CONTACTING THE KINGDOM
WITHIN
David Glass
The Urantian Journal of Urantia Brotherhood
Summer, 1978
"The kingdom of God is within you" was probably the greatest pronouncement Jesus ever made, next to the declaration that his Father is a living and loving spirit." (*2084:4)
In Jesus' teachings about the "kingdom of God within," he imparted a great deal of truth and wisdom respecting this inner realm of spirit reality, contactable by our minds, which the Father has bestowed upon each of us. And our knowledge about the Father's inner spirit presence has been greatly augmented by our fifth epochal revelation. At the center of the inner kingdom, there dwells an actual, perfect spirit fragment of the living God. The inner spirit kingdom is the source of the inspiration and the ideals by which our planetary civilizations are advanced, and the spirit fragments of God within us are the indispensable sources upon which we draw for the evolution of our human wisdom.
There are four realms of spiritual life relevant to the human attempt to contact the Father's indwelling kingdom. These are the exercise of faith, the consecration of will, the experience of love, and the ministry of service.
Machiventa taught that faith in God is all that is necessary to establish a direct and favorable relationship with God...simple faith in the goodness of God is sufficient to insure the post-mortal survival of man's ascending soul. Faith is man's first and indispensable gateway to the personal and experiential discovery of God. Jesus taught, "Revealed truth, personally discovered truth, is the supreme delight of the human soul; ... But truth can never become man's possession without the exercise of faith." (*1459:4,5) By faith man achieves spiritual freedom through the personal discovery of the reality of God and of his divine presence within.
Freedom of choice and liberty of will is one of the Father's greatest gifts to his mortal children. And man's highest personal use of his freewill liberty consists in the decision to seek and to do the perfect will of his Paradise Father. Jesus says, "Never forget there is only one adventure which is more satisfying and thrilling than the attempt to discover the will of the living God, and that is the supreme experience of honestly trying to do that divine will." (*1732:5) In exercising his free will, man discovers his capacity for both correct and erroneous judgment. But through his decision to align the functionings of his mortal will with the Father's all-wise will, man causes the creative lines of the thought world of his inner life gradually to draw into concordant unison with the perfect thinking of his individualized fragment of divinity. And this progressive unification of man's will and God's will is initially consummated in the fusion of man's surviving soul with its associated Thought Adjuster, which is the will of God. The consecration of man's will to the pursuit of the Father's will makes possible man's finding of God in the inner spirit kingdom, in his ascension of the universe, on the Isle of Paradise and in eternity.
The love of God for man and for all of his universe children is unlimited, spontaneous, and inherent in the Father's perfect goodness. The love of man for God makes it possible for man to achieve communion with the Father on the highest level of selfhood, personality. Love is the only experiential realm wherein man has immediate access to the infinite Father. The sharing of love between man and his heavenly Father serves to stabilize, balance, and unify the individual selfhood of man." All true love is from God, and man receives the divine affection as he himself bestows this love upon his fellows. Love is dynamic. It can never be captured; it is alive, free, thrilling, and always moving." (*1289:4)
It is the divine Thought Adjuster that provides the channel through which the love of God emerges into human consciousness, whereafter it may then be expressed to human brothers. Brotherly love has sufficient power in and of itself to effect the spiritual awakening of all Urantia! Service of one's brothers represents the act of the creature's stepping into willing partnership with the Creator.
Loving and serving one's brother releases in him the vast spirit potentials of his inner kingdom and thereby improves the likelihood of his being able to fulfill his own latent spiritual endowments. Through service, man's endowment of spiritual power multiplies through distribution like blessed loaves and fishes.
Contacting the kingdom within must result in the realization of the kingdom without. Through faith and willful effort, through the reception of divine love and its sharing in brotherly service, progressively shall the Father's will be done and his kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven!
-David Glass -- Bradenton, Florida
The above material excerpted from a speech prepared for the Third State Conference of Florida. The editors are grateful for permission to use them and wish that space had been available to reprint the text in its entirety.
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