy signaling your fleet. Love is Transfiguration.

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Surrender and Transfiguration
Edna Lister transcript; Ruth Johnson, scribe, July 12, 1953, Cleveland, OH, Ephesians 4:1-25

Jesus had to descend to lift earth. Through the ages, whenever a descended creator fails, he or she is taken out of the body to try again. In one life, Jesus ascended through the Gates of Light.
All mythologies include an underworld or lower worlds. Heaven has realms, as a series of seven nested spheres. Solar systems are held within the outermost realms of the universes. Worlds exist because the soul must have a place where it can complete earth's lessons.
A deathbed repentance does not pay your spiritual debts, but it does take you through the Gates. Then you may work back through earth experiences to pay your spiritual debts. Sometimes you may pay your debts through work on the inner.
Jesus taught these truths to his disciples. Paul brought some mysteries through the veil, although he never knew Jesus. Perhaps it is because he never knew Jesus that he dared to bring though mysteries the other disciples did not.
"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."–Ephesians 4:4-5.
The one law to apply here is that God created everything of, by, for and from one Light. This includes everything expressed in these verses. Jesus used the law of nonresistance to completely surrender self to be used by Light and thus fulfilled his ascension. He conquered death through ascension of consciousness.
You face three primary challenges in returning to God: Rebirth, Transformation, and Transfiguration. Unless you live according to the necessity of facing these three challenges, you cannot return with your original life wave, the souls with whom you descended.
No one can prevent you from entering heaven, yet you must pass certain grades to enter on time. If you entered a university, but lost a year's credit, you could not expect to graduate with your original incoming class unless you made up the lost time. The class would not wait for you.
The initiations of Rebirth, Baptism by Water, and Baptism by Fire are mysteries waiting to be unveiled. Rebirth is a two-way covenant. First, you are baptized with water on your "lower parts" of the appetitive soul and embodied rational soul. Then you are baptized with fire from above, the Light of Oversoul. Baptism by Water establishes your covenant with God to surrender self and ascend. You move from Baptism by Water, which is the soul ascending under an emotional sacrifice to reach for spiritual water, to Baptism by Fire, which is the descent of the Holy Spirit.
Baptism by Fire means that God's Power will moves in to use you. Baptism by Water protects you from the world. It is a rite of purification that leads you to nonresistance. Baptism by Fire marks the descent of the flames of the Holy Spirit, which is the Father's answer to your request to ascend. Successfully passing through a Baptism by Fire ensures that God's Power can move in to use you, to touch and strengthen you to fulfill your half of the covenant.
A man can transform his life and consciousness to grow up to the Christ. Transformation and transmutation are different processes. Transformation means putting on the new. Paul said, "I die daily." Each morning you arise to a new day, a new life if you choose it. Transformation deals with outer form, with taking on "the new man." As you surrender to Light, it enters and your body becomes Light.
You leave darkness behind and ascend. If you wallow in evil, you freeze your body into a pattern of darkness. Think of the time you waste declaring it good just to break the ice and loosen it. If you say it is ice, it remains ice. If you recognize darkness as yours, it freezes your feet to the ice.
Instantly lift any darkness you perceive or discern, whether in yourself or in others. God sends it to you for you to lift to a cloud continent of Light. Do you want credits in heaven? If so, will you welcome the privilege of paying the world's spiritual debts this way?
Jesus glistered during his Transfiguration because the Father invested His full radiance in him. The Light shone from within him, visibly shining through his clothing. How was this possible? Jesus had so completely surrendered self to be used by Power that he drew his life sparks from the physical and walked in his atomic fire body.
Ask yourself, Do I love enough? Is my effort great enough? Am I good enough? When you can say, "I have stood serenely and confidently declaring everything is good," for thirty days, you have a benchmark, a measuring rod of your surrender of self.
Love enough recognizes no evil, but sympathy stops short of loving enough. It recognizes, names and declares the darkness, then commiserates sentimentally. Love enough sends forth compassion to heal. God charges the debt to the one who builds the vibration of darkness. He credits the account of the one who lifts without recreating more darkness.
Those who live by the Christ Light, and ascend, have no inner conflicts because they declare all things good. Brace the one who needs compassion, and the one who sympathizes with him. Love them equally. Love enough is compassion that touches both sides, right and wrong.
God does not judge your choice as being wrong. He says, "You could have done better today." Make a greater effort now. To declare it good now is how to remain in the Holy of Holies.
Are you satisfied with your "grain of mustard seed" faith? After two thousand years, it's time your mustard seed grew into a mighty tree. It has flowered and you have grown into its leaves of all-conquering love. We are the blossoms that God can behold from heaven.
It's time you graduated from a tiny seed-like faith. Law works for you when you let it, so let your face shine like the sun. Find a sunlit place in which to stand. If you pass through one grim place after another, make each your present sunny promenade. Millions of life sparks, mountains of soul substance are ready to fill your creative prayer molds.
Have you changed the cargo on your ship of dreams lately? Stow a new cargo of glory. I have a whole fleet sailing under my banner. You could have the same. If you do not taste the ecstasy of Shekinah glory, you either have no fleet or have not yet seen your fleet's white-winged banners of joy.
Endowed with the Holy Spirit, stand as one with God. Some who experience this revelation become frightened and run to their bomb shelters to escape the Light.
God's bank contains a vault with your name. It contains baskets overflowing with all abundance for you and those you love. As you ascend, your white wings of joy descend.
"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits."–Matthew 7:15. We say, "By their works ye shall know them."
Love enough. Honor God enough. When you can see the banner of joy flying over your fleet, you will have reached the Mount of Transfiguration. Love is the Transfiguration.

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Dynamic Nonresistance
Edna Lister transcript; October 4, 1953, Cleveland, OH, Lotus Landis, Irene White, Ross Whitehead, scribes, Romans 13:1-2, Matthew 5:38-39, James 4:7-8

"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation."–Romans 13:1-2.
"Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."–Matthew 5:38-39.
Nonresistance, which is an element of the Logos or Holy Spirit, is the greatest principle to apply in studying God's personality as the Mother's hidden mysteries. Nonresistance is the most dynamic power in the universe.
Resistance says, "God created law for me to use." Nonresistance says, "God created me for law to use," which is a positive and complete surrender of self for Wisdom to act through you as the freedom of God's will for you.
Wisdom, as God's perfect will, holds the whole of Creation within its framework. Love is graciousness, compassion and all other glorious Godlike qualities combined, backed by Wisdom.
"But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."–Matthew 5:39.
You can maintain your golden silence and stand serenely confident and immovable as the will of God under the dynamic law of nonresistance. Yes, you can, when you draw personal will inside your own aura.
"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you."–James 4:7-8.
The Holy Spirit goes into action as you when you make your self-will into the will of God for you. Your desire to be right fades when the Prince of Peace, the Son, moves through you as nonresistance personified.
What does it matter if the other fellow thinks you are right or wrong? everyone picks on you when after arising and lifting them, you fall and sit on them. Agree with God that this is good, then adjust to your fellow men without arguing.
"Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."–Romans 12:21. Do not stop to consider whether you are loving as you touch the height of nonresistance. God puts the words on your lips.
You lose your earthly identity in the glory of God's Power, which makes you a constant challenge to darkness and evil. Earth is burdened with more darkness than ever, lines of responsibility that we all need to lift now.
When you conquer your "worst favorite," and you must, God will register your vows and the Prince of nonresistant Peace will crown you with glory.

