I stand between the years. The Light of My Presence is flung across the year to come - the radiance of The Sun of Righteousness. Backward, over the past year, is My Shadow thrown, hiding trouble and sorrow and disappointment.
Dwell not on the past - only on the present. Only use the past as the trees use My Sunlight to absorb it, to make from it in after days the warming fire-rays. So store only the blessings from Me, The Light of the World. Encourage yourselves by the thought of these.
Bury every fear of the future, of poverty for those dear to you, of suffering, of loss. Bury all thought of unkindness and bitterness, all your dislikes, your resentments, your sense of failure, your disappointment in others and in yourselves, your gloom, your despondency, and let us leave them all, buried, and go forward to a new and risen life.
Remember that you must not see as the world sees. I hold the year in My Hands - in trust for you. But I shall guide you one day at a time.
Leave the rest with Me. You must not anticipate the gift by fears or thoughts of the days ahead.
And for each day I shall supply the Wisdom and the Strength.
Arm of Love. - January 2
You are to help to save others. Never let one day pass when you have not reached out an arm of Love to someone outside your home - a note, a letter, a visit, help in some way.
Be full of Joy. Joy saves. Joy cures. Joy in Me. In every ray of sunlight, every smile, every act of kindness, or love, every trifling service - joy.
Each day do something to lift another soul out of the sea of sin, or disease or doubt into which man has fallen. I still walk to-day by the lakeside and call My disciples to follow Me and to become fishers of men.
The helping hand is needed that raises the helpless to courage, to struggle, to faith, to health. Love and laugh. Love and laughter are the beckoners to faith and courage and success. Trust on, love on, joy on.
Refuse to be downcast. Refuse to be checked in your upward climb. Love and laugh, I am with you. I bear your burdens. Cast thy burden upon Me and I will sustain thee. And then in very lightheartedness you turn and help another with the burden that is pressing too heavily upon him or her.
How many burdens can you lighten this year? How many hearts can you cheer? How many souls can you help?
And in giving you gain: "Good measure, pressed down and running over." I your Lord have said it.
The Way Will Open. - January 3
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength - Isa. 40:31
You must be renewed, remade. Christ, Christ, Christ. Everything must rest on Me. Force is born of rest. Only Love is a conquering force. Be not afraid, I will help you.
Be channels, both of you. My Spirit shall flow through and My Spirit shall, in flowing through, sweep away all the bitter past.
Take heart, God loves, God helps, God fights, God wins. You shall see. You shall know. The way will open. All My Love has ever planned, all My Love has ever thought, you shall see each day unfold. Only be taught. Just be a child. A child never questions plans. It accepts gladly.
Hoard Nothing. - January 5
Love Me and do My will. No evil shall befall you. Take no thought for to-morrow. Rest in My Presence brings Peace. God will help you. Desire brings fulfillment. Peace like a quiet flowing river cleanses, sweeps all irritants away.
You shall be taught, continue these prayer-times, even if they seem fruitless. The devil will try by any means to stop them. Heed him not. He will say evil spirits may enter in. Heed him not.
Rest your nerves. Tired nerves are a reflection on, not of, God's Power. Hope all the time.
Do not be afraid of poverty. Let money flow freely. I will let it flow in but you must let it flow out. I never send money to stagnate - only to those who pass it on. Keep nothing for yourself. Hoard nothing. Only have what you need and use. This is My Law of Discipleship.
Sharp and Ready. - January 6
Guide me, O Thou Great "I AM",
Pilgrim through this foreign land.
I am weak but Thou art mighty,
Guide me with Thy powerful Hand.
You must pray. The way will open. God cares and His plans unfold. Just love and wait.
Love is the Key. No door is too difficult for it to open.
What cause have you to fear? Has He not cared for and protected you? Hope on. Hope gladly. Hope with certainty. Be calm, calm in My Power.
Never neglect these times, pray and read your Bible and train and discipline yourself. That is your work - Mine to use you. But My instruments must be sharp and ready. Then I use them.
