There are many who would have already fulfilled the great and mighty Promises of God if they had realized that their error has been the cause of their failure or delay. They have failed to realize that their restraint has been in expecting God to fulfill His Promises on their own mortal terms.
God does not and will not fulfill His most holy, almost unspeakable Promises upon any man's terms. Man must fulfill them upon God's Terms. And HIS terms are most explicit and plain to understand unless one's mind is sealed with his own orthodoxed ideas or pride in his own self-importance. It may be that this very pride has so sealed one's mind that unconsciously he refuses to relinquish any preconceived belief he may be harboring. Man's terms are the individual beliefs, his personal ideas, opinions or set notions, or theories.
Such may read the Promises of God and for a flashing moment comprehend them and desire them greatly, so greatly that he becomes blinded by the very brilliance insomuch he fails to see the price that is required for their fulfillment. However, even that price becomes a glorious, divine challenge of everlasting glory and enjoyment before this record is ended.
In the Book of Revelations, chapter three, Christ declared, "Because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art poor and wretched and miserable and blind and naked.
"I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear."
How is it possible to purchase or buy anything except by paying a price for it? "Buy of me gold that is tried in the fire" of your own souls. This gold, tried in the fire is but the purification of your own hearts as they are cleansed by love and devotion. Only this purified offering is acceptable, for Christ proclaimed that the only acceptable sacrifice or offering or payment that God would henceforth acknowledge would be the offering or sacrifice of a broken, or open heart and a contrite spirit. If that is the only offering acceptable to God then it alone could be the payment for the gold that is tried in the fire -- the very gold that would make one rich indeed.
Then is given the information in Isaiah, that the glorified road to Zion over which a fool need not err therein, but over which the wicked can never travel, is the road of the purification of the heart.
Then is given that dynamic command to LOVE, which reveals just how the heart is cleansed and not only purified but spiritualized, softened, opened and perfected.
Along with this glorious Commandment is the Promise that in LIVING this one great law one automatically FULFILLS ALL THE LAWS AND THE PROPHETS. By purifying the heart with this love one can purchase the fulfilling of every Promise. Then it is that one is able to comprehend all things, and have all power, and behold the "things which eyes have never seen nor ears heard, neither has entered into the heart of man -- THE THINGS WHICH GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM!"
This is how the promise is given in its fullness: "Man is Spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected receiveth a fullness of joy.
"And great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory.
"And to them I will reveal all mysteries, yea, all the hidden mysteries of my kingdom from days of old, and for ages to come I will make known unto them the good pleasure of my will concerning all things pertaining to my kingdom.
"Yea, even the wonders of eternity shall they know, and things to come will I show them, even the things of many generations.
"And their wisdom shall be great, AND THEIR UNDERSTANDING REACH INTO HEAVEN, and before them the wisdom of the wise shall perish, and the understanding of the prudent shall come to naught.
"For by my Spirit will I enlighten them and by my power will I make known unto them the secrets of my will -- yea, even those things which eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor yet has entered into the heart of man * * *
"These great and unspeakable things can only be seen and understood by the Power of the Holy Ghost, which God bestows on THOSE WHO LOVE HIM AND PURIFY THEMSELVES BEFORE HIM.
"TO WHICH HE GRANTS THE PRIVILEGE OF SEEING AND KNOWING FOR THEMSELVES.
"That through the power and manifestation of the Spirit WHILE IN THE FLESH they may be able to bear His Presence in the World of Glory." (Page 251 of "Ye Are Gods.")
Only by loving God with all the heart can the heart be opened and purified and made acceptable.
As one learns to love God with ALL his heart the little egoself with its false beliefs and erroneous, creeded indoctrinations will be relinquished. Then only can one be prepared to be taught of God. In this holy cleansing old beliefs drop away like ugly, worn-out rags and are discarded and left behind.
And here are the terms which God places upon the fulfilling of His Promises and the glory of receiving the rewards pertaining thereto.
"If ye do as I say then am I bound; but if you do not as I say then you have no Promise!" In other words, the Promises are not yours, nor can you claim them.
Isaiah informs us that "The fear (awe, love) toward God is taught by the precepts of men. And that they draw near to Him with their lips and with their tongues do honor Him, BUT THEIR HEARTS ARE FAR FROM HIM!"
