The deep night of the ages is passing. The long sleep of the mortal regime is coming to a close. The awakening is at hand. It is the time for man to throw off the infant swaddling clothes of his earthly thinking and advance into the higher glory of divine thinking.
Man must now know that whatever he can think is possible else he could not think it. Man's very hopes and dreams reach out to stamp their imprint upon the elements of things "waiting to become!" By his pure, unwavering hopes man can gather those elements into tangible form. Such is the stuff of which man's dreams are made.
As man lifts his mind to contemplate the things that mortal eyes have never looked upon and views, in thought, the glory of the things unseen he begins to take hold of the creative elements of God. Such is man's power to lay claim to that divine "substance of things hoped for,” and to weave it into tangible form, or to mold it into concrete reality. Man's hopes are the very essence of "things that can become." Those holy dreams, held out, as deep desires in a pure and yearning heart, must be fulfilled. Such is the law of God.
Holy, inspired hopes and thoughts and dreams come when one's mind is lifted to the very heights. They are heard by the spiritual ears or seen by the spiritual eyes of man as they are revealed by "The Holy Spirit of Promise, which the father sheds forth upon all who are just and true."
Whatever man can think, or has thought, is already inscribed upon the invisible scroll of heaven. Man's very thinking transposes his thoughts upon that living record of eternity. No one can think a thought that will not be engraved upon the archives of "all-time." If one's thoughts are evil they are engraved eternally or until the individual himself repents enough to erase or recall them.
Good thoughts, high ambitions, noble aspirations are awaiting the fulfilling order of any who can believe and hold to their belief. A dreamer dreamed and then forgot his dream as he became engrossed in what is termed, "More practical things." In time he permitted the dream to fade from his mind and his heart as doubts took over his life. In relinquishing his hold upon his dream, through lack of faith, he gave up his right to fulfill it. Yet that dream remains a waiting promise for anyone who follows and who thinks those same thoughts again. Each time they are re-thought they are engraved more deeply upon the archived scroll of promise. It may be that they were thought many times before there comes forth the one whom faith and courage has fashioned strong enough to follow through -- and so with power to fulfill.
As one holds to his noble dreams and aspirations he will develop the power to prove not only the reality of his thoughts but also the dynamic promises of God. When the power of the Almighty is linked with the living faith of man nothing remains impossible -- or unfulfilled.
The very power to "believe" is the element of which faith itself is formed. And faith contains the substance of all things that are possible to hope for as man's mind opens to view the wonders of eternity. Thus the possibility of all existable things awaits the conception of man's thoughts and the patient nurturing of his emotions as faith fulfills the seed and brings it forth full formed.
This is the law of God. And this is the law of creation. And this is the wondrous power entrusted into the hands of man as he co-operates with God. This fulfilling is the power contained in God's Holy Spirit of Promise as it “promises all things and fulfills all things," through faith.
And so can be achieved all that man has designated as impossible.
Every day man is beholding the "impossible" dreams of the past coming forth into reality. The twentieth century is the time when the impossible is being brought forth into fulfilment as dreams materialize into breathtaking realities.
But beyond the dreams of mechanical machines and gadgets and financial gains and worldly wealth and the outer realms of space are the inspired, personal dreams of individuals. These are the visions which God has inscribed upon each human heart. These sacred hopes contain the divine plan or pattern or sacred destiny of each individual child of earth. When one opens his heart and soul to that dynamic, inner call it becomes compelling and insistent. Then it is that one becomes alerted to that call that is like thunder as it vibrates into quickening within the soul.
When inspired thoughts or a divine revelation have been engraved upon a stone, inscribed upon scroll or written upon the pages of a book they become known as "Scripture" -- and therefore must be fulfilled. The Bible does not contain all the scripture in the world, "for He shall speak to all nations and they shall write it." "He shall reveal here a little and there a little" "for the world itself could not contain all the words Christ spoke had they all been written” let alone the words that have been given to inspired individuals, before and since. And because man bound those few inspired writings within the covers of that certain Holy Book it did not place a permanent seal upon the lips or upon the plans of God that He can never speak again. It is true that the promises contained within the Holy Bible are God's words, and they cannot return unto Him void or unfulfilled. But God's words will never end as long as there are those who are willing to be taught and who have need of His instructions. "For they shall all be taught of God."
As His written words of high inspiration and divine revelation are picked up from a record, to burn anew within some searching, seeking heart, they are renewed and so revitalized. The power contained within them is henceforth increased by each rapturous rejoicing of an opened human heart. Everything that is written under the power of divine direction, whether in the Bible or out of it, is known as scripture. And anything that teaches a man to love and worship God and to pray is of God.
Be sure therefore that the word you read is not just some privately interpreted doctrine of narrow, creed-bound mortals. True revelation contains the exulting "Glory to God" ingredient as it reveals the vision of higher attainment -- even the goal of perfection and of divine love.
Such divine, holy, exalting thoughts of praising love and glory and righteousness are the most sacred, divine dreams that God can share with man. These are also the holy dreams that man can share with God as his "eyes become single to God's glory." And so it is possible for man to begin to take on that same glory.
Any individual who will but take the holy words of God's promises into his mind and heart, and lay hold of them by living them, will assuredly receive the glory to which his soul is led to aspire, if he will but follow through.
Within man's being is the power to PROVE all things and the ability to hold fast to that which is good." One can only prove all things by living them or by fulfilling them. And only as one lives the higher laws will he have the power to lay hold of them and prove them.
Professing words of proclamation are empty and an echoing mockery without the power to prove them. "His kingdom is not in word, but in power."
