Lifestream
Your Flow of Creative Living
© 1996, Carolyn Odom Burleson, Ph.D.
Session V
"The Divine Message"
"Let each man think himself an act of GOD, his mind a thought, his life a breath of GOD. And let each try by great thoughts and good deeds to show the most of heaven he hath in him.”
- Philip James Bailey (1816-1909)
CONTENTS: (Click on any bar to return to contents.)
The prophets of the Old Testament seemed to bring a message of doom and destruction. They warned the Israelites to change their ways less the wrath of God be visited upon them. However, Jesus, the New Testament prophet came with a message of love and hope. He brought us “Good News.” This same good news had been sung by the Psalmist of old from whom Jesus was a descendant, "I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High." (Ps.82:6) Jesus reiterated this upon being challenged by the Pharisees, "Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?" (Jn.10:34) Jesus asked them why they would say that he blasphemed (calling himself the Son of God) when their own scriptures bore it out. Jesus did not make this claim only for himself, but for all of humanity. This is the Divine Message that Jesus was sent to deliver to us. “Ye are gods; and all of us are children of the Most High.”
Genesis 2:26 tells us that we are made in the image and after the likeness of God. “And God said, ‘Let us make man in our image...” Before the world was manifested, God imaged or imagined, i.e. He drew a mental picture of all that was to be created. man was also drawn in that picture or image of God. This visualization of God’s creation was the original divine pattern, the archetype of all that would come into being. “...after our likeness...” - This divine pattern of man was reproduced, and “God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” Then he was clothed in physical form so that now man/woman as we know ourselves this very day are formed after the likeness of the perfect archetype in God’s image. This divine man of Gods image is housed in our dusty frame. It is whole, complete and perfect, expressing all of the attributes of God, Himself within us. This inner man has been blessed by God with the ability to multiply his own perfection, subdue the earth (our carnal nature) and dominate every living thing. We need only to recognize the existence of this Divinity within us and claim it as our true selves.
CHRIST is the consciousness of God that individualizes in us as the inner, spiritual man. It is that high level of consciousness in us that enables us to receive impressions from the higher realm and operate in this world as children of God, to realize our own divinity and to be one with the Father.
JESUS was the perfect expression of the Christ consciousness. He was thus given the title, "Jesus the Christ." The Divine Consciousness streamed so freely and fully through this channel that one cannot separate the man (Jesus) from the consciousness (Christ). He set the perfect example of what man can be, and his ministry and teachings were to show us the way to open ourselves up to become the true expression of the Christ indwelling, to claim our divine inheritance.
Jesus, the Son of God, disclosed, claimed and proclaimed his own Sonship, his own divinity. He realized that his life's mission was to show the way for all humanity to discover, claim and proclaim the kingdom of God within us. He, being the perfect expression of the Christ Consciousness, was perfectly attuned to God within him and could therefore proclaim, "I and my Father are one." He was able To perform what men have called miracles because of his perfect attunement. He differs from us in that he perfectly understood the workings of God's laws and was able to assume his authority over the elements of nature. He operated from a much higher level of consciousness than that of our functioning, but he gives us an example of what we can become, a level to which we can aspire. "Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am." (John 13:13')
The same Holy Spirit of God that permeated and surrounded the being of the Master Jesus also permeates and surrounds our being. The same God power that flowed through the Master Jesus also flows through us. We are also children of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ to the Kingdom of God. We partake of the king's divinity.
As we study the teachings of the Master Jesus we see a thread that runs throughout, a basic principle which he taught in so many different ways: Man is Divine and carries God's Kingdom within him. If we continue believing in His Word of Truth, we shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make us free. This is the basic teaching of the Divine Message Jesus was sent to deliver to humanity.
