This scripture says that to forgive means you must put on charity, which is the bond of perfection. Job 32:8 says that a Spirit is in man and an inspiration of the Almighty that gives him understanding.

Using words interchangeably causes confusion. We talk about Christ consciousness, the Son of Man consciousness, the Son of God consciousness, and "I AM" consciousness. All are correct, but the world confuses the meaning of Spirit and soul.

Soul is the One Substance, which the Father numbered and named at the beginning of this Day of Manifestation. These numbers are unique rates of vibration that God Himself cannot deny. All Creation manifests from these original Emanations, composed of combinations of lifesparks, the Substance from which God has made everything.

The Son’s vibration is the Father and the Mother as the Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost or Holy Breath Substance, which is all that is, throughout the universe. Three rates of vibration act as one Spiritual Substance that we call Christ consciousness, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Breath, and it contains all Mind, Power and Substance.

Mind condensed the Holy Spirit into one Light, endowed it, and brought forth the faculties of soul. We call this Light "soul" because God gives it conscious identity, but it’s a secondary rate of vibration condensed from primary Light. Identity is the individual manifestation of soul that God condenses from Spirit, which becomes you.

Spirit is a part of God’s original Substance, like unto the whole, a primary rate of vibration, Universal Substance with only one Power and all qualities uncondensed. God gives soul a conscious rate of control over this Power called Universal Spirit. Thus, God forms miracles not of that Spirit that dwells in man, but of Spiritual Substance. We declare "let," and Spiritual Substance becomes what soul or mind decrees.

Soul is that part of you that remains on the inner when you descend on involution. The individualized expression of God as a living soul is the same after God encases it in an outer sheath, incarnate in flesh, Spiritual Substance filled with unconscious memory gained through all experience of evolution.

The living soul has three qualities: The Oversoul, untouched and untouchable, never soiled, is that part which continually says "Come up." The egoic soul, the conscious identity, lives in the golden bowl and exercises the power of free choice. Subsoul, which has evolved through all the kingdoms in answer to the call of life, constantly rebuilds the body.

God gave the living soul the power of free choice, a wonderful gift, misnamed as free will. God set the vibration, the number and name of Principle because He could not allow His manifestations to change the capacity of these vibrations. He gave all living souls the power to choose between opposites. We may not will which Laws go with good and evil, light or dark, self and soul, because God has set them for the duration of the Day of Manifestation.

We set the capacity of our vibration when we choose. For instance, a car’s gas tank is set to a capacity of say 20 gallons. A broken mechanism would allow the gas pump to overflow the tank. Just so, we would "smell" if our emotional "gases" overflow a broken low pressure control valve that doesn’t lift the excess. We set our vibration high to go home to the Father when we choose right. We can’t look back after choosing, but we can change our rate of vibration as often as we want. Some people merely change their mind constantly.

"Put on tender mercies, kindness, humility of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing with one another, and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another: Even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do." An older translation said to put on "bowels of mercies." A magnetic sheath protects the most vulnerable part of the body, the abdomen, from outside influence, but it quivers when you are angry. The abdomen symbolizes "intestinal fortitude," which gives soul the power to exercise choice, not free will. You harm the other fellow when you are soft.

"Meekness" is not soft self-indulgence, but sees God everywhere. Look through the outer personality to the person’s spirit. "Longsuffering" means to endure in applying Law until it becomes an unconscious soul quality. We "bear and forbear," which means to lift another’s burden until that Light fills us both. "I, if I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all to me." You bear the burden for God, not man, so your yoke is easy and the burden is Light.

"Put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful." Humility can be true or false, which is conscious of self. Self-focused humility always acts humble and says "Oh, I couldn’t do that." The soul of true humility never knows whether it’s good or humble, but kneels as Spirit in complete love and devotion before God as its bondsman.

When you have become Law, which is harmony, peace fills you with eyes to see, and ears with which to hear. Is this true? Does it work? How do we apply it? We take four steps from a wrong to a right choice: This I believe. This I know. This I comprehend. This I decree.

We are all bondsmen of the Spirit. Soul is the bondsman, but our individual creations can’t bond Spirit. Spiritual Substance is in the bond to soul to pay the soul’s debts. You create dark clouds when you misuse the Holy Breath, and are responsible for its misuse by whomever breathes it.

We’re in bonds to God and someone must pay the debt when we abscond with Mind, Power and Substance. Spirit pays the bond of perfection with Love, which is the bond of perfection. The personal aura is not soul or Spirit, but the soul’s rate of vibration fills the aura. Love, in this scripture, is gratitude, expressing as man. It concludes with "be thankful," which is a warning: A satisfied, smug soul dries up.

To be a Creator, you must consciously direct and control your plan of creation. Direction is the ability to make a choice. Make a new choice and set a new rate of vibration if you dislike what you chose.

When God says that "a Spirit is in you," He means you have returned to your original vibration. Every rate of vibration is a Law that we cannot change, but Spiritual Substance does become what we declare.

Soul has its own rate of vibration and individuality, and the individual may consciously direct and control the faculties. Personality, which is what we see on the outside, can condense a vehicle through which to express. Spirit is perfect and untouched. Laws allow us to express, yet remain undefiled in Spirit.

"Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ. But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality." This text is a charge and promise. "Whatever you do, do it heartily" means you must set that strong vibration with all your mind, soul and body.

The "reward of the inheritance" for seeking first the kingdom is that all things shall be added to you: Soul, Spirit, mind, body and affairs. You can’t obey the Law of Increase unless you set your vibration to the capacity of Spirit.

For instance, a doctor cured a very rich patient, but he asked for only golf clubs in return. The rich patient gave him five clubs, small payment for saving the man’s life! Your ideas of wealth reflect your mental scope and choices about abundance. You may not demand the abundance of added gifts, but you can visualize it.

God has a set Plan of Creation, a great rate of vibration that must become perfect before the Day of Manifestation is finished. Our role in the Plan requires that our gears mesh, and we mingle our soul substance with full Spiritual Substance.

Tune into the vibration of the River of Life, the Emanations operating as the principle of Nonresistance. Use your power of choice as a Creator, Spirit bonds you, and you ascend the escalator of Joy!

Consider the beauty of the words "together" and "with." They hold the secrets of earthly happiness. We long for companions to be with, together. Everyone is seeking someone with whom to share life.

One Christmas we had oyster stew for dinner and my sons "shot" the tree ornaments with the empty shells. Laughing, they said, "We did it together." They always said that. "Together" and "with" are beautiful assurances, and the keys to this scripture.

The lame man lay on the ground, and to him, Peter and John were just two pairs of legs nearby. They became aware of him as they heard his voice begging alms, and instantly Peter and John looked down together in expectancy. This passage unfolds three attitudes we must hold before anything can "come to pass": Awareness, Acceptance and Expectancy.

Peter and John became aware of the lame man when they heard his call. He became aware of them when Peter said, "Look at us." Their faith and devotion created a dual awareness – the lame man’s need for help met the disciples’ need to give, and a flash of Light and Power descended to heal him. It works the same way between us and God. The source of nourishment is spiritual. We need to have and God needs to give. It must always be so.

This man had begged his whole life, but had received only money. The lame man asked Peter for tiny alms and received all strength. His healing was threefold nourishment of the physical, mental-emotional and spiritual.

The explosion of Power through their dual awareness, when Peter and he looked at each other, healed the man physically. His emotional and mental balance returned as he walked and leaped with them into the temple. His praise evoked the spiritual nourishment as his soul descended. In another healing story, only one of the three lepers Jesus healed was grateful enough, and he received spiritual nourishment.

The lame man’s Awareness, Acceptance and Expectancy came together as one under the shock of glory that shone from Peter and John’s faces, which describes the process of his miracle. Awareness, Acceptance and Expectancy, operating as one, bring the only instantaneous miracle, otherwise, we delay the miracle.

Scientific achievements would be delayed for hundreds of years unless scientists’ Awareness, Acceptance and Expectancy led them to build on others’ past work. The same is true of those who dislike another’s icy vibration. Let God’s heat melt the ice! Expect that it will! If someone spits in your eye, wipe it out and declare it a healing power.

To receive healing, you must become fully aware of God, accept God and expect the miracle from God. The Three as One, Mind, Substance and Power, build the canoe you paddle down the River of Faithfulness, without turning aside for any lesser matter.

You can make your earthly heritage your exaltation, whether it was poverty or abundance. Those who inherit ill health, homeliness or lack of position may resent their legacy. Wealth, beauty and power inspire pride, but may work the same detrimental way. Move from heredity to Awareness, Acceptance and Expectancy to receive God’s threefold nourishment.

Imagination, thinking and emotional desires are our lines of supply. We ask why nothing happens if we have been expectant. The answer is that we have clogged our lines.

Imagination has itchy feet and can run away with you. A wandering imagination must come home to be healed, so bring it into line and turn it up to vision. Bring imagination back to awareness of God, acceptance of God, and expectancy of God.

Clean up your thinking if you are fiddling with knowing, or "trying" to know. A scientist would say, "We don’t know everything, but we’re learning." We can learn the Wisdom of the Almighty through comprehension. Throw out the old thoughts to make room for the new. Reach up your arms in desire for more Light, and an explosion of Light occurs.

God works on the "plus plan." His need to give is greater than our need to receive, and He acts instantly in response to us. Most people really need to straighten out their emotional lives and desires. Many who complain about loneliness often say, "I don’t like this," or "I can’t stand that," decrees that place them in a self-made sarcophagus.

We don’t have to like the ugly things, but we may not hate them. God says "You love me." Pour your compassion of love on the "unwashed" unpleasant one, out where he is. God needs us to stand and pray at the Beautiful Gate to miracles, yet a pin point’s worth of self in prayer neutralizes the Power we invoke.

God wants us to have good things, but nothing happens without Expectancy. Threefold nourishment heals all ills in all ways because enough Power moving in can heal anything. God, left alone to do His perfect work, heals all negative emotions and thoughts, burns away the dross for us and our loved ones. All things are possible when you are together with God until nothing can sway or touch you.

