Demands

To demand is defined as "to ask peremptorily, imperiously, urgently, or in such a way as to command attention, to ask with legal right or authority, to claim as something one is legally or rightfully entitled to."

A demand involves the use of verbal and psychological force, and is a sin.






Edna Lister on Demands

You must give your brother the same freedom you demand for yourself. – Edna Lister, February 8, 1936.


Your lines of Light wrap around a million people daily. When you board a bus, your lines surround all its occupants. Your demands tighten all your lines of Light and responsibility. – Edna Lister, October 27, 1939.


All things come from above, yet not on demand, only on earning through love, praise and joy. – Edna Lister, November 3, 1940.


You may demand perfection only of yourself. – Edna Lister, February 18, 1941.


You never need to push, shove, demand or expect. – Edna Lister, July 3, 1941.


That which you demand of life, you are always forced to give to life. – Edna Lister, Life in a Nutshell, "Give to Get," 1943.


No one expects much from the lame ducks, but if you are good, everyone not only expects but demands more from you. – Edna Lister, Life in a Nutshell, "Just Do It," 1943.


When you demand, even innocently, law is still law, and you must take whatever may come with the satisfaction of your demand. – Edna Lister, October 26, 1944.


Any demand you make becomes law to you, and God requires payment of you. – Edna Lister, December 11, 1944.


You may not demand answers. – Edna Lister, Jesus' Prayer of the Ages, April 27, 1947.


There are as many paths to God as there are souls on earth. Each has an acceptable truth and each has his approach. You may not demand that all shall follow your way, nor may another demand that you follow his. – Edna Lister, Jesus' Prayer of the Ages, April 27, 1947.


Make no selfish demands that could hold back the world. – Edna Lister, November 18, 1949.


To ask, "Isn't this right for me to do, God?" is a demand posed as a question. The answer will be, "Thou hast said." – Edna Lister, June 24, 1951.


Law works inevitably to build situations of experience in which you may learn your lessons and pay your debts with interest when you dare make demands on another, whether the other fellow knows it or not. Pride is the cause. – Edna Lister, December 15, 1952.


Most frustration stems from expectations and demands you make upon another. Save yourself hurt feelings and disappointment by never indulging in expectations or demands, which are usually something the other party has no conscious idea of wanting to give. – Edna Lister, Faith, the Challenger, 1953.


Soul ascension demands that you learn to comprehend what you think you know. – Edna Lister, Faith: The Challenger, 1953.


The psychological and metaphysical stages of prayer are frequently statements of demand on God. You ascend no farther than your hair roots in this phase of aspiration; we call it skull bumping. – Edna Lister, Prayer: The Soul's Aspiration, June 7, 1953.


Agree with and adjust to an adversary's demands with love, compassion and understanding, which is agreeing with God. – Edna Lister, The Gospel of the Cross, October 18, 1953.


Your Guardian Angels may not force or demand of you, but they can heartily suggest. So be ready for suggestions, lest they must increase the heartiness. – Edna Lister, December 1, 1953.


Never conquering your habit of selfish demands that life conforms to whatever "poor little me" desires, is living life the hard way. – Edna Lister, Eternal Youth, 1955.


You meet disappointment when you make demands that others are unable to meet. When you do not expect understanding beyond the individual's present grade, he is happy, and you have no debt to pay for demanding what he does not have to give. – Edna Lister, Eternal Youth, 1955.


Those who live by demands, expect others to do all the giving, all the adjusting, all the agreeing. Their attitude is "I want you to be good, so I can be happy." Disappointment follows when you make demands that others cannot meet. The result is always self-pity that, in turn, makes the physical body a miserable hovel of aches and pains. – Edna Lister, Eternal Youth, 1955.


Instinctive intelligence greedily takes, grasps, and forces, saying, "I will have it, I demand my rights. I am right." – Edna Lister, Your "Added Things," May 22, 1955.


Law always demands payment. – Edna Lister, Religious Slavery or Freedom? November 27, 1955.


Once soul chooses, you may make no more demands of self, but assertions: "I am success. I am strong. I am powerful. I am free." You cannot live your life by just thinking about it, but must live your choice. – Edna Lister, Rose-Colored Glasses, April 22, 1956.


You cannot make one life spark do anything. You may not command or demand. – Edna Lister, December 10, 1956.


You may not make demands of God. One who demands of God begins again at the bottom. – Edna Lister, June 6, 1957.


If you demand heavily of heaven, you will be responsible for lifting pain, loss, grief or any problem God gives you to sacrifice. – Edna Lister, May 22, 1958.


Demands will bring demotion, not promotion. – Edna Lister, September 17, 1958.


The instant you apply "I" to Power, with demands, you separate Power from Mind and Substance, and create force. – Edna Lister, September 25, 1958.


You could destroy all your progress with one "demand" idea. – Edna Lister, Constancy in Obedience, October 26, 1958.


Demanding that yours is the only right way puts others in bondage. Eventually you find yourself in bondage to work or family to learn this lesson. – Edna Lister, Realization, May 3, 1959.


Each must store enough love to cover any demands. When another demands secrecy, his confidence can be held secret only while his honor and love last. When the love is used up in secrecy, it becomes the world's property exactly like an expired copyright. – Edna Lister, May 14, 1959.


