The Christ Within - Letters of the Scattered Brotherhood

(Edited)

Within your own inner walls is a Real living Strength. It is there to uphold
you in every situation. You, remaining unaware of this inner protection,
render it unbidden to come and dispel the blaring trumpets that threaten
your safety and leave your walls unprotected by the habitual embracing of
your fears. Greater is He that is within you than he who comes against you
in the world. This is your comfort and your salvation in all your distress.

Be comforted and learn that destinies are controlled by the delicacy of your
calmness within, by your turning to the divine companion who never
leaves nor forsakes you. I would again remind you that through
contemplative stillness you are able to reach your God, that through this
silence your inward and secret light would be revealed to you.

"Be still (calm) and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10

So peace be unto your hearts and great stillness and calm. Search out this
creative peace within; here there is no struggle. Here are beauty and truth
and protection and joy in abundance. Here is order; and here, locked away,
is the divine plan. When you dissolve and become still, holy in that oneness
with the infinite holiness, the divine plan cometh to pass and you are free.

So, in times like this, it is the good news, the ever-present revelation. You
cannot and will not reach what you desire through emotional explosions;
you know this ... now put it to good use. Come where the eternal Spirit,
Love itself, untangles, loosens and pulls away from you all that binds, for it
unshackles these imprisoning chains, these iron bands of thought and
silences the gongs of fear and dismay.

Within everyone is the same Spirit of God that raised the dead body of
Lazarus and Jesus to restore the dead flesh back to life. It is not lost to you.
You have ignored its importance and avoided learning of its intent to
safeguard you always. This is your ultimate safety. It arises when you stand
with God's Peace and strength filling you with the security and presence of
a LIFE that is Eternally undaunted within.

Hold this knowledge dear and rest on it as you would on the arm of a
strong friend, realizing that its comfort needs to be invited into the inner
you where you have instead made a welcome mat for your fears. This
comforting Presence is real.
As fear attracts evil events … so does the knowledge of this Eternal blessed
Presence attract good events.

Yes … FEAR does send up the welcome flag for even more fear after the
enemy's troops have breeched the gates and walls of your inner city.

Fear then says "I expected this to happen." It was WISE ... to be prepared to
brace for the worst!

This is the FOLLY you have learned to rely upon ... it is NOT the way of
wisdom. What you anticipate is important!

You will finally realize the disability in that reasoning and in a choice to
embrace anxiety ... when you choose correctly. Suffering is a relentless
teacher.

Apprehensive anxiety in dread and fear is an invitation and a preparation

for the arrival of what is dreaded with anxious anticipation.

Worry and fretting is not the barred door to evil that must REMAIN
solidly in place against your temptation to dine at the table prepared by
your enemies.

Worry has no value. To insist upon its usefulness is a mistake!

It is not through strife and anguish that your defense is strengthened, but
through the knowing that your strength is always there and always
enough to keep your citadel walls unbreeched.

Put your trust in the Spirit which is intended to go before you as your
forward guard. It is no idle suggestion; it is the first step to a redeemed life
in the Spirit of God.

Dissolve the anxiety and fear which you have intently TAUGHT YOURSELF
… is so necessary and natural.

When fears come upon you, incinerate them, so that not for an instant can
they take hold. Dismiss them completely. Send anxiety and fear away
without a thought for holding them back, as if they were the worst choice
you could turn to. You can do all things by NOT providing your mental
upset as food for your fears. Calmness has access to a superior way of
thinking.

It is true that the valley of the shadow is frightening and it is sometimes

difficult to find him who says, "I am with you, I am thy rod and staff," but
accept no negative whatever, particularly in the darkest moment.
The Holy Spirit abides in you and never leaves you nor forsakes you. Trust
that ... when you are in the dark. Man needs to believe that "when the
enemy comes in like a flood the spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard
against him." But believe it! In times of anxiety turn like a child to the
simple instructions, knowing that "the Father within doeth the work" and
that you can do nothing but rest in that assurance.

Keep one-pointed in your attitude. Keep poised with a calmness born of

Peace to face the seeming trouble and darkness of the world. Carry it
around with you as you would your most cherished prize. Thus you
embrace your Holy Spirit and allow it to demonstrate its blessing. A calm
heart resting in Spirit is not beset with constant nagging worries. This habit
of fretting in response to Life must be seen as an open invitation for the
world's evils. Evil has a false life of its own and it seeks for an outlet from
the hearts of men. Once it has found its target, it seeks to dissipate its
negativity and find a willing participant to further its existence, moving
onward toward other receivers in sympathy with its venom. And these
evils go naturally to where they are "expected" to arrive. There they know
they have found find an acceptance to hold them engaged in their assault
upon that person's spirit, incapacitating the one who holds desperately to
their dark purchases paid against an account in spiritual bankruptcy.

