Lesson 296

The Holy Spirit speaks through me today.

1. The Holy Spirit needs my voice today, that all the world may listen to Your Voice, and hear Your Word through me. ²I am resolved to let You speak through me, for I would use no words but Yours, and have no thoughts which are apart from Yours, for only Yours are true. ³I would be savior to the world I made. ⁴For having damned it I would set it free, that I may find escape, and hear the Word Your holy Voice will speak to me today.

2. We teach today what we would learn, and that alone. ²And so our learning goal becomes an unconflicted one, and possible of easy reach and quick accomplishment. ³How gladly does the Holy Spirit come to rescue us from hell, when we allow His teaching to persuade the world, through us, to seek and find the easy path to God.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-296/the-holy-spirit-speaks-through-me-today/en/s/715

Lesson 295

The Holy Spirit looks through me today.

1. Christ asks that He may use my eyes today, and thus redeem the world. ²He asks this gift that He may offer peace of mind to me, and take away all terror and all pain. ³And as they are removed from me, the dreams that seemed to settle on the world are gone. ⁴Redemption must be one. ⁵As I am saved, the world is saved with me. ⁶For all of us must be redeemed together. ⁷Fear appears in many different forms, but love is one.

2. My Father, Christ has asked a gift of me, and one I give that it be given me. ²Help me to use the eyes of Christ today, and thus allow the Holy Spirit’s Love to bless all things which I may look upon, that His forgiving Love may rest on me.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-295/the-holy-spirit-looks-through-me-today/en/s/714

Lesson 294

My body is a wholly neutral thing.

1. I am a Son of God. ²And can I be another thing as well? ³Did God create the mortal and corruptible? ⁴What use has God’s beloved Son for what must die? ⁵And yet a neutral thing does not see death, for thoughts of fear are not invested there, nor is a mockery of love bestowed upon it. ⁶Its neutrality protects it while it has a use. ⁷And afterwards, without a purpose, it is laid aside. ⁸It is not sick nor old nor hurt. ⁹It is but functionless, unneeded and cast off. ¹⁰Let me not see it more than this today; of service for a while and fit to serve, to keep its usefulness while it can serve, and then to be replaced for greater good.

2. My body, Father, cannot be Your Son. ²And what is not created cannot be sinful nor sinless; neither good nor bad. ³Let me, then, use this dream to help Your plan that we awaken from all dreams we made.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-294/my-body-is-a-wholly-neutral-thing/en/s/713

Lesson 293

All fear is past and only love is here.

1. All fear is past, because its source is gone, and all its thoughts gone with it. ²Love remains the only present state, whose Source is here forever and forever. ³Can the world seem bright and clear and safe and welcoming, with all my past mistakes oppressing it, and showing me distorted forms of fear? ⁴Yet in the present love is obvious, and its effects apparent. ⁵All the world shines in reflection of its holy light, and I perceive a world forgiven at last.

2. Father, let not Your holy world escape my sight today. ²Nor let my ears be deaf to all the hymns of gratitude the world is singing underneath the sounds of fear. ³There is a real world which the present holds safe from all past mistakes. ⁴And I would see only this world before my eyes today.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-293/all-fear-is-past-and-only-love-is-here/en/s/712

Lesson 292

A happy outcome to all things is sure.

1. God’s promises make no exceptions. ²And He guarantees that only joy can be the final outcome found for everything. ³Yet it is up to us when this is reached; how long we let an alien will appear to be opposing His. ⁴And while we think this will is real, we will not find the end He has appointed as the outcome of all problems we perceive, all trials we see, and every situation that we meet. ⁵Yet is the ending certain. ⁶For God’s Will is done in earth and Heaven. ⁷We will seek and we will find according to His Will, which guarantees that our will is done.

2. We thank You, Father, for Your guarantee of only happy outcomes in the end. ²Help us not interfere, and so delay the happy endings You have promised us for every problem that we can perceive; for every trial we think we still must meet.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-292/a-happy-outcome-to-all-things-is-sure/en/s/711

Lesson 291

This is a day of stillness and of peace.

1. Christ’s vision looks through me today. ²His sight shows me all things forgiven and at peace, and offers this same vision to the world. ³And I accept this vision in its name, both for myself and for the world as well. ⁴What loveliness we look upon today! ⁵What holiness we see surrounding us! ⁶And it is given us to recognize it is a holiness in which we share; it is the Holiness of God Himself.

2. This day my mind is quiet, to receive the Thoughts You offer me. ²And I accept what comes from You, instead of from myself. ³I do not know the way to You. ⁴But You are wholly certain. ⁵Father, guide Your Son along the quiet path that leads to You. ⁶Let my forgiveness be complete, and let the memory of You return to me.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-291/this-is-a-day-of-stillness-and-of-peace/en/s/710

Lesson 290

My present happiness is all I see.

