Christian D. Larson

“ To be led by the spirit of the Most High is to pass through perpetual change—to pass from the good to the better, from the better to the best, and then higher and higher into those richer realms that infinite love has in store. In such a life there is always something new to live for, always something higher, something better to enjoy. Such a life can never be wearisome nor monotonous, for it is nothing less than a continuous feast—the richest imaginable feast, and all the elements of that feast are changed as often as we desire. ”

“ Love much, and lovely souls will daily come into your life; and those people who are not as lovely as they might be, will become better because they have met you and felt the divine fires aflame in your soul.
When people are going wrong, just love them; not with the person, nor in a weak, sentimental sense, but with that strong, soul-love that comes from the very heart of the Infinite. Such love will lift anybody; and whoever is lifted up into the better becomes better. When we ascend in the scale of life we enter the truer and the higher; we enter the right and thereby become true and right. ”

“ Every day for a few moments be alone with the Most High. Let those moments be sacred, and think only of Him. Do not permit another thought to enter consciousness. Fill your being through and through with such strong spiritual aspirations that the thought of the Infinite reigns supremely in your mind. Try to realize His presence, His life and His love. Give yourself up wholly to God, and know that you are absolutely in His care. Enter so deeply into the spirit of this realization that you can actually feel divine nearness—that God is closer to you than your own life. ”

“ There is no wrong in the world that demands our attention. The good alone deserves our attention, and when the good receives all our attention, evil cannot exist any more. Build for the right; inspire every soul with an irresistible desire for the right, and everything you do will add to the power that makes for freedom. Think of the good, speak of the good, work for the good, live for the good, and the good only, and your life will be a light wherein darkness can never be. ”

“ Thus we shall gain the great word, the word that gives soul to every word, spirit to every thought and inner power to every statement.
Give soul to every spoken word and you can heal yourself by saying, "I Am Well;" you can emancipate yourself from every adverse condition by saying, "I Am the Freedom of Divine Truth;" and you can cause every atom in your being to thrill with life and power by saying, "I Am the Strength of the Infinite." Give spirit to every thought you think and every condition you picture in the mind will be realized in the body. ”

“ But too often the practical mind looks for his treasure in the realm of effect instead of in the realm of cause; in consequence, he finds but little of real value anywhere in life. The great things in life do not come through minds that dwell merely on the surface, that cannot rise above the world of tangible results. Everything that is beautiful and of real worth, whether it appeals to the eye, the ear, the intellect or the soul, has come through the mind that had visions, the mind that could soar to supreme heights, and behold the real splendor and glory of the world. ”

“ To worship God in spirit and in truth, is to so live that we can always feel that he is with us no matter what we may think or say or do. To worship God is to take Him with us in everything, ask Him for everything, have faith that He will give us everything, and be grateful to Him because we inwardly know that we are receiving everything. To worship is not to believe and adore, but to live and love; not simply to accept the truth but to make the truth the living soul of every thought and word and deed. ”

“ Nature sings the everlasting praises of Him who is closer than breathing, nearer than hands and feet, and every human countenance beams with the beautiful smile of God. The flowers declare the thoughts of the Infinite; the forest chants the silent prelude to worship, while the birds inspire the soul to ascend to the vast empyrean blue. We are speechless with ecstasy, but as we behold the beauty and glory of it all the spirit within speaks from out the fullness of the heart and sweetly proclaims in language divine—"God's beautiful gift to me." ”

“ Have faith in faith. Know that faith will change the course of events; turn darkness into light; turn hatred into love; turn chaos into order and harmony; and cause the best of all things to flow into your life in greater abundance than ever before. Faith can do anything. Have faith in faith and to you shall come the riches and blessings of the beautiful life.
The tendency of man is to turn to old methods when faith seems to fail; but why does faith ever fail? The reason is we have not sufficient faith in faith. When we have perfect faith in faith, it can never fail us. ”

“ To feel that you have given happiness to someone else, is the greatest happiness of all; and to know that millions will be inspired by the sublimity of your life ages after you are gone—could anything give a deeper joy to the soul? And yet, this is a privilege that is not given only to the few; there is not a soul that may not look forward to such a future and to such a life.
To be perfectly satisfied to let your light shine wherever you may go without ever looking back to see if there were results or no, is the mark of a great soul. ”

“ There is freedom for you this very moment; there is a beautiful life that you may enter at once, and faith is the open door.
Have faith, and the veil of mystery is no more; you may see what has been hidden, and enter the secret chambers of life. Have faith, and the clouds of darkness will completely disappear; you will behold the light of the eternal sun, and the radiance of its glory will fill and illumine your entire sphere of existence. Have faith, and the barriers of limitations will fall to rise no more ”