Discipline and perfect yourselves at all costs. Do this, for soon every fleeting thought will be answered, every wish gratified, every deed used. It is a fearful Power, a mighty Power (Force). Oh! be careful that you ask nothing amiss - nothing that is not according to My Spirit.
All thoughts harmful must be turned out. Miracle working power can become witchery in the wrong hands. See how necessary I have made the purity and goodness of your own lives to you. That is why. Soon, very soon, you shall ask, and at once it will come. Welcome the training. Without it I dare not give you this Power (Force). It would do harm.
Do not worry about others' lives. That will all come right. You must perfect yourselves first in My Strength.
The Secret Pearl. - January 7
Look upon us with Thy favour, O Lord, while we behold "the land that is very far off" and yet so near to the seeing eye and the listening ear.
Wait. Wonders are unfolding. Tremble with awe. No man can stand upon the threshold of Eternity unshaken. I give unto you Eternal Life. A free gift, a wonderful gift - the Life of the Ages.
Silently comes the Kingdom. No man can judge when It enters the heart of man, only in results. Listen quietly. Sometimes you may get no message. Meet thus all the same. You will absorb an atmosphere.
Cultivate silence. "God speaks in silences." A silence, a soft wind. Each can be a message to convey My meaning to the heart, though by no voice or even word.
Each word or thought of yours can be like a pearl that you drop into the secret place of another heart, and in some hour of need, lo! the recipient finds the treasure and realizes for the first time its value.
* * * *
Do not be too ready to do, just be. I said, "Be ye therefore perfect," not "do" perfect things. Strive to grasp this. Individual efforts avail nothing. It is only the work of the Universal Spirit - My Spirit, that counts.
Dwell in thought on this, more and more, saints have taken a life-time to grasp it.
Love Bangs the Door. - January 8
Life with Me is not immunity from difficulties, but peace in difficulties. My guidance is often by shut doors. Love bangs as well as opens.
Joy is the result of faithful trusting acceptance of My Will, when It seems not joyous.
Paul, my servant, learnt this lesson of the banged doors when he said, "our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Expect rebuffs until this is learned - it is the only way.
Joy is the daughter of calm.
No Strain. - January 9
Be calm, no matter what may befall you. Rest in Me. Be patient, and let patience have her perfect work. Never think things overwhelming. How can you be overwhelmed when I am with you?
Do not feel the strain of life. There is no strain for My children. Do you not see I am a Master Instrument-maker? Have I not fashioned each part? Do I not know just what it can bear without a strain? Would I, the maker of so delicate an instrument, ask of it anything that could destroy or strain?
No! The strain is only when you are serving another master, the world, fame, the good opinion of men - or carrying two days' burden on the one day.
Remember that it must not be.
Influence. - January 10
When you come to Me, and I give you that Eternal Life I give to all who believe Me, it alters your whole existence, the words you speak, the influences you have.
These are all eternal. They must be. They spring from the Life within you, My Life, Eternal Life, so that they too live for ever. Now you see how vast, how stupendous, is the work of any soul that has Eternal Life. The words, the influence, go on down the ages for ever.
You must ponder on these truths I give you. They are hidden pearls of rare price.
Meditate upon them. Work at them in your minds and hearts.
The Ache of Love. - January 11
Cry unto Me, and I will hear you and bless you. Use My unlimited stores for your needs and those of others. Seek My wonderful Truths and you shall find.
There may come times when you sit in silence, when it seems as if you were left alone. Then I command - command - you to remember I have spoken to you, as I spoke at Emmaus.
But there was the time in the Upper Room, after My Ascension, when My disciples had to comfort themselves by saying, "Did He not speak to us by the way?"
You will have the consciousness of My Presence when you hear no voice. Abide in that Presence. "I am The Light of the world," but sometimes in tender pity, I withhold too glaring a light, lest, in its dazzling brightness, you should miss your daily path and work.
