Nicol C. Campbell
My Path of Truth
School of Truth
Johannesburg, 2nd ed., 1954
[152] We are all so accustomed to doing everything for ourselves that, when a time comes in our lives when we have to leave it to God, we find it extremely difficult to do so. Some people are under the impression that in trying to bring into manifestation a particular good, it is they who have to do everything. Others again feel that they need do nothing, because God is Love, and, since we are His offspring, it is His duty to express His good in our lives.
Now the admonition that should strike every single one of us very forcibly is this: "Not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord." It is very hard, is it not, when conditions become unbearable and you see everything that you have built up over a period of years being swept away, as the health that has been so much a part of your body, and the happiness and love that have filled your lives, disappear? It is difficult just to stand still and say with absolute courage and conviction, "Not by my might--not by any power of mine--but by the Spirit of God."
[153] Does this mean that, when things go wrong, we have to sit down and do nothing about it? Does it imply that, before we even ask God for any good, it has already been bestowed, and is being brought into manifestation? Yes, it does!
When the human being has reached that point of negation where he can no longer think constructively, where no matter which way he turns he sees failure, it is time to become still and listen to what God, the spiritual knowledge within, will guide him to do; it is then that he should hearken to the spiritual idea that is always there, that does not have to be specially created for him, but is already present as fulfilment so that, by his attitude of mind (by taking his thoughts off these externalised conditions, which have become so tremendous in his life) the Spirit may be enabled to talk to him and lead him in the way that he should go.
You will discover, as I and so many students of Truth have done, that there will be many times in your lives when you will not know what steps to take. A problem will be presented to you, and the point of crisis will be rushing toward you at terrific speed, your emotions will be all knotted up inside you, and in your panic you will forget entirely about God. It is, however, in just such a situation, if you will trust to God's promise "not by might" (anything of a material nature or connected with physical power), that this pledge will rescue you and you will discover that "by My Spirit" will the solution come to pass through you, so that the nightmare condition of unhappiness confronting you will be dissipated as easily as is darkness dissolved by light.
[154] Any real communion with the Father will bring you peace. Many a time have I found confidence and quietude flowing through me from the inner to the outer, as walking by a river or sitting still contemplating the beauties of nature, I have felt myself so unified with God that I have heard His Voice speaking to me in a way that I could not mistake.
I have often said, just as you do, "Father, I have done all I can. I do not understand why this catastrophe has come into my life, I am well aware that I must have invited it, but I cannot, at this moment, recognise the cause that I set into operation in the yesterday that is now producing these effects for me. I know that I must have created them, and I have no idea which way to turn, I am on the brink of failure (as are many millions of other human beings), and I cannot see why I should expect to be rescued from this plight if other people are not." And His firm, loving voice answers back, "You might just as well say that you all have electricity in your homes, but because the others refuse to put on their switches, you too must live in darkness."
God works through spiritual Law and He can work for you only as--when you are in a state of peace, with your minds and emotions harmoniously related--He can work through you. "Possess thy soul in peace, thereby shall good come unto thee."
What can happen within the next few hours as far as your condition is concerned? Cannot you become still just for that short period and say, "I am going to listen to God because there is nothing that I can do of a practical nature to solve this problem for myself?"
[155] God expects one thing from you and me, and that is trust. There are certain things that we have to do and that God cannot possibly do for us; there are other things that are God's province with which we are not concerned, but, the one thing that we MUST do, if we want to see the Substance of God expressed in and through us as All-good, is to trust.
All our works in the world will produce nothing in so far as any particular problem is concerned. There is no material solution. We may exhaust every possible channel and we shall not find the answer because it is something of a spiritual nature that is taking place within us; the Spirit of God is calling us to come up higher, It wants to express Itself through us to a greater extent than hitherto, so that from this time on there shall never be any cause or reason for us to doubt Him.
Problems we shall always have because it is only by and through these that we grow spiritually and develop our faith-consciousness, but they will not affect us. We shall feel as happy and peaceful when we have nothing in our pockets, and nothing in the bank, and yet owe hundreds of pounds, as though we owned thousands, for realisation will have taken place. There will be a consciousness that this lying condition cannot affect us. "God is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever."
There will be a freedom of action of spirit within us. We shall know, despite the condition, that may persist for days, weeks, or months, that there is no cause for fear, and there will be no panic in our hearts. We shall not be walking around as we did originally with clenched fists and teeth, trying to get our minds off the situation [156] so that we can pray to God. We shall have realised that the condition has no substance whatever and because of this knowledge we shall recognise that it is only an emptiness, a void that we are entertaining mentally, while the Presence of God is there now, in manifestation.
Whatever happiness we may desire, is a spiritual quality within us and must be passed on before our neighbour can pass it back to us. Whatever supply we need, must come through a human channel, but it cannot come through this if it is not already in our own consciousness.
I have found, over the years, that, as we grow in the awareness of our faith in God, it is the realisation that it is God working in, through, and for us that causes us to become stronger and stronger and more fearless. It becomes a joyous thing, this adventure with God!
Although we may not see, touch, hear, or feel anything, we know that God is working through us and that means that good is working through us and, as we release the good to others, it must pass through us and bless us.
What is your particular difficulty?
I know there are some folk--not young, but elderly people--who are faced with terrible problems, who are in such a state mentally that life seems, to them, not worth living; they have perhaps taken up Truth only in the last year or two, what message can I give to them? Must I tell them that it is too late? Must I say, in this hour of their need, that God will let them down? That their minds and emotions are untrained with regard to [157] Him and that, in consequence, nothing can be done and they will have to accept failure? OR is it perhaps just because of this threatened failure of the moment that they will FIND God?
