AT YOUR COMMAND

NEVILLE GODDARD

SNELLGROVE PUBLICATIONS
NEW YORK
1939
This book contains the very essence of the
Principle of Expression. Had I cared to, I could
have expanded it into a book of several
hundred pages but such expansion would have
defeated the purpose of this book.

Commands to be effective – must be short and

to the point: the greatest command ever
recorded is found in the few simple words,
“And God said, ‘Let there be light.’”

In keeping with this principle I now give to

you, the reader, in these few pages, the truth as
it was revealed to me.

Neville
 I AM
Can man decree a thing and have it come to pass? Most decidedly he can! Man
has always decreed that which has appeared in his world and is today decreeing
that which is appearing in his world and shall continue to do so as long as man is
conscious of being man. Not one thing has ever appeared in man’s world but
what man decreed that it should. This you may deny, but try as you will you
cannot disprove it, for this decreeing is based upon a changeless principle. You
do not command things to appear by your words or loud affirmations. Such vain
repetition is more often than not confirmation of the opposite.
Decreeing is ever done in consciousness. That is; every man is conscious of being
that which he has decreed himself to be. The dumb man without using words is
conscious of being dumb. Therefore he is decreeing himself to be dumb.
When the Bible is read in this light you will find it to be the greatest scientific
book ever written. Instead of looking upon the Bible as the historical record of an
ancient civilization or the biography of the unusual life of Jesus, see it as a great
psychological drama taking place in the consciousness of man.
Claim it as your own and you will suddenly transform your world from the
barren deserts of Egypt to the promised land of Canaan.
Every one will agree with the statement that all things were made by God, and
without him there is nothing made — that is made — but, what man does not
agree upon is the identity of God. All the churches and priesthoods of the world
disagree as to the identity and true nature of God.
The Bible proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that Moses and the prophets
were in one hundred per cent accord as to the identity and nature of God. And
Jesus’ life and teachings are in agreement with the findings of the prophets of
old. Moses discovered God to be man’s awareness of being, when he declared
these little understood words, “I AM hath sent me unto you.” David sang in his
psalms, “Be still and know that I AM God.” Isaiah declared, “I AM the Lord and
there is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou hast not
known me. I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil. I
the Lord do all these things.”
The awareness of being as God is stated hundreds of times in the New Testament.
To name but a few: “I AM the shepherd, I AM the door; I AM the resurrection and
the life; I AM the way; I AM the Alpha and Omega; I AM the beginning and the
end”; and again, “Whom do you say that I AM?”
It is not stated, “I, Jesus, am the door. I, Jesus am the way,” nor is it said, “Whom
do you say that I, Jesus, am?” It is clearly stated, “I AM the way.” The awareness of
being is the door through which the manifestations of life pass into the world of
form.

Consciousness is the resurrecting power

Consciousness is the resurrecting power — resurrecting that which man is
conscious of being. Man is ever out-picturing that which he is conscious of being.
This is the truth that makes man free, for man is always self-imprisoned or self-
freed.
If you, the reader, will give up all of your former beliefs in a God apart from
yourself, and claim God as your awareness of being — as Jesus and the prophets
did — you will transform your world with the realization that, “I and my father
are one.” This statement, “I and my father are one, but my father is greater than
I,” seems very confusing — but if interpreted in the light of what we have just
said concerning the identity of God, you will find it very revealing.
Consciousness, being God, is as ‘father.’ The thing that you are conscious of being
is the ‘son’ bearing witness of his ‘father.’ It is like the conceiver and its
conceptions. The conceiver is ever greater than his conceptions yet ever remains
one with his conception. For instance; before you are conscious of being man,
you are first conscious of being. Then you become conscious of being man. Yet
you remain as conceiver, greater than your conception — man. Jesus discovered
this glorious truth and declared himself to be one with God — not a God that
man had fashioned. For he never recognized such a God. He said, “If any man
should ever come, saying, ‘Look here or look there,’ believe them not, for the
kingdom of God is within you.” Heaven is within you.
Therefore, when it is recorded that “He went unto his father,” it is telling you
that he rose in consciousness to the point where he was just conscious of being,
thus transcending the limitations of his present conception of himself, called
‘Jesus.’
In the awareness of being all things are possible, he said, “You shall decree a thing
and it shall come to pass.” This is his decreeing — rising in consciousness to the
naturalness of being the thing desired. As he expressed it, “And I, if I be lifted
up, I shall draw all men unto me.” If I be lifted up in consciousness to the
naturalness of the thing desired I will draw the manifestation of that desire unto
me. For he states, “No man comes unto me save the father within me draws him,
and I and my father are one.” Therefore, consciousness is the father that is
drawing the manifestations of life unto you.

