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Welcome to Watchkeepers.org! - Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Welcome! to this Christian Science webpage.  It's purpose is to share the writings of the discoverer and founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy.  Her works are posted daily to bring you inspiration and  guidance in your spiritual growth.    

  

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 An introduction to a new/old ministry - ourselves. Minimize

 
“And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:

Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”  Luke 17: 20, 21
 
“And as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat.

And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner.

And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.

Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also?

But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you.”  Luke 11: 37- 41

Our Father has named this, His ministry, Inreach. It can be described as "within" reach.
 
He has revealed Inreach as a ministry of the Trinity - having 3 parts:

1.  Reaching into the Word to find the tools   2.  With which to practice the Word   3.  Resulting in testimony to the power of the Word.

Our Father has a specific message for us about His Word.

Study alone of the Word in Scripture is not sufficient of itself.

Working with His Word is a 3-fold process.  There are 3 aspects to this process and they all work together as one whole.  These 3 aspects are the TRINITY OF THE WORD...The Fatherhood, the Sonship, the Holy Spirit of the Word.  These must necessarily work together.  Father, Son, Holy Spirit - the same in essence, different in office.

This is the Trinity of the Word:  In the name of the Father we study the Word, receiving it with our heart; in the name of the Son we practice the Word, living it with our soul; in the name of the Holy Spirit, we testify to the Word with our mind, sharing its healing power in our daily life.

This is the fulfillment of the 1st and greatest commandment:

“But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.

Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment.”  Matt 22: 34-38 

We give our heart to studying His Word, we give our soul to practicing His Word, we give our mind to spreading His Word.  In this we love the Lord, the Word, with heart, soul, and mind.

Evil would tempt to separate this process - typically dividing and conquering.  This is not God's way.  Study without practice and testifying is faith without works.  It is dead.

Imagine for a moment: a physical heart lying over there, the body it belongs in lying over there, the brain that belongs in the head of that body lying over there...Would life be present?  It is not possible.  All three, working as one, together, make up the whole living body.  So it is with His Word.  If heart, soul and mind are separate in the process of learning His Word, there is no life in the work.

And His is the living Word.  The living Word is the Trinity of the Word.

This is what His ministry of Inreach asks of us...heart, soul, and mind.

The kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven - what work is ours in the fulfillment, of our Lord's Prayer "on earth as it is in heaven"?

What, in the name of the Father, are the Divine laws or truth's of His kingdom He requires of us to understand enabling us to experience on earth as in heaven, here and now?

How, in the name of the Son, can we practice more consciously and more specifically these divine laws in the minutia of our everyday life?

When, in the name of the Holy Spirit can we share our testimonies?

This Inreach process is based on the readings provided by the Christian Science Lesson Sermon. These readings, a gift of spiritual nourishment from our Father, prepared and delicately seasoned for us by His Son, are not only for us to hear but to taste, chew, swallow and digest.  His Word sustains us...feeds our spiritual growth.   His Word is our daily bread, meant to bring Him into our individual and collective lives. His Word is a "lamp unto our feet", peace to our struggling hearts.  The Word of our King is the Royal Way. He is the Word.  As the living Word works for us and within us, becoming an eternal blessing, through the power of the Holy Spirit others are also blessed.  What blesses one blesses all. Inreach is a process of Cause, outreach is the Effect.  God is this only Cause and Effect.

In this ministry, we prayerfully search these precious readings, His Word, for one law or truth that speaks to us, we write it down on a piece of paper to be carried in our pocket all week.  We study, dig more deeply into the meaning of this law and throughout the week practice applying it to our daily life.  We then meet weekly for a time of feasting on testimonies of revelation and healing - a natural result of this work.

This practice necessarily begins with the understanding that our Father has given us the gift of free choice.  This free choice is not based on human decision-making.  The choice is always between turning to Him or away from Him.  In Deuteronomy (30: 19-20) he admonishes us:  I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

The gift of free choice is like a test.  And He even gives us the answer - choose life...choose to obey Him and hold on to His ways and means.
 

Our practice works as follows:

When a problem (or test) of any nature comes our way (frustration or impatience with a family member, co-worker, anyone, confusion about employment, financial stress, regret over the past or fretful of the future...whenever fear tempts us to lose sight and feeling of the presence of God)  we pause...reach into our pocket and  look at the law He has chosen for us to practice... and we identify two ways of responding to the situation - either our reaction or our response to God's action.  We consciously and conscientiously practice making the God-centered choice to respond as Christ Jesus would have responded  We must remain alert to the temptation of discouragement when we fall short - reacting before pausing and "waiting on" (serving) God.  We are babes in this Spiritward journey.  When we do fall - we rise in humble repentance and choose again.  His forgiveness is limitless.

