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¹ Let us today be neither arrogant nor falsely humble. We have gone beyond such foolishness. We cannot judge ourselves, nor need we do so. These are but attempts to hold decision off, and to delay commitment to our function. It is not our part to judge our worth, nor can we know what role is best for us; what we can do within a larger plan we cannot see in its entirety. Our part is cast in Heaven, not in hell. And what we think is weakness can be strength; what we believe to be our strength is often arrogance.

² Whatever your appointed role may be, it was selected by the Voice for God, Whose function is to speak for you as well. Seeing your strengths exactly as they are and equally aware of where they can be best applied, for what, to whom, and when, He chooses and accepts your part for you. He does not work without your own consent, but He is not deceived in what you are and listens only to His Voice in you.

³ It is through His ability to hear One Voice Which is His own that you become aware at last there is One Voice in you. And that One Voice appoints your function and relays it to you, giving you the strength to understand it, do what it entails, and to succeed in everything you do that is related to it. God has joined His Son in this, and thus His Son becomes His messenger of unity with Him.

⁴ It is this joining through the Voice of God of Father and of Son that sets apart salvation from the world. It is this Voice which speaks of laws the world does not obey, which promises salvation from all sin, with guilt abolished in the mind that God created sinless. Now this mind becomes aware again of Who created it, and of His lasting union with itself. So is its Self the one reality in which its will and that of God are joined.

⁵ A messenger does not elect to make the message he delivers. Nor does he question the right of him who does nor ask why he has chosen those who will receive the message that he brings. It is enough that he accept it, bring it to the ones for whom it is appointed, and fulfill his role in its delivery. If he determines what the messages should be or what their purpose is or where they should be carried, he is failing to perform his proper part as bringer of the Word.

⁶ There is one major difference in the role of Heaven's messengers which sets them off from those the world appoints. The messages which they deliver are intended first for them. And it is only as they can accept them for themselves that they become able to bring them further and to give them everywhere that they were meant to be. Like earthly messengers, they did not write the messages they bear, but they become their first receivers in the truest sense, receiving to prepare themselves to give.

⁷ An earthly messenger fulfills his role by giving all the messages away. The messengers of God perform their part by their acceptance of His messages as for themselves and show they understand the messages by giving them away. They choose no roles that are not given them by His authority. And so they gain by every message which they give away.

⁸ Would you receive the messages of God? For thus do you become His messengers. You are appointed now. And yet you wait to give the messages you have received, and so you do not know that they are yours and do not recognize them. No one can receive and understand he has received until he gives. For in the giving is his own acceptance of what he received.

⁹ You who are now the messengers of God receive His messages, for that is part of your appointed role. God has not failed to offer what you need, nor has it been left unaccepted. Yet another part of your appointed task is yet to be accomplished. He Who has received for you the messages of God would have them be received by you as well. For thus do you identify with Him and claim your own.

¹⁰ It is this joining that we undertake to recognize today. We will not seek to keep our minds apart from Him Who speaks for us, for it is but our voice we hear as we attend Him. He alone can speak to us and for us, joining in One Voice the getting and the giving of God's Word, the giving and receiving of His Will.

¹¹ We practice giving Him what He would have that we may recognize His gifts to us. He needs our voice that He may speak through us. He needs our hands to hold His messages and carry them to those whom He appoints. He needs our feet to bring us where He wills, that those who wait in misery may be at last delivered. And He needs our will united with His own, that we may be the true receivers of the gifts He gives.

¹² Let us but learn this lesson for today: we will not recognize what we receive until we give it. You have heard this said a hundred times, and yet belief is lacking still. But this is sure—until belief is given it, you will receive a thousand miracles and then receive a thousand more but will not know that God Himself has left no gift beyond what you already have nor has denied the tiniest of blessings to His Son. What can this mean to you until you have identified with him and with his own?

¹³ Our lesson for today is stated thus:

¹⁴ I am among the ministers of God,

¹⁵ The world recedes as we light up our minds and realize these holy words are true. They are the message sent to us today from our Creator. Now we demonstrate how they have changed our minds about ourselves and what our function is. For as we prove that we accept no will we do not share, our many gifts from our Creator will spring to our sight and leap into our hands, and we will understand what we received.

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AUDIO: Lesson 154 mp3

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Chapter 13

VIII. The Decision for Guiltlessness

Cont'd Par 79-85

⁷⁹ Seek not to appraise the worth of God's Son, whom He created holy, for to do so is to evaluate his Father and judge against Him. And you will feel guilty for this imagined crime, which no one in this world or Heaven could possibly commit. God's Spirit teaches only that the "sin" of self-replacement on the throne of God is not a source of guilt. What cannot happen can have no effects to fear. Be quiet in your faith in Him Who loves you and would lead you out of insanity. Madness may be your choice, but not your reality. Never forget the love of God, Who has remembered you. For it is quite impossible that He could ever let His Son drop from His loving Mind wherein he was created and where his abode was fixed in perfect peace forever.

