Lesson 169: By grace I live. By grace I am released.

When you live by grace, you are released from your self-imposed bondage. When you live by anything that the ego offers you, you will be held in bondage by each dictate of the ego that you follow, and by the degree to which you follow it. That is the law of cause and effect in action.

"Grace is acceptance of the Love of God within a world of seeming hate and fear.” (2:1) Grace is an aspect of the love of God which, in this world, is most like the state prevailing in the unity of truth. It is the world’s most lofty aspiration, for it leads beyond the world entirely, into timelessness and light. By grace alone the hate and fear are gone, because grace presents a state so opposite to everything the world contains, that your mind, lighted by the gift of grace, cannot believe a world of fear is real. The grace of God foreshadows Heaven, yet does not replace the thought of time but for a little while.

Grace is beyond learning, yet the goal of learning, for grace cannot come until the mind prepares itself for true acceptance. To prepare for grace, keep your mind open to hear the Call to waken. Be aware that there are things your mind does not know, and thus be ready to accept a state completely different from your past experiences. “(Grace) comes to every mind when total recognition that its will is God’s has been completely given and received completely.” (6:2)

Suffice it, then, that you have work to do for your part in salvation’s script. The ending must remain obscure to you until your part is done. Yet, be encouraged. As you take the role assigned to you, salvation comes a little nearer to your heart. Forgiveness is the central theme that runs throughout salvation, holding all its parts in meaningful relationships. A happy outcome is sure.

For now, ask for grace, and the experience that comes from grace. Welcome the release it offers you. “What is the face of Christ but his who went a moment into timelessness, and brought a clear reflection of the unity he felt an instant back to bless the world?” (13:3) Be grateful to return and share the gifts that grace provided you to offer release to everyone. “And revelation stands not far behind.”

“By grace I live. By grace I am released.

By grace I give. By grace I will release.”

(W-169.15:3-6)

Lesson 170: There is no cruelty in God and none in me.

No one attacks without intent to hurt. This can have no exception. When you think you attack your brother in self-defense, you mean that to be cruel is protection and that you are safe because of cruelty. You mean that to hurt another will bring you freedom. The idea that the way to defend from fear is to attack -- is insane! Attack merely accentuates the fear. It does not relieve it.

The idea of fear always appears first in your mind, then it is projected outward, and then it appears that you are being attacked (from the outside), even though it is your own thoughts which are being projected back to you, appearing in the same or similar form in which you first sent them out. The “enemy” is not without – there is nothing outside of you. Your defense has set up an enemy within! It is an alien thought that is at war with you, that has deprived you of peace, that has split your mind into two camps which seem wholly irreconcilable. It is not your brother! YOU make what you defend against. YOU have become your own worst enemy.

This moment of realization can seem terrible. But it can also be the time of your release from abject slavery. The choice you make is certain. This time you choose to be one with all your brothers, and to be at war with no one, not even yourself. Now your heart remains at peace forever.

Lesson 171: Review: God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

These are the words with which we start and end each of these lessons for review. With this thought we sleep, and waken once again with these same words to greet another day. These words are but aids to recall the mind, as needed, to its purpose. Yet we place our faith in the experience that comes from practice, not in the words themselves. So use the words, and then go beyond them to their meaning, which is far beyond their sound. The sound grows dim and disappears, as you approach the Source of meaning. It is Here that you find rest.

(151) All things are echoes of the Voice for God. Behind everything you think, and behind everything you think you see, is the Thought of God. Therefore, DOUBT the world you see. Raise it to question. You cannot judge the world through the body’s eyes, because there is no basis in your body from which to judge. Therefore, leave all judgment to One Who knows what is true.

(152) The power of decision is my own. You, as the Son of God, cannot suffer loss of any kind except by your own decision. You cannot grieve nor fear nor think you are sick -- unless these are the outcomes you want. Acknowledge your oneness with God, accept your place as co-creator of the universe, and all that you think you made will disappear as love takes its place.

