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Sermons of Charles Fillmore

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Sermons of Charles Fillmoe

The Christ Within

1924-09-28

Isa. 55:1-3

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This lesson from Charles Fillmore was featured on Bob Brach's Unity Classic Radio broadcast on August 18, 2015.
Bob writes, "Mr. Fillmore mentions some interesting things about 'money'. He says money represents labor or effort (p.12) and that dreams of money mean you are putting forth spiritual effort (p.13). He also alludes to the possibility of a 'multi-dimensional' universe (p.15). In several places in the talk he mentions ideas and the relationship to thought (e.g. see p.19)."

CHARLES FILLMORE, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1924
THE CHRIST WITHIN

Isaiah the writer of text was called the poet prophet. He is considered one of the greatest poets of the world. It is said that he is the author or the originator of all poetry. You can see that his writings are poetical in their spiritual character. He is the poet of spirituality. Jesus Christ was spiritual in his imagery equal to Isaiah, but he wasn't so idealistic as to get away from the practical side. Isaiah made here a very generous and wide invitation to spiritual things but he didn't demonstrate as Jesus Christ did. Jesus Christ made this same invitation in his various lessons: "Come unto me all ye that hunger and they that thirst after righteousness shall be filled. He that drinketh of this water which I give him shall never thirst again," You remember he had the parable of the king who made the feast and invited all of his subjects to it and when they did not come he sent his servants out into the highways and byways and just insisted that all the people come in. This was the feast of the soul, which could be fed by this infinite but supply. Isaiah was aiming in this same direction but as I say he wasn't a producer.

We make a distinction between the ideal man and the practical man. We are divided in the world today into idealists and the materialists or practical aide of life, and Jesus Christ unified these. He was not only an idealist; he saw as the poet sees, but he also brought his ideals in contact with substance and life and he not only could see this food in Spirit; he saw that God had provided for every need of the soul and he demonstrated it in feeding the multitudes. He not only fed them with his words which he had suoh confidence in; he made the spiritual unity between his word and the infinite mind, and he said: "The words that I speak unto you, they are not mine but this indwelling Spirit; It speaks through me and my words are Spirit and they are life."

Many philosophers have said the same thing, but have they proven that their words are Spirit and life? Jesus said: I am the bread of heaven come down to feed you." But that again might easily be said by one who had the realization, but do they carry it to the point where they can demonstrate the loaves? Now that is what Jesus did and as I say he made every promise and he fulfilled those promises in his life, while those who preceded him were poets. They saw the wonderful possibilities but they hadn't yet grasped the other side of the proposition; they were looking for a miracle; they were looking for something far away; they were looking for God to do something for them that they ought to be doing for themselves.

Now we interpret this Scripture as having a practical side. We do not read it as something that was given to Isaiah thousands of years ago and that he understood it and we do not understand it, that he was a little nearer to God than we are; that he could say: 'Your soul is not being fed through this word that I have written and it is the Word of God." We say that isn't the Word of God; the Word of God is a living reality; it has a tangible, spiritual quality. It has substance and life—the Word of God has. It isn't a dead letter written here in the Bible. That is only what man have discerned and written out.

Isaiah doubtless within himself had these ideas. He saw the vision but he didn't get at the substance of it. Now the lesson for every one of us is to find out if this promise, this invitation can be accepted by people in this day and age. We say, "Yes it can." And that is what every Christian should seek out. We should every one of us be accepting this invitation because that is what we all want, the satisfaction that comes from Spirit. That is the only way that we will ever get our hunger satisfied. It is the only way our thirst will be satisfied. We will have drunkards in the world and boozers, just so long as we fail to get hold of spiritual satisfaction. We will have gluttons, people who overload their systems with the good things that the Lord has provided because they do not understand the spiritual side of appetite. All these facilities, all these powers that are given to man have a spiritual quality. And we should raise our consciousness to the spiritual and then through the right application of our ability we shall have perfect harmony in the body and we shall rejoice.

