Tag: Spiritual Free will

Light from the Lantern

Our sisters and brothers are torn apart by many conflicting areas of angry disagreement; we need illuminating spiritual guidance for these troublous times. Spiritual assistance is vital as we attempt to find our way through today’s conflicting crosscurrents. Revelations in The Urantia Book, if sincerely accepted, will improve our spiritual awareness so that we naturally manifest fruits of the spirit in our daily lives as we interact with those around us. These teachings must direct our lives as we apply them to every moment of our existence; each of us thus becomes a living Light of Truth; a spiritual lantern.

We explore the significance of light and lantern, what constitutes spiritual growth, what are fruits of the spirit, and briefly discuss personal religious experience.

Light of the Lantern

“It is the light in the lantern which shows you the path not the lantern.” (Note on the tag of a bag of Yogi Chai Rooibos tea)

The lantern is a physical device whose purpose is to produce light that can illuminate our surroundings; whether it is a fancy work of art or plain and ordinary, its purpose is illumination. Its purpose is physical illumination.

In a similar manner, The Urantia Book is a physical item with a purpose. Those sincerely reading it receive a message of spiritual truth, hope, joy, love, mercy, and the eternal value of each and every human being. Its purpose is to uplift our spiritual awareness; if we sincerely apply its teachings to our daily lives we receive illumination. We receive spiritual illumination.

Many students of our revelation, The Urantia Book, are mainly concerned with purely physical aspects of this spiritual revelation. It is indeed filled with countless fascinating physical facts: when did our Creator Son arrive here to begin the creation of his local universe (over 400 billion years ago, the Big Bangers will have trouble with that), (653.8)[1] how many inhabited worlds are there (7 trillion when this region of space is completed), how did the geological process operate to form our native sphere, and how did the evolutionary process of life on Earth originate and proceed; to list only a tiny fraction. Many also want to know how we got this hefty book. They are mainly interested in its physical aspects. This is OK for sisters and brothers becoming acquainted with our revelation, but serious students need to look toward the purpose of this Epochal Revelation: growing spiritual awareness for citizens of planet Earth. We must turn on our inner illumination and contribute to the betterment of life on Earth by exhibiting fruits of the spirit in our daily lives.

Spiritual Growth

Everyone of normal mind on our native sphere contains within them an actual fragment of God. This spark of God within is always seeking to guide us into a stronger relationship with our Heavenly Father. here are present in all normal mortals certain innate drives toward growth and self-realization which function if they are not specifically inhibited. (1095.1) In this quotation “innate drives” is plural. We have several spirit influences guiding us into greater spiritual awareness, all we need do is to “not specifically inhibit” their guidance. We frequently do not fully cooperate with our spirit guides; our material mind set has difficulty accepting spirit guidance. Our Heavenly Father is continually guiding us into greater spiritual awareness but it is up to each individual to fully cooperate, to follow the guidance each of us is given. All too often it is we who tell Father what we want.

We assist spirit growth by many means: recognizing spirit led lives in others, meditating on spirit reality such as God, looking at events from a spirit prospective, and accepting the spirit guidance we receive. The factors of religious growth may be intentional, but the growth itself is unvaryingly unconscious. (1095.3) Our greatest desire should be to draw closer to God, but our progress Godward is unconscious; we may be totally unaware of any spiritual progress.

Spiritual growth is first an awakening to needs, next a discernment of meanings, and then a discovery of values. (1095.6) We cannot make spiritual progress unless we know we absolutely need it. It is important to recognize we are alone in a seemingly cruel universe if we do not accept God’s guidance; we need His guidance. There comes a point where we begin to understand meanings, these will come in many ways. One thing is we begin to comprehend the magnitude of what our Creator Son Michael, Jesus, did to create everything in his local universe; amazing. At last we become conscious of values; while the physical arena is concerned with quantity, in the spiritual region it is quality. Since God is spirit, He is the ultimate value. Our goal should be to grow closer to Him.

Fruits of the spirit

As we grow spiritually we begin to manifest fruits of the spirit. These are a natural result of living the spirit led life. Indeed, all political, social, or economic value that may result from the teachings of Jesus arise from natural consequences of a personal soul experience; the fruits of the spirit are a spontaneous manifestation of soul growth. (1585.4)

Salvation is the free gift of God, but those who are born of the spirit will immediately begin to show forth the fruits of the spirit in loving service to their fellow creatures. And the fruits of the divine spirit which are yielded in the lives of spirit-born and God-knowing mortals are: loving service, unselfish devotion, courageous loyalty, sincere fairness, enlightened honesty, undying hope, confiding trust, merciful ministry, unfailing goodness, forgiving tolerance, and enduring peace. (2054.3)

God is truly merciful; love is His primary reaction to our pleas. Salvation is freely given each one of us as long as we do not totally reject His gifts. These fruits of the spirit are a consequence of being born of the spirit; accepting the guidance of our Heavenly Father. Fruits of the spirit are expressed in being honest, fair, and having total concern for the welfare of all of our sisters and brothers.

