Therefore, when you come to an agreement within your own consciousness that the Spirit of God is within me; that the Spirit of God goes before me to make the crooked places straight; the Spirit of God goes before me to prepare mansions for me; the Spirit of God dwelleth in me; the Spirit of God hath ordained me. Only when you have come into this agreement, do you become children of God. Then you live no longer by effort, but by grace. You then inherit your good, not labor for it, struggle for it, strive for it.

This in no wise means that you enter a life of indolence, because once the Spirit of God is upon you, you are called upon to fulfill God’s mission for you, and that entails a lot of work, but no longer striving or struggling, and no longer seeking for things, and this is where the miracle takes place.

This changes our entire concept of prayer. For now, we no longer pray for the things of this world, we no longer pray for what we shall eat, or what we shall drink, or wherewithal we shall be clothed, or housed. We no longer pray for happiness, we no longer pray for security, we no longer pray for peace on earth.

Our prayer now is a continuous inner communion with that Spirit, which we have acknowledged. It is an inner living; living in the realization of this presence. Therefore, there is no need to pray for safety, when I have acknowledged that there is the Spirit within me, that says, “Fear not, and be not afraid.” There is no need to pray for abundance, since I am communing within, with the very Spirit that says, “I am come that you may have abundance; it is His good pleasure to give you the kingdom, not have you pray for it.”

The very presence of the Spirit is the assurance of abundance in all our ways: abundant peace, abundant happiness, abundant joy… “In Thy presence is fulfillment.” Therefore, our inner communing with this Presence, assures our fulfillment, without praying for fulfillment.

In other words, the nature of prayer is immediately changed. No longer do we take thought for anything that concerns our human life. Because, with the assurance of this inner Presence, and Its function to give us life more abundant, we have nothing more to do with the outer plane of life, except accept God’s grace as it flows into and through our experience, and of course, compelling us to share the 12 baskets full with those who have not yet realized that there is no use struggling for baskets full. Struggle only for the awareness that I, the Spirit of God, am within you, and the baskets full will appear of their own accord. There is no use of struggling for health, even through prayer or treatment, once you have realized that the function of the Spirit of God in you is to give you health abundantly.

Think now, again I ask you to ponder this point, because this is the second point of spiritual consideration. When you come to an inner conviction that the Spirit of God, which is within you, the presence of I, the indwelling Christ; when you come to a place of conviction that this is the source: of your health, of your abundance, of your safety, of your security, of your peace, do you see that you can fulfill scripture; you can dwell in the secret place of the most High, you can commune with this inner Spirit, and none of these things, these evil things of the world, can come nigh thy dwelling place.

As you abide in this word, as you let this spiritual presence abide in you, consciously, you bear fruit richly. Not by taking thought, but because of the very nature of that Spirit which indwells you, whose function it is, that you have life, and that you have it more abundantly.

And now, prayer, or even in the metaphysical world, treatment, is no longer addressed to producing: effects, harmonies, things, conditions. But prayer is now a praying without ceasing. It is a dwelling in the Spirit within. It is an abiding in the assurance. This is it, an abiding in the assurance: “He that is within me is greater than all this world; He that is within me, this Spirit of God within me, is the substance of all form, and it is Its good pleasure to provide the entire kingdom for us.”

Take no thought for things, take no thought for conditions—abide in Me; abide in this word. Dwell in the secret place within yourself, the secret sanctuary—the abiding place of the most High is within you. The Father within me, the indwelling Christ, the Spirit of God in man, the I that I am, the infinite divine Selfhood of my being—all of this is within me.

And Its function is: that I may live abundantly, give abundantly, share abundantly by virtue of divine grace. As long as I dwell in this truth, as long as I live constantly and consciously in this truth, of the indwelling Presence and Its function in my life and yours, and in the life of my friends and of my enemies, I am praying. I am living a life of prayer. I am living the contemplative life—Always contemplating God, always contemplating the presence of His Son within me.

See what this does for you? Every time you think of the Son of God, you no longer think back 2000 years, you no longer think back to Galilee. Now whenever you think of the Son of God, you immediately realize: I am speaking of the Son of God that dwelleth in me; the Christ that dwelt in Paul, 30, 40, 50, 60 years after the crucifixion.

Really, all there is to a spiritual life, all there is to a spiritually fruitful life is this dwelling, living, consciously abiding in and with and through the Presence… I can do all things. Am I so great? No. I can do all things through His spirit in me. I can do all things through the indwelling Christ. I can do all things, because His spirit dwells in me.

And It voices Itself over and over and over again saying, “Fear not, I am with you. Be not afraid; I am with you; I will never leave you.” This is the presence of God speaking to you from within you, after you have pondered this truth of scripture that I is really the way. I is really the way—the presence of I in you; the presence of the Spirit of God in you; the presence of the Son of God, the Christ in you.
When you raise up the Son of God in you so that you hear, “I will never leave thee, I am come that ye might have life and life abundant,” when you have so raised up this Son of God in you, you are now child of God, heir of God. And you live now, not by taking thought for your life, not by might nor by power, but by this indwelling Spirit.

And it is the most wonderful thing that never again is it possible to be tempted to accept the belief that we must demonstrate anything other than the continuous realization of this indwelling presence. Because, It becomes the form of fulfillment.

You can understand this, I’m sure, if you remember from one of our previous classes, a point that was brought out with this illustration. Joan of Arc was asked, “Does God speak to you in French?” And she replies, “I do not know what language God speaks in, I hear Him in French.”

Well, if we in this room, let us say had English or Americans, French, German, Spanish people here, and we meditated, and the voice of God did speak, would not we, whose language is English, would not we hear the message in English? Would not the French hear the message in French? Would not the Spanish hear the message in Spanish? And yet, God is not speaking in any of these languages—the language of God is spirit. And as His spirit fills us, we interpret it in our language.