You are, at this very moment, drawing into your world that which you are now
conscious of being. Now you can see what is meant by, “You must be born
again.” If you are dissatisfied with your present expression in life the only way to
change it, is to take your attention away from that which seems so real to you
and rise in consciousness to that which you desire to be. You cannot serve two
masters, therefore to take your attention from one state of consciousness and
place it upon another is to die to one and live to the other.
The question, “Whom do you say that I am?” is not addressed to a man called
‘Peter’ by one called ‘Jesus.’ This is the eternal question addressed to one’s self by
one’s true being. In other words, “Whom do you say that you are?” For your
conviction of yourself — your opinion of yourself will determine your expression
in life. He states, “You believe in God — believe also in me.” In other words, it is
the me within you that is this God.
Praying then, is seen to be recognizing yourself to be that which you now desire,
rather than its accepting form of petitioning a God that does not exist for that
which you now desire.

Prayers to be successful must be

claiming rather than begging
So can’t you see why the millions of prayers are unanswered? Men pray to a God
that does not exist. For instance: To be conscious of being poor and to pray to a
God for riches is to be rewarded with that which you are conscious of being —
which is poverty. Prayers to be successful must be claiming rather than begging
— so if you would pray for riches turn from your picture of poverty by denying
the very evidence of your senses and assume the nature of being wealthy.
We are told, “When you pray go within in secret and shut the door. And that
which your father sees in secret, with that will he reward you openly.” We have
identified the ‘father’ to be the awareness of being. We have also identified the
‘door’ to be the awareness of being. So ‘shutting the door’ is shutting out that
which ‘I’ am now aware of being and claiming myself to be that which ‘I’ desire to
be. The very moment my claim is established to the point of conviction, that
moment I begin to draw unto myself the evidence of my claim. Do not question
the how of these things appearing, for no man knows that way. That is, no
manifestation knows how the things desired will appear.

Consciousness is the way or door through which things appear. He said, “I AM

the way” — not ‘I,’ John Smith, am the way, but “I AM,” the awareness of being, is
the way through which the thing shall come. The signs always follow. They
never precede. Things have no reality other than in consciousness.
Therefore, get the consciousness first and the thing is compelled to appear.
You are told, “Seek ye first the kingdom of Heaven and all things shall be added
unto you.” Get first the consciousness of the things that you are seeking and
leave the things alone. This is what is meant by “Ye shall decree a thing and it
shall come to pass.”
Apply this principle and you will know what it is to ‘prove me and see.” The
story of Mary is the story of every man. Mary was not a woman — giving birth
in some miraculous way to one called ‘Jesus.’ Mary is the awareness of being that
ever remains virgin, no matter how many desires it gives birth to. Right now
look upon yourself as this virgin Mary — being impregnated by yourself
through the medium of desire — becoming one with your desire to the point of
embodying or giving birth to your desire.

For instance: It is said of Mary (whom you now know to be yourself) that she
know not a man. Yet she conceived. That is, you, John Smith, have no reason to
believe that that which you now desire is possible, but having discovered your
awareness of being to be God, you make this awareness your husband and
conceive a man child (manifestation) of the Lord, “For thy maker is thine
husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; the Lord God of the whole earth shall he
be called.” Your ideal or ambition is this conception — the first command to her,
which is now to yourself, is “Go, tell no man.” That is, do not discuss your
ambitions or desires with another for the other will only echo your present fears.
Secrecy is the first law to be observed in realizing your desire.
The second, as we are told in the story of Mary, is to “Magnify the Lord.” We
have identified the Lord as your awareness of being. Therefore, to ‘magnify the
Lord’ is to revalue or expand one’s present conception of one’s self to the point
where this revaluation becomes natural. When this naturalness is attained you
give birth by becoming that which you are one with in consciousness.
The story of creation is given us in digest form in the first chapter of John.

Things live only as long as I am aware of being them

“In the beginning was the word.” Now, this very second, is the ‘beginning’
spoken of. It is the beginning of an urge — a desire. ‘The word’ is the desire
swimming around in your consciousness — seeking embodiment. The urge of
itself has no reality, For, “I AM” or the awareness of being is the only reality.
Things live only as long as I am aware of being them; so to realize one’s desire,
the second line of this first verse of John must be applied. That is, “And the word
was with God.”
The word, or desire, must be fixed or united with consciousness to give it reality.
The awareness becomes aware of being the thing desired, thereby nailing itself
upon the form or conception — and giving life unto its conception — or
resurrecting that which was heretofore a dead or unfulfilled desire. “Two shall
agree as touching anything and it shall be established on earth.”