Not until Heaven is reached, do souls sit and drink in the ecstasy of God's revelation to His Own. At the moment you are pilgrims and need only your daily marching orders, and strength and guidance for the day.
Oh! Listen to My Voice, eagerly, joyfully. Never crowd it out. I have no rival claimants, and if men seek the babble of the world, then I withdraw.
Life has hurt you. Only scarred lives can really save.
* * * *
You cannot escape the discipline. It is the hallmark of discipleship. My children, trust Me always. Never rebel.
The trust given to Me to-day, takes away the ache of rejection of My Love, that I suffered on Earth, and have suffered through the ages. "I died for you, My children, and could ye treat Me so?"
Thanks for Trials. - January 12
You must say "Thank You" for everything, even seeming trials and worries.
Joy is the whole Being's attitude of "Thank You" to Me. Be glad. Rejoice. A father loves to see his children happy.
I am revealing so much to you. Pass it on. Each Truth is a jewel. Some poor spirit-impoverished friend will be glad of it. Drop one here and there.
Seek to find a heart-home for each Truth I have imparted to you. More Truths will flow in. Use all I give you. Help others. I ache to find a way into each life and heart, for all to cry expectantly, "Even so, come Lord Jesus."
Friends Unseen. - January 13
Never despair, never despond. Be just a channel of helpfulness for others.
Have more sympathy. Feel more tenderness towards others. Your lives shall not be all care. Gold does not stay in the crucible - only until it is refined. Already I hear the music and the marching of the unseen host, rejoicing at your victory.
No follower of Mine would ever err or fall, if once the veil were withdrawn which prevents him seeing how these slips delight the evil spirits, and the pain and disappointment of those who long for him to conquer in My Strength and Name, and the ecstasy of rejoicing when victory is won.
My Strength is the same as that in which I conquered Satan in the Wilderness - depression and sorrow in the Garden, and even Death on Calvary.
Think of that.
Mighty and Marvellous. - January 14
Glad indeed are the souls with whom I walk. Walking with Me is security. The coming of My Spirit into a life, and Its working are imperceptible, but the result is mighty.
Learn of Me. Kill the 'Self'. Every blow to 'Self' is used to shape the real, eternal, imperishable you.
Be very candid and rigorous with your 'Selves'. "Did 'Self' prompt that?" and if it did, oust it at all costs.
When I died on the Cross, I died embodying all the human 'Self'. Once that was crucified, I could conquer even death.
When I bore your sins in My own body on the Tree I bore the 'Self'-human nature of the world. As you too kill 'Self' you gain the overwhelming power (the Force) I released for a weary world, and you too will be victorious.
It is not life and its difficulties you have to conquer, only the 'Self' in you. As I said to My disciples, "I have many things to say to you but you cannot bear them now." You could not understand them. But as you go on obeying Me and walking with Me, and listening to Me, you will, and then you will see how glorious, how marvellous My revelations are, and My teachings.
Relax. - January 15
Relax, do not get tense, have no fear. All is for the best. How can you fear change when your life is hid with Me in God, Who changeth not - and I am the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.
You must learn poise, soul-balance and poise, in a vacillating, changing world.
Claim My power. The same power (Force) with which I cast out devils is yours to-day. Use it. If not, I withdraw it. Use it ceaselessly.
You cannot ask too much. Never think you are too busy. As long as you get back to Me and replenish after each task no work can be too much. My Joy I give you. Live in it. Bathe your Spirit in it. Reflect it.
Friend in Drudgery. - January 16
It is the daily strivings that count, not the momentary heights. The obeying of My Will day in, day out, in the wilderness plains rather than the occasional Mount of Transfiguration.
Perseverance is nowhere needed so much as in the religious life. The drudgery of the Kingdom it is that secures My intimate Friendship. I am the Lord of little things, the Divine Control of little happenings.
Nothing in the day is too small to be a part of My scheme. The little stones in a mosaic play a big part.
Joy in Me. Joy is the God-given cement that secures the harmony and beauty of My mosaic.
God's Rush to Give. - January 17
Silence. Be silent before Me. Seek to know and then do My Will in all things.
