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Concern yourselves with the spiritual kingdom
To his disciples, Jesus said, 'Temporal matters are the concern of the men of the world. You are spiritual ambassadors of a spiritual kingdom, special representatives of the spirit Father. Love is the greatest of all spirit realities. Truth is a liberating revelation but love is the supreme relationship.'
The Master was a perfect specimen of human self-control. When he was reviled, he reviled not; when he suffered, he uttered no threats; when he was denounced, he simply committed himself to the righteous judgment of the Father.
'I come with a new message of self-forgetfulness and self-control. I show you the way of life as revealed to me by my Father in heaven. By your love for one another you are to convince the world you have passed from death into life everlasting.'
Function of the Indwelling Spirit
Jesus taught: 'If the Spirit dwells within you, you are free and liberated children of the Spirit. Your secret of self-mastery is faith in the Indwelling Spirit which ever works by love. If then you are born of the Spirit, you are forever delivered from a life of self-denial and watch-care over the desires of the flesh and are translated into the joyous kingdom of the Spirit whence you spontaneously show forth the fruits of the spirit in your daily lives.'
'When you have become wholly dedicated to doing the will of the Father, all your petitions will be forthcoming because all these petitions will be in full accordance with the Father's will.'
'Avoid materialistic praying; pray in the spirit and for the abundant gifts of the Spirit.'
Jesus taught that the prayer for divine guidance over the earthly life was next in importance to a petition for knowledge of the Father's will. In reality this means a prayer for divine wisdom.
We worship God by the aid of the Indwelling Spirit. And this spirit of the Father speaks best to man when the human mind is in an attitude of true worship. Worship, taught Jesus, makes one increasingly like the one who is being worshipped.
'The degree of your love for others is the direct measure of just how much you have yielded your soul to the teaching and guidance of your indwelling God-Spirit.'
Rule for living
'Whereas the level of brotherly love is upgraded when it embraces unselfish devotion to the welfare of our fellows, the greatest advance is at the level of spirit insight and spiritual interpretation which impels us to recognize in this rule of life the divine command to treat all people as we conceive God would treat them.'
'The Father never sends affliction as an arbitrary punishment for wrong doing. Mankind should not blame God for those afflictions that are a natural result of the way they choose to live, nor complain of experiences that are the natural result of life as it is lived on this world.'
Jesus transcended the teachings of his forbears when he boldly substituted clean hearts for clean hands as the mark of true religion.
Jesus taught: 'Emotionally people react individually. The only uniform thing about them is the Indwelling Spirit of God. Thus, only through and by appeal to this indwelling Spirit can mankind ever attain unity and brotherhood.'
Anger is a material (animalistic) manifestation indicating failure of the spiritual nature to gain control. "Anger rests in the bosom of fools."
Jesus said, 'Let your hearts be so dominated by love that your indwelling Spirit will have little trouble in delivering you from the tendency to give vent to those outbursts of animal anger which are so inconsistent with the status of a child of the Father.'
Jesus always preached temperance and consistency--pointing out that excessive zeal can lead to recklessness and presumption, while too much prudence and discretion can lead to cowardice and failure.
Jesus said: 'Your forebears feared God because he was mighty and mysterious. You shall adore him because he is magnificent in love, plenteous in mercy, and glorious in truth.'
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