An address given by the Christ messenger Zodiac through the deep trance mediumship of Miss Winifred Moyes,
at the Christmas Service held at the Greater World Sanctuary, Lansdowne Road, Holland Park, London W11 on Sunday, 19th December, 1954
(Note: This message was edited for a more general readership)
"Much happiness is in my heart to come once again in this sweet way to speak to you direct. I want you all to vibrate to happiness, to lay aside the worries of daily life, the pains of the body that are so hard to bear and to focus on simple joy and the peace that it can bring when the joy and the peace are of God.
"As you know full well, the trouble in this world is that so many have carved out their own path. They want to do what is desirable to the physical mind, and even if that may interfere with others they do not hesitate. Many are hypnotised by worldly calls, by material ambition, and they do not realise until it is too late that these things are as dead fruit. Instead of passing into the World of Spirit with their arms full of wheat, which typifies the bread of life, they carry with them that which can be brought to fruition only by suffering, until by the Grace of God they have separated themselves from the thoughts of earthly desire and all they represent.
"Think for a moment or two upon the Work of God. You see something of the planet in which you live; the thoughtful ones can imagine what the beauty of Nature, when originated in the mind of God, was shown to be - the variety of colours, and that in all the species there is no duplication of that variation. As man or woman stands by the handiwork of God, as expressed by Nature, they are humbled in heart, for it is obvious that only the Divine Mind could think of such beauty, such fragrance, such a power to heal the sorrows of the heart and mind.
"But what you see is trivial; it is but the surface side of God's Work. What lies beneath the surface? Worlds entirely beyond the imagination, not only of you upon the earth but beyond the imagination even of the angels of God.
"There is much talk today about other stars and planets, about different vibrations and what is possible, and whether life exists here and there, and what man has the power to find out for himself if only he has the temerity to venture. But what does it all amount to?
"It is good to exercise the imagination and quite helpful in that respect but, as you know, the ideas of the mind take a great deal of effort - of suffering and understanding - to be brought to some useful conclusion. While we are interested in what is going on, because man is trying to exercise the powers of his mind, sometimes we do wish that the same effort and love and forethought could be given out to exercising those gifts of the greater mind - the mind of the spirit within - that could operate even at this stage, whatever your limitations, whatever your environment upon the earth.
"Ponder when you can upon the Work of God. You will see at once that your definition of work is a very frail one, so delicate that when you are free from the flesh it will seem to you as a scant effort of that which you, even at this stage, could have given forth, if the inspiration happened to be there.
"Why do I say 'happened'? Because it has to happen! You cannot call upon those great qualities just by desire; they have to be disciplined, trained, released before there comes to pass the capacity for inspiration. With the capacity for inspiration there is not only the desire - that is only the first stage - but the determination to see that inspiration is put into action.
"Sometimes, we are puzzled by the attitude of those on the earth. Different races have different forms of religion. Some feel that the worship of God is by retiring into silence, by spending long hours in prayer and concentration. It suits their temperament and is according to the custom and the religion of their country. I would not give one word of criticism in regard to this. Then there are races who are keyed to another vibration, that of activity, and they would say to you, 'I could not do that, I get restless, I must be up and doing'.
"I want to tell you for your guidance, as one who loves you well and desires the very best that can be found for you, always to remember that prayer and concentration are good, but there is something better, and that is the active work on the Christ plane. Some people say that they give up so much time to prayer, and that is very praiseworthy, but do they try to express their prayers in action? Are they always kind to the sick in their thoughts, or are they at times inclined to blame them? Do they bid them give out effort, when they should come to the bedside in their loneliness to give them a word of cheer? Many will answer, 'Surely my prayers are worth more than that?' My reply is that the greatest healing power that the earth has ever known is kindness.
"If there is a man or woman anywhere who claims to be a healer but encourages unkind thoughts about others, then in that degree, they are stemming their power to heal and they will be heart-broken when they pass into the Light and see that for so little they missed so much.
"I am speaking on these lines because so seldom do we get a chance to talk in this direct way. I long to answer you regarding those doubts, those wonderings in your mind, the querying why it is that God sometimes seems so deaf to your entreaties - they may not be entreaties about yourself, but those deeper ones about others. Many have murmured against God because the instrument I use has not been cured.
"But when you pass over and you see the difference of being cured of a physical illness, and overcoming that physical illness and still doing the work of God - you will marvel at your own ignorance and lack of understanding. People in many parts of the world ask why does not God cure His instrument. I answer that the cure has gone far deeper than the physical, and the power so gained and the influence so spread will be everlasting.