⁸⁰ Say to the Holy Spirit only, "Decide for me," and it is done. For His decisions are reflections of what God knows about you, and in this light, error of any kind becomes impossible. Why would you struggle so frantically to anticipate all that you cannot know when all knowledge lies behind every decision which the Holy Spirit makes for you? Learn of His wisdom and His love and teach His answer to everyone who struggles in the dark. For you decide for them and for yourself.

⁸¹ How gracious is it to decide all things through Him Whose equal love is given equally to all alike! He leaves you no one outside yourself, alone without you. And so He gives you what is yours because your Father would have you share it with Him. In everything be led by Him and do not reconsider. Trust Him to answer quickly, surely, and with love for everyone who will be touched in any way by the decision. And everyone will be. Would you take unto yourself the sole responsibility for deciding what can bring only good to everyone? Would you know this?

⁸² You taught yourselves the most unnatural habit of not communicating with your Creator. Yet you remain in close communication with Him and with everything that is within Him, as it is within yourself. Unlearn isolation through His loving guidance and learn of all the happy communication that you have thrown away but could not lose.

⁸³ Whenever you are in doubt what you should do, think of His Presence in you and tell yourself this and only this:

⁸⁴ He leadeth me and knows the way, which I know not.

⁸⁵ Then let Him teach you quietly how to perceive your guiltlessness, which is already there.

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AUDIO: Text Ch 13, VIII, 79-85 mp3

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Chapter 13

IX. The Way of Salvation

Par 86-92

⁸⁶ When you accept a brother's guiltlessness, you will see the Atonement in him. For by proclaiming it in him, you make it yours, and you will see what you sought. You will not see the symbol of your brother's guiltlessness shining within him while you still believe it is not there. His guiltlessness is your Atonement. Grant it to him, and you will see the truth of what you have acknowledged. Yet truth is offered first to be received, even as God gave it first to His Son. The first in time means nothing, but the First in eternity is God the Father, Who is both First and One. Beyond the First, there is no other, for there is no order, no second or third and nothing but the First.

⁸⁷ You who belong to the First Cause, created by Him like unto Himself and part of Him, are more than merely guiltless. The state of guiltlessness is only the condition in which what is not there has been removed from the disordered mind that thought it was. This state, and only this, must you attain with God beside you. For until you do, you will still think that you are separate from Him. You can feel His Presence next to you but cannot know that you are one with Him. This need not be taught. Learning applies only to the condition in which it happens of itself.

⁸⁸ When you have let all that obscured the truth in your most holy mind be undone for you and stand in grace before your Father, He will give Himself to you as He has always done. Giving Himself is all He knows, and so it is all knowledge. For what He knows not cannot be and therefore cannot be given. Ask not to be forgiven, for this has already been accomplished. Ask, rather, to learn how to forgive and restore what always was to your unforgiving mind. Atonement becomes real and visible to them that use it. On earth this is your only function, and you must learn that it is all you want to learn.

⁸⁹ You will feel guilty till you learn this. For in the end, whatever form it takes, your guilt arises from your failure to fulfill your function in God's Mind with all of yours. Can you escape this guilt by failing to fulfill your function here? You need not understand creation to do what must be done before that knowledge would be meaningful to you. God breaks no barriers; neither did He make them. When you release them, they are gone. God will not fail nor ever has in anything.

⁹⁰ Decide that God is right and you are wrong about yourself. He created you out of Himself but still within Him. He knows what you are. Remember that there is no second to Him. There cannot, therefore, be anyone without His Holiness nor anyone unworthy of His perfect Love. Fail not in your function of loving in a loveless place made out of darkness and deceit, for thus are darkness and deceit undone. Fail not yourself, but instead offer to God and you His blameless Son. For this small gift of appreciation for His Love, God will Himself exchange your gift for His.

⁹¹ Before you make any decisions for yourself, remember that you have decided against your function in Heaven and consider carefully whether you want to make decisions here. Your function here is only to decide against deciding what you want in recognition that you do not know. How, then, can you decide what you should do? Leave all decisions to the One Who speaks for God and for your function as He knows it. So will He teach you to remove the awful burden you have laid upon yourself by loving not the Son of God and trying to teach him guilt instead of love. Give up this frantic and insane attempt, which cheats you of the joy of living with your God and Father, and awaking gladly to His love and holiness, which join together as the truth in you, making you one with Him.

⁹² When you have learned how to decide with God, all decisions become as easy and as right as breathing. There is no effort, and you will be led as gently as if you were being carried along a quiet path in summer. Only your own volition seems to make deciding hard. The Holy Spirit will not delay at all in answering your every question what to do. He knows. And He will tell you and then do it for you. You who are tired might consider whether this is not more restful than sleep. For you can bring your guilt into sleeping but not into this.

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AUDIO: Text Ch 13, IX, 86-92 mp3

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Allen Watson joined Robert Perry to form the Circle of Atonement in 1993 in Sedona, Arizona where Allen led retreats and workshops and authored many books based on “A Course in Miracles.”

One of his most popular books is: “A Workbook Companion: Vol I and II.”

Please send gifts of gratitude via PayPal to watsona@innocent.com.