This agreement is never made between two persons. It is between the awareness
and the thing desired. You are now conscious of being, so you are actually saying
to yourself, without using words, “I AM.” Now, if it is a state of health that you
are desirous of attaining, before you have any evidence of health in your world,
you begin to FEEL yourself to be healthy. And the very second the feeling “I AM
healthy” is attained the two have agreed. That is, I AM and health have agreed to
be one and this agreement ever results in the birth of a child which is the thing
agreed upon — in this case, health. And because I made the agreement I express
the thing agreed. So you can see why Moses stated, “I AM hath sent me.” For
what being, other than I AM could send you into expression? None — for “I AM
the way — Beside me there is no other.” If you take the wings of the morning
and fly into the uttermost parts of the world or if you make your bed in Hell, you
will still be aware of being. You are ever sent into expression by your awareness
and your expression is ever that which you are aware of being.
Again, Moses stated, “I AM that I AM.” Now here is something to always bear in
mind. You cannot put new wine in old bottles or new patches upon old
garments.

That is; you cannot take with you into the new consciousness any part of the old
man. All of your present beliefs, fears and limitations are weights that bind you
to your present level of consciousness. If you would transcend this level you
must leave behind all that is now your present self, or conception of yourself. To
do this you take your attention away from all that is now your problem or
limitation and dwell upon just being. That is; you say silently but feeling to
yourself, “I AM. Do not condition this ‘awareness’ as yet. Just declare yourself to
be, and continue to do so, until you are lost in the feeling of just being — faceless
and formless. When this expansion of consciousness is attained, then, within this
formless deep of yourself give form to the new conception by FEELING yourself
to be THAT which you desire to be.
You will find within this deep of yourself all things to be divinely possible.
Everything in the world which you can conceive of being, is to you, within this
present formless awareness, a most natural attainment.
The invitation given us in the Scriptures is — “to be absent from the body and be
present with the Lord.” The ‘body’ being your former conception of yourself
and ‘the Lord’ — your awareness of being. This is what is meant when Jesus said
to Nicodemus, “Ye must be born again for except ye be born again ye cannot
enter the kingdom of Heaven.” That is; except you leave behind you your
present conception of yourself and assume the nature of the new birth, you will
continue to out-picture your present limitations.

The only way to change

change your expressions of life
is to change your consciousness
The only way to change your expressions of life is to change your consciousness.
For consciousness is the reality that eternally solidifies itself in the things round
about you. Man’s world in its every detail is his consciousness out-pictured. You
can no more change your environment, or world, by destroying things than you
can your reflection by destroying the mirror. Your environment, and all within it,
reflects that which you are in consciousness. As long as you continue to be that in
consciousness so long will you continue to outpicture it in your world.
Knowing this, begin to revalue yourself. Man has placed too little value upon
himself. In the Book of Numbers you will read, “In that day there were giants in
the land; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers. And we were in their
sight as grasshoppers.” This does not mean a time in the dim past when man had
the stature of giants. Today is the day, — the eternal now — when conditions
round about you have attained the appearance of giants (such as unemployed,
the armies of your enemy, your problems and all things that seem to threaten
you) those are the giant that make you feel yourself to be a grasshopper. But, you
are told, you were first, in your own sight a grasshopper and because of this you
were to the giants — a grasshopper. In other words, you can only be to others
what you are first to yourself. Therefore, to revalue yourself and begin to feel
yourself to be the giant, a center of power, is to dwarf these former giants and
make of them grasshoppers. “All the inhabitants of the earth are as nothing, and
he doeth according to his will in the armies of Heaven and among all the
inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, nor say unto him, “What
doest thou’?” This being spoken of is not the orthodox God sitting in space but
the one and only God — the everlasting father, your awareness of being. So awake
to the power that you are, not as man, but as your true self, a faceless, formless
awareness, and free yourself from your self-imposed prison.