Abide in My Love. An atmosphere of loving understanding to all men. This is your part to carry out, and then I surround you with a protective screen that keeps all evil from you. It is fashioned by your own attitude of mind, words, and deeds, towards others.
I want to give you all things, good measure, pressed down and running over. Be quick to learn. You know little yet of the Divine Impatience which longs to rush to give. Does one worrying thought enter your mind, one impatient thought? Fight it at once.
Love and Trust are the solvents for the worry and cares and frets of a life. Apply them at once. You are channels (for The Force), and though the channel may not be altogether blocked, fret and impatience and worry corrode, and in time would become beyond your help.
Persevere, oh! persevere. Never lose heart. All is well.
Faith-Works. - January 18
Pray daily for Faith. It is My Gift.
It is your only requisite for the accomplishment of mighty deeds. Certainly you have to work, you have to pray, but upon Faith alone depends the answer to your prayers - your works.
I give it you in response to your prayer, because it is the necessary weapon for you to possess for the dispersion of evil - the overcoming of all adverse conditions, and the accomplishment of all good in your lives, and then you having Faith, give it back to Me. It is the envelope in which every request to Me should be placed.
And yet, "Faith without works is dead." So you need works, too, to feed your Faith in Me. As you seek to do, you feel your helplessness. You then turn to Me. In knowing Me, your faith grows - and that faith is all you need for My Power (Force) to work.
Love Anticipates. - January 19
Lord, I will seek Thee.
None ever sought Me in vain. I wait, wait with a hungry longing to be called upon; and I, who have already seen your hearts' needs before you cried unto Me, before perhaps, you were conscious of those needs yourself, I am already preparing the answer.
It is like a mother, who is setting aside suitable gifts for her daughter's wedding, before Love even has come into the daughter's life.
The Anticipatory Love of God is a thing mortals seldom realize. Dwell on this thought. Dismiss from your minds the thought of a grudging God, who had to be petitioned with sighs and tears and much speaking before reluctantly He loosed the desired treasures. Man's thoughts of Me need revolutionizing.
Think about a mother preparing birthday or Christmas delights for her child - the while her mother-heart sings: "Will she not love that? How she will love this!", and anticipates the rapture of her child, her own heart full of the tenderest joy. Where did the mother learn all this preparation-joy? From Me - a faint echo this of My Preparation-Joy.
Think about this as plans unfold of My preparing. It means much to Me to be understood, and the understanding of Me will bring great Joy to you.
At One With God. - January 20
One with Me. I and My Father are as one. One with The Lord of the whole Universe!
Could human aspiration reach higher? Could man's demands transcend this? One with Me.
If you realize your high privilege, you have only to think and immediately the object of your thought is called into being. Indeed, well may I have said, "Set your affections on things above, not on the things of the Earth."
To dwell in thought on the material, when once you live in Me - is to call it into being. So you must be careful only to think of and desire that which will help, not hinder, your spiritual growth. The same law operates too on the Spiritual Plane.
Think Love, and Love surrounds you, and all about whom you think. Think thoughts of ill-will, and ill surrounds you, and those about whom you think. Think health - health comes. The physical reflects the mental and spiritual.
"Honi soit qui mal y pense" - evil be to him who thinks it.
A Crowded Day. - January 21
Believe that I am with you, and controlling all. When My Word has gone forth, all are powerless against it.
Be calm. Never fear. You have much to learn. Go on until you can take the most crowded day with a song. "Sing unto The Lord." The finest accompaniment to a Song of Praise to Me is a very crowded day. Let Love be the motif running through all.
Be glad all the time. Rejoice exceedingly. Joy in Me. Rest in Me. Never be afraid. Pray more. Do not get worried. I am thy Helper. "Underneath are the Everlasting Arms." You cannot get below that. Rest in them, as a tired child rests.
Grey Days. - January 22
BE not afraid. I am your God, your Deliverer. From all evil, I will deliver you. Trust Me. Fear not.