In contrast, an untroubled mind welcomes the stillness that truly deserves

to reign in you. A mind poised gracefully in calmness retains inner strength
and rebuffs thoughts of weakness from being entertained about you. The
walls that protect you stand firm and strong and your doors remain solidly
barred against the enemy's ineffective assault.

You must be conscious of your own choices for weakness and see them
clearly. You must intentionally give in to negligence of God's Peace before
your citadel walls can be allowed to crumble. It is your turning away from
Peace and gentleness by your own choices and the postures you assume
that permit your inner walls of protection to deteriorate by your loyalty to
that weakness which is romanced and courted with your fears.

That is why you dread and fear because you know that your addiction to
your weakness fantasy is stubbornly maintained and any attempts to hold
the enemy at a distance are a futile and empty hope.

This realization is your first step in reaching for the Peace of God. It is the
beginning of your transformation from death to life.

Peace is only possible when you KNOW you are not alone and you are
possessing God's comforting presence within your being. A heart that has
learned the discipline of rebuking worry and installing the brilliant Light of
Christ in its place ENCOURAGES the heart through the presence of the Holy
Spirit of God. This emboldened heart holds more adequately the fullness of
the Christ nature of overcoming the world. This increases as its welcome
is increased with intent. It makes for gentle holiness, comfort and
protection, stillness and softness that you may stand strong and alert. Those
to whom this is revealed are the lonely who feel they have no one to turn
to.

Be patient, release your anxiety, don't fret ... leave that to the weak that are
proud of their weakness and want to know no more than that. Those who
continue in their troubles, do so along "paths worn smooth" by their
trafficking in fears. They WANT to insist upon their weakness as their
reality, as their worshipped truth. They hold on to it dearly and see
sentimental value in being a receiver of troubles to use for their lifelong
dramas of unsolicited unwarranted saintly suffering. Recognize your
purchase power with Fear. You are sending invitations trumpeting an open
door policy so that trouble may easily find you.

Do not be afraid of standing as God's dearly loved and most precious

children. Be advised that too much effort creates your own stumbling
back into fear. Insisting on anxiety to forestall what MIGHT come in the
future, with constant preparation, is to hold fear yet in place. Be gentle
with yourself, always. Those who feel a weight bearing upon them remain
still heavily burdened with futility in their own weaknesses.

Become aware that your gentleness must be always offered to others. It

should go ahead of you in your outer world if it is to have its effect on your
inner where it counts strongly for your protection. You must be gentle and
patient with everyone; it is a medicinal tonic; gentleness is like iron for
anemic blood weakened through anxiety.

I charge you to be forgiving and patient with all persons whether they be
stupid, melancholy or evil and to keep your faces always uplifted to the
highest intent, for this, above all, releases your life from all violence. I
charge you to live in faith, for this will give you a splendor, a light which
will be manifest to all the bewildered, the lonely, the harassed - a beacon in
the storm.

Do not permit yourself the luxury of emotionalizing and lamenting your

weakness which you desperately hold on to. Do not linger with your
unabated distress at sights and sounds and rumors. Even in battle, when
our best friends fell beside us, we saluted and passed on.

So it is with you in this great battle; do what you can but remember that
your constant endeavor is to keep your holy stillness high above the
tremors and emotions which welcome fear. Hold your Peace always when
there is thunder and darkness and fear says there is more to come.
In stressful times you cannot afford to throw your energy away meeting
the shocking intensities of life head on with reactions and emotion. Hate
and fear are counter productive and they sap your life force, pulling you
further into their whirlpool like suction of life draining darkness to
increase their troubling influences upon you.

The evil you have emotionally invested in is nothing new or unique to you
alone. Distress and darkness have always been hovering over us with an
insistent demand for men to release their peace. The inequity and injustice
they are born of is not for you to settle with your excuses for personal
judgment with indignation railing against them. That will not end the
influence that has its hold upon you. Your disappointment and dismay is
your choice, either to exhibit your upset … or to calmly and peaceably
ignore it and choose Peace instead. If you end your ranting and upset, you
also sever your connection to it and your addiction to a false satisfaction in
self righteous offense taken as a response. Learn why Jesus said overcome
evil with good.

