Lesson 197

It can be but my gratitude I earn.

The world must thank you when you offer it release from your illusions. The world's release can only mirror yours. Gratitude is all that is required, a lasting offering of a thankful heart, released from hell forever.

All gratitude belongs to you, because of what you are.

Give thanks as you receive it. Do not forget your function here. Forgive. Never think that He has ever ceased to offer thanks to you.

Lesson 196

It can be but myself I crucify.

To attack another is to attack yourself.

The hopeless thought that you can make attacks on others and escape yourself has nailed you to the cross. Maybe it seemed like salvation, but really it only reinforced your belief of God being real, an enemy separate from you and waiting to destroy you and blot you from the universe.

If you accept the fearful thought you can attack another and be free yourself, you are mad.

Until this form is changed, there is no hope. Until you see that this is impossible, how could there be escape? The fear of God is real to anyone who thinks this thought is true.

Question it! From there you can at least consider if you want to go along this painful path. Until this shift in thinking, you cannot perceive that it is but your thoughts that bring you fear, and your deliverance depends on YOU.

Once you understand it is impossible that you be hurt except by our own thoughts, the fear of God must disappear. God, Whom you had thought to banish, can be welcomed back within the holy mind He never left.

The thing you dread the most is your salvation. You are strong, and it is strength you want. And you are free, and glad of freedom. You have sought to be both weak and bound, because you feared your strength and freedom. Yet salvation lies in them.

Once you realize that it is YOU you fear, the mind perceives itself as split. The enemy is not on the outside. It is within YOU. You perceive a murderer within you, eager for your death, intent on plotting punishment for you until the time when it can kill at last. Yet in this instant is the time as well in which salvation comes. Fear of God has disappeared. And you can call on Him to save you from illusions by His Love, calling Him Father and yourself His Son/Daughter. Pray that the instant may be soon, - today. Step back from fear, and make advance to love.

There is no Thought of God that does not go with you to help you reach that instant, and to go beyond it quickly, surely and forever. When the fear of God is gone, there are no obstacles that still remain between you and the holy peace of God. How kind and merciful is the idea we practice! Give it welcome, as you should, for it is your release. It is you your mind can try to crucify. Yet your redemption, too, will come from you.

Lesson 195

Love is the way I walk in gratitude.

Lesson 195

Love is the way I walk in gratitude.

Your gratitude is due to him alone Who made all cause of sorrow disappear throughout the world.

Lesson 194

I place the future in the Hands of God.

Lesson 193

All things are lessons God would have me learn.

Each lesson has a central thought, the same in all of them. The form alone is changed, with different circumstances and events; with different characters and different themes apparent but not real. The are the same in fundamental content.

"A problem can appear in many forms, and it will do so while the problem lasts. It serves no purpose to attempt to solve it in a special form. It will recur and then recur again and yet again, until it has been answered for all time and will not rise again in any form. And only then are you released from it (T-26.II.5-8)."

Jesus tells us the content behind the form:

It is this: "Forgive, and you will see this differently."

LESSON 192

I have a function God would have me fill.

What can such a function mean within a world of envy, hatred and attack?

Forgiveness represents your function here. It is not God's creation, for it is the means by which untruth can be undone. On earth, you need the means to let illusions go. Creation merely waits for your return to be acknowledged, not to be complete.

Only forgiveness can relieve the mind of thinking that the body is its home.

With anger gone, you will perceive that for Christ's vision and the gift of sight, no sacrifice was asked, and only pain was lifted from a sick and tortured mind.

Hold no one prisoner. Release instead of bind, for thus are you made free. The way is simple. Every time you feel a stab of anger, realize you hold a sword above your head. And it will fall or be averted as you choose to be condemned or free. Each person who seems to tempt you to be angry represents your chance to forgive. You owe him thanks instead of pain.

Be merciful today. The Son of God deserves your mercy. Your function here on earth is only to forgive him. Forgive him now, and you will see that you are one with him.