Never forget your "Thank You." Do you not see it is a lesson? You must say "Thank You" on the greyest days. You must do it. All cannot be light unless you do. There is grey-day practice. It is absolutely necessary.
My death upon the Cross was not only necessary to save a world, it was necessary, if only to train My disciples. It was all a part of their training: My entering Jerusalem in triumph; My washing the disciples' feet; My sorrow-time in Gethsemane; My being despised, judged, crucified, buried. Every step was necessary to their development - and so with you.
If a grey day is not one of thankfulness, the lesson has to be repeated until it is. Not to everyone is it so. But only to those who ask to serve Me well and to do much for Me. A great work requires a great and careful training.
How Power Comes. - January 23
Lord, Thou are our Refuge. Our God, in Thee do we trust. O Master, come and talk with us.
ALL power is given unto Me. It is Mine to give, Mine to withhold, but even I have to acknowledge that I cannot withhold it from the soul that dwells near Me, because it is then not a gift, but passes insensibly from Me to My disciples.
It is breathed in by the soul who lives in My Presence.
Learn to shut yourself away in My Presence - and then, without speaking, you have those things you desire of Me, Strength - Power - Joy - Riches.
Your Great Reward. - January 24
You pray for Faith, and you are told to do so. But I make provision in the House of My Abiding for those who turn towards Me, and yet have weak knees and hearts that faint. Be not afraid. I am your God. Your Great Reward. Yours to look up and say, "All is well."
I am your Guide. Do not want to see the road ahead. Go just one step at a time. I very rarely grant the long vista to My disciples, especially in personal affairs, for one step at a time is the best way to cultivate Faith.
You are in uncharted waters. But The Lord of all Seas is with you, the Controller of all Storms is with you. Sing with joy. You follow The Lord of Limitations, as well as The God in whose service is perfect freedom.
He, The God of the Universe, confined Himself within the narrow limits of a baby-form and, in growing boyhood, and young manhood, submitted to your human-limitations, and you have to learn that your vision and power, boundless as far as spiritual things are concerned, must in temporal affairs submit to limitations too.
But I am with you. It was when the disciples gave up effort after a night of fruitless fishing, that I came, and the nets brake with the over-abundance of supply.
Way of Happiness. - January 25
Complete surrender of every moment to God is the foundation of happiness, the superstructure is the joy of being in union with Him. And that is, for each, the place, the mansion, I went to prepare for you.
My followers have misunderstood that, and looked too often upon that promise as referring only to an After-Life, and too often - far too often - upon this life as a something to be struggled through, in order to get the reward and the joy of the next.
Seek to carry out all I say, and such understanding, insight, vision and joy will be yours as shall pass indeed all understanding. The plans of God are very wonderful - beyond your highest hopes.
Cling to thoughts of protection, safety, guidance.
Keep Calm. - January 26
Keep your Spirit-Life calm and unruffled. Nothing else matters. Leave all to Me. This is your great task, to get calm in My Presence, not to let one ruffled feeling stay for one moment. Years of blessing may be checked in one moment by that.
No matter who frets you or what, yours is the task to stop all else until absolute calm comes. Any block means My Power (Force) diverted into other channels.
Pour forth - pour forth - pour forth - I cannot bless a life that does not act as a channel. My Spirit brooks no stagnation, not even rest. Its Power must flow on. Pass on everything, every blessing. Abide in Me.
See how many you can bless each day. Dwell much in My Presence.
Height of the Storm. - January 27
Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of Eternal Life. - John 6:68.
I am with you both. Go forward unafraid. Health and Strength, Peace and Happiness and Joy - they are all My Gifts. Yours for the asking.
In the spiritual (as in the material) world there is no empty space, and as 'Self', and fears and worries depart out of your lives, it follows that the things of the Spirit, that you crave so, rush in to take their places. All things are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's. What a wonderful cycle, because ye are God's.
Be not afraid. Fear not. It is to the drowning man the Rescuer comes. To the brave swimmer who can fare well alone He comes not. And no rush of Joy can be like that of a man towards his Rescuer.