"Some of you may think that I have wandered away from my subject - that of Christmas - the Birth of the Holy Child. But think what was done on that occasion. How did God work, and how did it harmonise with man's way of working? At once you see the difference. God's Way was for the Child to be born in poverty, homeless, and for the girl-mother to be hard-pressed in her great time of need. Surely man would have said that if the King of kings were to come to earth only the very best was good enough for Him. Yet, how little influence upon the lives of the masses would there have been if that had been so.
"You see at once the great link between the unwanted babies, the homeless ones, the displaced peoples, because the King of kings was born under such humble conditions and did not know what would happen, so far as protection was concerned. When I mention the tiny Child and it seems that He had been given the choice, remember that you too chose your own conditions before you came and started your earthly experience. You chose what your life would be and the home into which you would enter. You were shown clearly the tests that lay in front, but that was the concern of the soul and not the tiny frail body, so in need of care and compassion of others.
"There are some here who cannot extricate themselves from earthly influences or from man's ways. They read of those with power, those who can attract masses, and at the back of the mind's eye there lies the desire to do the same. That is man's way! They have forgotten God's Work, which was expressed in the way that the Babe was born in Bethlehem.
"While you are in the flesh it is quite impossible to judge as to the future and what the present will work out. Ponder upon this point that I am instructed by the Master to emphasise. The majority of those upon the earth have many troubles, of a different kind perhaps, but they are troubles to them.
"Some are rich and discontented. Some are poor and miserable and are deprived of much. Others, once strong in the body, now seem to have lost their health. These things come in cycles and are for an express purpose, they are not something that has just gone wrong. Now the point is: What are we doing about the troubles that assail the world, over the enmity, over the threat of war, over the disappointments of the rank and file?
"There is a simple way - easy with a little practice. Shall I tell you how to meet your troubles, how to regard those adversaries that seem to be all around?
"The answer is according to that shown by the Christ Life - make friends with your troubles; make friends with your sick body; make friends with all the frustrations that have happened in your life; make friends with disappointments, and make friends with the one who has betrayed you.
"Now, what do I mean by that? Experiences take place and sometimes those who have hurt you pass out of your life. You forgive but find it impossible to forget. You are an intelligent being. You cannot just wipe out of your mind what has taken place - that is impossible. But how can you have peace within? I turn to those who feel that life is slipping by, and opportunity is slipping with it; to those who had such high hopes when they were young and so very few have materialised. At the back of their mind - sometimes with an aching heart - there is the thought that they have not had a fair deal from God or from life or from those around them.
"The tempters draw very close masquerading as a sympathetic friend, saying: 'You look after yourself, do not allow to happen to you what has happened to others because they forgot to look after themselves; do not be so generous; do not do so much; let the body have a voice; let those who are trying to discipline you see that you are your own master and you are going to carry through your own life in your own way.' Sometimes, the poison goes very, very deep.
"Think of the Master during His childhood with such a high spiritual intelligence. He had to cleave to the home, working for his brothers and sisters because the breadwinner was no longer there. The One Who wanted to do so much and - as shown in the Child in the Temple - had the capacity to do it. Yet He had to subject Himself to the home, to the mundane tasks and forget His dreams, to struggle with those desires within that told Him there was something important that He must do.
"Can you imagine that the boy Christ escaped any of the temptations that come to youth today? He did not escape anything. He had so much to contend with and like so many, opposition even in His hometown. There was the influence trying to stem His spiritual endeavour, to laugh Him out of it, to tell Him it was not wise, that He would be a failure - to do as other men did, to follow man's ways.
"But He had to follow God's Way because He had to carry out the work of His Father in Heaven.
"You can see how absolutely opposite is the teaching of the Spirit from the teaching of those upon the earth who claim to be wise. As you know, there is much done for the expression of liberty, the safeguarding of health, the building of security. But what have you got today? Do you have security?
"Never in the history of the world was there so little security; never in the history of the world was there so little real freedom. For man is only exchanging freedom from his masters in the body for the bondage of his own soul by those unseen who forever are stirring him up to rebel, persuading him that hard work is not for him, or at best, to do as little as is possible to gain the wages that he is paid.
"At this Christmas time I ask you not to think on things of sorrow, but intelligently to allow the mind of the spirit to guide and to realise that the only way to get through the troubles of the physical life is to make a friend of them. When you pass over and you look back over the record of the earth life you will find that every trouble you had acted as a wonderful friend to the spirit within. It was in league with the Divine, it was building up and ensuring for the future - not for this trivial earth life which is at the mercy of so many influences and so many who are out to wreck.
"Perhaps this is a hard teaching I bring you, but I want you to try to test it. When you feel that you are not having a fair deal, say to yourself: 'I will make a friend of my work, I will make a friend of my tiredness, I will make a friend of all that seems to be imposition.' Very soon you will become master. No longer are you a slave to your emotions, to your sense of injustice, to the feeling that others are not giving you fair play. You are master of your circumstances. That is growth - the growth of the mind, growth of character, growth of the real self within, striving so hard to gain expression.