No promise is too great! No truth too divine! And no power can be withheld from him who lets God's holy promises stir into quickening as he lays hold of them with all his strength.
Such are the ties between man and God. And such are God's promises of things that doubting, mortal man proclaims to be impossible. He who thus seals himself into the gross darkness of unbelief will never realize that he alone has closed his own door to eternal progress and celestial light.
If man will only lift his eyes to behold the glory of God, with his vision single to that glory, he will KNOW that all things are possible (to him who believes). Such a one can never become lost in the dark blindness of unbelief. With his eyes single to the glory of God he must begin to take on and reflect that glory. To such a one nothing is impossible. He moves forward into that glory as he becomes clothed in the light his searching eyes behold.
Paul left this universal command for man's guidance, "Lay hold of the best gifts." What are the best gifts to you? Surely they are the ones which you are led to desire. The best gifts, to your mind, will be the holy promises that flame like neon lights of beckoning beauty before you, inviting you to leave the darkness as your open mind embraces such promises and holds steadfastly to them in eager, trusting hope.
Any gift that is desired, so that one may use it for the benefit of man, and not just to awe the minds of men, is most holy and divine. Such holy desires were placed within man's open heart by God Himself. And surely God cannot fail to answer the call which He Himself has placed within an individual's yearning soul or implanted in a searching mind.
Rejoice in every burning hope, in every noble desire, in every flaming promise of holy aspiration and know that as your mind lingers upon these things the pointing finger of "The Holy Spirit of Promise" is seeking to draw your attention to the things which were meant to become your own. Every divine promise ever given to man was sent out with "The Holy Spirit of Promise" sealed upon it and with the complete power of its own fulfilment.
At the first casual glance you may doubt the possibility of His most dynamic promises ever being fulfilled in you, perhaps because you have known of none who have fulfilled them. If you have known of no one who have fulfilled such wonderful promises then you should rejoice exceedingly, realizing that you are chosen as the instrument of proving. To you is given the greater opportunity to test and to prove His holy words as you are privileged to pioneer into new fields of everlasting glory.
To be the first to scale such noble heights is an honor indeed. It could be likened to the highest, unclimbed mountains of the world, waiting the centuries through for man to reach and climb and conquer and subdue as he attains the heights to which man never before ascended. No man can lift his vision to the inspired heights of promise who has not the power to achieve and to fulfill if he will but pay the price of putting all his energies and his strength into the conquest.
If man can, by desire and super-effort, subdue the earth and stand upon its highest, snow-clad pinnacles, know that no goal is too high for his searching soul to reach as his thoughts rise above the deep-worn valleys of human contemplation.
Man was created to subdue the earth, to rise and conquer every earthly condition and human trait. And the first and greatest of all human weaknesses is one of "UNBELIEF!" To believe one must go on to prove for he is required to be and live according to the vision his aspiring heart beholds.
It is always easier to settle back into the darkness of inactive dis-belief than it is to rise up and begin to exert one's God-given ability to believe, or to be and live according to the laws of Christ's Kingdom, which is not of this world. But he who exerts himself and who exercises his full power to live the laws will assuredly be given the power to evolve into that Kingdom.
Each man was created with a divine spark of God embedded within his soul. As that Spark, or Seed of God, is appreciated, "loved as a little child," and nourished by high and noble thoughts, it is quickened and begins its divine growth. It must be consistently fed upon the holy desire of exalted thoughts in the individual's own heart and mind. This desiring, this hoping, this believing is the very food of Gods. As this holy Seed is thus fed and nourished It "Grows and waxes strong!" This is the growth accredited to both John the Baptist and to Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God. This is the spiritual growth required for each individual's complete fulfilment.
As man grows spiritually, or as the Divine Seed of God, enfolded by a holy, immaculate conception within the very being of man, is quickened and brought forth, new visions continually arise to challenge his mediocre, trite, mortal thoughts. Such inspired vision must reveal the "Glory of God" and thereafter one's eyes become single to that glory.
Man, by the exerted power to believe, or to be and live according to the highest hopes and dreams he can possibly think, rises from the mortal level of conscious, grubby earth. He henceforth aspires toward the stars and new and higher vistas of increasing splendor continually unfold before his searching soul. As he lifts his heart to worship and adore and commences to live by every word ever released by "That Holy Spirit of Promise" into his soul, he begins to comprehend the divine glory of God in its fulness.
With this exalted vision established he will begin to comprehend that he is a very part of that glory, for as God Himself has said, "This is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." If God's glory contains the immortality and eternal life of man then man is a part of that glory.
It is up to man to lift himself from the sodden bed of earthly thought and of the deep, stupid sleep of the ages. He must arise from the crib that has grown too short. He must cast aside the blanket that has grown too narrow, and with which he can no longer cover himself. He must awake from the indolent contentment and pacific lullabies of all earthly leaders as his soul begins to reach out and to grow into its full maturity.
Yes, "To whom shall God teach knowledge? And to whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast." Yes, Only those who are prepared to go beyond mortal instructions and who have advanced to the point where they can be "taught of God" can receive the full powers of their divine growth and maturity. These are the ones who have accepted Paul's instruction that they are to leave the first principles of the Gospel, or the milk, and go on to perfection. These are the ones who will "hunger and thirst after righteousness until they are filled -- WITH THE VERY FULNESS OF GOD."
It is assuredly time for man to step out beyond the infant state of mortal thinking as he begins to aspire toward the challenging perfection held out to him by his Holy Creator. This divine reaching, this intense hungering and thirsting contain the only method by which one can possibly fulfill the measure of his own creation and so become a son -- not only in word but in deed, in goodness, in understanding, in love and power.