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Look Up and Live!
Edna Lister outline, October 4, 1953, Cleveland, OH, October 25, 1953, Luke 10:25-28, John 6:48-58.

"And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live."–Luke 10:25-28.
"I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever."–John 6:48-58.
"I am that bread of life."–John 6:48. Bread is a symbol of nourishment, sustenance, the basis of life and growth in the body, whether light or heavy. Manna is precipitated from the invisible to the visible material world. It is not eternally life-giving, but serves to keep the soul in the body.
Jesus said, "The bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life."–John 6:51, 54. Is Jesus really telling us to eat his flesh and blood? These are mystical statements.
"I am that bread of life."–John 6:48. I AM always refers to a state of consciousness and of being. This passage really refers to the three temptations to misuse principle, as Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, before he began his public ministry.
First is the misuse of Substance, which Jesus symbolized when he referred to the bread of life. The second temptation is the misuse of Mind, the appropriation of life as soul substance itself, through Wisdom. The opposite of misusing substance is to eat of the living bread, eating of his "flesh."
The third temptation is misuse of the principle of Power, symbolized by the blood. The soul breathes itself into the bloodstream, as the life of your life. If you "drink his blood," you inhale God's Power as energy, which vitalizes and quickens you.
God as Mind is the Father. Jesus mentions the Father eleven times in this passage. God as Substance is the Mother. God as Power is the Son. The Begotten Son is the source of energy as all action below the realm of the absolute. Mind as man, is able to appropriate through wisdom. Substance as bread, is flesh, visible as atomic cells.
Power as blood, the red ray of energy, is the life that comes through the Son, stepped down in rate of vibration to be compatible with your body. You convert the high vibration from the Begotten Son in your physical flesh and blood through the wisdom of appropriation.
How do you do this? You act as an electromagnetic transformer with all your heart, soul, strength and mind. God grades "all" into degrees of wholeness, which includes your personal all.
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself."–Luke 10:27.
"With all my heart" means having compassion for the world, with no blame anywhere, at any time, for anyone. "With all my soul" means with all your comprehension of God as the All That Is.
"With all my strength" means to give lavishly in all ways, at all times in all places, to all beings and things. This requires constant effort and steadfastness in time and space. What am I doing now, where I am?
"With all my Mind" refers to the action of appropriation, such as your plans, your thinking. You appropriate the flesh of God, which is love, and the blood of God, which is soul nourishment as atomic energy. This why you must love your neighbor as your self.
Why are you afraid to say, "I AM healed now. I AM strong now. I have it now"? Do you want a crutch? Or are you fearless? Are you afraid to give up the old? Do you want to wait until you can see the new before you believe?
The choice is yours. Are you body conscious, conscious only of the room you occupy, world conscious, or God conscious?
The first Begotten Son is also named Joy. Joy is the principle that accelerates everything. If you lack joy, everything in your life slows down, because you have closed out the energy, the "blood" of Jesus!
Daniel is a perfect example of ascension of consciousness. He tuned out the world in that lions' den. He fell out of tune and timing with the lions' desire. Fall out of step with the world! Get in step with God!

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Look Up and Live!
Edna Lister transcript; Ruth Johnson, scribe, October 4, 1953, Cleveland, OH, Luke 10:25-28, John 6:48-58

"Behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live."–Luke 10:25-28.
"I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever."–John 6:48-58.
The River of Life, composed of divine Mind, Substance and Power, constantly renews the cosmic forces that hold galaxies, solar systems and planets in place. Each is a microcosmic universe. The atomic energy you breathe becomes the kinetic energy your body uses to maintain your metabolism. You should be more conscious of this.
As this Day of Manifestation began, God breathed until three explosions from the Source of All That Is reached the periphery of the planned universe: The masculine Wisdom emanation of Mind, the feminine Love emanation of Substance, and the Logos emanation, the Son as the Power of Holy Spirit, the blood of the Lamb.
The Son became the Father-Mother's divine activity below. Many are unable to accept Jesus as the first and only Begotten Son of God, but they can accept the principle of omnipotence, which reveals his true nature.
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself."–Luke 10:27.
Loving God "with all your heart" means that you love Him enough. "With all your soul" means that you comprehend the magnificence and glory of God first.
"With all your mind" means that you appropriate Wisdom from above to melt, dissolve and absorb the crystallization. "With all your strength" means stripping the self to give, which is the law of love. "What is that to thee? Follow thou me."–John 21:22.
"Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him."–Matthew 5:25. You are not loving with all your heart when you condemn or have your eye on evil instead of God.
The greatest evil in this world is simply starving for God's Love. If evil comes near your auric space, God is giving it to you to lift the line of responsibility to Him. Draw evil into one great shaft of fire and declare that the heavenly fire lifts it to God in love.
"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."–Mark 12:31. Whomever you touch is your neighbor. Earth is where you show God how much you love your neighbor.
God asks, "Why are you afraid? The more constant thy standing under the Light, the greater thy miracles each hour, for the name of the Light is Miracle." You become the miracle when the Light possesses you, for it releases the ultimate perfection and demands transformation into itself.
Why are you afraid to say, "I am healed"? Why do you fear to look into the invisible and appropriate divine substance? What holds you from saying to darkness, "You are the most wonderful thing that has ever entered my life."
Stop apportioning your love in tiny drops, and give lavishly to all, despite their degree or kind. Never allow the world to clutter your vibration with unworthy thoughts or emotions.
Daniel fell out of step with the world when he entered the lion's den, and in step with God. God entices you with every breath you take, and the Son's red ray of energy fills your bloodstream.
God does not criticize how you approach Him. He entices you to ascend and throws the master switch of Power to fill you with the blood of the Lamb, the Power of the Holy Spirit.
"I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."–John 6:51.
The living soul breathes itself into the bloodstream at birth, and the Oversoul star's Light o'ershadows every seven years as another portion of soul enters. The Oversoul descends only when you ascend in devotion to God.
Jesus is the great Power transformer, who came through the Gate of the Mother and lived in a body created like ours. As he ascended in consciousness, he turned on switches that moved him to the Son of God class.
Jesus was the Bread of Life because he ascended so high that all the Power of heaven could pour through his body as a great transforming station for earth. You, if you aim high enough for the great Source of All Light, will ascend also.
You can ascend now if you wish, and let God throw the master switch so Power can use you. You turn off the master switch of Power when you look to the outer world in condemnation, and curse the lack of light.
Neither the Father nor the Mother acts directly within time and space, but they use the First Begotten Son as their step-down transformer of Power. You appropriate God's substance as an element greater than self when you take Communion.
The Mind of Wisdom enables you to use that Substance. The Gates of Light open and God releases Power. He turns the Light on the wine and it becomes the blood of the Lamb through the Christed red ray.
"Blood" is Wisdom and Love combined with energy, the Holy Spirit, to produce the white Christ Light. Bread symbolizes Light, and that the master switch is turned on.
Are you body, world or God-conscious? I AM has always been the name of the bread of life, but its new name is joy. Say, "I am joy." Stand and accept your full share of God's Mind, Substance and Power.
People are open and receptive when they come to the altar. You partake of the full Communion Power when you obey the law of loving God with all your heart, mind, strength and soul.
Jesus faced three temptations in the wilderness of self at the hands of Satan, before he began his public ministry. Yes, three great temptations always arise from your application of the principles of Mind, Substance and Power. Yet your salvation lies in loving God enough to look up and live.