1. Unless I look upon what is not there, my present happiness is all I see. ²Eyes that begin to open see at last. ³And I would have Christ’s vision come to me this very day. ⁴What I perceive without God’s Own Correction for the sight I made is frightening and painful to behold. ⁵Yet I would not allow my mind to be deceived by the belief the dream I made is real an instant longer. ⁶This the day I seek my present happiness, and look on nothing else except the thing I seek.

2. With this resolve I come to You, and ask Your strength to hold me up today, while I but seek to do Your Will. ²You cannot fail to hear me, Father. ³What I ask have You already given me. ⁴And I am sure that I will see my happiness today.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-290/my-present-happiness-is-all-i-see/en/s/708

Lesson 289

The past is over. It can touch me not.

1. Unless the past is over in my mind, the real world must escape my sight. ²For I am really looking nowhere; seeing but what is not there. ³How can I then perceive the world forgiveness offers? ⁴This the past was made to hide, for this the world that can be looked on only now. ⁵It has no past. ⁶For what can be forgiven but the past, and if it is forgiven it is gone.

2. Father, let me not look upon a past that is not there. ²For You have offered me Your Own replacement, in a present world the past has left untouched and free of sin. ³Here is the end of guilt. ⁴And here am I made ready for Your final step. ⁵Shall I demand that You wait longer for Your Son to find the loveliness You planned to be the end of all his dreams and all his pain?

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-289/the-past-is-over-it-can-touch-me-not/en/s/707

Lesson 288

Let me forget my brother’s past today.

1. This is the thought that leads the way to You, and brings me to my goal. ²I cannot come to You without my brother. ³And to know my Source, I first must recognize what You created one with me. ⁴My brother’s is the hand that leads me on the way to You. ⁵His sins are in the past along with mine, and I am saved because the past is gone. ⁶Let me not cherish it within my heart, or I will lose the way to walk to You. ⁷My brother is my savior. ⁸Let me not attack the savior You have given me. ⁹But let me honor him who bears Your Name, and so remember that It is my own.

2. Forgive me, then, today. ²And you will know you have forgiven me if you behold your brother in the light of holiness. ³He cannot be less holy than can I, and you can not be holier than he.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-288/let-me-forget-my-brothers-past-today/en/s/706

Lesson 287

You are my goal, my Father. Only You.

1. Where would I go but Heaven? ²What could be a substitute for happiness? ³What gift could I prefer before the peace of God? ⁴What treasure would I seek and find and keep that can compare with my Identity? ⁵And would I rather live with fear than love?

2. You are my goal, my Father. ²What but You could I desire to have? ³What way but that which leads to You could I desire to walk? ⁴And what except the memory of You could signify to me the end of dreams and futile substitutions for the truth? ⁵You are my only goal. ⁶Your Son would be as You created him. ⁷What way but this could I expect to recognize my Self, and be at one with my Identity?

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-287/you-are-my-goal-my-father-only-you/en/s/705

Lesson 286

The hush of Heaven holds my heart today.

1. Father, how still today! ²How quietly do all things fall in place! ³This is the day that has been chosen as the time in which I come to understand the lesson that there is no need that I do anything. ⁴In You is every choice already made. ⁵In You has every conflict been resolved. ⁶In You is everything I hope to find already given me. ⁷Your peace is mine. ⁸My heart is quiet, and my mind at rest. ⁹Your Love is Heaven, and Your Love is mine.

2. The stillness of today will give us hope that we have found the way, and travelled far along it to a wholly certain goal. ²Today we will not doubt the end which God Himself has promised us. ³We trust in Him, and in our Self, Who still is one with Him.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-286/the-hush-of-heaven-holds-my-heart-today/en/s/704

Lesson 285

My holiness shines bright and clear today.

1. Today I wake with joy, expecting but the happy things of God to come to me. ²I ask but them to come, and realize my invitation will be answered by the thoughts to which it has been sent by me. ³And I will ask for only joyous things the instant I accept my holiness. ⁴For what would be the use of pain to me, what purpose would my suffering fulfill, and how would grief and loss avail me if insanity departs from me today, and I accept my holiness instead?

2. Father, my holiness is Yours. ²Let me rejoice in it, and through forgiveness be restored to sanity. ³Your Son is still as You created him. ⁴My holiness is part of me, and also part of You. ⁵And what can alter Holiness Itself?

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-285/my-holiness-shines-bright-and-clear-today/en/s/703

Lesson 284

I can elect to change all thoughts that hurt.

1. Loss is not loss when properly perceived. ²Pain is impossible. ³There is no grief with any cause at all. ⁴And suffering of any kind is nothing but a dream. ⁵This is the truth, at first to be but said and then repeated many times; and next to be accepted as but partly true, with many reservations. ⁶Then to be considered seriously more and more, and finally accepted as the truth. ⁷I can elect to change all thoughts that hurt. ⁸And I would go beyond these words today, and past all reservations, and arrive at full acceptance of the truth in them.

2. Father, what You have given cannot hurt, so grief and pain must be impossible. ²Let me not fail to trust in You today, accepting but the joyous as Your gifts; accepting but the joyous as the truth.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-284/i-can-elect-to-change-all-thoughts-that-hurt/en/s/702

Lesson 283

My true Identity abides in You.