“I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine. My sheep
hear my voice and I know them and they will follow me.” Awareness is the good
shepherd. What I am aware of being, is the ‘sheep’ that follow me. So good a
‘shepherd’ is your awareness that it has never lost one of the ‘sheep’ that you are
aware of being.
I am a voice calling in the wilderness of human confusion for such as I am aware
of being, and never shall there come a time when that which I am convinced that
I am shall fail to find me. “I AM” is an open door for all that I am to enter. Your
awareness of being is lord and shepherd of your life. So, “The Lord is my
shepherd; I shall not want” is seen in its true light now to be your consciousness.
You could never be in want of proof or lack the evidence of that which you are
aware of being.
This being true, why not become aware of being great; God-loving; wealthy;
healthy; and all attributes that you admire?
It is just as easy to possess the consciousness of these qualities as it is to possess
their opposites for you have not your present consciousness because of your
world. On the contrary, your world is what it is because of your present
consciousness. Simple, is it not? Too simple in fact for the wisdom of man that
tries to complicate everything.
Paul said of this principle, “It is to the Greeks” (or wisdom of this world)
“foolishness.” “And to the Jews” (or those who look for signs) “a stumbling
block”; with the result, that man continues to walk in darkness rather than awake
to the being that he is. Man has so long worshiped the images of his own making
that at first he finds this revelation blasphemous, since it spells death to all his
previous beliefs in a God apart from himself. This revelation will bring the
knowledge that “I and my father are one but my father is greater than I.” You are
one with your present conception of yourself. But you are greater than that
which you are at present aware of being.

You shall continue to be confused and thwarted

until you find the cause of your confusion

Before man can attempt to transform his world he must first lay the foundation
— “I AM the Lord.”

That is, man’s awareness, his consciousness of being is God. Until this is firmly
established so that no suggestion or argument put forward by others can shake
it, he will find himself returning to the slavery of his former beliefs. “If ye believe
not that I AM he, ye shall die in your sins.” That is, you shall continue to be
confused and thwarted until you find the cause of your confusion. When you
have lifted up the son of man then shall you know that I AM he, that is, that I,
John Smith, do nothing of myself, but my father, or that state of consciousness
which I am now one with does the works. When this is realized every urge and
desire that springs within you shall find expression in your world. “Behold I
stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door I will
come in to him and sup with him and he with me.” The “I” knocking at the door
is the urge.

To open the door is to become one

with that which is knocking
The door is your consciousness. To open the door is to become one with that
which is knocking by FEELING oneself to be the thing desired. To feel one’s
desire as impossible is to shut the door or deny this urge expression. To rise in
consciousness to the naturalness of the thing felt is to swing wide the door and
invite this one into embodiment.
That is why it is constantly recorded that Jesus left the world of manifestation
and ascended unto his father. Jesus, as you and I, found all things impossible to
Jesus, as man. But having discovered his father to be the state of consciousness of
the thing desired, he but left behind him the “Jesus consciousness” and rose in
consciousness to that state desired and stood upon it until he became one with it.
As he made himself one with that, he became that in expression.

This is Jesus simple message to man: Men are but garments that the impersonal
being, I AM, — the presence that men call God — dwells in. Each garment has
certain limitations. In order to transcend these limitations and give expression to
that which, as man — John Smith — you find yourself incapable of doing, you
take your attention away from your present limitations, or John Smith
conception of yourself, and merge yourself in the feeling of being that which you
desire. Just how this desire or newly attained consciousness will embody itself,
no man knows. For I, or the newly attained consciousness, has ways that ye
know not of; its ways are past finding out. Do not speculate as to the HOW of
this consciousness embodying itself, for no man is wise enough to know the how.
Speculation is proof that you have not attained to the naturalness of being the
thing desired and so are filled with doubts.
You are told, “He who lacks wisdom let him ask of God, that gives to all
liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given unto him. But let him ask not
doubting for he who doubts is as a wave of the sea that is tossed and battered by
the winds. And let not such a one think that he shall receive anything from the
Lord.” You can see why this statement is made, for only upon the rock of faith
can anything be established. If you have not the consciousness of the thing you
have not the cause or foundation upon which thing is erected.
A proof of this established consciousness is given you in the words, “Thank you,
father.” When you come into the joy of thanksgiving so that you actually feel
grateful for having received that which is not yet apparent to the senses, you
have definitely become one in consciousness with the thing for which you gave
thanks. God (your awareness) is not mocked. You are ever receiving that which
you are aware of being and no man gives thanks for something which he has not
received. “Thank you father” is not, as it is used by many today a sort of magical
formula. You need never utter aloud the words, “Thank you, father.” In applying
this principle as you rise in consciousness to the point where you are really
grateful and happy for having received the thing desired, you automatically
rejoice and give thanks inwardly. You have already accepted the gift which was
but a desire before you rose in consciousness, and your faith is now the
substance that shall clothe your desire.

This rising in consciousness is the spiritual marriage where two shall agree upon
being one and their likeness or image is established on earth. “For whatsoever ye
ask in my name the same give I unto you.” ‘Whatsoever’ is quite a large measure.
It is the unconditional. It does not state if society deems it right or wrong that
you should ask it, it rests with you. Do you really want it? Do you desire it? That
is all that is necessary. Life will give it to you is you ask ‘in his name.’