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Faith Conquers
Edna Lister outline; October 11, 1953, Cleveland, OH, November 1953, Buffalo, NY, James 2:10, 14, 18, 26, James 1:5-8, 17, 22-26.

"For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all… What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?… Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works… For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."–James 2:10, 14, 18, 26.
"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways."–James 1:5-8.
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."–James 1:17.
"Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain."–James 1:22-26.
When you consider the whole of Creation, you must admit that a Source does exist. Wisdom and Love emanate from the Source as Energy, in waves of vibration in motion. Mind, Substance and Power are unalterable principles, functioning through a plan, through faith and through action.
You must have some kind of plan, either self or soul-centered. Faith is the substance and quality of things hoped for, and the action of your faith takes on the quality of self or soul in expression.
Nothing can alter the principle of faith, but you can apply your faith through action. Faith expresses in action through the Father, thinking as you in wisdom, through the Mother, feeling as you in love, and through the Son, doing as you in constancy, obedience and joy.
"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."–James 1:5. God is always waiting for you to become perfect without finding fault or scolding you. He "upbraideth" you not.
You must comply with the laws of approach. What is your plan? What is your "open sesame"? Steadfastly stand before the door, day and night, until it opens. To do this, you may not be double-minded.
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."–James 1:17. Faith is a good gift, a perfect gift from the Father above. You need this quality of devotion. God cannot cast a shadow. So, face the Light, and turn again unto the Father.
How long it will take you to act is the measure of the quantity of your faith. When you act in faith, you are a doer of the Word, not a hearer only. You can hear about truth, think about it and talk about it without becoming truth.
If you fail in one word, you fail on that point, and dilute your whole action. You must ascend in consciousness and change the quantity of your doing.
You must be like the little boy, whose Sunday school teacher a used peanut and a cup to teach this lesson. Ostentatiously she placed a peanut under the cup and asked, "Who can see the peanut?" Silence.
She asked a second question, "How many know the peanut is under the cup?" Then she asked a third question, "Billy, what is faith?" Billy answered, "Faith is a peanut under a cup!" Faith without works is the cup.
The quality and quantity of your faith and doing depend on your desire moving up to mate with will and becoming I AM consciousness, intuition and illumination.
First, your approach must be steadfast. God casts no shadow. Faith casts no shadow. Second, the quality of devotion can be no greater than the quality of your love. Third, the quantity of your actions, time, hours and doing must be enough.
You can be known by your works! Desire is the steadfast upholding faith. The Creative Impulse ascending becomes the bellows blowing will and desire into a flaming determination, so that your faith is steadfast, glorious and free.
Do not seek to conquer faith. "Let" faith be the conqueror. "Let" faith conquer you.

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Love Wins
Edna Lister transcript; Ruth Johnson, scribe, October 18, 1953, Cleveland, Oh, 1 Corinthians 1:17-31

"For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: hat, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."–1 Corinthians 1:17-31.
The Scripture text is supposed to be the carrier for the sermon. I was given a text on Wisdom when I planned a sermon on Love. Love is a substance, as is water. How could you use water without a container to hold it?
Wisdom, the first emanation, operates as illumination in the pineal body and as the faculty of will. Wisdom is Love's protective container and builds the pipeline through which Love travels. Thus, the macrocosm becomes the microcosm.
Love, the second emanation, becomes Wisdom's negative pole, seated in the sacrum plexus, dwelling place of the creative fire. The seat of will is in the brain's frontal lobes, behind the forehead.
The seat of intellect, called the abdominal "brain," is at the solar plexus. Desire and the will rule from there. As you ascend them, they mate to become intuition and illumination, Oversoul's I AM consciousness.
"I take up my cross and follow him" says the Disciple. Self-will is not free will. To ascend, lay your self on the crossbar to crucify your selfish will.
Desire must ascend to mate with will, which becomes Wisdom, as desire becomes Love. Then the Holy Spirit is born within the person. Love descends as the creative fire to the sacral center, will frees itself of intellect, and ascends to the pineal body. Thus, free will is born in a Christed one.
What you really have is free choice. You always choose from a pair of opposites and give up one or the other. Each is free to choose light or darkness, good or evil. Freedom to choose the path you take is the limit of your free will. You must learn to rein in your will, like using the brakes in a car.
Love, the living soul's mighty and majestic capacity, is not soft. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption are aspects of ascending love. Love has its own language of giving, understanding and compassion, and you must keep it flowing.
Love is an art. Making friends is an art you can master only through love, and your capacity depends on the love you express. Most people use the skimmed milk variety, with no rich cream or butter.
The art of loving includes adjusting to humanity, and your approach is as personal as how you agree with God. Adjust to an adversary's demands in love, compassion and understanding, which is agreeing with God.
Unfurl your wings, look up in love, think of God and keep your mouth shut. You express God's Wisdom as free will on earth, and cannot resign the gift He gave you. Free will is born of Wisdom, so put it up on an altar of Light where it belongs until it becomes illumination.
You came here to stand steadfastly for God, to prevent darkness from winning. To do so, surrender the dross of self, criticism, resentment opinions and prejudices.
Some of us must ascend to perfection so Light goes forth to prepare the way of the Lord as law. You have no easy way to do it, yet you must cleanse the little self.
"Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: hat, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."–1 Corinthians 1:30-31.
Righteousness is your highest vision of action. Sanctification is the pure love of God operating through you.
Darkness runs from such consecration because love consumes evil, absorbs everything and converts all into itself. Your expression of love must be born of Spirit, so you must ascend the self so completely that you express the Holy Spirit as you. Yet you cannot do this without adding the Father's Wisdom.
Your free choice burns off the negatives, such as, "I try, I can't, I won't," and you become more dynamic as you ascend. The question is, What do I want my choice, self will or soul determination, to do for me, for my family?
Soul ascension immolates the self-will. Wash the self-centered will and desire from your soul robes until they become the white radiance of the Holy Spirit.
Ignoring the other fellow's self-will, without lifting, can lead to a dangerous argument wherein you may pay your debts and his, too. If you agree with God and adjust to your adversary, the Holy Spirit takes charge and you become impervious to the adversary's demands. Light enfolds you and frustrates the adversary, who becomes dumb to all but words of love.
The danger is that you wish to impose your will on others, who struggle forever against you even when you are right. Cleanse your will of selfishness, keep your wings spotless, and let God do the work.
You are free only when your will becomes God's illuminated Wisdom, the Light of which consumes all darkness. You express divine identity through your free choice, and those who do not express are nonentities. When you express God fully, you do not know where your free will ends and God's Love begins.
Agree with God and become Godlike sons and daughters. Become the Love and Wisdom of all Light. Love is the Gospel of the Cross.