Here is His own verification of the need to LOVE GOD WITH ALL THE HEART! No words are sufficient! No phrases are great enough! Only THROUGH THE VERY HEART ITSELF CAN THE TRUE LOVE FOR GOD BE RELEASED. And this cannot be taught by the precepts of men. It is only achieved by the actual LIVING of that First and Great Commandment of Almighty God.
Now, the true baptism of water, of which the earthly ordinance is but the symbol, is also contained in that requirement of loving God with ALL THE HEART.
Notice these words recorded in St. John 4:10 and verses 13 and 14, as follow: "And Jesus saith unto the woman of Samaria; If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink: Thou wouldst have asked him, and he would have given thee living water * * *
"Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."
Then check the following from John seven and verse thirty-eight: "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."
The "belly" signifies the whole living heart-center of man. This is the center from which LOVE is generated and shed forth to permeate every living cell and atom and tissue of the body with its cleansing, purifying glory of perfect washing and renewing. It is the true baptism of the water in its fullness and complete power and divine purity. It is the true reality which the symbol of baptism has only indicated. The one is the symbol, the other, the complete fulfillment.
Revelations 21:6-7: "And he said unto me, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the waters of life freely. He that OVERCOMETH shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son."
The waters of life are the "living waters" that flow forth through a heart filled with LOVE. These waters cleanse, purify and glorify the gift of life right within man.
"And I am come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly."
"Behold, I give no commandment or PROMISE save I prepare the way of its fulfillment." Every Promise is based definitely upon the perfect conditions of its complete accomplishment. And those conditions are upon God's terms. His terms contain the perfect pattern, the absolute conditions of the exquisite realization and full completion.
Notice the following: "And no man receiveth a fullness unless he keepeth His commandments * * * And if he keep that First and Greatest Commandment he has fulfilled ALL THE LAWS AND THE COMMANDMENTS AND THE PROPHETS!"
"He that keepeth His commandments (of perfect love) receiveth Truth and Light, until he is GLORIFIED IN TRUTH and KNOWETH ALL THINGS!"
Can you imagine being "GLORIFIED IN TRUTH" insomuch that you would COMPREHEND ALL THINGS? Such would KNOW THE TRUTH! And he would be free! Free Indeed! Free from all the burdens and strains and negations of mortality. "He could truly be BORN OF THE SPIRIT!"
God's terms are not difficult when one is sincere and determined and filled with love. His terms are perfect and sure, and the results of fulfilling them, as God gave them, contain the keys of everlasting glory!
And His PROMISES are offered to every living soul upon this earth, to every layman, to every minister and every member of every church and to those without any church affiliation whatsoever. They pertain to all mankind. They have not been fulfilled because self-righteous leaders have assumed that their congregations or followers can only go to God through THEIR mediating, which is the great error. This is the error of "Trusting in the arm of flesh," which in itself is damnation. Every living soul has the right and the invitation standing forth to "KNOW GOD" for themselves. And to KNOW GOD is life eternal!
The gift of life is stressed in the words: "THE FRUIT OF THE TREE OF LIFE IS THE LOVE OF GOD which is shed forth through the hearts of the children of men."
As one loves God with all his heart that love, of necessity, must go out through the living cells and atoms of his entire being and thus will the tissues and cells be cleansed and quickened and renewed and made alive. And this is the "PROMISE OF LIFE" --"LIFE EVERLASTING" -- "LIFE MORE ABUNDANT!"
This is also the only method by which one can possibly travel that glorified ROAD TO ZION, or that Straight and Narrow Path, which is the road of the "PURIFICATION OF THE HEART," The Way to Life Eternal, as Christ designated it. Remember always, "Zion" means "THE PURE IN HEART!" And only LOVE CAN POSSIBLY PURIFY THE HEART!
I. John 2:3-5: "And hereby we KNOW that we know Him, if we keep HIS COMMANDMENTS. ("And this is Life Eternal to KNOW THEE the only true and living God and Jesus Christ Whom thou hast sent.")
"He that saith, I know HIM, and keepeth not his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
"But whoso keepeth HIS WORD, in him verily IS THE LOVE OF GOD PERFECTED."