When you ask in the nature of a thing,

results ever follow
His name is not a name that you pronounce with the lips. You can ask forever in
the name of God or Jehovah or Christ Jesus and you will ask in vain. ‘Name’
means nature; so, when you ask in the nature of a thing, results ever follow. To
ask in the name is to rise I consciousness and become one in nature with the
thing desired, rise in consciousness to the nature of the thing, and you will
become that thing in expression. Therefore, “what things soever ye desire, when
ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall receive them.”
Praying, as we have shown you before, is recognition - the injunction to believe
that ye receive is first person, present tense. This means that you must be in the
nature of the things asked for before you can receive them.
To get into the nature easily, general amnesty is necessary. We are told, “Forgive if
ye have aught against any, that your father also, which is in Heaven, may forgive
you. But if ye forgive not, neither will your father forgive you.” This may seem to
be some personal God who is pleased or displeased with your actions but this is
not the case.
Consciousness, being God, if you hold in consciousness anything against man,
you are binding that condition in your world. But to release man from all
condemnation is to free yourself so that you may rise to any level necessary;
there is therefore, no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus.
Therefore, a very good practice before you enter into your meditation is first to
free every man in the world from blame. For LAW is never violated and you can
rest confidently in the knowledge that every man’s conception of himself is going
to be his reward. So you do not have to bother yourself about seeing whether or
not man gets what you consider he should get. For life makes no mistakes and
always gives man that which man first gives himself.
This brings us to that much abused statement of the Bible on tithing. Teachers of
all kinds have enslaved man with this affair of tithing, for not themselves
understanding the nature of tithing and being themselves fearful of lack, they
have led their followers to believe that a tenth part of their income should be
given to the Lord. Meaning, as they make very clear, that, when one gives a tenth
part of his income to their particular organization he is giving his “tenth part” to
the Lord — (or is tithing). But remember, “I AM” the Lord.”

Your awareness of being is the God that you give to and you ever give in this
manner.
Therefore when you claim yourself to be anything, you have given that claim or
quality to God. And your awareness of being, which is no respecter of persons,
will return to you pressed down, shaken together, and running over with that
quality or attribute which you claim for yourself.
Awareness of being is nothing that you could ever name. To claim God to be rich;
to be great; to be love; to be all wise; is to define that which cannot be defined.
For God is nothing that could ever be named.
Tithing is necessary and you do tithe with God. But from now on give to the only
God and see to it that you give him the quality that you desire as man to express
by claiming yourself to be the great, the wealthy, the loving, the all wise.
Do not speculate as to how you shall express these qualities or claims, for life has
a way that you, as man, know not of. Its ways are past finding out. But, I assure
you, the day you claim these qualities to the point of conviction, your claims will
be honored. There is nothing covered that shall be uncovered. That which is
spoken in secret shall be proclaimed from the housetops. That is, your secret
convictions of yourself —these secret claims that no man knows of, when really
believed, will be shouted from the housetops in your world. For your convictions
of yourself are the words of the God within you, which words are spirit and
cannot return unto you void but must accomplish whereunto they are sent.
 To dissolve a problem that now seems so real to
you, all
all that you do is remove your attention from it

You are at this moment calling out of the infinite that which you are now
conscious of being. And not one word or conviction will fail to find you.

“I AM” the vine and ye are the branches.”

Consciousness is the ‘vine,’ and those qualities which you are now conscious of
being are as ‘branches’ that you feed and keep alive. Just as a branch has no life
except it be rooted in the vine, so likewise things have no life except you be
conscious of them. Just as a branch withers and dies if the sap of the vine ceases
to flow towards it, so do things in your world pass away if you take your
attention from them, because your attention is as the sap of life that keeps alive
and sustains the things of your world.
To dissolve a problem that now seems so real to you all that you do is remove
your attention from it. In spite of its seeming reality, turn from it in
consciousness. Become indifferent and begin to feel yourself to be that which
would be the solution of the problem. For instance; if you were imprisoned no
man would have to tell you that you should desire freedom. Freedom, or rather
the desire of freedom would be automatic. So why look behind the four walls of
your prison bars? Take your attention from being imprisoned and begin to feel
yourself to be free. FEEL it to the point where it is natural — the very second you
do so, those prison bars will dissolve. Apply this same principle to any problem.
I have seen people who were in debt up to their ears apply this principle and in
the twinkling of an eye debts that were mountainous were removed. I have seen
those whom doctors had given up as incurable take their attention away from
their problem of disease and begin to feel themselves to be well in spite of the
evidence of their sense to the contrary. In no time at all this so-called “incurable
disease” vanished and left no scar.