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Love Wins
Edna Lister outline, October 18, 1953, Cleveland, OH, November 8, 1953, Buffalo, NY, 1 Corinthians 1:17-31

"For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: hat, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."–1 Corinthians 1:17-31.
In preparing this sermon, I sought verses for "love," but no light revealed them. Then I realized that wisdom is a flame and a fire. I saw this. Wisdom, the first Emanation, is the foundation for free will in and as man, like the framework of Creation, or the walls of a mold or container. Love must have something to brood over, to nourish and sustain.
Wisdom and Love join to form a cross, with Love as the upright and Wisdom as the crossbar. Wisdom is both illumination and will. When Wisdom is anchored as principle, will is subject to the soul and illumination enables you to see and hear the idea.
Love is both intuition and desire. When Love is ascending, it exalts intuition and lifts desire. Love ascends as desire to meet and mate with will. The perfect result is compassion under mercy. You can be balanced only when you put selfish will on the crossbar so that the flames of desire burn away the dross as love ascends.
"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God."–1 Corinthians 1:18. Why?
Nations perish without vision. "Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he."–Proverbs 29:18. When you refuse to sacrifice self-centered will, you lose your vision spiritually, then physically.
What is free will? Inherently, free will is the power of choice. What can you choose really? You can choose between hot or cold, in or out, up or down, light or dark, but nothing else. You cannot truly know free will until you learn what love is.
As you walk the Way of the Christ, you must apply wisdom as free will, righteousness as vision in action, sanctification as your knowledge of love, and redemption, which is transmutation through love.
What is love? Love has a language, is art, and has capacity. The language of love is giving. The art of love is being agreeable and able to bounce back.
Love's capacity, as intuition, is determined by its quality, thin and weak or rich and strong. We refer to love as "mother's milk" and the "milk of human kindness," but milk separates into degrees of density, skim milk, cream and butter.
Love, though fine as a gossamer web, is the strongest power in the universe. Love has no means of expression except through personality.
You may feel as though you are bursting with love, yet this is not enough unless you direct it in wisdom through your right use of free will. Look up in consciousness, agree with God and adjust to the other person.
You express love by giving, not things, but by the self you give up to God. You can always give the world compassion and understanding, knowing when and what to give through your intuition.
Through the art of love you learn how to agree with God and adjust to the other person. You can do this through disciplining the will and by sacrificing self-centered will.
The first step is to lay will on the altar for purification, to be cleansed of selfishness, domination of others and the use of force. You express negatively when you say, "I won't," "I will," "I can't," "I'm trying," and "You must."
Once you have laid will on the altar, you must pick it up again. Otherwise, you cannot make your choices known to God. How can the Father know what you want, except as you, through your will to choose, which is your free will.
Plan and put your plan and goal on a cloud of Light, but do not set a time limit. Pray for orders and wait in the golden silence for answers. Execute all orders you receive through prayer, under free will, as to your approach, and what words you must use to be cleansed of self.
On the outer point, you may appear to be cold, yet remain an inner minister of flame and fire. ascend in consciousness until your will is free of self. Continue moving up until you reach soul vision.
The question is not whether you do or do not have free will, but how do you want to use your God-given, untouchable free will? What do you want it to do for you, for others?
What do you want to do with the free will that is yours? Your free will cannot be taken from you.
When mated, desire and will become the Holy Ghost as the fully Christed I AM consciousness. You cannot know what free will is until you know what love is! To agree with the adversary means to look up in consciousness and agree with God.

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Wearing Your Armor
Edna Lister outline, November 15, 1953, Cleveland, OH, Ephesians 6:13-20

1 The chromatic scale is "a scale which proceeds by semitones; a scale is chromatic when the seven diatonic notes are interspersed with five inflected notes." The chromatic scale starting on A is: A, A-sharp, B, C, C-sharp, D, D-sharp, E, F, F-sharp, G, G-sharp, A. (To go down the scale, use flats instead: A, A-flat, G, G-flat, F, E, E-flat, D, D-flat, C, B, B-flat, A). The chromatic scale is said to give music "color."

Shod your feet with the gospel of peace. How? Feet represent understanding as you ascend in consciousness into the high place of Power. When Power mates with poise, they produce peace and patience. Poise, acting in harmony, sets the twelve tones and colors into action for integration and wholeness.
The Gospel of Luke, the tenth chapter, describes how Jesus sent his disciples out in pairs, to spread the gospel of peace. Their feet were shod with new sandals, peace on the right foot and patience on the left.
Faith is the shield of the fire of love. Faith is the fire that burns a pathway through the old expressions as it cleanses the platter for the new. You wear the shield on the left arm, the spiritual side, leaving your right hand free to act in the world. You put off the robe of death, unrighteous judgment.
The helmet of salvation protects the golden bowl, which houses the twenty-two lotus centers in the higher creative center, which include the pituitary gland and pineal body. When intuition and illumination open, the mental body lotus centers whirl and condense the Light above the head into "wings of glory." This completely protects and anchors you in the Source.
You hold the sword of Spirit in the right hand, as pure Light going forth. By your works, others know you. "The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works."–John 14:10.
"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit," and having done all, you stand as an ambassador of Light, going forth in action. An ambassador must be good, knowing, wise, kind, gracious, alert and interested in people. He holds to just one idea, perseverance.
Why spend half your life defending opinions and prejudices? No more fighting for dead issues. You can't afford to sag at your soul seams that way. God has bonded you and trusts you with His Power.
Yet, just asking for respect, place and position is not enough. You must love enough. Whether it is a grain of mustard seed or a lily bulb, any seed has only one idea. One Word includes the whole armor, love.
Let me "open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak." I AM an ambassador of Light, bonded to hold to truth, to stand steadfastly for God.

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Wearing Your Armor
Edna Lister transcript; Ruth Johnson, scribe, November 15, 1953, Cleveland, OH, Ephesians 6:13-20

"Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak."–Ephesians 6:13-20.
The metaphor of armor is intriguing. Ephesians 6 says that the whole armor consists of truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation and Spirit, so this armor must be composed of Light. Unless you stand in Light, you see cloudiness or darkness on the outer. We need a new interpretation of Light.
Psychologists and metaphysicians too often want to drag heaven down to earth. Psychologists usually tell their patients to "talk it out" until they have endlessly recreated their problems. Many metaphysicians tell their clients to pray for peace, a husband, money or a new job instead of doing something about what is keeping them stuck in the same old place in consciousness.
As a creator, you definitely must be interested in outer interpretation because someone must be interested enough for everyone else. Interest is the only way to draw the outer to the inner. Light has no value unless someone is interested in it.
You can understand the outer manifestation of universal Light substance only by comprehending the Kabbalistic Paths on the Tree of Life that tie earth to heaven. This text offers the perfect way to lighten your earth and integrate it with heaven.
Hercules stole the Amazon Queen Hippolyta's girdle, which symbolically girds your loins and protects the abdomen. You must gird your loins with truth because the body's most vulnerable area lies between the rib cage and the pelvis, which we call the Land of Egypt.
Why is truth related to Egypt? The abdomen holds the liver and the spleen, which represent sincerity and loyalty, and truth must contact both organs to create greater sincerity and loyalty within the soul.
Loyalty to principle is honor, and you cannot act dishonorably toward one of God's creations when you are loyal to principle, just as God cannot change His principles to suit outer situations. You have nothing to fear when you give your loyalty to God as principle. You honor Him as personality, but are loyal to God as principle.
The breastplate of righteousness holds twelve jewels of Light. The stones represent the Zodiacal signs and correspond to the notes of the chromatic scale in music. 1