You can insulate yourself against the embroilment you reach for in your
embattled spirit with full knowledge of these things which you are
habitually endeared to, things which ensnare you in the storms of distress,
engaging you in hate and fear invoked responses. Keeping yourself QUIET
ALWAYS is what disengages you from that connection used to addict you to
an embattled spirit struggling for survival against the enemy's attacks
against you. This is your price to live with an emotional storm of dark
imaginings. This is your lot when you ALLOW your castle walls to
deteriorate through negligence of your spiritual inheritance always abiding
within you. Didn't Jesus plainly say … The KINGDOM is within?

The brilliant Light of the Holy Spirit has now been revealed to you. Stand in
the security of that Light revealed by Jesus.

He said, "My Peace I bring to you and I leave it with you to tend and
increase."

Divine wisdom does not teach DESPAIR, it does not teach ANXIETY, it does
not teach IMPATIENCE and it does not teach STRUGGLE. Where gentleness
is not evident, wisdom has been ignored.

If you have a habit of straining against and boiling over because things are
not kept on a convenient and predictable course to suit your volatility, or if
you find your self often concerned about the awfulness of the world
around you … then you are ADDING to the ignorance that predominates
the thinking of the human race and you are ENSLAVED by your addiction
to its magnification by your knee-jerk reactions the evil that wishes to
subdue your spirit. When your thoughts are predominately fearful,
motivated by self concerns and demands for things to meet your
expectations, these are impulsive and contagious thinking patterns. These
are the self important thoughts that contaminate the entire race of
humanity with their eagerness to impress others toward the dreadful cause
for the weakness of the disabled spirit. It is precisely this "I am right and
… entitled to my offense" attitude which shuns the light of your Holy
Spirit, forcing it to bear up to your theatrics while it maintains its presence
silently, hoping to teach you of true reality with God.

This display of anger mixed with fear is the strange subtle pride of the
human race! It is really nothing to be proud of. It is the result of a
purposefully weakened spirit through ignorance and stubborn choice to
continue on a rugged and treacherous path to unhappiness.

A hint is as good as hours of words.

The hint is this; it is certain, that he, who remains undisciplined, blaming
life for being pulled this way and that like a horse with a bridle bit set
against his teeth, will meet violence. Violence attracts other violence, but so
do other extremes like unawareness, inertia, self-admitted weakness and
ignorance.

Only those who gladly run out to meet the unknown are divinely
protected, for they reach a place of safety. It is true that many spiritual
people have within them certain unrealized weaknesses; that is why they
often suffer and say, "I have not been bad, I have done worthy things -
why-why-why?" This is only a hint, for the whole truth cannot yet be
understood; but as you open yourselves to a divine guidance your outward
self will invite the inward one, in which there is no ignorance, to walk in
companionship and will accept the discipline needful with a high heart.

I know this is puzzling, but it should enlarge your spirit with heavenly joy.
For when you have found it in perception, when you have realized it as you
will here in this life, you will free the imprisoned, lift the darkened into
light so they will not have to go through violence; you will open the eyes of
the blind that they may at last be free to see themselves and you will
unstop the ears of the deaf who cannot hear the divine whisper. You will
see great wonders come to pass and although the reason behind it all may
confound you now, march gaily on up the road obedient with every breath.

A follower of Christ must be forever vigilant, forever remembering, forever

holding themselves to the center of Peace. It is in holding the intent for the
indwelling Spirit to take possession of your heart that it may fill your life to
overflowing. This is the realization that this Glorious presence of the Spirit
is actually present with you right NOW ... Just as it will also be the totality
of your future Glory. Your Holy Spirit is the actual stuff of love and peace
and power. Endeavor to find this. Search it out at every opportunity! Give
your spirit its day of strength so that it may witness to you the glory of God
in the nature of Christ.

And when you find yourselves pressed hard say, "I will not take in, I will
send the Spirit out ... ahead of me with my inclusion in its Peace. I will not in
darkness dwell, this Light abiding within me shall become my life‘s concern. I
will cleanse my mind's dependence upon suffering by ending my assertions of
weakness. I will sever my investments in emotions that falsely hoped in,
bring on my distress. I shall go forth forgiving all things, knowing that this
love will resolve all things, reconcile all things in Christ and my way will be
made straight. I shall knock and it shall be opened unto me, and I shall find
and receive the bounty of the Spirit's treasure laid up for me."

