Whether you see it or not, this world is in the hands of the hand that is coming from beneath the earth. Just think of all the acts of will that are occurring as they never have occurred before on this planet where young children and adults commit unbelievable acts and then say, “I have no idea what came over me.” This is what came over them: through years of abuse by a planet filled with people who don’t care, and through years of refusing the tiny moments when their Father did place His hand in theirs, they have reached the point where they can’t recognize the difference between the hand that wants to pull them down, and the hand that wants to lift them up. And once you come to the point where you can no longer tell the difference — you’re a goner.

But to know the difference costs something, doesn’t it? It means we have to work when we would really prefer not to be bothered. We want to feel pleasure with no disturbance, but that’s spiritual and psychological sleep. Christ said, “Watch,” meaning, “Be awake.” When he cautioned people to “be awake” he was telling them to see whose hand they were holding. Your Father’s hand not only doesn’t let you go to sleep, it lifts you. The hand from beneath not only puts you to sleep, but it does it faster and faster, so that one day you won’t even know that your hand was held fast in that descending hand.

Stay awake, regardless of what it seems to cost you. Remember to do this exercise: Come awake every moment and ask yourself: “In whose hand is mine?” When you’re driving your car or sitting in a business meeting, ask yourself: “In whose hand is mine?” The moment you become aware of yourself and ask the question, you will know which spirit just possessed you.