1 The chromatic scale is "a scale which proceeds by semitones; a scale is chromatic when the seven diatonic notes are interspersed with five inflected notes." The chromatic scale starting on A is: A, A-sharp, B, C, C-sharp, D, D-sharp, E, F, F-sharp, G, G-sharp, A. (To go down the scale, use flats instead: A, A-flat, G, G-flat, F, E, E-flat, D, D-flat, C, B, B-flat, A). The chromatic scale is said to give music "color."

When you are high in soul consciousness, the breastplate's lights brighten and shine to meet the needs of all who come to you. The breastplate converts Light into physical harmony, like a battery charger.
"I-me-my-mine" will plague you at the throat center until you extend the breastplate's influence to protect against the "fiery darts of the wicked," which are usually your own idle words.
The heavenly Lights overhead change and release a new portion of soul debt every two hours. Wearing your breastplate, you meet your share of debts with Light, not suffering as the Light strikes your crystallization.
Think of the breastplate of righteousness as the right-use-ness of law in action. It covers the heart center, from the shoulders to the solar plexus, which includes your seat of timing, the heart, lungs and stomach.
You must synchronize our heartbeat, respiration and rate of assimilation in the stomach or you become ill. The breastplate of righteousness attunes your timing until you express harmony.
Shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Jesus sent his disciples without shoes or money, but shod them with the gospel of peace. The Master gives you magic sandals, like snowshoes, to clear your path through the thorns and thickets.
Peace and patience are the offspring of poise and power. Poise is able to stand in harmony. Power fills you when you stand poised in the crown center, to beget peace for your right foot and patience for your left foot.
Hold the shield of faith on your left arm, your spiritual side, to protect your spiritual clarity. It covers you from the ankles up, and when you think "shield," it instantly consumes the wicked darts. The shield is faith, which is the fire that consumes. Your Father uses it to release atomic energy as Power through you.
Love is pure Light as faith when it operates as consuming fire under the Mother's blue ray. The Son's red ray rules faith when it operates as Power to energize. The Father's answer to a question posed "in full faith, believing" comes to you on His yellow ray. Faith as white Light contains all color rays.
The Greeks called Athena, their goddess of wisdom and defensive warfare, the guardian of heroes. A myth says that she sprang fully armed from Zeus's head after he swallowed her mother, Metis, the original goddess of wisdom. In other words, Athena was begotten of wisdom and might. Athena lent her armor, famous for its protective magical powers, to Perseus, to slay the evil Medusa Gorgon. Athena's heavy helmet represents beauty in bondage to materiality, just as you snuff a candle to put out its light.
The true helmet of salvation consists of Light. You have twenty-two mental body lotus centers in your head. Five stems, like a maidenhair fern, arise from the pineal body and pituitary gland to create it. They sprout from your "growing pains," the agonies you experience while you surrender self.
The sword of Spirit is edged in Wisdom and Love, and its handle is Selflessness. St. Paul says, "and having done all, stand," which means that when you have lifted enough, released enough Power, joy and love, the miracle is in your hand. This requires perseverance, which the dictionary defines as "the steadfast, tenacious pursuit of a goal."
Perseverance is maintaining a state of grace until it becomes a state of glory, which describes living in your higher creative center, opening your mental body lotus centers. You can persevere, stand and pray as you grasp your sword in selfless joy.
Lose no time waiting to pray later. If you say, "I have prayed" when someone tells you to pray, you rebuff an offer of a miracle: "No thanks. I already have one."
This is the age of growth: "Yes. I shall pray again," not stagnation: "Oh, I've already prayed for that." The stench of your ruined creations is just as obnoxious as a spoiled casserole. To persevere in prayer, ascend and remain where poise is, at the fount of Power.
"I am an ambassador in bonds, that in it I may speak boldly."–Ephesians 6:20. We are all ambassadors in bonds and must persist constantly, holding but one idea, of living in that higher creative center, the Garden of Eden.
God pays your passage into outer expression, and you are born on earth. Nothing limits your ascension, but you must earn your ticket home. You pay your return fare by gathering the pearls of wisdom you laid aside during your original descent to earth. Atomic energy then fuels the whirling sun centers in your fire body.
Wear your armor. Ye are gods because girding your loins in absolute truth is the Way of Ascension. We are supermen and superwomen.
What is your desire? What do you believe? Free will is wisdom in action as desire, and the soul's aspiration to love. An "ambassador in bonds" of and to Light cannot be weak, but must speak boldly as he ought to. Become a Chalice of Light.

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Seeing the Salvation of God
Edna Lister outline, November 22, 1953, Cleveland, OH Luke 3:4-6, Hebrews 5

"As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God."–Luke 3:4-6.
"For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins: Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. And no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec. Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."–Hebrews 5.
{Tradition held that Paul wrote the Letter to Hebrews, yet recent research finds no proof that this is true. Modern scholars have proposed that it was most likely written by Luke, perhaps transcribed from a sermon by Paul. (Powell, Introducing the New Testament: A Historical, Literary, and Theological Survey.)}
"Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God."–Luke 3:4-6. Heaven is open to all believers. The world is waiting to have the way to heaven made practical. Proud of being "realistic," the agnostic or atheistic "realist" usually tears faith apart until nothing remains.
Every high priest must have compassion on the ignorant, and offer gifts and make sacrifice for sins, for himself and for them. Jesus is a priest in the Order of Melchizedek. The Order of Melchizedek consists of begotten creator gods. Every such person is his own high priest today, and in this truth is freedom.
Jesus was the only Son of God to whom the full Scepter of Power was given, yet he, too, had to sacrifice self and become fully obedient to have compassion, make sacrifice and teach obedience.
St. Paul had formed a group that had slipped back into lukewarmness and needed milk again when they should have become teachers and oracles. An oracle is a profoundly wise person who gives divinely inspired revelations and serves as an infallible guide, one who comprehends God and interprets law. Paul was ready with strong meat, but they had become unskillful in words of righteousness. They had no spiritual vision in action.
When will you act according to what you know? On another day? After a while? Will you put it off until the first of year? Don't be a put-off. You must have your own personal plan of salvation for the coming year. You must plan now.
You have to deposit something into the Bank of God if you want an account to draw on next year. Don't wait till the first of the year, but build up your account now. Prepare the way now or be a voice crying in the wilderness of debts, needs, obligations and clothing for the soul.
Prepare for your great guest, your miracle year. Invite Mr. Divine Success and his wife Joy to visit for the whole year. Invite their daughter, Blythe Spirit, to use your heart room, that extra space in your heart.
Where do you stand? How do you stand? The coming year will be a great challenge. Do you have, do you want the simplicity of soul, which cannot see or feel any darkness, but can ignore darkness so that you never miss an opportunity?
Simplicity of soul moves through disaster and troubles unharmed, untouched, and untouchable. "A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee."–Psalm 91:7. To recognize darkness, or entertain it for even a moment, causes it to become a challenge to fight.
This is the year of great challenge, the final challenge to darkness. The success and results you get depend on your personal salvation plan. Stop sagging at the soul-seams, and spread your soul-wings. Fold them high over your head and flutter them to maintain perfect balance. Never let them sag or drag in the dirt, or they become anchors, holding you down to earth.
Be strong. Stand on a strong plan of salvation. Begin now. You cannot afford to wait if you want to save your own flesh and have a life of glory.
Be an oracle. Be a soul who comprehends God, knows compassion, makes sacrifice (to give for), is obedient and therefore loves God enough, to interpret law under mercy.