We must become Creators of perfection because we love God. Come on up! Reach out with arms of Light to heal the past now, and create a perfect future.

The quest for independence is a great keynote of seeking, yet we can’t pursue freedom outside ourselves. Inner conflicts keep us enslaved, for without faith, we experience fear, which is the Faith Principle turned upside down.

Faith is the only independence we can ever have. Faith in God is part-time independence, but the Faith of God is Faith in action as freedom. The soul filled with the Faith of God stands serenely confident in a state of grace. You occupy a state of grace when you pray with a whole heart, as a mystic who communes directly with God, yet you can’t turn to God without faith. A fall from grace is a fall from perfect love and Faith of God into a lesser state of thought, emotion and action. We must comprehend the full Faith of the living God.

First is the "independent" type, who wants complete autonomy to escape responsibility and obligations, who is the most dependent creature on earth. Next is the "free" type who prides himself on having no ties. Such persons are usually agnostic, admitting no relationship to God or humanity, receiving ever less from life, becoming more lonely. The "martyr" type seeks liberation from responsibility by depending completely on others, and will work their fingers to the bone for one who gives them this mistaken idea of freedom.

Nations seek to maintain their independence by inverted faith, which is fear. They build barriers for security, but God is the only security. We, as nations and as persons, must come to know this, and accept God as the ultimate.

The Mother’s Love is the mustard seed of faith that grows into a mighty tree, the bit of leaven that ferments an entire barrel of meal. One person who loves God can leaven the Christed consciousness in humanity. Conversely, we can drain the world of evil by siphoning it off.

The more people we see express hatred in the news, the more we can love God enough to declare it good. True Love never measures itself. True Love has no measure: It is limitless.

This chapter of Romans describes three states of consciousness – Repentance, Reconciliation and Atonement. Repentance is to turn away from misuse of Power and misinterpretation of Law, and to stop doing something because it makes you suffer. We repent in many ways. Dieting is food repentance. Women practice pain repentance when they discard fashionable shoes that cripple them. We practice shame repentance when we’re "found out" or "caught in the act."

Contrition is the first step in repentance, a continual round of "I’m sorry" until we become sorry enough. Finally we regret, "I wish I hadn’t done that," which is the second step in true repentance. Love-based repentance savors of a step higher, when you really desire to ascend, and do something about it.

Reconciliation begins when we regret our disobedience and desire to know what Law means. We learn how far we can go by blundering and being forced to submit ourselves to the disagreeable. The sacrifice is void if the martyr wears a long face. "I’ll try" is tired of being uncomfortable, but is not motivated by the Love of God. We must reconcile ourselves with God, Law and others.

Atonement is a large word that means "being at one," and whose outstanding attribute is penitence, which takes us to the Master’s feet. We can’t bear to hurt him, so we work to come closer to God. We surrender, knowing we may not use Power, but Power should use us. With Paul we say, "This one thing I do now." Atonement is the magnificent description of how we set our vibration to God’s high keynote of Faith and Love. We atoned by sacrificing animals in Moses’ day, but have made symbolic sacrifices since Jesus became the atonement.

Atonement is at-one-ment. ‘M’ is God as the Mother of Love. ‘E’ is mother love on earth. ‘N’ is the Holy Spirit. ‘T’ is the ladder you climb back to God, your Source. You’ll know you’ve made atonement when you stand without desire to retaliate, no matter what happens. You’ll love, want to cover others’ offenses, and agree with your adversary quickly.

An Eastern adage says that a student may not enter the Holy of Holies until he bathes his feet in his own heart’s blood. The bloodstream houses the soul. Breathe the sevenfold Holy Breath deeply, to possess your bloodstream in the morning while still in bed, or you’ll feel like a zombie! Send a child back to bed to breathe and get up on the "right side of bed." The Son’s Red Ray of all Energy permeates your bloodstream when you breathe the Holy Spirit deeply.

Everyone wants independence. They leave their parents or guardian for husband or wife, yet exchange one kind of dependence for another. You can’t often speak of truth to your loved ones because truth is a rebuke to those who are still in the contrition stage. You’ll find no independence in thinking how "mean" or inferior they are, but only when you are at one with God and declare them perfect right where they are.

You learn surrender, close your heavenly charge account and "pay as you go." You quit praying "on the run" and telling God you’ll give it more time tomorrow because you’ll desire to pray and love Him more. Making each day better than the last is the way to Joy consciousness, how to stay up and know God.

We give to God after we have made repentance, reconciliation and atonement. You pray not to get, but to see how much praise and love you can give God. You’ll want to embrace the whole world in love, and say, "This is good," in the midst of death. Declare, "Everything happening among the nations is good and according to God’s Plan." Those who are most evil are credited for bringing evil into the open to be cleansed. God uses them to bring utopia to pass just as He uses our prayers.

People can repent without penitence. You can tell who they are because they say, "he loves me in spite of." Penitence desires to be loved "because." A penitent soul lifts the whole matter to an altar in surrender.

Freedom that resets your vibration to the high keynote of Faith and Love of God is your Glory of Independence.

©2002 Society of the Universal Living Christ