Your answer to, “Whom do you say that I AM”? [sic] ever determines your
expression. As long as you are conscious of being imprisoned or diseased, or
poor, so long will you continue to out-picture or express these conditions.
When man realized that he is now that which he is seeking and begins to claim
that he is, he will have the proof of his claim. This cue is given you in words,
“Whom seek ye?” And they answered, “Jesus.” And the voice said, “I am he.”
‘Jesus’ here means salvation or savior. You are seeking to be salvaged from that
which is not your problem.
“I am” is he that will save you. If you are hungry, your savior is food. If you are
poor, your savior is riches. If you are imprisoned, your savior is freedom. If you
are diseased, it will not be a man called Jesus who will save you, but health will
become your savior. Therefore, claim “I am he,” in other words, claim yourself to
be the thing desired. Claim it in consciousness not in words — and consciousness
will reward you with your claim. You are told, “You shall find me when you
FEEL after me.” Well, FEEL after that quality in consciousness until you FEEL
yourself to be it. When you lose yourself in the feeling of being it, the quality
will embody itself in your world.
You are healed from your problem when you touch the solution of it. “Who has
touched me? For I perceive virtue is gone out of me.” Yes, the day you touch this
being within you — FEELING yourself to be cured or healed, virtues will come
out of your very self and solidify themselves in your world as healings.
It is said, ‘You believe in God. Believe also in me for I am he.” Have the faith of
God. “He made himself one with God and found it not robbery to do the works
of God.” Go you and do likewise. Yes, begin to believe your awareness, your
consciousness of being to be God. Claim for yourself all the attributes that you
have heretofore given an external God and you will begin to express these
claims.
“For I am not a God afar off. I am nearer than your hands and feet — nearer than
your very breathing.” I am your awareness of being. I am that in which all that I
shall ever be aware of being shall begin and end. “For before the world was I AM;
and when the world shall cease to be, I AM; before Abraham was, I AM.” This I
AM is your awareness.
“Except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it.” ‘The Lord,’
being your consciousness, except that which you seek is first established in your
consciousness, you will labor in vain to find it. All things must begin and end in
consciousness.

All things must begin and end in consciousness

So, blessed indeed is the man that trusteth in himself — for man’s faith in God
will ever be measured by his confidence in himself. You believe in a God, believe
also in ME.
Put not your trust in men for men but reflect the being that you are, and can only
bring to you or do unto you that which you have first done unto yourself. “No
man taketh away my life, I lay it down myself.” I have the power to lay it down
and the power to take it up again.
No matter what happens to man in this world it is never an accident. It occurs
under the guidance of an exact and changeless Law.
“No man” (manifestation) “comes unto me except the father within me draw
him,” and “I and my father are one.” Believe this truth and you will be free. Man
has always blamed others for that which he is and will continue to do so until he
find himself as cause of all. “I AM” comes not to destroy but to fulfill. “I AM,” the
awareness within you, destroys nothing but ever fill full the molds or conception
one has of one’s self.

It is impossible for the poor man to find wealth in this world no matter how he is
surrounded with it until he first claims himself to be wealthy. For signs follow,
they do not precede. To constantly kick and complain against the limitations of
poverty while remaining poor in consciousness is to play the fool’s game.
Changes cannot take place from that level of consciousness for life in constantly
out-picturing all levels.
Follow the example of the prodigal son. Realize that you, yourself brought about
this condition of waste and lack and make the decision within yourself to rise to
a higher level where the fatted calf, the ring, and the robe await your claim.
There was no condemnation of the prodigal when he had the courage to claim
this inheritance as his own. Others will condemn us only as long as we continue
in that for which we condemn ourselves. So:
“Happy is the man that condemneth himself not in that which he alloweth.” For
to life nothing is condemned. All is expressed.

Life does not care whether you call yourself rich or poor; strong or weak. It will
eternally reward you with that which you claim as true of yourself.
The measurements of right and wrong belong to man alone. To life there is
nothing right or wrong. As Paul stated in his letters to the Romans: “I know and
am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself, but to him
that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.” Stop asking yourself
whether you are worthy or unworthy to receive that which you desire. You, as
man, did not create the desire. Your desires are ever fashioned within you
because of what you now claim yourself to be. When a man is hungry, (without
thinking) he automatically desires food. When imprisoned, he automatically
desires freedom and so forth. Your desires contain within themselves the plan of
self-expression. So leave all judgments out of the picture and rise in
consciousness to the level of your desire and make yourself one with it by
claiming it to be so now. For:
“My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
Have faith in this unseen claim until the conviction is born within you that it is
so. Your confidence in this claim will pay great rewards. Just a little while and
he, the thing desired, will come. But without faith it is impossible to realize
anything. Through faith the worlds were framed because “faith is the substance
of the thing hoped for — the evidence of the thing not yet seen.”