Isaiah saw every step of the way of man in getting the understanding, getting in touch with the infinite mind and its expression. Now as I say, this is not a miracle, it isn't somethihig that the Lord is going to give to us. He has already given it. It is here. This feast of the soul is right here all the time, but we are wasting our energy, we are spending our money for, — well avenues through which we expect to have satisfaction but we do not get it. So I say money represents effort. Some of the economic schools teach that no money should ever be issued without a day's work back of it. That is, money represents labor. That is what we hold. Money is a symbol of the efforts that you put forth. Sometimes people think their dreams about money mean that that they are going to get a lot of money. That doesn't hold true. When you dream about money, it shows that you have been putting forth spiritual efforts. You have been doing something in your mind that has stored up certain forces that may work up in money. I do not know, but if you do not apply the law, you won't get the money that you dream about, but if you know how to apply the law you will get supply, you will get whatever you realize and apply in the Spirit. It will come into manifestation.

So this lesson, must be applied in Spirit and expressod in the substance. Now the substance isn't something that you are going to find in the air. It isn't something that exists as an external space-filling element, but it exists in the mind. It is a spiritual element, You know that none of these things that we see expressed in the 3-dimensional plane exist in the air in that same dimension. They are on the fourth dimension, we are told. Or there may be many dimensions interpenetrating. There is no such thing as a solid in Spirit. The solid is made through the consciousness of an entity that takes those essences in Spirit and puts them through the mill of mind.

Now we have here this laboratory in which every thing in Spirit can be taken and idealized through the machinery of the mind. Every one of us has a wonderful mechanical laboratory. It is a mill in which the ideas, or the corn and wheat of the infinite mind is ground up and made into flesh and blood through the mind. Remember, your mind is your man and you must look to that mind, you must look to that force for your result. It is only through the activity of our mind that we get results.

But are we looking in the right direction? Are you looking to Spirit or substance, for the satisfaction of that soul hunger? So many people say, "Well I want just to know the Truth. I want to know the Truth from its own source. I do not want it in any other way but through God direct." Well are you looking to God? Some people are looking to God of course outside, away off. You must understand that God is Spirit, that that Spirit is working for you all the time and if you once get an understanding, if you once see and understand the fundamental principles of Spirit that it is good, Spirit is good — now think about that as the very essence of Spirit and you will at once begin to feel that Spirit life express itself in good ways and then evil is no part of Spirit.

Then you say Spirit is life? Yes. Then this infinite mind must express itself in more light, life. Then Spirit is love. More love must be expressed through the Spirit. Then how does Spirit express itself? Well, an idea. Well, so far as I am concerned, so far as you a are concerned, how does Spirit express itself? Through the idea and through my thought. I get the idea and think it into a thought. These expressions from ideas to manifestation a are in steps, and these steps you will find carried right through your own mind.

Now the next step after thought is the word, isn't it? You speak the word. That brings us down to the very core of the lesson, the word. Jehovah said: "I send forth my Word. My Word goeth forth and it shall accomplish that whereunto I send it." In other words the word of Jehovah is the creative force. It has within it everything that man might desire, and what relation does your word have to this Jehovah word? It has the same relation that a good thing has to a good effect and a good cause.

We are told in the Old Testament that we shouldn't seek for this hidden secret Word not in the heavens nor in the earth beneath but it is very nigh unto you. Where? Why in your mouth. The Word is in your mouth. So the Word we are told about here in this lesson, the Word of Jehovah, if it is sent forth, it brings results as the rain and the snow come down out of the heavens into the earth. So this Word, now this word that we are expressing here is something that comes out of the mind isn't it? Now the power of the Word. I want to get this into your consciousness because it is the keynote of all success. The power of your thoughts and words. If you got that and realise that this word is very near unto you — it is a fact that every word you speak you get results from.

But there are certain words from which vou get greater results than others. Jesus said; "You shall be held accountable for your lightest word." But why don't we get the results that Jesus got when he spoke word? His words he said are so vital that heaven and earth would pass away but my words shall never pass away. What kind of a word is that? How did it differ from our words? Jesus spoke what we call true words. As I said in the beginning, this infinite principle back of everything is good, absolutely good, and just to the extent that we shape our minds and our words to good will we get close to that speaking word that Jesus spoke. There is the whole secret. The word is very nigh unto you. The capacity to express words of truth that will bring results every time.

