The Father Within

 By  Walter Lanyon

When Jesus lifted up His eyes unto heaven and said, "Thank you, Father," this all - embracing statement was so filled with revelation that it burst the shell of a thousand limitations.

 As Jesus grew in awareness of His unique parentage, He unfolded the glorious truth that God desires to be the Father of every man and will dwell in your consciousness and mine. He spoke of His body as a temple, with the Father indwelling His consciousness in the manner foreshadowed when the Shekinah glory filled the old covenant temple.

When the Father indwells our consciousness, we too are called "temples" of the living God. Just as Jesus was the embodiment of divinity, we too are the place where the transcendent God is stepped down into visibility. As soon as we recognize that through the new birth we have come into union with God, we begin to bring forth the manifestation, even as the human Jesus manifested the eternally begotten Christ who is the very image of the Father.                 

Just as the principle of radio had always been there, but had to be recognized before it could be brought forth, God indwells all who are His sons by new birth and only awaits our ability to conceive of His manifestation in our temple - bodies. He is in each of us, but He has to be recognized.

With Jesus the man, as with each of us, nothing is possible, for Jesus said that He could do nothing of Himself. But when He arrived at the place of recognition that He was the Christ, then all things were possible because that is the point of contact B recognition B between God and man. Without this recognition of indwelling divinity, nothing can take place; with it, anything can happen. The function of divinity is above the limitations of human law. It is never necessary to consider the laws we are so accustomed to functioning by. Jesus, who could no more walk on water that you can, found this possible because He was conscious of oneness with the Father within. This transforming influence lifted Him entirely out of the bondage of law which knows gravity, cohesion, adhesion, and so on.

 "You must be born again," said Jesus. To be born again is to become one with the Father, so that you express divinity. We are called "partakers of the divine nature." It is impossible for you to do the things that you cannot do as long as you remain in your natural human consciousness, limited by the five senses and three dimensions. It is possible to accomplish all things when you recognize that through being joined as one with Christ you have become one with divinity -- the Father within you.

Many attempt to make themselves "gods," instead of recognizing the Father within as the point of contact where God becomes manifest. This has resulted in all sorts of egotistical monstrosities -- from high priest and priestess, parading a secret power and knowledge before the world, to a Rasputin.

The man - made divinity is one with trailing robes, jewels and piles of gold. In these pictures of heaven which are painted for us, we see reflected the savage longings of starved souls for possessions. Never having had the most ordinary things in life, they finally make themselves believe that heaven represents a lot of man - cut and polished jewels, and heaps of gold which have been taken by man, not by God, as a standard of value. "Awake, you who sleep, and Christ shall give you light."

Discovering that divinity indwells you -- that there is a hidden point of power which is located in the temple of your being -- is like finding a lost continent. The old systems of man pass away; the revelation from within takes place.

"What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate." This union of man and wife as "one flesh" pictures our union with the Father through Christ. This perfect combination of God and man is what Jesus came to reveal. This holy union of man with divinity must take place before any can follow the command, "Go into all the world and preach the good news."

You cannot find God in the loftiest temple nor in the most consecrated spot until the marriage of your spirit with the Spirit of God has taken place, and the fact of union with divinity has been awakened within you. Then, even if you make your bed in hell, or if you go to the uttermost parts of the earth, you will find Him!

Once you have found Him within, you can find Him in the worst hell - hole, or in the most terrible enemy you have ever imagined. He is omnipresent and omnipotent, so that "His kingdom rules over all," even your enemies; thus the darkness around you becomes light, for with Him both are the same. A strange feel of God's presence everywhere causes you to understand why Jesus was able to say to ignorant fishermen, "Go." He knew that each through this point of contact with the transcendent God, the moment he was en rapport with Him, could call for and see manifested "whatever" he asked for in Jesus' name (which is to ask as if he were Christ Himself).

A Byrd flying to the Poles, a Lindbergh encircling the globe, a Picard ascending into the heavens, a submarine descending into the depths, or an engineer going down into the bowels of the earth can instantly get in touch with the outside world, and talk freely. This had ceased to be  wonderful since it became accepted by all as natural; but at one time it only could have happened in legend or fairy tale. Now, wherever man goes, if he has a receiving set we are told he can instantly make the connections and get into touch with the world.

While this in an inadequate illustration, it will faintly indicate why it was that Jesus could safely send men into expression apparently so poorly equipped, from the most common backgrounds, and tell them to do things which to the reasoning mind were impossible. Until this union with divinity is discovered or recognized within, you will continue to look to people, masters, spirits, books or organizations for your help, and one by one you will explode each of the theories for which they stand. Yet when you discover your union with the Father through Christ and are wed to Him, and begin to function naturally from this standpoint like those who use the receiving set, you will be able to find the truth in everything, even as a bee finds honey within a poisonous flower and extracts it.

Because Jesus knew the kingdom of heaven within, it was manifested without. This contact of Father and son is the one thing necessary. When we are in union, the results always follow. At no time did Jesus consider, weigh or handle the evidence by the standard of physical sense. "Judge not by appearances," He cautioned. Disregarding it all, He went within to His Father; and whatever He could ask of the Father, that could He manifest.

When you are speeding through the air at hundreds of miles an hour, the radio is able to catch and broadcast a concert without difficulty; yet this feat is past comprehension as far as the average person is concerned. So too is it difficult for man to understand the presence of God in and through all things. The radical reliance (faith) necessary to establish this state of inner consciousness comes only when man leaves all books, teachers, organizations, etc., and goes within, recognizing God and praising. Once he has found God within, he can find Him without, and in every circumstance of life. Nothing happens without His express will, for He rules over all and "by Him all things hold together." Can you begin to comprehend that?

Beloved, the most important message in the world may be broadcast and fall unheeded upon the diaphragm of the unadjusted machine; and though you can find no place which is not filled with God's inspired radiating presence, without recognition of inner union with Him you "receive" nothing!

If you find it in the nature of your radio to pick up a foreign station, all you have to do is to adjust to that station and what follows is natural, not miraculous. When you stop taking the name of the Lord in vain by attributing all sorts of limitations and evils to yourself, you will begin to know the unafraid condition of mind which functions from the reality of the indwelling divinity of Jesus Christ. This is to "walk by faith."

Once you become aware of the One who indwells you, at that moment you receive "whatever" you "ask for" in His name, whatever He has inwardly authorized you to ask as if He were the One asking. And it is no miracle or demonstration, but a natural movement of the unseen into the place of manifestation. But if what you are endeavoring to bring out is not natural, and is still shrouded with the sleight -of- hand consciousness which is trying to work wonders or "signs," nothing will happen.

 "Awake, you who sleep, and Christ shall give you light!" Recognize that you are one with the Father -- the transcendent God -- through Christ, and live your life froom a fixed consciousness of that union.