When we exhibit these fruits of the spirit in our lives we are simply showing traits Jesus manifested in his life on Earth. (2062.10) We begin to live our lives in these times as Jesus would were he with us now; through the Spirit of Truth Jesus is truly with us here and now.

Personal Religious Experience

When we think about a personal religious experience our first thought might be Saul of Tarsus. At first blush it seemed that all he did was to walk down the road to Damascus when suddenly he had a powerful spiritual experience and became the apostle Paul. It was so strong it took several days before he fully recovered from the abrupt transformation; it certainly was not that simple. Another example is Gautama Siddhartha, Buddha. These experiences may be a natural and gradual growth or may sometimes be experienced at certain junctures, as in a crisis. (1099.1) The individual must be devoted to doing God’s will, following His guidance at each decision point. These decisions will be difficult; they may involve hardships and emotional conflicts. If the way into a greater spiritual awareness were easy, our planet would be teeming with Buddhas and Pauls.

The spiritual growth of Jesus was gradual; when he was not quite thirteen he experienced illumination. (1376.1) He was also visited by a celestial visitor telling him it was time to be about his Father’s business.

Our revelatory lantern, The Urantia Book, presents to us an enlarged description of creation and describes the exalted eternal future awaiting each of us if we so choose. Our choices define our future; if we choose to follow the spiritual guidance we receive, there will literally be no end to our existence. This gradually happens as we accept the illumination from this big blue lantern.

  1. All references are to The Urantia Book, the one column edition in the format page.paragraph ↑

Accepting God’s Assistance

Our Heavenly Father wants only the best for each one of us; He wants us to succeed and is willing to help us if only we would let Him. Our Father is literally within each one of us, wanting to guide us and show us the way.

We will explore these thoughts based on one paragraph in The Urantia Book. Each sentence will be considered separately. The reference is The Urantia Book.

Why do you not aid the Adjuster in the task of showing you the spiritual counterpart of all these strenuous material efforts?

The presence of God within every thinking human being is called the Thought Adjuster, or simply Adjuster; it is also known by other names such as Mystery Monitor. Our Monitor wants to show us the way, why then do we not aid this fragment of God? He wants to assist us but cannot go against our free will choices; we must want to follow Him, we must want to accept His assistance. As we struggle in the material realm, He wants to show us the spiritual counterpart so we will be aware of goals and purposes for our life, our existence. Our material efforts also have a spiritual purpose but we are not aware of it unless we let our Monitor show us these values.

Why do you not allow the Adjuster to strengthen you with the spiritual truths of cosmic power while you wrestle with the temporal difficulties of creature existence?

There is power in cosmic realities which can strengthen us as we struggle with our material difficulties. The spiritual is primal over the physical; these spiritual truths can certainly help us here and now. This spiritual power is available to us in our earthly struggles if we only permit our Adjuster to guide us.

Why do you not encourage the heavenly helper to cheer you with the clear vision of the eternal outlook of universal life as you gaze in perplexity at the problems of the passing hour?

We can encourage our Monitor to grant us a certainty of our eternal life and allow this certainty to give us wisdom in dealing with our perplexing problems. We will then KNOW we are eternal beings and this would give us strength and comfort as confront our difficulties. Even while we are working out our material issues we can have that certain assurance of our eternal future; we need only to sincerely ask for it.

Why do you refuse to be enlightened and inspired by the universe viewpoint while you toil amidst the handicaps of time and flounder in the maze of uncertainties which beset your mortal life journey?

We are all cosmic citizens, having a more universal viewpoint will enlarge our horizons and enable us to have the broader picture in our mind as we struggle in our daily lives. Having this broader viewpoint will inspire us to incorporate this wider view into our daily existence.

Why not allow the Adjuster to spiritualize your thinking, even though your feet must tread the material paths of earthly endeavor?