GOD is life, and man lives. Jesus said that the world's sin is unbelief. "I live by the power of the living Father who sent me, and in the same way, those who partake of me shall live because of me." (Jn. 6:57) "Rivers of living water shall flow from the inmost being of anyone who believes in me." (Jn. 7:38) This power that enlivened Jesus, and the rivers of living water could not flow through or from the inmost being if they did not already exist within the inmost being. Jesus was to teach man how to tap his own Lifestream and attune to the power of the living Father within himself.
Matt.12:5O, Jesus says "Anyone who obeys my Father in heaven (which is within us) is my brother, sister, mother." This establishes a divine kinship.
Matt.l8:18, Jesus says to his disciples, " Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you free on earth shall be freed in heaven." Mere mortals cannot have authority over things on earth and in heaven unless he partakes of the Divine.
When the disciples asked Jesus how he caused a fig tree to wither, He told them, “Truly if you have faith, and doubt not, you can do things like this and much more. You can even cause a mountain to move and be cast into the sea at your command.” (Matt. 21:21) He is telling his disciples that they have the same divine power within them, and if they would only believe it, they would receive anything they asked for in prayer.
When the Master Jesus told his disciples of his coming crucifixion and resurrection, Peter chided him that he should not speak so. Jesus replied, "Get thee behind me, Satan; for you are not thinking the things of God but of men." (Mk. 8:31-33) - Peter was looking at this only from a human point of view and not from God's. It is obvious that he expected Peter to see this from the God-view within him; for surely Jesus would not have rebuked him so strongly for just being human if that were all he were capable of being.
Luke 17:6, “If you have faith even as a grain of a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be thou uprooted and planted in the sea;’ it would obey you.” and Luke 17:20-21 ..... “The Kingdom of God does not come by observation. Neither will they say, ‘Behold, it is here! or, behold it is there!’ for the kingdom of God is within you.” - Again, man has the kingdom of God and all of its power resident within him. If he would only believe it is there and have faith that it will work for him, he could remove any and all obstacles that stood between him and the fulfillment of his desires.
John 10:14-15, “I am the good shepherd and know my sheep, and they know me. Just as my Father knows me I also know my Father...” and John 10:30, “I and my Father are one.” - The Master Jesus is here teaching that we have the same relationship with him as he has with the Father. Jesus and the Father are one; therefore if we are one with Jesus, we are also one with the Father.
John 14:11-13, “Believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; and if not, believe because of the works... He that believes in me, the works that I do shall he do also; even greater than these things shall he do, because I am going to my Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do it for you, so that the Father may be glorified through his Son.”
Do you see, my friends, how important this teaching is? We must recognize and accept our divinity; honor and have faith in it. All of the healing works of Jesus recorded in the Gospels were done on request from someone. When the healing was complete, Jesus told the person, "Your faith hath made thee whole." He did not say that he had healed them or even that God had healed them, but their own faith had healed them. This signifies that the divine healing substance is already within us. We appropriate it through the exercise of our faith.
In his teaching the Master Jesus made a distinction between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. By following the letter of the law we seek only an outward manifestation of the perfection which the law represents. By following the spirit of the law we seek a perfection in consciousness. This will effect a true and lasting demonstration of perfection.
The Master Jesus always ministered to the mind and spirit of men, not to their physical side. He always appealed to their inner man. This is the man to which the spirit of the law applies. "God is Spirit, and we must worship Him in spirit and in truth." When we worship from within, in spirit and truth, our inner spiritual self is able to discern the ways (not discernible to the natural man) that God intended for us to use the laws. To become more attuned to your Spiritual Self, continue practicing the exercise in chapter one.
1. "Ye are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High."
2. Man was made in the image and after the likeness of God.
3. Christ is the consciousness of God that indwells man.
4. The Master Jesus is the perfect expression of the Christ Consciousness.
5. Man is divine and carries within him the Kingdom of God.
6. If we continue believing in the Word of Christ, we shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make us free.
7. God is Spirit, and we must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.
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Workshop Session 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - Lifestream Meditation
© 1996 - Carolyn Odom Burleson, Ph.D.
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