I HAVE always loved the Bible accounts of prophets and others who heard the voice of God and talked with Him, and as a pupil in a Christian Science Sunday School I used to wonder how I could do this.

In the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy writes, "The Soul-inspired patriarchs heard the voice of Truth, and talked with God as consciously as man talks with man."  ^{Science and Health, p. 308.} Elsewhere in the same book she explains the spiritual reality underlying this possibility: "The intercommunication is always from God to His idea, man."  ^{Ibid., p. 284.}

Over the years I have come to realize that God is in fact constantly speaking to every one of us. It is the Soul-sense, or kingdom of God, within each of us that responds to this intercommunication. Humanly we may refer to it as spiritual intuition, conscience, moral sense, the ability to differentiate between right and wrong, and so on. Whatever we may choose to call it, whatever individual way we may express it, and even if it appears to be dormant, the kingdom of God is within us, irrespective of race, nationality, social position, color, or religious belief. As Science and Health states: "This kingdom of God 'is within you,'—is within reach of man's consciousness here, and the spiritual idea reveals it. In divine Science, man possesses this recognition of harmony consciously in proportion to his understanding of God."  ^{Ibid., p. 576.}

If we accept this statement, we can immediately begin to ask ourselves what it means to us in practical terms, here and now. To be conscious of what God is saying to us—to sense the intercommunication referred to earlier—we need to put out of thought, insofar as possible, all material, sinful thoughts and images. Through this quiet listening we become conscious of our innate purity and perfection, which are the kingdom of God within us. As we express this kingdom within, we increase our understanding of its divine source and consequently of our ability to commune with this source, God. The result is that we hear God's truth more clearly and are better able to demonstrate health, harmony, and abundant good.

Christ Jesus was the greatest example of constant communion with God. He was so imbued with the Christ, the true idea of God, that he healed instantly and left us his example so that we also may learn how to demonstrate this same Christ in full measure. In his Sermon on the Mount, he gave, as one of the Beatitudes, this clear indication of how we may all become more conscious of the all-presence of God, conscious of divine intercommunication: "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."  ^{Matt. 5:8.} It is the purity of our thought that allows us to see God and know that we are His spiritual creation, as opposed to accepting the erroneous view of creation that the mortal senses present. We have to do our part and resist the suggestions of the carnal so-called mind, which would attempt to direct our thought constantly to obsessive preoccupation with the pleasures and pains of material living.

As we commune individually with God, the divine intercommunication is perceived in the practical form that meets human needs. I have had many proofs that this is so, and one experience was a great inspiration to me.

Some years ago I was appointed financial director of an international organization. Since I felt that I lacked some of the experience and know-how that the position demanded, I was praying sincerely to become more conscious of my actual reflection of God as His complete idea and my consequent possession of the spiritual qualities and wisdom necessary to guide me in my new activity. I was in fact "talking with God," or doing my best to be conscious of God's direction, on a minute-to-minute basis.

A few days after I had taken up the position, I felt strongly that I should get thoroughly acquainted with the many and diverse accounts of the organization. I sat down at my desk to do this. For an hour or so all went well, and I reached the halfway point. I then came upon a section that I simply could not understand. There was no one else in the office at that time who could enlighten me, and I was being constantly interrupted concerning other matters, so after more than an hour of fruitless effort, I put the tough section aside and continued with the rest of the accounts.

I had hardly started when I distinctly heard, mentally, the words "Don't leave those tough accounts; do them now!" I thought this was silly, as I had already wasted much time, and I continued with the rest of the accounts. However the words came again into my thought loudly and clearly a second and then a third time. Finally I recognized the thought for what it was: a God-inspired message. I put all the accounts aside except the ones that were causing me such problems and worked on them nonstop until late in the evening. I went home understanding them fully but tempted to think that I had had a rather unproductive day.

When I arrived in my office the following morning, my secretary told me that the auditors had arrived unexpectedly and wanted to see me urgently as the one now responsible for the finances of the organization. I went to them and asked how I might help. They said that they needed specific information about the very accounts that I had been studying so thoroughly the previous day. I was able to answer all their questions, and this so impressed them that all our future relations were agreeable and productive, instead of burdensome as is sometimes the case.

The blessing for me did not stop there. The experience showed me so clearly that divine Mind does communicate with its ideas and that these ideas are receptive to this intercommunication, that I never again, in that position or in subsequent positions, felt inadequate. Not because I felt I was specially gifted but because I knew, with complete certainty, that I could never be prevented from talking, communing, with my Father-Mother God, the source of all intelligence.

A study of Christian Science reveals clearly that God is all-power, all-presence, and possesses all knowledge. Therefore all that we need to know at any particular moment is available to us right where we are, through God's intercommunication to His idea, man. Our part in awaking to this intercommunication is to maintain our receptivity so that we hear the divine message we need. The significance of the message we receive may not always be immediately apparent. We can be sure, however, that if we are obedient and follow through on divine inspiration, there is always a blessing.