Training Ground

Separate yourself more and more from the world; link yourself more closely still to the Spirit, knowing that that is your right environment and that the earth is but the training ground—the forcing house—which produces the flowers of the Spirit in all their beauty and sweetness.

The Trinity | Andrei Rublev (–1430) | Tretyakov Gallery

Put on the whole armour of Christ.

Put on the whole armour of Christ and go forward with courage; be certain that God is in command and that the Holy Spirit is working through your life.

Martha Graham at the Library of Congress

Gather around you His love.

Gather around you His love and let Him take you in, shutting the cold and the dreariness outside, for you belong to Him and He belongs to you.

Martha Graham at the Library of Congress

In serving humanity, we are manifesting God.

We are bound for a far shore. The waters have been rough and the winds cold and boisterous, but the far shore is worth the experience—even those rough waters did not produce devastation and destruction, but, in reality, have created things of beauty and worth, which no tongue can tell because they are of God.

Rest then in this thought—that the past and the future are going to be shown as one, each a counterpart of the other, for the one purchased that which the other holds and they are blended together and sealed by Christ for His use, for the service of man and the glory of God—it is impossible to divide these two; in serving humanity, we are manifesting God and we cannot love God unless we seek to serve humanity.

Zodiac, The Christ Messenger

Martha Graham at the Library of Congress

Take courage and trust in God.

Take courage and trust in God. If these two things are there, then patience to wait will not be needed because in place of impatience will be certainty and confidence of the ultimate end.

The Martha Graham Collection at the Library of Congress

Let God draw you in.

Make clean that which is unclean, make true that which is untrue; let God draw you on, draw you upward; see the steps upon which you can climb and from which you can reach that borderland when regret will be left behind and only joy will lie in front.

The Martha Graham Collection at the Library of Congress

That's the whole thing in a nutshell.

That's the whole thing in a nutshell—whether you are able to do that which you crave, that which you desire, is immaterial—it's the wishing to do something above the level of the earth that takes you, later on, into the very Realms of the Spirit itself. It's that wishing to separate yourself from the desires of the flesh and the hankering ambitions of the mind, and the ten thousand temptations of the devil—it's that which tells over here, and it is the missing of that which tells as well.

The spirit of William Philip Schreiner

The Martha Graham Collection at the Library of Congress

It breaks your heart.

If only those in the world today could know what the hell of memory is like, they would mend their ways. Over here the real thing is laid out before them. You see it in all its desirableness, and what might have been, and then you turn and look at your own muddied pattern, and it breaks your heart.

The spirit of William Philip Schreiner

The Martha Graham Collection at the Library of Congress

See the wonderful constructive mind of God.

Instead of saying—

What a dreary day!

When the dreariness is impressed upon your memory—

Look around, and, in those you meet, see the wonderful constructive mind of God. If you will undertake this little task, you will find it will bring you happiness because it is impossible to think of God, even in this restricted way, without drawing nearer to Him and that brings happiness always.

Almighty God hath created the mind free. All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion. No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess, and by argument, to maintain their opinions in matters of religion. I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively | Jim McKeeth at English Wikipedia | Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

God's Handiwork is in us all.

Peace is obtainable if we would remember to call upon Christ frequently and with faith. Those warring notes without, loud and blatant, have a way of overwhelming the Voice of the Spirit, of suffocating it, as it were, by their very volume, and to the victim, it appears that the voice they shrink from most is in evidence everywhere.

The second thing to do after calling upon Christ is to look round and try and find God's Handiwork—it is to be found even where light and the sky are blocked from view. God's Handiwork is in us all. We cannot look at another person without seeing the wonder of God. 

The Martha Graham Collection at the Library of Congress

The sun is just over the hill.

The sun is just over the hill—only just. Soon you shall see its brightness in spite of everything.

The Martha Graham Collection at the Library of Congress

Go forward with a heart for anything.

Start the new week with happy thoughts—put sad yesterday out of sight and go forward with a heart for anything.

The Martha Graham Collection at the Library of Congress

Hold fast to that which is the Anchor of us all.

Hold fast to that which is the Anchor of us all.

The Martha Graham Collection at the Library of Congress

Let your wings grow a little more.

Let your wings grow a little more; don't weigh yourself down to the earth as you do; let your mind soar. Happiness is your right, it is the gift of God to all, and when things go awry, then that is against God's wish—and, in many instances, if one or the other had only kept close to Him, it might have been avoided.

Zodiac, the Christ Messenger

The Martha Graham Collection at the Library of Congress

The threefold blessing—never forget it!

Keep yourself free from sorrow—open your hearts to joy. And be certain that although Christ is with you in your troubles—joy is the gift, which comes from Him. Grief is but the blows of the evil—happiness akin to the Spirit. Sorrow linked to the earth, something from which you have to detach yourself—and thus emancipated to rise above the valley and to be free in the illimitable expanse of the blue.

That is God's will and this will be the future—The threefold blessing—never forget it.

Zodiac, the Christ Messenger

The Martha Graham Collection at the Library of Congress

You belong to Him in very truth.

Cling to this thought—

That between you and Christ, there is no division, and that temptation and testing and trying are only to prove your worth—to prove that you belong to Him in very truth.

Zodiac, the Christ Messenger

The Martha Graham Collection at the Library of Congress

The enemy tries to make it appear so.

Could you but see it, my children, there, right away, the clouds are parted and the Heavens are revealed—nothing between you and the Spirit. If only you could have more faith—nothing between you and God except the enemy—no, that is wrong—nothing between you and God although the enemy tries to make it appear so.

Zodiac, the Christ Messenger

The Martha Graham Collection at the Library of Congress

Follow the Star, which is Christ.

Follow the Star, which is Christ; keep your eyes above the level—there on high is your Inspiration, and by the power of the Spirit, you can realise your ideals and you can bring them into your own lives if only the will and the determination hold good.

Zodiac, the Christ Messenger

The Martha Graham Collection at the Library of Congress

God's Hand is at work in a wonderful way.

A passing wind, the destructive hand of man—many trivial things of this nature can alter the aspect of the surface of the earth, and, in a few short minutes, destroy that which has been erected or planted by much care and effort.

You see, dear children, from this the wisdom of carrying on the important part of the work under the surface. The work then instead of being at the mercy of destructive forces, the surface is used as a cloak and protection for the plans being worked out underneath. All the most important things are covered up—it is the only course, the safest and the wisest for those who intend to bring anything through without the marring hand of evil.

Therefore, dear children, take heart of grace and be certain that things are not what they seem; that God's Hand is at work in a wonderful way, and soon you shall see something of the beautiful pattern which He has been weaving and which is going to produce so much.

Zodiac, the Christ Messenger

The Martha Graham Collection at the Library of Congress

Things are only bad from the outside point of view.

Take fresh heart; things are only bad from the outside point of view, but, underneath, they are shaping perfectly, and it’s the underneath that counts.

The Martha Graham Collection at the Library of Congress