WEEK 21: STEPPING INTO YOUR MINISTRY This is our final month, Month 6. Congratulations! The next 4 weeks are going to be on the theme of Working with Others. We said last week that the only way to EFFECTIVELY work with others is to join with Jesus to take his hand, to join your light with his light. As God sent Jesus to you, Jesus will send you to others and you will go together (because you joined with him) and it s his light combined with yours that does all the healing and miracles. That s how you work with others. Alone, you are nothing. Together, you are a mighty force for God.
It s not difficult at heal because it s Jesus who is doing everything. Your part is simply to acknowledge his presence, join with him and rejoice that he does so much and you do so little. He needs you and you need him. You need his light and he needs your willingness, along with your hands, your feet, your ears, your eyes and your voice. We are going to continue looking at Chapter 8 from the Text of A Course in Miracles, with an emphasis on the last 3 sections (of Chapter 8) which deal with the purpose of the body, healing, sickness, health and joining with Jesus. Please also read: Workbook Lesson 154: I am among the ministers of God. These sections (Chapter 8 and Lesson 154) are reminders from last week that all healing occurs naturally when you are joined with Jesus and that NO healing occurs when you are running your own show alone. Your assignment this week is TO GIVE. You will never know you have received until you start giving. This week you will be acknowledging what the body is for to bring the light of God to the world to everyone you see, meet and think of. You are a minister now. You are healed and you can heal. You are saved and you can save. Your ministry begins. To have peace, teach peace to learn it. 2 Be vigilant only for God and His Kingdom.
The Holy Spirit teaches you to use your body only to reach your brothers, so He can teach His message through you. A Course in Miracles; Chapter 8: The Body as Means or End A sick body does not make any sense. It does not make sense because sickness is not what the body is for. Sickness is meaningful only if the two basic premises on which the ego s interpretations of the body rests are true: that the body is for attack, and that you are a body. Without these premises, sickness is inconceivable. A Course in Miracles; Chapter 8: The Body as Means or End 3
You are stepping into your role as a minister, a messenger of God and a healer. Your vocation is to be a light in the world with Jesus. You are going to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast out demons. You are going to offer light to those who still think they suffer, who believe they are trapped in darkness. You are going to be aware of the Light in You, allowing it to flow through your heart to others, through your hands to others, through your eyes to others. LISTEN to One Voice and let it tell you what your function is, what your part is in God s Plan for Salvation. And then take the steps necessary to do what it entails. Whatever the Voice of God is asking you to do, you will begin to do. It could be as simple as telling people there is no need to suffer when they tell you their stories of problems and sickness. You will be listening to Christ in you and letting Him guide you, direct you, to the words you need to share with those who God sends to you. Often times, the Voice will tell you to stay quiet. A lot of people are not ready for words, but your simple remembrance of who this brother is and that Jesus is with you is all that is needed for healing to occur. You are going to be ACUTELY AWARE that God is sending people to you, and that you are being sent to others. Remember: You are surrounded by the peace of God. Think of this peace as surrounding you, like a bubble. 4
As people come close to you and as you get close to them, keep this bubble of peace and joy and love that surrounds you firmly in your mind. From now on, be SUPER ALERT to all the people who come to you, who come into the Peace of God, which surrounds you. Offer them a place of rest and safety. Help them to go past their delusions. Speak to them of the Kingdom of Heaven, which is the state of mind where you abide. We are adding an action element now. God needs your hands, your feet, your ears, your eyes so that he can reach others. YOU ARE NEEDED IN GOD S PLAN. There is a time when you are required to teach to learn, to give as you have received. You will never know how much you have until you begin to give. This week, you are asked to give. YOU ARE A TEACHER OF GOD. YOU ARE A MINISTER OF GOD. You are ready. I m sure every doctor who studied for 8 years in the classroom was terrified the second they were required to be a doctor, to pick up a knife and do the work they studied for. 5