"I will restore the years that the locust hath eaten." The Voice, that spoke those words, was the Voice of God and He did not speak them only to students of Truth, or to Roman Catholics, or to Christadelphians, or to Christian Scientists, He said, "I will restore the years that the locust hath eaten, and, whether you have had faith in Me or not, makes no difference for I am the Spirit of Love, and My nature is to express Myself in and through your minds and bodies as health, happiness, peace, joy, and fulfilment."
Faith has no age barriers, whether you are 16 years old or 60, it is according to your faith that it shall be done unto you if you will begin this day to trust in God. Faith goes on eternally and is quite impersonal, it is God Himself, His Power working in and through you and me and all mankind.
When I say that I believe in the power of God, or that I have faith therein, I mean that I have faith in the power of the all good that is within me and you also. If we take the sum total of all the good in the universe, it is a manifestation or attribute of God, and all that goodness is pressing itself in, through, round, and about you and me, waiting to condense itself in our lives according to its own true nature, in order to give us happiness.
God cannot fail. I have often told you in the past [158] that, if I ever find in my own life that God has failed me, after I have done my part in faith and trust in Him, I will be the first to tell you.
I know I have had to struggle during the last 20 years to build up the consciousness of this Presence of Good, to try to build It so into my spirit, soul, and body that, in spite of any external conditions, panic would be unable to grip me. It was an all day job--no less--and it took all of my strength of purpose.
I have tried in every single department of my life to prove God. I set out deliberately to do this, to put myself in a position in which it would not be easy for Him to help me, but I also maintained to myself that He was All-power and that it could not therefore be too difficult for All-power to succour me. This is what I expect of the God in Whom I have faith. I may be wrong, but I cannot, and will not, impose any limitations upon Him.
As far as I am concerned, either He is All-knowledge and All-power and is the Spirit that will set me free from all external, negative conditions, or He is not; and I can only know this by constant experimentation with Him, by constant testing of His ability to deliver me from evil.
What a joy it is when we learn to know that it is not "by my might, nor my power," but by our trust in God that His Spirit sets us free, and this should give heart to all of those who feel that life has become a heavy burden, and to whom I say one thing only, "Keep on." It does not matter how difficult it is, you [159] are not trusting some human element, you are trusting the All-power, God, to be your very salvation.
Your desire for freedom has brought you to seek Truth, and Truth will set you free from everything of a negative nature.
It is not something far away, up in the sky to which you go and pray. It is the Spirit of Life, the essence of perfection, the Substance of all the things we see manifest around us, animate and inanimate, it is the Spirit of God manifest in different forms and degrees that you approach.
Some people have a greater consciousness of Him as Beauty, some as Intelligence, others as Form and so on. ALL IS GOD. No matter how depraved we may be, or how we may have wallowed in materialism, the Substance of our lives is perfect; it is good, it is God. I cannot say that only the people, who come to me and follow my teaching, are manifestations of Him because they seek Him in our special way. I cannot tell you that the people in the church next door, or those in the chapel up the road, are wrong. They are all the Presence of God. God is Omnipresence, His Spiritual Life, Perfection and Power permeate every one of us.
I do not find it difficult to forgive people or to love them because I realise that they are reflections of myself; whether they be good, bad, or indifferent, saints or sinners, there am I. There is only one Life, there is only one Power that holds this universe together, you, me, and all the phenomena we see about us. We are all indivisibly one; there is only one spiritual body, God, Omnipresence. I did not invent that word, all the seven [160] bibles of the world tell you that God is Spirit--not "a" spirit--and that He is everywhere present. He is the spiritual Life, Knowledge, and Power that permeate the whole of creation, and that Power and Knowledge are inviting you and me to become still and TRUST; to recognise our own impotence, to realise that all the power we have is ineffectual against adverse conditions.
"By My Spirit" (working in and through us in a way that we cannot understand or see) is the message that gives us abounding hope. It is the assurance that God, the Spirit of Good, desires our happiness, wishes to be a greater consciousness of His Love in and through us, and these very problems, that are now manifesting in our lives, are the hurdles that are compelling us to expand our awareness of His Power, Knowledge, and Presence. Surely, that is what we all want!
If you seek deep within your hearts, it is not more money, or greater success, or material things that you crave--these are empty baubles that bring you nothing--you are seeking only one thing, the knowledge that God exists. Once you know this, and have the spiritual experience that will enable you to overcome any negative condition, whether it be disease, poverty, discord, or lack--when you have taken this in--it will become you, and your fear, which, as was the case with me, drove you to God, will have been the thing that gave you your freedom.
Whatever may have been the burden of the day, dismiss it and know that to-morrow is being taken care of by God. His Spirit, the Spirit of Love, will adjust all discordant conditions in your lives.
[161] Every human being, remember, is a potential channel through which God can, and will, work for you. Take your minds off any specific avenue, do not mentally name this, that, or the other one. God IS, and because He is, you ARE. You are His Life in active expression and you can never be separated from Him. He can never leave you, because He is you. Let, therefore, those of you, who are sorely troubled at this time, try to leave your problems with Him for, as He said, "If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything, that they shall ask, it shall be done for them, of my Father which is in heaven", meaning that whatever you require in a material way, if you will agree on it, with the Christ within you, it shall be established in the spiritual and that, which is established there, must express itself through the physical and so become condensed and manifest in this visible world.
Let us, accordingly, consciously agree with all those who so badly need the guidance of God to-day, to-morrow, or the day after, that their problems can be turned over to the presence of light, which is understanding, which will flow through them as the particular good they need, no matter what that may be.
Let us forget our own problems--even those of us who have major ones to face--and let us, when we pray, think for the less happy people, giving thanks that the Truth, that is already perfected in us, now becomes expressed through them, as the solution, the freedom, the light in their lives. "Whose soever sins (problems) ye remit, they are remitted unto them." So be it, and so it is.
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