PEACE PILGRIM TALKS ABOUT GOD
 
This is the way of peace: Overcome evil with good,
falsehood with truth, and hatred with love.
 

When I was a senior in high school I began to make my search for God, but all my efforts were in an outward direction. I went about inquiring, “What is God? What is God?” I was most inquisitive and I asked many questions of many people, but I never received any answers! However, I was not about to give up. Intellectually I could not find God on the outside, so I tried another approach. I took a long walk with my dog and pondered deeply upon the question. Then I went to bed and slept over it. And in the morning I had my answer from the inside, through a still small voice. 

Now my high school answer was a very simple answer—that we human beings just lump together everything in the universe which is beyond the capacity of all of us, and to all those things together some of us give the name God. Well, that set me on a search. And the first thing I did was to look at a tree, and I said, there’s one. All of us working together couldn’t create that one tree, and even if it looked like a tree it wouldn’t grow. There is a creative force beyond us. And then I looked at my beloved stars at night and there’s another. There’s a sustaining power that keeps planets in their orbit. 

I watched all the changes taking place in the universe. At that time they were trying to keep a lighthouse from washing into the sea. They finally moved it inland and said they had saved it. But I noticed all these changes and I said, there’s another. There is something motivating towards constant change in the universe. 

When I reached confirmation from within I knew beyond all doubt that I had touched my highest light. 

Intellectually I touched God many times as truth and emotionally I touched God as love. I touched God as goodness. I touched God as kindness. It came to me that God is a creative force, a motivating, an over-all intelligence, an ever-present, all pervading spirit—which binds everything in the universe together and gives life to everything. That brought God close. I could not be where God is not. You are within God. God is within you. 


Do you know God? Do you know there is a power greater than ourselves which manifests itself within us as well as everywhere else in the universe? This I call God. Do you know what it is to know God, to have God’s constant guidance, a constant awareness of God’s presence? To know God is to reflect love toward all people and all creations. To know God is to feel peace within—a calmness, a serenity, an unshakeableness which enables you to face any situation. To know God is to be so filled with joy that it bubbles over and goes forth to bless the world. 

I have only one desire now: to do God’s will for me. There is no conflict. When God guides me to walk a pilgrimage I do it gladly. When God guides me to do other things I do them just as gladly. If what I do brings criticism upon me I take it with head unbowed. If what I do brings me praise I pass it immediately along to God, for I am only the instrument through which God does the work. When God guides me to do something I am given strength, I am given supply, I am shown the way. I am given the words to speak. Whether the path is easy or hard I walk in the light of God’s love and peace and joy, and I turn to God with psalms of thanksgiving and praise. This it is to know God. And knowing God is not reserved for the great ones. It is for little folks like you and me. God is always seeking you — every one of you. 

You can find God if you will only seek — by obeying divine laws, by loving people, by relinquishing self-will, attachments, negative thoughts and feelings. And when you find God it will be in the stillness. You will find God within. 


God is love, and whenever you reach out in loving kindness you are expressing God, God is truth, and whenever you seek truth you are seeking God. God is beauty, and whenever you touch the beauty of a flower or a sunset you are touching God. God is the intelligence that creates all and sustains all and binds all together and gives life to all. Yes, God is the essence of all — so you are within God and God is within you — you could not be where God is not. Permeating all is the law of God — physical law and spiritual law. Disobey it and you feel unhappiness: you feel separated from God. Obey it and you feel harmony: you feel close to God. As you live in harmony with divine law you will feel closer to and develop more love for God. 


We lump together all things that are beyond the capacity of all of us collectively to understand — and one name we give to all those things together is God. Therefore, God is the creative force, the sustaining power, that which motivates toward constant change, the overall intelligence which governs the universe by physical and spiritual law, truth, love, goodness, kindness, beauty, the ever-present, all-pervading essence or spirit, which binds everything in the universe together and gives life to everything in the universe. 


If you really know yourself you will know you are a child of God and you will become aware of God.


God speaks through everyone whose life is governed by God.


I had a very strong inner motivation, or calling, to begin my pilgrimage, and I started out against the advice of all my friends. I chose myself to be a receiver of spiritual truth when I surrendered my will to God’s will. You can do that too. We all have the same potential. God is revealed to all who seek, God speaks to all who will listen. When you surrender your will to God’s will you enter a very busy life — and a very beautiful life. 


Think of God as a divine ocean and you as one drop with free will. You can choose to remain separate from the ocean — but you won’t be happy. You can choose to be a part of the ocean, in which case you will give up your free will, but you will be delightfully happy acting in harmony with God’s will. Now you will perceive yourself as a part of God and very much at one with God. 


God is the life force without which the universe would not exist. God is expressed throughout the physical and spiritual universe. 


You can establish a relationship with God by bringing your life into harmony with God’s laws, which are the same for all of us. And by finding and fitting into your part in the divine plan, which is unique for every human soul. 


Communication with God is a deep inner knowing that God is within you and around you. God ‘speaks’ through the still, small voice within. 


How can I feel lonely when I live in the constant awareness of God’s presence? I love and I enjoy being with people, but when I am alone I enjoy being alone with God. 


God is my shield. There are no accidents in the Divine Plan nor does God leave us unattended. No one walks so safely as those who walk humbly and harmlessly with great love and great faith. 


There is really no such thing as an atheist, for within that person is the divine nature which, when awakened, will feel close to God. There are those who call themselves atheists. For some of them I have defined God intellectually as the creative force, the sustaining power, the motivation toward change, the overall intelligence, truth; emotionally as love, goodness, kindness, beauty; spiritually as the ever-present, all-pervading essence or spirit, which binds everything in the universe together and gives life to everything in the universe. 


Why not think of your grandchild as being born into a world filled with God? God’s law is implemented constantly, for everything out of harmony is on its way out. The darkness we see is the disintegration of out-of-harmony things. “God is not dead, nor doth he sleep . . . the wrong shall fail, the right prevail . . . with peace on earth, good will to men.” How can anyone doubt that eventually God will prevail? It is only how soon that is up to us. 

 

To obtain a free copy of Peace Pilgrim's Steps Toward Inner Peace booklet simply contact me requesting one.  For multiple copies of the booklet, or other Peace Pilgrim materials, contact the Friends of Peace Pilgrim (listing in my links pages).  If you are local, Peace Pilgrim videos and books can also be borrowed at the T&SC of Grand Ledge lending library. 

 

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