It is a part of My Method to wait till the storm is at its full violence. So did I with My disciples on the Lake. I could have bidden the first angry wave to be calm, the first gust of wind be still, but what a lesson unlearned? What a sense of tender nearness of refuge and safety would have been lost.
Remember this - My disciples thought that in sleep I had forgotten them. Remember how mistaken they were. Gain strength and confidence and joyful dependence and anticipation from that.
Never fear. Joy is yours, and the radiant joy of the rescued shall be yours.
Low Ambitions. - January 28
Fear not. Do not fear to be busy. You are the servant of all. "He that would be the greatest among you, let him be the servant of all."
Service is the word of My disciples. I served indeed the humblest, the lowliest. I was at their command. My highest Powers were at their service.
Be used. Be used by all, by the lowest, the smallest. How best can you serve? Let that be your daily seeking, not how best can you be served.
Truly man's thoughts are not God's Thoughts, nor man's ways, God's Ways. When you seek to follow Me in all, it frequently means a complete reversion of the way of the world you have hitherto followed. But it is a reversion that leads to boundless happiness and peace.
Look around you, read what is being written. What do you find? Do the aims and ambitions that man strives for bring peace, or the world's awards bring heart-rest and happiness? No! indeed, man is at war with man. Those whom the world has most rewarded, with name, fame, honour, wealth, are weary and disappointed.
And yet, to the listening ear, above the jangle of the world's discordant cries, there echoes down the 1900 years My Message, "Come unto Me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you Rest."
And the weary and disappointed who listen and turn to Me find indeed that Rest. Joy of the Weary I am, Music to the Heart I am, Health to the Sick, Wealth to the Poor, Food to the Hungry, Home to the Wanderer, Rapture to the Jaded, Love to the Lonely.
There is not one want of the soul, that I do not supply for the asking, and to you too, I long to be all.
I Clear The Path. - January 29
Wait on The Lord - Psalm 27:14.
I am thy Shield. Have no fear. You must know that "All is well." I will never let anyone do to you both, other than My Will for you.
I can see the future. I can read men's hearts. I know better than you what you need. Trust Me absolutely. You are not at the mercy of Fate, or buffeted about by others. You are being led in a very definite way, and others, who do not serve your purpose, are being moved out of your Path by Me.
Never fear, whatever may happen. You are both being led. Do not try to plan. I have planned. You are the builder, not the Architect.
Go very quietly, very gently. All is for the very best for you.
Trust Me for all. Your very extremity will ensure My activity for you. And having your foundation on The Rock - Christ, Faith in Him, and "being rooted and grounded in Him," and having belief in My Divinity as your Corner Stone, it is yours to build, knowing all is well.
Literally, you have to depend on Me for everything - everything. It was out of the depths that David cried unto Me, and I heard his voice. All is well.
The Soul at War. - January 30
No evil can befall you, if I am with you. "Ill that He blesses is our good." Every time of being laid aside is a time of retreat into the Quiet Place with Me. Never fear but in that place you shall find restoration and power and joy and healing.
Plan both of you retreat days now and then - days when you live apart with Me, and arise rested and refreshed - physically, mentally, and spiritually, to carry on the work I have given to you. I will never give you a load greater than you can bear.
Love, Joy, Peace, welcome these. Let no personal feelings, no thoughts of 'Self' banish these. Singly, they are miracle-producing in a life, but together, they can command all that is needed on the physical, mental and spiritual planes.
It is in these wonder-realm attributes all success lies. You have to see your inner lives are all they should be, and then the work is accomplished. Not in rushing and striving on the material plane, but on the battlefield of the Soul are these things won.
Suffering Redeems. - January 31
All sacrifice and all suffering is redemptive: to teach the individual or to be used to raise and help others.
Nothing is by chance (or luck).
Divine Mind and its wonder-working, is beyond your finite mind to understand.
No detail is forgotten in My Plans, already perfect.