Keep always awake and conscious of those victories secured by gracefully

meeting your trials, through purposefully holding yourself in the image of
the peaceable Spirit born of God. This is the Holy Spirit, strong in the
knowing of Him who remains powerful over all that would bring defeat
through patronage to fear. Always pour out Thanksgiving and Gratitude
BEFORE there is the indication of victory; thank the Father for the
EXERCISE OF YOUR INTENTIONS before the temptation is put to your mind
to reassume your weakness; cleanse your hearts of all prejudices and
spirit-depleting rage against nations and nationalities and all the hot
emotions that boil in the hell of personality which is assumed innocent in
self-righteousness.

Keep yourself, instead, in that secret place of Peace where emotion is

matured and gracefully presented through the extension of your own well
being. This is the secret of God's healing transformation where the human
spirit is lifted up by the Holy Spirit of Life, intent on releasing Its own
potency. A time will come when it is your intentional choice to subdue your
reactions and your involvement with the pressures and demanding furies
born in your outer world. You will be aware of the blessed change which
comes quietly as a reward for your intent and desire. It will be your
solitary desire above all others to know the graceful presence of Christ
within yourself and in your everyday world, to know of your Eternal Life
existing right here and right now.

Fight on brave ones, and cast off the burdensome roles with which you
have clothed yourself. These heavy protective attitudes have only despair
to offer you from your persistent reliance upon them. Put on the garments
of immortality; be worthy, keep yourselves dedicated to a prescribed cure
for all afflictions, permit yourself to be stern with no one and be gentle in
peace with yourselves. Do not go this way from a sense of duty, but for the
fulfillment of That which waits patiently within you and for the increase of
a joyful presence that sweeps away all dread and tears.
The law is impersonal, inevitable; those who obey and cast aside their
rebellious passions are given freedom, protection and joy.

Always hold your peace with a steadfast intent and go forward. Then this
stillness, brilliantly radiating the Light of the Christ Presence, will come
into your lives on this Earth. Great peace and goodness and glory and
beauty will be your treasure. From within, fill your inner walls with Light
and high inspiration, for then is the kingdom of heaven brought down into
your material world.

It requires courage; courage that must be taken upon you, received from
Him who has no trepidation and displayed for all the Glory of God who
holds us all high above all trouble in his constant care.

Oppression is not MEANT to be your lot. Christ came to set free the captives
and to break all yokes placed upon the sons of God by dispelling all
darkness and ignorance in the release of the Holy Spirit which he sent out
as in strength that men may learn the Way, the Truth and the Life abiding
within themselves. He came that you might have Life and have it in even
greater abundance. Such was his mission to impart to you the importance
of that Spirit which ever remains even in your very midst to awaken to.

The Holy Spirit of God is intended to be your own Resurrection and Life
when It is appreciated as a cherished part of you and given its priority.

Your special Blessing is in Eternity's Light that ever remains, always as

your greatest asset.

Stand to your full stature. Your part is to "bring into captivity every thought
to the obedience of Christ, casting down imaginations and every high thing
that exalts itself."

"Obedience" means seeing how often during your day you can remember
him in whose Presence you stand, for by calling him to mind you glorify
each moment. There is no finer reward than that which comes from loving
obedience! This is what brings rest, security, abundance and love. Here you
reach a place out of chaos. Here all things fall into their allotted places,
divinely measured.

Can the human mind bring anything beyond worship and a desire to
know … to that still place of quiet where he comes to reveal himself? "I keep
him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on me."

Laughter is a door that is always near! Joy and a lifted spirit are part of the
eternity in which you can live with him now.
Of course it is necessary to discipline the appetite for rage, emotional
regrets, and all the things that the rough and tumble of life presents to you,
but really there are only two things, the darkness of despair and greed, and
the light of eternal joy - either black or white. By merely turning your face
away from darkness to light you are in light and darkness does not exist for
you. Each one has to go through the process of finding out that the fight
with materialism, and all the cynical forces, is one where he or she fights
alone, and the fight is choosing the idea, or awakening to the idea; and new
ideas are always painful to the unspiritual.

Remember that you are protected by your inner convictions.

"I, a son of God, stand in this human turmoil holding the long trust. I throw
my trust, like light far ahead upon my path knowing that goodness and all
that is merciful is with me and by this stand I do my share to make the world
as hoped for. In courage and in love of God is the only safety."