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Seeing the Salvation of God
Edna Lister transcript; Ruth Johnson, scribe, November 22, 1953, Cleveland, OH, Luke 3:4-6, Hebrews 5

As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.–Luke 3:4-6.
For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins: Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. And no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec. Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."–Hebrews 5.
{Tradition held that Paul wrote the Letter to Hebrews, yet recent research finds no proof that this is true. Modern scholars have proposed that it was most likely written by Luke, perhaps transcribed from a sermon by Paul. (Powell, Introducing the New Testament: A Historical, Literary, and Theological Survey.)

}
Eventually, every soul cries, "How shall I find God?" Some churches say that only they teach truth. Some cults believe that no one may look upon the face of God and live. Such teachings are untrue. Anyone may look up and see God. He releases Power over all the earth whenever you unveil a mystery, every time a seeker finds illumination. No one can prevent his personal illumination from lifting all earth because the whole earth partakes of the glory. You may descend from illumination, hide under an awning or an umbrella, but Light shines as glory from the Source forever.
That great Light of illumination caused John the Baptist to travel through Judea preaching the message of Isaiah the prophet: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God."–Luke 3:4-6.
Cities are changing, mountains and hills are being leveled everywhere as we build highways to the future. All these things are happening now, which is our hope of salvation. Everyone for whom you speak the word may pass through the Gates of Light to heavenly realms. Some souls experience physical heart failure because they cannot stand the spiritual altitude.
"All flesh" includes all believers, and heaven is open to them all. The world waits for someone to make the way to heaven practical. Some people are so proud of being "realistic" and "practical" that they love to tear others' faith apart until nothing much remains.
The keynote of our Christed ministry's message is that you are each your own high priest today, offering sacrifice for sins of self and for others. Your job is to protect truth. Every High Priest must have compassion, and you should offer sacrifice for the sins of the ignorant and foolish. You enjoy such freedom, yet too often do not want anyone else to interfere with your use of free will. No matter how far you back up to face darkness instead of Light, you can back into nothing but God.
Jesus, with all he knew, still wept at the thought of leaving his disciples, who fell asleep, even those who had been with him at the Transfiguration. Naturally he wept. I would weep at the thought of leaving my work, too. Jesus had to suffer all human trials or he could never have developed complete compassion and understanding.
We call Jesus the first and only Begotten Son because he was the first to step forth as personality from the Source of All Light, and the only Son to hold God's full scepter of Power. He had to sacrifice self and become fully obedient and compassionate here on earth.
Satan tempted Jesus to use the scepter of Power selfishly three times, but he did so only for others, to multiply the loaves and fishes, at the tomb when he raised Lazarus from the dead, and for all the miracles he performed.
Jesus told us, "He that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father."–John 14:12. You open more spiritual faculties each time you say, "I do the greater works." Yet doing the greater works requires "strong meat." Paul found that the group in Corinth had slipped into lukewarmness, and needed milk again when they should have become teachers.
You see only the outer signs and works of priests and oracles. An oracle is profoundly wise, gives divinely inspired revelations, serves as an infallible guide, comprehends God and interprets law. An oracle must make sacrifices, be compassionate and obedient.
To become an oracle means that you must do something about it. Paul was ready with "strong meat," but the Corinthians had forgotten how to put their vision into action.
What do you really do with your life? "I can do this another day. I'll do this after a while. I'll put this off until the first of the year." Stop being a "put-off." Make your personal plan of salvation for the coming year now.
You must deposit in God's Bank to build your account now if you want a balance to draw on next year. Prepare the way now or be a "voice crying in the wilderness" of debts, needs, obligations, tiredness and "I'm a mess."
How else can you afford new soul robes unless you sacrifice self and bank the credits? You will not have enough to go places next year unless you live each day to the fullest and bank your love credits as collateral. You'll just dawdle along. Where do you stand? How do you stand?
The coming year will be one of great challenge. Do you have a plan? Do you want one? Plan to become an oracle who bridles the tongue, yet is unafraid to speak. You lift your family not by talk, but by action, by doing. "By their works you will know them."
Prepare for great guests. Invite Mr. Divine Success and his wife, Joy, to visit you. Ask their daughter, Blythe Spirit, to stay in the extra room in your heart. The challenge is simplicity of soul, which cannot hear, see or feel any "wrong" in another's speech or action, whether persons or governments.
An oracle becomes his own high priest, comprehends, and sees God. An oracle lives by justice, love and mercy, sacrifices self, can see only good, not evil and has compassion for all.
Your great challenge in the coming year will be to ignore darkness. See everything as being good for lifting. Curses draw the world's evil together for us to lift. You can be untouchable, immune to darkness if you know the truth and the undefiled joy, happiness and glory of being an oracle.
Simplicity of soul knows no evil. Simple souls never miss a detail. They move through disaster and troubles unharmed, and untouchable. The sun shines evenly on the just and the unjust. You can sense evil without seeing it or knowing where or what it is. Lift. Declare that all darkness is good, and is coming to the surface for lifting.
You may discern evil, but must not pay attention to it. "A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee."–Psalm 91:7. If you entertain darkness, even for a moment, it becomes a challenge to fight, but evil lifted becomes Light. Forget the world's darkness, and give it no room in you.
You become "unskilled in words of righteousness" if you cool to lukewarm, and your words may be downright curses when you descend in consciousness. Curses bring darkness together for you to lift to a cloud continent of Light.
You can release God's Love and Wisdom only from the high place of vision. Ascend to the kingdom of righteousness, which is vision in action, and no challenge can touch you because Light is moving forth.
The secret of eternal life and the "salvation of all flesh" is to separate what people do from what they are. Look at the other fellow and declare him good, to lift what he is doing. Your results and success depend on your salvation plan.
Stop sagging at your soul seams and spread your soul wings. Unfold them high above your head and flutter them for perfect balance. Never let them drag behind like anchors in the dirt.
Begin now to stand on your strong plan of salvation. Declare, "I am an oracle." Be an oracle, who comprehends God, knows compassion, makes a sacrifice, is obedient and loves God enough to interpret law under mercy. Declare, "Love enough enables me to interpret law as a high priest, wisely and with open eyes." Enough love makes any sacrifice joyous.
Every dream is a goal. What were your youthful dreams? You could have done six things well, but never decided which to do. Put your dreams back into your plan now. You drag your soul wings in the dust unless you accept those early dreams.

