why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
"Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
"Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? Or What shall we drink? Or wherewithal shall we be clothed?
"For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God (being interpreted His Consciousness) and His righteousness;and all these things shall be added unto you.
"Take, therefore, no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.
"Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."
Do you need any more definite Commands or any more definite Promise than these? - You who have consecrated yourself to Me, and call yourself My disciple. Listen!
Have I not always provided everything? Have you ever been in need but what I always appeared with help just at the right moment? Has there ever been a time when things looked dark that I did not bring Light?
Can you, with what you know now, look back over your life and see where you could have ordered it better? Would you exchange your Spiritual understanding for the earthly possessions of any one you know? Have I not done all this, despite the fact you have been rebelling and refusing to listen to Me all your life?
Ah, My Children, can you not see that money, home, clothes, food, and their acquirement are only incidents and have nothing to do with your real Life, excepting as you make them real by thinking into them so much importance, and letting Me remain only a side issue?
If it becomes necessary for you to be deprived of the things of the world that you may learn the Truth, - that I AM the only important thing in Life, that I must be FIRST if you truly love Me, - I permit this that real and lasting Happiness and Prosperity can be yours.
This applies to you also, My Child, you who have lost health, have lost courage, have lost all hold of your Self, and after weary years of seeking without from earthly physicians and remedies, following faithfully every instruction and suggestion given, in order to regain the Life you have lost, - you who have turned finally within to Me, with the faint hope that I may be able to help you.
Know, My Little One, that you, too, must come in complete surrender to Me, the One and Only Physician who can heal you. For I AM the Life Omnipotent within you. I AM your Health, your Strength, your Vitality. Not until you can feel ME within, and know I AM all this to you, is real and lasting Health for you to experience.
And now, My Child, draw close. For I AM now going to tell you the means of obtaining all these things - Health, Prosperity, Happiness, Union, Peace.
In the following words lies hidden the Great Secret. Blessed be you who find it.
Be still! And KNOW, - I AM, - GOD.
KNOW I AM in you. KNOW I AM you. KNOW I AM your LIFE. KNOW All Wisdom, All Love, All Power abides in this Life, which is flowing freely through your entire being NOW.
I AM the LIFE, I AM the INTELLIGENCE, I AM the POWER in all Substance, - in all the cells of your body; in the cells of all mineral, vegetable and animal matter; in fire, water and air; in Sun, Moon and Stars. I AM that in you and in them which IS. Their consciousness is One with your consciousness, and All is My Consciousness.
Through My Consciousness in them All that they have or are is yours for the asking.
Speak in the Consciousness of your Oneness with Me.
Speak in the Consciousness of My Power in you and of My Intelligence in them.
Speak - COMMAND what You WILL in this Consciousness, - and the Universe will rush to obey.
RISE UP! O aspirant for union with Me. Accept now your Divine Heritage! Open wide your Soul, your mind, your body, and breathe in My Breath of Life!
KNOW that I AM filling you full to overflowing with My Divine POWER, that every fibre, every nerve, every cell, every atom of your being is now consciously ALIVE with Me, alive with My Health, with My Strength, with Intelligence with My BEING!
For I AM within you. We are not separated. We could not possibly be separated. For I AM You. I AM your REAL Self, your REAL Life and I AM manifesting My SELF and ALL MY POWERS in you NOW.
AWAKE! Rise up and assert your Sovereignty! KNOW your SELF and your POWERS! KNOW that all I have is yours, that My Omnipotent LIFE is flowing through you, that you can take of IT and build with IT what you WILL, and IT will manifest for you as Health, Power, Prosperity, Union, Happiness, Peace, - anything you WILL of ME. Imagine this. THINK it. KNOW it! Then, with all the Positiveness of your nature, Speak the Creative WORD! It will not return to you void.
But know, Beloved, that this cannot be until you have come to Me in complete and utter surrender, until you have given yourself, your substance, your affairs, your Life into My keeping, putting all care and responsibility upon Me, resting and trusting in Me absolutely.
When you have done this, then will the above Words quicken into active life My Divine Powers latent in your Soul, and you will be conscious of a Mighty FORCE within you, which, just to the extent that you abide in Me, and let My Words abide in you, will free you entirely from your Dream World, will quicken you fully in Spirit, will make all the way clear for you, supply all things you desire, and lift trouble and suffering from you forevermore. Then will there be no more doubts and questionings, for you will KNOW that I, God your very Self, will always provide, will always point out the way; for You will have found that You and I are One.
Chapter 18
Union
You, who truly wish to consecrate yourself thus to Me, and are willing to give your whole Life to Me, putting aside all personal ideas, hopes and aims, in order that I may freely and fully express through you My Impersonal Idea, listen carefully to these Words.
I have led you through all your experiences of life up to just this point. If you are now really ready and willing to serve Me, and have learned that you, of yourself, can know nothing and can do nothing, and that I AM, and what you call your intelligence and your strength and your substance are really Mine, and that it is I who direct all your thoughts and both cause and enable you to do all that you do, then can you comprehend the significance of My Words, and are quite prepared to obey them.
I have hitherto brought to you the experiences that would teach you just these things. But now, if you are ready and worthy, you shall work consciously with Me, joyfully yet calmly awaiting each new experience, knowing that in each are contained marvelous expressions of My Meaning, which I will make altogether clear to you, and which will more and more bring you into loving, intimate union with Me.
Thus all experiences will hereafter be blessings, instead of trials and tests, or karmic effects of previous acts; for in each will I disclose unto you glorious visions of My Reality - of your own True, Wonderful Self; until you no longer will have any disposition to follow any of the old desires but will seek