"You see how healing comes in. If men and women go through the world full of bitterness, full of fear, full of sorrow because things have gone so differently from that which they hoped, what are they casting out upon the conditions? They are casting out discord and adding to that discord something far more dangerous - rebellion.
"They have forgotten God's Work, God's Plan behind the suffering, supplying the power, building up the endurance when again and again it fails, trying to make people more generous one to another, trying to clear the mists from their eyes so that they may see beyond the earthly clouds and get a glimpse of the Light that shines from His own Land.
"That is God's Work. But the ways of man are so different, so divorced from Truth, and the greatest folly of it all is this: it is making it harder for the masses, harder for the sufferers, harder for those who have been disappointed or frustrated. They are not healing the wounds and yet, this could be so. By giving out the true word of explanation, by drawing the individual's attention to the wonders of God's Mind and how He takes the little, simple things - man or woman living in poverty, having no pride in themselves or what they can do, and works miracles through their humility, through their sympathy, through their desire to be kind to their neighbour. They are among the greatest healers the world has ever produced, and when you are free from the flesh you will be able to see for yourselves how logical is the wonderful wisdom of the Mind of Love.
"Temptation is all around us through the earthly stage and around many even when they are free from the physical body. It takes time, a great deal of time in earthly language, to be extricated from those foolish things built up by the ignorance upon the earth. There is a great work in front of each one, but it is God's Work, to be done in God's Way.
"Tear off the tinsel of ambition wherever you can, whenever you see it, bring man back to reality, to the future, when this little earth life seems but a moment of time in the great Life of everyone. Go to those who desire publicity, the ones who want the plaudits of the crowd, show them how they are wasting their substance, how they have forgotten the example of God's Work expressed through His Son, Who took upon Himself willingly the burdens of mankind, not of one here or there but the full measure, for in the degree that we love so we have the capacity to suffer.
"With all humbleness of heart go over what represents your life today, or yesterday, or the anticipation of the future, and just look at things squarely like a true man; then you will find that if only you have the courage to put that which I have indicated into practice, conditions will ease, your health will improve, your nerves will no longer fret and torment you, your fears and your wonderings will fall from you like a worn out garment.
"Why? Because you have made friends with your circumstances, made friends with those around you, made friends most of all with that unruly physical mind that so often leads away from the hillside down into the labyrinth of the forest, far from the light and joy and peace of being right with God.
"My heart is full of joy, and I thank God that over the past we have followed the Way laid down and shown by the Master - in our small degree. We have done the work and we have challenged our enemies, and the enemies have had to fall back and that which they desired to do was not done - which was - in the early stages - the stemming of the Christ Mission and the giving out of the truth concerning Spirit return and Spirit communion.
"These things cannot be done merely by prayer and concentration, as I have told you before. The prayer and the concentration must be materialized into persistent effort, the ignoring of the so-called advice of others, the ignoring of the dictates of the weaker self, and fighting through to strength because ringing through the conditions in this little temple of peace comes the Voice of the Master: 'blessed are the willing workers for they indeed shall inherit the kingdom'. Blessed are the willing workers, and that means that the unwilling workers have missed the blessing, for it has passed them by, although so gladly it would have been bestowed upon them by the One Who loves them best.
"Meet the New Year with a new spirit. Look out beyond the mists and realise that within you is the pioneer spirit - the Spirit of the Christ struggling for expression. Stem the word of criticism regarding others and go forward as happy pilgrims, remembering that the disciples of old, though they suffered, though their bodies tormented them, they still had joy within.
"The true Christian knows not depression for depression is of the earth alone. The true Christian meets those enemy thoughts and forces them back with: 'Get behind me Satan', for that is what they represent. If you only have the strength, the will and the determination to fight the battle, you shall win all along the line - for God has promised and the promises of God shall be kept because everyone shall accept God's Ways and His Work one day.
"I bless you all, bless you with real joy, bless you with the renewed spirit of determination, and I say to you all that God knows your lives. He knows the struggles and the overcoming of your troubles; He knows what you desire to do and yet sometimes you cannot accomplish it. But God shall finish what you began if only you are sincere in your desire and give out that effort that you are capable of giving - hoping that in time to come it shall be increased by Divine Grace.
"The Master stands before us as I speak, with all His humility transcending all His power. 'Beloved, we are as one' - He cries to you all. I beg you not to repudiate that loving promise.
"We thank God that once again His Will has been done and His Work goes on, not in the ways of the world, but according to the Ways of the Spirit.
"Farewell, beloved, God has blessed us all."
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