You cannot wait, for now is the time to save your own flesh. Release love substance to add abundance to your salvation plan, and live a life of glory.

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Behold, I Stand at the Door
Edna Lister outline, November 29, 1953, Cleveland, OH, Revelation 3:14-22

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Behold, I Stand at the Door
Edna Lister transcript, Ruth Johnson, scribe, November 29, 1953, Cleveland, OH, Revelation 3:14-22

"Unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."–Revelation 3:14-22.
The churches in the Revelation unfold the true backgrounds of the seven approaches to the Source of God's hidden Wisdom. They are named for the inner Cities of Melchizedek, the heavenly homes of the Elect between great Days of Manifestation.
Each church corresponds to a priestly degree, seven approaches that have formed the great schools of thought on earth. Each school led a great civilization, yet as another school rose to the top, workers of darkness perverted the absolute truth of God, formed lesser abortive cults to mislead their followers. This happened to all seven schools in turn, and from them stemmed the Antichrist.
These verses set keynotes for the path upward in this Christed Age, and their principles will lead us back to the Source.
"These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God."–Revelation 3:14. Rulership of Creation falls under different creator gods at various stages of descent.
The sponsor of earth, declared the fiat, "Let there be Light," that opens Genesis. Laodicea is the seventh church, ruled by Capricorn, which still holds leadership on earth today.
If you are "neither cold nor hot," you are lukewarm. Those who fear failure will escape into apathy, which leads to ice coldness that freezes their talents.
Lukewarmness is the room temperature where an escapist hides. Such people do not use their discernment, discrimination or discretion faculties, and are of little use to themselves or their families. You must use your talents at the boiling point to succeed.
Saying, "I am rich and need nothing" is like saying, "Since I have a book, I do not need another." People who say, "I need nothing," are saying, "I do not need God." Self-satisfied self-righteousness puts a smug look on your face, which others will knock off because they do not enjoy seeing it.
"I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see."–Revelation 3:18.
The pineal body and pituitary gland secrete "refined gold" and milky hormones after the white Light possesses them. Every thought you lift helps you to weave a white garment of health. Eye salve is the oil of Spirit that softens the crust of materialism so that you may see the high place and stand in poise and Power.
"As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten."–Revelation 3:19. You have always had a lifeline to the Source, one that takes much evil to cut, and God can save any soul who has even a pin point's worth of desire to return.
The unforgiving soul carries the burden of his blame and the debt he charges to the offender, who may have repented and been forgiven ten thousand times. Every time you blame, you push the guilty one back into the water.
"Therefore be zealous and repent."–Revelation 3:19. You may visit the Hall of Wisdom at the College of Ascension nightly to fill every memory cell, and to open those you need for the next day.
When you awaken and remember what you have done wrong, you have rebuked yourself at night for breaking law. You feel chastened because the Father sent you to an altar for repentance, not because you sinned, but because it is the law, which is impersonal.
Walking the Path of Ascension includes looking at your own memory records, listening for rebukes and not making the same mistakes. Continual repentance is a waste of time.
"I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me."–Revelation 3:20. Light knocks at the door of the crown, where the soul enters and leaves the body. Your Oversoul, Great Guard or the Master is waiting to speak when you hear a knock.
The white Christ Light enters as the red ray, the blood of the Lamb energy to nourish the pineal body and pituitary gland when you open the door. Thus, the Master enters and dines with you. Stand in God's love to open the pituitary gland, the symbol of God's mothering love.
The Ascension keynote is perfect joy that casts out all fear.
The King of Sparta entertained an ambassador, who was surprised that the city had no defenses. The king replied, "Tomorrow you will see Sparta's walls," and the next day showed him a vast army on the plain below the city. "There," he said, "are the walls of Sparta, ten thousand men and everyone a brick" in the wall that protected their country. Listen for the knock at the door, and become a brick in the wall of Light that protects the world.
"To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on His throne."–Revelation 3:21. You must lift your desire to mate with will to enter the throne room, the higher creative center in the head, from the shoulders up to the crown.
You will reign from your own higher creative center, which is above intellect, when you have overcome self. Wisdom never changes, but teachers find different ways to teach the same truths.
How do you apply this practically in your life? "I accept" adds God to everything you do. Stand in your place, open your memory cells, recall what you were meant to be, and the high place that you occupy between your earth expressions.
Live on the "I am rich" plan. Step up in ascension, and cleanse the little self to live by soul.
"I surrender" subtracts the little self from your soul's actions. Once you open your door to hear the Voice, you remember the vows you made before you came, and you pay them. Surrender to the Light of illumination, to become the gold of intuition refined in the fiery trials of initiation.
Say, "I arise" to divide yourself from worldly practices. For instance, holidays are fine family initiations, but if you can come through them less tired or without a headache, it proves you are ascending. Light absorbs wrath, so use it to quell family squabbles.
"I ascend" multiplies glory in your life. How high do you want to go? You can apply these soul principles, or parade a mess of self. You need not search once you have found the Via Christa, so stop prowling the world of the Antichrist. Why wander forty years in the wilderness of self, of guilt and repentance? "I arise and enter my Father's house." How often do you remember that you really do dwell in the house of the Lord forever?
"Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."–Matthew 7:14. Up is the narrow way. People speak of falling in love, but how about arising in love? To fall in love with God is to rise up to God in love, which brings you from a lukewarm state.
Your Heavenly Father is real. Praise Him with loving words, "I love Thee, Father. I ascend and stand in the heart of fire." Climb the stardust stairway to illumination and ascension. Tread lightly, holding Love's railing, which is your support.
God is always good to us. Everyone has daily miracles that they never notice. Thank your Guards, who save you from one small catastrophe after another. Ascend to compassion, to cover others' negative actions until you can say, "You are so good." Love others until they can do no wrong.
Tell God "I love You." Then listen for that knock at your door.