Also, by the nature of this practice we humbly begin to learn more of how evil operates through human egotism - the only channel through which we allow it to work.  It is through the emotion of ego we react.  Motion of the Spirit is very different from "e"motion or might we say evil motion or ego motion. Motion of the Spirit has a calming effect even in the midst of the storm.

Tests, trials, are a God-given gift.  Trials are proof of God's loving care.  Paul took "pleasure" in his infirmities.

Tests are like problems we're given to solve in math.  Problems to the student of math are necessary.  Similarly, our tests or problems are a gift to the student of Christ Jesus.  He walks with us every step of the way.  Solving “the problem of Christian being", the problem of genuine discipleship, requires discipline - a conscious practice of Christian discipline.  Note the connection between the words discipline and disciple - cause and effect.  We don't become disciples.  Discipleship is a result - the result of living His Word...living in Him, of Him, and through Him - heart, soul, and mind.

Here is an example of a testimony shared by a woman in Inreach:

The law in scripture this individual chose with God's direction was this:  Ex 20:13 “Thou shalt not kill.”  Here is her testimony:       

                    "This was the scripture that stood out to me.  I felt God was telling me to reach more deeply into its meaning.  I wanted a different law but I knew I must obey.  I waited until Thursday to begin the specific work with this law and regretted this - because Wednesday was one of those hard days - a day of deep discouragement with me.  I felt so far from where my head knew it should be.  It was a day of weeping and suffering...and all because I was not focused on Father...evil was working overtime to distract me...all about me, my lack, rather than about my Father and His infinite abundance. 

                     I couldn't face another day like this.  When I awakened Thursday morning I could not get to the quote fast enough.  I asked what more He wanted me to hear in "Thou shalt not kill."  I was told to stop allowing evil thoughts to kill me.  I had a choice and I was choosing to swallow poisonous self-centered thoughts.  Poison, be it physical or mental, kills.  I chose at that moment not to kill my spirit.  Spirit is a gift from God.  I must cherish God's gifts not eclipse them with self-pity.  Of course, the moment I turned away from evil and towards Father for His thoughts of encouragement..."Fear not...” and of direction, "Take it one moment at a time..." instantly, His peace returned to me.

                     The week continued and I was conscious many times over of the choice to kill or not to kill - either myself or another - with thoughts of frustration, impatience or discouragement.  Each time the choice was made I felt more alive...the living Word...I was finding life in His Word.  I was not feeding myself or others poison but the truth that heals - and the result, the peace of His presence, was gratefully felt.  Not only ourselves but others respond when we feed with His Word of truth and love rather than lies and fear.  For the Father's gift of greater insight into His Word, for the Son's gift of testimony to the power of His Word, and for the gift of the Holy Spirit enabling me to testify, I give deep thanks."

The application of His Word to our human lives is a divine Science - contrary to a human science.  The application of the Word is about what Father is doing as a result of our obedience to Him.  As genuine disciples of Christ, as doer's of the Word - not hearers only, we are ever consciously striving to better understand, practice and testify to the power of His laws revealed to and taught by Christ Jesus through His Word.

We have been talking about the gift of healing - first ourselves, then others.  Healing is our Father's gift of the revelation of Truth, Himself, to human consciousness.  Healing is about what Father does.  He gifts us with a test.  He has already given us the rules or principles needed to solve any problem whatsoever - and with His gift of free choice we either apply His rules, truths, or the worlds rules, lies.

When His truth is applied to a problem it causes an effect - as Christ Jesus teaches,And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  Cause -"You shall know the truth"......Effect - "and the truth will make you free."     John 8: 32

Our knowing doesn't cause freedom or healing - the truth of His Word sets us free.  But we do have a part in this - we must choose truth for the effects of Truth.  Choosing the lie results in the effects of a lie.  We must choose God to experience the effects of God.

Whatever human vehicle our Father gives, be it situations with family, work, financial, the body - our full-time Christian employment remains the same for all of us - listening and obeying Him through study, practice, testimony of the Word.   This process of Inreach, living the Trinity of the Word, empowers us enabling us to empower each other with His strength necessary to overcome evil with good in our daily walk and conversation.

In conclusion:  His most precious and all powerful 3-fold direction in the book of John - one of the best examples of the Trinity of the Word:

“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;…   John 8:  31
 



  

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