1. Father, I made an image of myself, and it is this I call the Son of God. ²Yet is creation as it always was, for Your creation is unchangeable. ³Let me not worship idols. ⁴I am he my Father loves. ⁵My holiness remains the light of Heaven and the Love of God. ⁶Is not what is beloved of You secure? ⁷Is not the light of Heaven infinite? ⁸Is not Your Son my true Identity, when You created everything that is?

2. Now are we one in shared Identity, with God our Father as our only Source, and everything created part of us. ²And so we offer blessing to all things, uniting lovingly with all the world, which our forgiveness has made one with us.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-283/my-true-identity-abides-in-you/en/s/701

Lesson 282

I will not be afraid of love today.

1. If I could realize but this today, salvation would be reached for all the world. ²This the decision not to be insane, and to accept myself as God Himself, my Father and my Source, created me. ³This the determination not to be asleep in dreams of death, while truth remains forever living in the joy of love. ⁴And this the choice to recognize the Self Whom God created as the Son He loves, and Who remains my one Identity.

2. Father, Your Name is Love and so is mine. ²Such is the truth. ³And can the truth be changed by merely giving it another name? ⁴The name of fear is simply a mistake. ⁵Let me not be afraid of truth today.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-282/i-will-not-be-afraid-of-love-today/en/s/700

Lesson 281

I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts.

1. Father, Your Son is perfect. ²When I think that I am hurt in any way, it is because I have forgotten who I am, and that I am as You created me. ³Your Thoughts can only bring me happiness. ⁴If ever I am sad or hurt or ill, I have forgotten what You think, and put my little meaningless ideas in place of where Your Thoughts belong, and where they are. ⁵I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts. ⁶The Thoughts I think with You can only bless. ⁷The Thoughts I think with You alone are true.

2. I will not hurt myself today. ²For I am far beyond all pain. ³My Father placed me safe in Heaven, watching over me. ⁴And I would not attack the Son He loves, for what He loves is also mine to love.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-281/i-can-be-hurt-by-nothing-but-my-thoughts/en/s/699

Lesson 280

What limits can I lay upon God’s Son?

1. Whom God created limitless is free. ²I can invent imprisonment for him, but only in illusions, not in truth. ³No Thought of God has left its Father’s Mind. ⁴No Thought of God is limited at all. ⁵No Thought of God but is forever pure. ⁶Can I lay limits on the Son of God, whose Father willed that he be limitless, and like Himself in freedom and in love?

2. Today let me give honor to Your Son, for thus alone I find the way to You. ²Father, I lay no limits on the Son You love and You created limitless. ³The honor that I give to him is Yours, and what is Yours belongs to me as well.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-280/what-limits-can-i-lay-upon-gods-son/en/s/697

Lesson 279

Creation’s freedom promises my own.

1. The end of dreams is promised me, because God’s Son is not abandoned by His Love. ²Only in dreams is there a time when he appears to be in prison, and awaits a future freedom, if it be at all. ³Yet in reality his dreams are gone, with truth established in their place. ⁴And now is freedom his already. ⁵Should I wait in chains which have been severed for release, when God is offering me freedom now?

2. I will accept Your promises today, and give my faith to them. ²My Father loves the Son Whom He created as His Own. ³Would You withhold the gifts You gave to me?

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-279/creations-freedom-promises-my-own/en/s/696

Lesson 278

If I am bound, my Father is not free.

1. If I accept that I am prisoner within a body, in a world in which all things that seem to live appear to die, then is my Father prisoner with me. ²And this do I believe, when I maintain the laws the world obeys must I obey; the frailties and the sins which I perceive are real, and cannot be escaped. ³If I am bound in any way, I do not know my Father nor my Self. ⁴And I am lost to all reality. ⁵For truth is free, and what is bound is not a part of truth.

2. Father, I ask for nothing but the truth. ²I have had many foolish thoughts about myself and my creation, and have brought a dream of fear into my mind. ³Today, I would not dream. ⁴I choose the way to You instead of madness and instead of fear. ⁵For truth is safe, and only love is sure.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-278/if-i-am-bound-my-father-is-not-free/en/s/695

Lesson 277

Let me not bind Your Son with laws I made.

1. Your Son is free, my Father. ²Let me not imagine I have bound him with the laws I made to rule the body. ³He is not subject to any laws I made by which I try to make the body more secure. ⁴He is not changed by what is changeable. ⁵He is not slave to any laws of time. ⁶He is as You created him, because he knows no law except the law of love.

2. Let us not worship idols, nor believe in any law idolatry would make to hide the freedom of the Son of God. ²He is not bound except by his beliefs. ³Yet what he is, is far beyond his faith in slavery or freedom. ⁴He is free because he is his Father’s Son. ⁵And he cannot be bound unless God’s truth can lie, and God can will that He deceive Himself.

https://acim.org/acim/lesson-277/let-me-not-bind-your-son-with-laws-i-made/en/s/694