Don’t be anxious or concerned as to results. They will follow just as surely as day
follows night.

The reason most of us fail to realize our desires is

because
because we are constantly conditioning them
Look upon your desires — all of them — as the spoken words of God, and every
word or desire a promise. The reason most of us fail to realize our desires is
because we are constantly conditioning them. Do not condition your desire. Just
accept it as it comes to you. Give thanks for it to the point that you are grateful
for having already received it — then go about your way in peace.

Such acceptance of your desire is like dropping seed — fertile seed — into
prepared soil. For when you can drop the thing desired in consciousness,
confident that it shall appear, you have done all that is expected to you. But, to be
worried or concerned about the HOW of your desire maturing is to hold these
fertile seeds in a mental grasp, and, therefore, never to have dropped them in the
soil of confidence. The reason men condition their desires is because they
constantly judge after the appearance of being and see the things as real —
forgetting that the only reality is the consciousness back of them.

To see things as real is to deny that all things are possible to God. The man who
is imprisoned and sees his four walls as real is automatically denying the urge or
promise of God within him of freedom.

Problems are the mountains spoken of

that can be removed if one has faith
A question often asked when this statement is made is; If one’s desire is a gift of
God how can you say that if one desires to kill a man that such a desire is good
and therefore God sent? In answer to this let me say that no man desires to kill
another. What he does desire is to be freed from such a one. But because he does
not believe that the desire to be free from such a one contains within itself the
powers of freedom, he conditions that desire and sees the only way to express
such freedom is to destroy the man — forgetting that the life wrapped within the
desire has ways that he, as man, knows not of. Its ways are past finding out.
Thus man distorts the gifts of God through his lack of faith. Problems are the
mountains spoken of that can be removed if one has but the faith of a grain of a
mustard seed. Men approach their problem as did the old lady who, on
attending service and hearing the priest say, “If you had but the faith of a grain
of a mustard seed you would say unto yonder mountain ‘be thou removed’ and
it shall be removed and nothing is impossible to you.”

That night as she said her prayers, she quoted this part of the scriptures and
retired to bed in what she thought was faith. On arising in the morning she
rushed to the window and exclaimed: “I knew that old mountain would still be
there.”
For this is how man approaches his problem. He knows that they are still going
to confront him. And because life is no respecter of persons and destroys
nothing, it continues to keep alive that which he is conscious of being.
Things will disappear only as man changes in consciousness. Deny it if you will,
it still remains a factthat consciousness is the only reality and things but mirror
that which you are in consciousness. So the heavenly state you are seeking will
be found only in consciousness, for the kingdom of heaven is within you. As the
will of heaven is ever done on earth you are today living in the heaven that you
have established within you. For here on this very earth your heaven reveals
itself. The kingdom of heaven really is at hand. NOW is the accepted time. So
create a new heaven, enter into a new state of consciousness and a new earth will
appear.

“The former things shall pass away. They shall not be remembered not come into
mind any more. For behold, I,” (your consciousness) “come quickly and my
reward is with me.”
I am nameless but will take upon myself every name (nature) that you call me.
Remember it is you, yourself, that I speak of as ‘me.’ So every conception that
you have of yourself — that is every deep conviction — you have of yourself is
that which you shall appear as being — for I AM not fooled; God is not mocked.
Now let me instruct you in the art of fishing. It is recorded that the disciples
fished all night and caught nothing. Then Jesus cam upon the scene and told
them to cast their nets in once more, into the same waters that only a moment
before were barren — and this time their nets were bursting with the catch.
This story is taking place in the world today right within you, the reader. For you
have within you all the elements necessary to go fishing. But until you find that
Jesus Christ, (your awareness) is Lord, you will fish, as did these disciples, in the
night of human darkness. That is, you will fish for THINGS thinking things to be
real and will fish with the human bait — which is a struggle and an effort —
trying to make contact with this one and that one: trying to coerce this being or
the other being; and all such effort will be in vain. But when you discover your
awareness of being to be Christ Jesus you will let him direct your fishing. And you
will fish in consciousness for the things that you desire. For your desire — will be
the fish that you will catch, because your consciousness is the only living reality
you will fish in the deep waters of consciousness.

Leave behind you all that is now your

present problem or limitation
If you would catch that which is beyond your present capacity you must launch
out into deeper waters, for, within your present consciousness such fish or
desires cannot swim. To launch out into deeper waters, you leave behind you all
that is now your present problem, or limitation, by taking your ATTENTION
AWAY from it. Turn your back completely upon every problem and limitation
that you now possess.