“ We cannot think of love as existing apart from personality, and God is love; therefore He must be personal; but how can God, who fills the universe, be personal? This is the problem that confronts nearly every mind that passes from the literal belief in truth to the spiritual understanding of truth. When we try to think that God is not personal, we feel as if we have lost a great friend, the very friend of all friends; there seems to be no use for prayer, because how can the limitless Soul of the universe be interested specially in one of us, a mere atom in the immensity of the cosmos? ”

“ From that moment all will be changed; life will never seem ordinary, commonplace or mere existence any more; we have seen the House Beautiful, we have felt the touch of the life that God lives, we have been on the heights, and we have had a glimpse of the glory that eternity holds in store. Henceforth, there is so much to live for, that simply to think of the ever ascending destiny that lies before us, is in itself a source of unspeakable joy. Then who can measure the peace, the joy, in brief, the unbounded ecstasy that must follow the living of the life? ”

“ To feel the interior presence of this love, with its high, strong, invincible power, perfectly blended with the sweetest tenderness, not only produces a joy that can not be measured but also lifts you into a universe that is fairer by far than we ever imagined heaven to be. And truly it is heaven we enter when we love with such a love, when we love as God loves.
Pure love sees no evil, no sin, no wrong; it does not live in the world of illusion or darkness; it is a child of the light and radiates its spiritual glory wherever it may be. Where love is, there will the light be also ”

“ Then shall the soul come forth with new strength; then shall the spirit arise with power, and the spiritual life within us shall begin its great eternal reign. And when the spirit begins its reign, the outer world takes upon itself the peace, the wholeness, the harmony and the perfection of the beautiful life within. Adversity disappears; wrongs give place to the purity of the life divine; imperfections are lost in the dimness of the past, and the richness that we find in the pastures green of realms sublime, is reproduced in personal existence. ”

“ You can wait an eternity for such a privilege, for a single moment in His Presence is a million heavens in one. But when you do draw near enough to behold His shining glory, give thanks with all the power of heart and soul. The Redeemer has entered your life; you have found the way; you have entered the great climax of human existence and now you may begin to live. Henceforth, give your highest thought and attention to every spiritual experience that may appear, no matter how insignificant it may seem to be. ”

“ He speaks, not of that which others have told him, not as the scribes; he has seen the mysteries; he bears witness to the truth because he has witnessed and beheld the truth with his own illumined mind. The heavens have opened before him; he has not only had a vision; he has seen the truth that is beyond the vision and that truth is the Word.
To reach this sublime state the secret is faith; not the faith that believes, but the faith that knows—the faith that can see with the vision of the spirit. Every soul that has some discernment of higher things has a portion of faith. ”

“ This is the truth. It could not be otherwise when the Lord is your shepherd. God is love, and love leads away from ills and pains into the infinite delights of sublime existence.
God is equal to all your needs; He can give health and strength to the body; He can give peace and power to the mind; He can give wisdom and joy to the soul; He can surround your personal life with all that is rich and beautiful in physical existence; He can surround your spiritual life with all that is gorgeous and sublime in cosmic existence ”

“ One touch of the spirit and all is well. Darkness and pain will vanish, sickness and sorrow take flight; weakness and bondage will pass away, and troubles can exist no more. To be touched by the spirit is to be filled through and through with the spirit, and where the spirit is there evil is not. What we have seen in our visions shall come to remain. What is revealed from on high shall come and abide with us always. Therefore let the soul dream on. Disturb not the peace of those sweet celestial slumbers, for what to us may appear to be spiritual sleep is but life in a greater world. ”

“ We learn what is in store, and life is not the same any more. We have had a vision, and all things have been glorified.
Return ye unto God. All other paths lead to sorrow and death, but in Him there is freedom and joy forever. In Him there is life, in Him there is peace, in Him there is wholeness and purity; in Him there is strength, in Him there is health, in Him there is power and truth; in Him there is all that life holds in store for man—all that the human heart can wish for. ”

“ But when we permit the eye to become double, and begin to see the evil as well as the good, the unreal as well as the real, we fall from our lofty state; and this is the only fall of man. When we partake of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we fall from the cosmic world, and we have to leave paradise. We cannot live in the garden of bliss, in the joys of cosmic consciousness, so long as we know evil as well as good; but when we become unconscious of evil, with the eye single upon His supreme goodness alone, then the gates of paradise shall open for us once more. ”

“ There is nothing that will prepare the way to this sublime spiritual silence more than this—to give a few moments every day to God, to think of Him only, and to think of Him with your whole life, with your whole strength, with your whole mind, with your whole heart and with your whole soul. To give up to God is to enter into the kingdom of God, and to enter the kingdom of God is to receive everything that God has to give. To give up everything for God is to receive everything from God. ”

“ Continue to work in more and more faith, and if you should be on the wrong path, something will happen to set you right. Enter more and more into the light of faith, and all things will clear up. When you are on the wrong track doubt and uncertainty will but confuse you more, and cause you to go further into the wrong. But faith will increase your light; faith illumines the mind and clears the sky of your entire world; faith will lead you out of your mistakes and give you enough power to regain all that is lost and more. ”