Now if you want to demonstrate the power of the word think about the kind of words you are speaking. Are you speaking good words, constructive words, words that you would like to see brought into expression. Well I hear a dozen times a day: "I was just scared to death." People speak those words without thinking. What is the result? You want to be careful what kind of words you speak. Words like that said on the surface do not bring forth right at once but you keep repeating it day after day and you will bring forth into consciousness. Every cell in your body vibrates to that word. On the other hand suppose you were constantly speaking words of Truth. Realize that before you speak. "The word that I speak is the Word of Truth, it is a constructive word. I speak only good words. I do not speak evil words of anybody, not even of myself. I speak good words only words that I want brought forth. My word goes forth and accomplishes that whereunto I send it." If you are the image and likeness of God, your word is constructive or destructive according to the ideas and character that you put into it. So let us beware what kind of words we speak. We are invited here to a great feast. That feast is the substance and the life and intelligence and the love and every good thing that you can conceive possible to man. It is provided here and it is just waiting for you to appropriate it, and as I say you appropriate it through your thinking mind, whatever you think about works into your consciousness.

If you think about God as a hard master, as one who is putting burdens upon you and you wonder why you wore born under these hard conditions, you get that kind of God in your consciousness. You cannot afford to do that. That isn't fair to God. God is principle. God is Truth. God is good, and you can take of that good. You can accept this and have every good thing that you would, only adjust your mind. It is a matter of mental adjustment and there is the law back of it, a Law of thought, and we every one can partake of this wonderful feast of good things in the Spirit.

But having partaken of it what is the next step? We must digest it, we must think about this thing and then we must express the thought. In other words, we must speak the word ourselves. Having received freely, we must give freely. You must express in your mind, in your body, in your affairs, this wonderful inspiration that you have received from Spirit. As we take these lessens to ourselves let us examine ourselves, search yourself and see to what extent you are expressing the goodness of God through the power of your word.

As I say, your word in your world is great. It is great. It not only establishes you but it establishes your body. It mixes your body with a solvent, with a great universal saving solvent and if you will only think about that and let that into your world more and more you will be transformed and you will be healed of every ill, I do not care what the condition is. You can have your property restored. Many people lose their property through saying continually words that are destructive. It tears down the invisible ether, the substance through which things are made and their property disappears. They don't understand why. Sometimes they think that God has taken it away. The law takes it away when you misuse the law. Let us then be on the watch. Watch take what? Watch your thoughts. That is where every reform begins. Watch your thoughts and your words. Let us take that simple lesson: "I will watch my words; I want this righteousness; I want this good; I want the understanding of God, and I am going to use it under the divine law of David."

We are told here that a covenant will be made with every one of us as it was made with David. David represented love. He was the righteous man before God, He was the type man under the old dispensation of man. He was supposed to be a previous incarnation of Jesus Christ. He was the fore-runner of Jesus Christ. In other words he is that something in the mind of every one of us which discerns the law. But David did not build the temple. He accumulated the supplies, all the necessary things, but he couldn't build the temple because he hadn't harmonized himself with his environment. He was out of tune with conditions in the outer.

Now the time has come through the advent of Jesus Christ into the race when all the elements in the outer can be harmonized and brought into expression. Now we first get through love contact with this great universal loving Father and the magnet of love draws to you every good thing, and then having drawn all this good through Spirit mind, we begin to express it, to give it out, to give it out through the power of our thought and word. But watch your word, watch your word. This will be the lesson that we shall take with us today, watch your word. We are not going to speak evil words, we are not going to speak destructive words, we are not going to speak words that we do not want brought into our affairs, we are going to speak only those words that are true and righteous in the sight of God, and then my word and God's word will be unified and I can say with Jesus Christ: "The words that I speak unto you are not mine but the Father dwelling in me." Amen.

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