Lesson 172: Review: God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

(153) In my defenselessness my safety lies. Actually, there is no safety anywhere in the world. The world is “rooted in attack” and all its “gifts” of seeming safety are illusory deceptions. There is no peace of mind to be found in the world. You are its slave. In fear of it, you do not know what you do. Your only hope here is to recognize the Christ in you, and to look to Him for your strength. Choice is always made between Christ’s strength and your own weakness as seen apart from Him. In Christ is where safety lies; only in Him. Do not, therefore, defend yourself; let the truth in Christ protect you. Keep love always in your mind and heart. Where love is, no harm or fear can enter. Stay on the path of the Christ where there is only safety, peace and joy – and you will be safe always, guaranteed.

(154) I am among the ministers of God. God does not deny the tiniest of blessings to His Son, nor does he deny those blessings that you consider to be wondrously magnificent. What can these words mean to you until you have identified with Him? Accept the Atonement for yourself (allow your errors to be corrected) and the meaning of these words will be apparent. Then you can share it with your brothers; you can minister the truth to them as you have received it.

Lesson 173: God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

(155) I will step back and let Him lead the way. This is a simple, yet powerful, choice that you make. This is the way appointed for you now. When dreams are over, time has closed the door on all the things that pass and miracles become purposeless as they are no longer needed. The holy Son of God will make no more useless journeys as there is nowhere to go. You are already home, at one with God. Now, step forth with the Holy Spirit, and progress along the way light and truth point out to you. They will lead you to an awakening of which you could never have dreamed.

(156) I walk with God in perfect holiness. This is the simple truth because separation is impossible. You are a Thought of God. You are mind in the Mind of God and you cannot lose your Source. As you step back, the light in you steps forward to show you your perfect holiness.

I walk with God in perfect holiness. I light the world,

I light my mind and all the minds which God created one with me.

(W-156.8:5-6)

Lesson 174: Review: God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

(157) Into His Presence would I enter now. You have spent long days and nights in celebrating death. Now feel the joy of life. You have come far enough along the way to alter time sufficiently to rise above its laws, and walk into eternity a while. Every lesson, faithfully practiced, will bring you more swiftly to this holy place and leave you, for a moment, to your Self. Your experience will so transform your mind that it becomes the touchstone for the holy Thoughts of God. Enter into Christ’s Presence now, serenely unaware of everything except His shining face and perfect Love, and for an instant transcend all vision, even this, the holiest.

(158) Today I learn to give as I receive. Time is a trick, a sleight of hand, a vast illusion in which figures come and go as if by magic. Yet there is a plan behind appearances that does not change. The script is written. When experience will come to end your doubting has been set. For you but see the journey from the point at which it ended, looking back on it, imagining you make it once again; reviewing mentally what has already gone by. If you have ever experienced déjà vu, then you have but an inkling of what is being described here.

The world will be quiet as you remember the truth. Both you and your brothers will experience the quiet, and all contradictions will be reconciled in it. Christ’s vision has the power to overlook all mistakes and any effects they seemed to have. And thus do you learn to give as you have received.

Lesson 175: Review: God is but Love, and therefore so am I.

(159) I give the miracles I have received. No one can give what he has not received. Christ’s vision is the miracle in which all miracles are born. It is their source, remaining with each miracle you give, and yet still remaining yours. How can this be? It is because your mind is joined with all other minds. There is only one Son, and only one Sonship. All holy thoughts are thought by every holy mind, and all minds are holy in God. It is the bond by which the giver and receiver are united here on earth.

(160) I am at home. Fear is the stranger here. Who is the stranger? Is it fear or you who are unsuited to the home which God provided for His Son? There is no home that can shelter both love and fear. They cannot coexist. If you are real, then fear must be an illusion. And if fear is real, then you do not exist at all. If you are experiencing fear, then you have denied love which is yourself, and left your home and become an exile. Only a miracle will then search you out and show you that you are no stranger now. Look for the miracle. It will come. Accept it. For in your home your Self remains. Fear is nothing and nowhere. God did not create fear, and so it is only imaginary. How simply, then, is the question resolved. Fear is the stranger. Your holy mind, where fear cannot enter, is YOUR home.