Ch. 17. VIII. 1 – 4. Jesus: “The holy instant is nothing more than a special case, or an extreme example, of the learning experience every situation is meant to be. The meaning that the Holy Spirit’s purpose has now given to the situation is also given to every situation. This meaning calls forth the same suspension of faithlessness, previously withheld and left unused, that faith would answer to the call of truth!
The holy instant is the shining example, the clear and unequivocal demonstration of the meaning of every relationship and every situation, seen as a whole. Faith has accepted every aspect of the situation, and faithlessness has not forced any exclusion upon it. It is a situation of perfect peace, simply because you have let it be what it is!
This simple courtesy is all the Holy Spirit asks of you: Let truth be what it is! Do not intrude upon it, do not let your ego attack it, and do not interrupt its coming! Simply let it encompass every situation and bring you peace! Not even faith is asked of you, for truth asks nothing. Let truth enter, and it will call forth and secure for you the faith you need for peace. But rise you not against it, for against your opposition it cannot come.
Would you not want to make a holy instant of every situation? For such is the gift of faith, freely given to the Holy Spirit wherever faithlessness is laid aside, and left unused. And then the power of the Holy Spirit’s purpose is freed for you to use instead. This power instantly transforms all situations into one sure and continuous means for establishing His purpose, and demonstrating its reality.
What has been demonstrated has called for faith, and has been given it. Now it becomes to you a simple fact, from which faith can no longer be withheld. The strain of refusing faith to truth is enormous, however, and far greater than you realize. But to answer truth with faith entails no strain at all!
To you who have by now acknowledged the Call of your Redeemer, the strain you feel from not responding to His Call may seem to be greater than before. This is not so, however. Previously, the strain was there within, but to protect the ego, you projected the blame, attributing it to something else. And then you chose to believe that the ‘something else’ produced it. This was never true!
For what your belief in that ‘something else’ concealed was but sorrow and depression, sickness and pain, darkness and dim imaginings of terror, cold fantasies of fear and fiery dreams of hell, all hidden within your mind. And it was nothing but the intolerable strain of refusing to give faith to truth, and see its clearly evident reality!”