Your words and thoughts determine what returns to you. When you speak in irritation, it shows that you are blaming others and forcibly demanding they do it your way. The vehemence of your demand determines the degree of force returned. – Edna Lister, Jesus' Seven Last Words, June 7, 1959.


If you are willful, demanding or unconsciously desire to mold others in your image and likeness, you will aggravate them. – Edna Lister, June 18, 1959.


This body is yours; you are the ruler. It is the one thing of which you may make demands. – Edna Lister, Steadfastness Through Vigilance, June 19, 1960.


If you use demanding terms to challenge God, such as, "I have learned my lesson on this. It will never happen again," you fool yourself. You may say, "I have learned this law at this level but no higher," then ask to move up in consciousness. – Edna Lister, Miracles Through Comprehension, July 10, 1960.


When another demands of you, give something, but with the definite prayer that he shall not make demands again. The law is "give to receive." Edna Lister, October 3, 1960.


You may not demand anything of your loved ones. According to the height of your acceptance of the fact that you have no right to demand anything of anyone, you are chosen. – Edna Lister, January 1, 1961.


Self looks back, saying, "I have given," and demands more. Soul looks upward, onward, declaring, "Let me give more." Edna Lister, No Shadow of Turning, May 1, 1961.


Demands come under the law of force. – Edna Lister, June 7, 1961.


You may not demand anything of anyone at anytime. You may make demands of self only, never of another. – Edna Lister, January 1, 1961.


You may ask in love repeatedly, but not in brash words as a demand. – Edna Lister, January 15, 1961.


When another demands of you, say, "I think this is wonderful. What day do we put aside to do this?" Ask questions, and the other person may change his mind. If he insists on doing it, then do it. However, apply your faculties to the situation, use the Christ Spirit on it, and delay the adversary with a smile. – Edna Lister, August 9, 1962.


Stop feeling hurt by others' demands. – Edna Lister, January 27, 1963.


Give every hour's service freely, without a grudge or blame for the one who demands the service. – Edna Lister, February 1963.


Never inconsiderately ask or demand of another. – Edna Lister, March 7, 1963.


You may not demand instantaneous healing. – Edna Lister, December 9, 1963.


Such a statement as, "If God doesn't want me to have it (or do it), He should tell me," is a demand. – Edna Lister, Shekinah Splendor, December 15, 1963.


"Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." – John 5:13. We know that Jesus did not mean us to take our physical life; therefore, we realize that he meant we must lay down our old ways of living, our selfish ways, our interfering ways, our demanding ways, for the practice of the unselfish ways of God. – Edna Lister, Five Keys of the Kingdom, 1964, 1982.


The soul demands that little self fully gives up control to become a subordinate part of the soul. – Edna Lister, Five Keys of the Kingdom, 1964, 1982.


Your Oversoul ascends from you on one demand. – Edna Lister, March 1, 1964.


Your words shall heal instantly when you let the Power do the work, and do not demand action. – Edna Lister, March 1, 1964.


The Master saves us by not demanding of us actions beyond our ability to hold. – Edna Lister, The Sword, Your Flaming Scepter of Power, April 19, 1964.


You adulterate your relationship with God by making demands of the Light (not using "let" as your open sesame), or in living by selfish urges while closing out the soul. – Edna Lister, The Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes, April 21, 1964.


When you demand perfection of another, law demands it of you. "The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird your loins like a man; for I will demand of you, and you shall answer Me." – Job 38:1-3. – Edna Lister, August 16, 1964.


You may not demand of another; you break your vows if you make demands. – Edna Lister, September 13, 1964.


Your demand denies the other person freedom to choose. – Edna Lister, October 4, 1964.


You have no right to demand perfection of or to force it on another. You have only the right to declare, see, recognize perfection, and to follow the Path of Perfection, the Via Christa, yourself. – Edna Lister, January 4, 1965.


You have no right to nag or demand, only to offer a loving reminder. – Edna Lister, February 12, 1966.


You have no idea and little gratitude for the work required in heaven when you demand a miracle. – Edna Lister, December 3, 1967.


You pay a debt whenever you interfere in another's life. To free another is "to free you of me." Make no demands. – Edna Lister, February 26, 1969.


Make no demands, for the price is too expensive. Edna Lister, April 15, 1971.

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Old Testament on Demands

And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. – Genesis 9:5-6.


Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. – Job 38:1-3. Under severe testing, Job demanded answers of God, Who in turn demanded them of Job.

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Demands in Other Sacred Writings

He who has received a gift does not have to give it back, but of him who has borrowed it at interest, payment is demanded. This is the way it happens to one who experiences a mystery. – Gospel of Philip, Codex II, 3.

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Edna Miriam Lister
1884 – 1971
The original Christian Pioneering Mystic,
Platonist philosopher, American Idealist, Founder, Society of the Universal Living Christ, minister, teacher, author, wife, and mother.


Edna Lister


Etymology of demand: Old French demander, to charge with doing, and from Medieval Latin demandare, to demand, from Latin, to entrust: de- + mandare, to entrust.


Demand: A demand is a use of force and a sin.


References

The Compact Edition of The Oxford English Dictionary: 2 volumes. E.S.C. Weiner, editor. Oxford University Press, 1971.

The Holy Bible. King James Version (KJV).

The Nag Hammadi Library. James M. Robinson, editor. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1981.