So it is with this work. You could spend years studying (and many Course in Miracles students get stuck here), but there comes a moment when you must step into the role of your training. THIS IS IT. A Course in Miracles is a one-year program designed to bring you to this very place, where you put the Course book aside and start listening to the Voice that is within you. If you have not yet completed the workbook lessons, keep going with them and complete them. Know that you are ready to begin your ministry now. YOU ARE GOING TO LISTEN AND FIND OUT WHAT YOU ARE HERE TO DO, AND YOU ARE GOING TO DO IT. 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 ways, 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 you 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. A Course in Miracles ; Lesson 154 I am among the ministers of God Nobody is ever really ready for this work. This is why TRUST is the first and most important characteristic of God. Nobody ever feels that they have the credentials or the certainty when they first begin their ministry healing work. You do it on a leap on faith, on the wings of angels. 6
It s important to remember that YOU DO NOTHING. It is Christ within you who is doing the work, and it s time now to let Him work through you. We have spent months in preparation, and you are ready. You are appointed now. In the Bible, Jesus sends his disciples out into the world. He instructs them about what to do, how to conduct themselves and what to take with them on the journey (which is nothing). He knew that he was sending them out into wolves, and so he tells them to be as gentle as doves and as wise as serpents. Jesus said to his disciples: Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. Matthew 10:16, KJV He tells them to go preach that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, and to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat. That is the place we are now. We have been together for 40 days and 5 months and it is now time for you to find out what your appointed role is and go out into the world, letting Christ work through you. It is time to carry the light of God back to the darkness and help others to leave the darkness with you. LISTEN TO THE ONE VOICE IN YOU. FIND OUT WHAT IS YOUR FUNCTION, YOUR PART IN GOD S PLAN. 7
What has been given to you specifically to do? God has sent you into this world, and now you listen and find out what you are here to do. YOU ARE READY. You see Christ working through you only as you allow him to work through you. NOW IS THE TIME. YOUR MINISTRY BEGINS TODAY, AND EXTENDS ITS BLESSING TO THE WORLD. WE LOOK PAST DREAMS NOW. ATTACK AND DEFENSE HAS NO MEANING NOW. BE GENTLE AS DOVES AND WISE AS SERPENTS. YOU ARE SAFE IN THE PEACE OF GOD WHICH SURROUNDS YOU. NOTHING CAN HARM YOU FROM THIS PLACE OF SAFETY. We have been studying and practicing and releasing obstacles and breaking our secret vow with the ego and renouncing death and learning to listen to the Holy Spirit. It is time to take your place in God s Plan for Salvation. You are going to start working with people as a minister, teacher and healer, extending light to them, actively being an Instrument of Healing and Peace to all the people you interact with. 8
The one thing I know is that you literally never arrive until the moment you declare that you have arrived, and begin giving. YOU ARE READY. While you fail to teach and extend the love that you are, you will always be waiting for later, and later never comes. You must begin teaching and sharing this message and step into your function to know it is yours. Your part is to be happy. Your joy heals all sorrow and despair and calls all minds out of darkness. 9
In your relationship, you have joined with me in bringing Heaven to the Son of God, who hid in darkness. You have been willing to bring the darkness to light, and this willingness has given strength to everyone who would REMAIN in darkness. Those who would see, WILL see. And they will join with me in carrying THEIR light into the darkness, when the darkness in them is OFFERED to the light, and is removed forever. My need for you, joined WITH me in the holy light of your relationship, is YOUR need for salvation. Would I not give you what you gave to me? For when you joined each other, you answered ME. You who are now the bringers of salvation, have the function of bringing light to darkness. The darkness in you HAS been brought to light. Carry it back TO darkness, from the holy instant to which you BROUGHT it. We are made whole in our desire to make whole. Let not time worry you, for all the fear that you experience is really past. Time has been re-adjusted to help us do together what your separate pasts would hinder. You have gone PAST fear, for no two minds can JOIN in the desire for love without love s joining THEM. A Course in Miracles; Chapter 18: The Dream And The Reality; Light In The Dream 10
WEEK 21 PRACTICES: Read ACIM ; Workbook Lesson 154: I am among the ministers of God. Read ACIM ; Chapter 8 focus on the last 3 sections: Sections VII, Section VIII, Section IX WEEK 21 REFLECTIONS: 1. Write in your journal about your thoughts and feelings about being a minister and healer as you go together with Jesus and allow Christ to work through you this week. 2. Set aside time every day for meditation, prayer and listen to instruction from your guide about what to do, where to go, what to say and to whom. 3. Be alert to the people who are being sent to you for healing. Stay aware of the people you are being sent to. There are no accidents in God s Plan. Everyone who comes to you has come to receive God s peace and love. It is your gift (given to you by God) to give to them. 11 www.teachersofgod.org