Dwell upon just being by saying, “I AM,” “I AM,” “I AM,” to yourself. Continue to
declare to yourself that you just are. Do not condition this declaration, just
continue to FEEL yourself to be and without warning you will find yourself
slipping the anchor that tied you to the shallow of your problems and moving
out into the deep.

Don’t be afraid, for courage is necessary

This is usually accompanied with the feeling of expansion. You will FEEL
yourself expand as though you were actually growing. Don’t be afraid, for
courage is necessary. You are not going to die to anything by your former
limitations, but they are going to die as you move away from them, for they live
only in your consciousness. In this deep or expanded consciousness you will find
yourself to be a power that you had never dreamt of before.
The things desired before you shoved off from the shores of limitation are the
fish you are going to catch in this deep. Because you have lost all consciousness
of your problems and barriers, it is now the easiest thing in the world to FEEL
yourself to be one with the things desired. Because I AM (your consciousness) is
the resurrection and the life, you must attach this resurrecting power that you are
to the thing desired if you would make it appear and live in your world. Now
you begin to assume the nature of the thing desired by feeling, “I AM wealthy”;
“I AM free”; “I AM strong.” When these ‘FEELS’ are fixed within yourself, your
formless being will take upon itself the forms of the things felt. You become
‘crucified’ upon the feelings of wealth, freedom, and strength. — Remain buried
in the stillness of these convictions. Then, as a thief in the night and when you
least expect it, theses qualities will be resurrected in your world as living
realities.

The world shall touch you and see that you are flesh and blood for you shall
begin to bear fruit of the nature of these qualities newly appropriated. This is the
art of successful fishing for the manifestations of life. Successful realization of
the thing desired is also told us in the story of Daniel in the lion’s den. Here, it is
recorded that Daniel, while in the lion’s den, turned his back upon the lions and
looked towards the light coming from above; that the lions remained powerless
and Daniel’s faith in his God saved him.

This also is your story and you too must do as Daniel did. If you found yourself
in a lion’s den you would have no other concern but lions. You would not be
thinking of one thing in the world but your problem —which problem would be
lions.
Yet, you are told that Daniel turned his back upon them and looked towards the
light that was his God. If we would follow the example of Daniel we would,
while imprisoned within the den of poverty of sickness, take our attention away
from our problems of debts or sickness and dwell upon the thing we seek. If we
do not look back in consciousness to our problems but continue in faith —
believing ourselves to be that which we seek, we too will find our prison walls
open and the thing sought — yes, “whatsoever things” — realized.
Another story is told us; of the widow and the three drops of oil. The prophet
asked the widow, “What have ye in your house?” And she replied, “Three drops
of oil.” He then said to her, “Go borrow vessels. Close the door after ye have
returned into your house and begin to pour.” And she poured from three drops
of oil into all the borrowed vessels, filling them to capacity with oil remaining.
You, the reader, are this widow. You have not a husband to impregnate you or
make you fruitful, for a ‘widow’ is a barren state. Your awareness is now the Lord
— or the prophet that has become your husband. Follow the example of the
widow, who instead of recognizing an emptiness or nothingness, recognized the
something — three drops of oil.
Then the command to her, “Go within and close the door,” that is, shut the door
of the senses that tell you of the empty measures, the debts, the problems.

Recognition is the power that conjures in the world

When you have taken your attention away completely by shutting out the
evidence of the senses, begin to FEEL the joy, — (symbolized by oil) — of having
received the things desired. When the agreement is established within you so
that all doubts and fears have passed away, then, you too will fill all the empty
measures of your life and ill have an abundance running over.
Recognition is the power that conjures in the world. Every state that you have
ever recognized, you have embodied. That which you are recognizing as true of
yourself today is that which you are experiencing. So be as the widow and
recognize joy, no matter how little the beginnings of recognition, and you will be
generously rewarded — for the world is a magnified mirror, magnifying
everything that you are conscious of being. “I AM the Lord the God, which has
brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; thou shalt
have not her gods before me.” What a glorious revelation, your awareness now
revealed as the Lord thy God! Come, awake from your dream of being
imprisoned. Realize that the earth is yours, “and the fullness thereof; the world,
and all that dwells therein.” You have become so enmeshed in the belief that you
are man that you have forgotten the glorious being that you are. Now with your
memory restored DECREE the unseen to appear and it SHALL appear, for all
things are compelled to respond to the Voice of God, Your awareness of being —
the world is AT YOUR COMMAND!

The End