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Now Is the High Time
Edna Lister outline, December 6, 1953, Cleveland, OH, Romans 13:8-12

"Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light."–Romans 13:8-12.
Love fulfills the law. Jesus said that he came not to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it. "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law."–Romans 13:8.
You must obey God's Commandments on the three levels of consciousness, physical, emotional-mental, and spiritual. The first level of the ten Commandments is purely physical, dealing with the letter of the law and your relationship with the world of men. The second level of the ten deals with the emotional-mental level, and your relationship with self and men. The third level of the ten is spiritual, and governs your relationship with heaven and God.
The Scripture mentions five things not to do–to commit adultery, to kill, to steal, to bear false witness, or to covet. "If there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."–Romans 13:9.
"Thou shalt not commit adultery": You can commit adultery in several ways–physically, when you fail to keep the letter of the law, hide from self, use sophistries, or when you live life from the selfish "little me" perspective. You fool no one but yourself unless you live as pure Light.
"Thou shalt not kill": Do not take physical life, kill confidence, the will-to-do or faith. Do not force soul out, your own or another's, to wander in the darkness, afraid.
"Thou shalt not steal": Some people steal things, others such intangibles as hope and joy, bit by bit. Do not possess another's time, by keeping them waiting, talking on the phone, or by making demands or expectations. Evil creates running sores on God's body.
"Thou shalt not bear false witness": Do not lie. Cover the emotional and mental transgressions of others, especially gossip. See darkness only to lift, so that no one else sees it.
"Thou shalt not covet": Covetousness usually refers to things, but it includes wanting anything that is not yours. Be generous in praise, unless the other deserves no credit. Ignore others' envy and criticism. Share Light, love, and joy instead.
"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."–Romans 13:9. Self is always crying, "Protect me. Cover up for me! Give me credit!" Cover such taints as gossip, blame, suspicion, and resentment.
"Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."–Romans 3:10. The true desire to climb will cover others' debts. Otherwise, the Light will uncover your own debts for others to see. Lift before anyone gossips. Declare, "Now is the high time to lift the cover from my own transgressions, to be flexible and open, to give up self in surrender."
Make defeats and failures pay you dividends. Covering for others sets your own soul's pace. Uncovered debts set up a destructive vibration. Yet Light covers them when you speak. The vibration from buried debt can be so strong that the other fellow can see and feel the dark vibration and interprets according to how his personal darkness vibrates.
Never repeat the past. To dramatize the past recreates it. Recreation is just as silly as going to see a bad movie repeatedly.
Pushing up in consciousness is hard enough without pulling your whole past along as an anchor on the climb. The past is your footstool. Indifference is costly. You must conquer or be conquered.
"A man's gift maketh room for him and bringeth him before great men."–Proverb 18:16. Your gift is love, to love God enough, to walk with God, to walk as beauty. Love itself is your ecstasy and high time of life and of glory.

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Now Is the High Time
Edna Lister transcript, Ruth Johnson, scribe, December 6, 1953, Cleveland, OH, Romans 13:8-12

"Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light."–Romans 13:8-12.
This Scripture text lists five things not to do: Commit adultery, murder, steal, bear false witness (lie), or covet. The Ten Commandments, which encompass thirty steps of the Via Christa, refer to obeying the letter of the law at the physical level, and cover your relationship with the world.
At the emotional-mental level, they deal with your relationships with self and others. At the spiritual level, they relate to your relationship with heaven as a place and a state of consciousness, and God as personality and principle. This is the total of your work, yet you cannot get to it unless you live on the spiritual level.
"Thou shalt not commit adultery": The greatest disobedience to the law on adultery is to hide the truth from yourself, or adulterate it with "little me." You fool only your self unless you live as Light on the highest level, with no excuses, modifications, justifications or explanations, which is personally adulterating truth.
"Thou shalt not kill": Consider how often you have slain another's joy, hope or self-confidence while killing their trust in you. Some people make this a life-long practice.
You kill on the emotional-mental level whenever you try to force your way on another, and so "slay" that person's soul. On the spiritual level, you may "possess" his soul, shatter his auric sheath and send him to wander in fear. The answer is to love enough.
"Thou shalt not steal": You can steal another's time by keeping people waiting or on the phone. Some people will plaster you with their will to steal yours. Give by loving enough, and pour love into every past episode to pay the debt of mentally blaming them.
Mentally-emotionally you steal another's hope and joy bit by bit, which does not possess, but drains their soul and causes grief. Spiritual theft includes demands and expectations.
You steal the other fellow's soul substance when you demand that he do what he is incapable of, even if it is your ideal for him. Pour love into him so that he may reach his goal.
"Thou shalt not bear false witness" refers to what the world calls lying. Yet you bear a false witness if you stand by and do nothing when someone needs your witness. Silently working, lifting it to the altar, and graciously covering others' transgressions is a good practice. Cover the gossip first of all. You bear a false witness if you enjoy listening to gossip. See no darkness except to lift it, and call on the Master to use his scepter of Power.
"Thou shalt not covet": Few people understand what covetousness really means. For instance, you show that you covet praise when you say, "He is fine, but."
When an eager one comes to you and you are stingy or halfhearted with praise about his enthusiasm, you reveal jealousy, envy, covetousness, hardheartedness and stinginess of soul. Share all Light and love with everyone.
"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."–Romans 13:9. This is the final polishing.
Charity, as love, begins at home, but how do you love you? You want to protect your self, cover up and give your self credits. You cannot fully love your neighbor unless you want the same "added things" for him that you desire for yourself.
"Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."–Romans 13:10. If you repeat gossip, you commit a double offense.
Cover the transgression while your friend gossips. Put a cross on her lips and surround her in a pillar of fire while you lift. Declare that Light washes her and her listeners' brain cells clean, so that no one remembers the gossip.
You can discern a person's true desire to climb when they cover others' transgressions. Assuming inner responsibility to lift and cover sins in Light is the keynote of the desire to climb. Unless you cover another's transgressions, you uncover your own for lifting. For instance, if you resent lifting another, your memory cells will become congested.
"Now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light."–Romans 13:11-12.
Now is the high time to surrender. Never repeat or recreate any past "works of darkness." How often would you pay to see a bad movie? Every time you dramatize or recreate the past, it gets bigger.
Peter, Paul, Silas and the apostles did not have enough "pull" (influence) to get out of jail, but they had push, and pushed enough to break down the walls.
"A man's gift makes room for him and brings him before great men."–Proverbs 18:16. My one gift is the ability to love God enough to walk with Him, and love itself tells me that my high time is now.

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Edna Miriam Lister
1884–1971
The original Christian Pioneering Mystic,
Platonist philosopher, American Idealist, Founder, Society of the Universal Living Christ, minister, teacher, author, wife, and mother.

References

The Holy Bible. King James Version (KJV).

Powell, Mark A. "Author of Epistle to the Hebrews," Introducing the New Testament: A Historical, Literary, and Theological Survey. Baker Academic, 2009; ASIN: B00DWWBG38.

Webster, Noah. "Decree," The American Dictionary of the English Language. New York: S. Converse, 1828. This work is in the Public Domain.

Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 3rd ed. Springfield, Massachusetts, G. & C. Merriam Co., 1929.

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Edna Lister’s Sermons 1953

1 A bobbin is a cylinder, a spool or reel that holds thread or yarn for spinning, weaving, knitting, sewing, or making lace. A shuttle is a wooden device with two pointed ends holding a bobbin, used for carrying the weft thread between the warp threads in weaving.

“Without an identity with God, you can never know who you are, why God made you, why you are here, what you are supposed to be doing, or what your reason for being really is.”–Edna Lister

1 A bobbin is a cylinder, a spool or reel that holds thread or yarn for spinning, weaving, knitting, sewing, or making lace. A shuttle is a wooden device with two pointed ends holding a bobbin, used for carrying the weft thread between the warp threads in weaving.

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“Without an identity with God, you can never know who you are,
why God made you, why you are here, what you are supposed to be doing,
or what your reason for being really is.”–Edna Lister