Behavior Change, II

THURS., NOV. 18, 1982, 5:32 AM
FARM, FRONT OF FIRE

Because your last teaching was such a burden… a time of difficulty… you have taken time away from Me. Your secular task was to write a rather simple paper, or so you thought. That, too, has been difficult. As you finished the first draft yesterday you knew that there would be a teaching on this theme, but you expected it tomorrow. However, you offered Me the test of waking you and getting you up in time if you (I) wanted you to hear this morning. You see, o son, that you are here, though you made no personal plans to be thus. The test was an honest one. I did awaken you, and I did keep you awake so that you knew I wanted you.

Let’s begin with this incident, for it is an example of behavior change. Intellectually and spiritually you know that if you sit down, with a relatively uncluttered hour, usually the first one upon waking, that I shall send you thoughts which make up a Teaching, a unique form of meditation. You know, from reading over ones received over this more than three year period and from using them as the basis for your Sunday morning class, that this is a very worthwhile use of your time. You do not know what you eventually shall do with this mounting library, but you generally are not reticent about the process. You know they are good.

Your attitude toward this time of teaching also is positive and appreciative. You feel that this is a true privilege, and you appreciate the time with Me. You still are uncomfortable with some orthodox Christians, including a number in your own family, and I cannot guarantee that any or all of these will come to accept these scriptural messages about the life you lead. You can continue to be cautious, but continue to give them chances to hear and read. If they cannot accept and profit from these, it is their loss.

Now We get to the behavior. I served as a behavior change agent, initially in the spring and summer of 1979. You could not have gained this knowledge and developed this attitude if you had not “created” a series of these teachings, under My direction. So I leaned on you. You still had a choice, but it was far from a free one. I knew that this was a good and appropriate activity for you, and I had to get you doing it.

This does not negate what you said in your paper about a free society. Translate it here to free will… I have told you repeatedly that I intrude on your free will because My will is also free (to the extent that it is completely at one with the Father, the Lord God, for whom I speak). In one sense I take away your freedom by forcing this behavior, but, ultimately, because the behavior is health-enhancing you gain more freedom from having “lost” some in this process.

Thus, in a free society individuals are relatively free to behave as they choose in relation to health. Your colleague David, for example, is free to eat excessively and be his present size. But the exercise of this freedom then restricts him in comfort and ease of movement and in easy acceptance by those who judge by appearance. So freedom and bondage are eternally linked. There is a time to be free, and time to lose freedom, and these are ever-lastingly intertwined.