Lesson 191

I'm the holy Son of God Himself.
This is our declaration of independence and release from the bondage of the world.

LESSON 190

I choose the joy of God instead of pain.

Choose between illusions and the truth, or pain and joy, or hell and Heaven. We are free to choose our joy instead of pain, the peace of God instead of conflict.

LESSON 189

I feel the Love of God within me now.

What would you see? The choice is given you. Do not let your mind forget this law of seeing. If hatred is in your heart, you will perceive a fearful world. If you feel the Love of God within you, you will look on a world of mercy and of love.

Salvation's ways are not our own, for they belong to You. Our hands are open to receive Your gifts. We ask Your Will, which is our own as well, be done in us and in the world. Amen.

LESSON 188

The peace of God is shining in me now.

This light cannot be lost. The peace of God is shining in you now, and from your heart extends around the world. Who recognizes it within himself must give it.

The peace of God is shining in me now.

Let all things shine upon me in that peace,

And let me bless them with the light in me.

LESSON 187

I bless the world because I bless myself.

Giving is proof of having. The truth maintains that giving will increase what you possess. When you give ideas away, you strengthen them in your own mind.

If you are to save the world, you first accept salvation for yourself. Until you see the miracles it brings to everyone you look upon, you will not believe that this is done. Herein is the idea of giving clarified and given meaning. Now you can perceive that by your giving is your store increased.

Give gladly. You can only gain.

LESSON 186

Salvation of the world depends on me.

All false humility aside, listen to God's Voice, revealing what He would have us do. With strength, wisdom and holiness, He deems us worthy, so we are. It is but arrogance that judges otherwise.

The arrogant must cling to words, afraid to go beyond them to experience which might affront their stance. Yet the humble are free to hear the Voice which tells them what they are, and what to do.

Let it go.

And so we find our peace. We will accept the function God has given us, for all illusions rest upon the weird belief that we can make another for ourselves. We can laugh or weep, and greet the day with welcome or with tears.

Salvation of the world depends on you who can forgive. Such is your function here.

LESSON 185

I want the peace of God.

To say these words is nothing. But to mean these words is everything.

If you could but mean them for just an instant, there would be no further sorrow possible for you in any form; in any place or time. Heaven would be completely given back to full awareness, memory of God entirely restored, the resurrection of all creation fully recognized.

Lesson 185: I want the peace of God

(1:1) To say these words is nothing. But to mean these words is everything.

(6:1) The mind which means that all it wants is peace must join with other minds...

"Now you can say to everyone who comes to join in prayer with you: I cannot go without you, for you are a part of me. So he is in truth." (S-1. V.3:8-10).

LESSON 184

The Name of God is my inheritance.

All our mistakes we give to You, that we may be absolved from all effects our errors seemed to have. And we accept the truth You give, in place of every one of them. Your Name unites us in the oneness which is our inheritance and peace. Amen

LESSON 183

I call upon God's Name and on my own.

Your Father's Name reminds you who you are, even within a world that does not know; even though you have not remembered it.

Repeat God's Name, hear nothing else. Let God's Name become your only thought, word, wish you have. Acknowledge Him as sole Creator of reality.

Today you can achieve a state in which you will experience the gift of grace.

Turn to HIm for your release, and it is given you.

Lesson 182: I will be still an instant and go home

Holy instant is truly the time of Christ. For in this liberating moment no guilt is laid upon the Son of God, and his unlimited power is thus restored to him. ...
The time of Christ is the time appointed for the gift of freedom, offered to everyone. And by your acceptance of it, you offer it to everyone. (T-15.X.2: 1-2).

LESSON 181

I trust my brothers, who are one with me.

REVIEW V - LESSON 180

1. (169) By grace I live. By grace I am released.

2. (170) There is no cruelty in God and none in me.

REVIEW V - LESSON 179

1. (167) There is one life, and that I share with God.

2. (168) Your grace is given me. I claim it now.