In this material life there are many conflicting things we must be aware of and deal with; through it all, our feet must tread material paths. While we are dealing with physical necessities, our thinking is a certain guide in our lives. If this thinking is spiritualized, if we are seeking spiritual values, then we can better deal with whatever we might encounter in our daily lives. Again, we need to allow our Adjuster to guide us, to spiritualize our thinking.

We appear to be working out our lives solely in this earthly sphere, but in reality we are also working in a spiritual arena and it is in this spiritual workplace that we build our potentially eternal soul, our spirit being. Our indwelling spark of God, our Adjuster wants to assist us in this spiritual space and if we accept its workings there will also be an effect in our material lives.

Once we have fully accepted the guidance of our Adjuster we should consider accepting the covenant our Heavenly Father offers us.

And as you are the human parent, so is the Adjuster the divine parent of the real you, your higher and advancing self, your … future spiritual self. (Urantia Book 1193.5)

Heavenly Family

Heavenly House

Today we talk about two new Talking Points pages: Heavenly Family and Spiritual Guidance. Jesus wanted to promote the idea of a Heavenly Family but the Jewish people in his time were expecting the Messiah to appear and institute the Kingdom of Heaven and free them from Roman rule. Earthly kingdoms ruled by a king are no longer relevant in our society. We also briefly discuss the various ways in which we are spiritually guided.

In the time of Jesus, the relationship between the individual and God was described in terms of the kingdom of heaven because in those days there were real kings, the Jewish people in fact lived in the Roman Empire. The Jewish people were impatiently expecting the messiah to establish the kingdom of God that would free them from Roman rule.[1] They were eagerly expecting the kingdom of God to be established; therefore they would accept nothing else. The concept of a kingdom of heaven has lost its relevancy for our world; our description of a relationship with God needs to be revised for current reality.

Jesus wanted to substitute the concept of the heavenly family for the kingdom idea but he did not succeed.[2] The idea that the messiah would come to deliver Israel from its oppressors and begin the kingdom of God on Earth was strong; the concept of a heavenly family did not catch on because it was too advanced for that time.

Jesus wanted to represent the relationship between the individual and God as a family relationship because, for Jesus, the family was the most important aspect of life. He certainly exemplified this in his personal life, especially when he masterfully guided his earthly family after the death of Joseph. This period of dedicated service to his family is a shining example of a loving father watching over his family. People need to know the true Jesus and that the way he lived was a living demonstration of his teachings.

The primary purpose of the bestowal of Jesus to our planet was to portray to us, and the rest of his creation, the nature of our Heavenly Father. In his family life, Jesus certainly personified the earthly father who is a companion to the children and who is dedicatedly loyal to all of them. Jesus was loyal to such an extent he stayed in jail with his younger brother Jude for more than a day until the case against Jude could be settled.[3] The entire life of Jesus was a portrayal of the loyalty of God to His children. For companionship, God is actually present within us; He is certainly a part of us, guiding and teaching us; our Heavenly Father is the most intimate companion any mortal can have.

It is time for a restatement of the teachings of Jesus, our creator father and our earthly brother. The key element of this restatement is family. Everyone has been part of a family. Some families are more nurturing for their children than others it is true, but we all have some sort of family experience. What could be more natural as a simile for our relationship with God than family?

Every family needs to function as a united whole; when any part of a family separates itself from the rest of the family there is pain for the entire family. For everyone and anyone, the path of happiness is connection with all our sisters and brothers while the path of sorrow is separation and isolation.[4] The Heavenly Family needs to be a united whole with everyone working for the betterment of everyone else. This might seem to be a lofty goal, but remember our Heavenly Father is assisting us at each step along the way.

The masses truly need to know about the life of Jesus; they need to know how his life was a prefect reflection of his teachings; they need to know the immanence of our Father is a vital part of our being. God is with us and invites each one of us into the Heavenly Family. Within the spiritual realm of this family we find harmony, we attain a greater appreciation of our Father, and we better understand our sisters and brothers. Our Heavenly Family should be the foundation of our spiritual life, the wellspring of our faith and the vehicle for our manifesting the fruits of the spirit in our daily lives.

Even though we have no conscious awareness of it, we are always surrounded by spiritual assistance. While there are many spirit beings and forces impinging upon us, we will discuss only three: the spark of God dwelling within each of us, the Spirit of Truth, and our Guardian Angels.

Every mortal with a normal mind living on this planet has as a part of their being an actual fragment of God, called our Thought Adjuster, or Monitor; this is also discussed in the God Within page. God is therefore infinite, can be everywhere, and yet at the same instant actually dwells within each of us; He is both within us and outside us guiding us toward His presence. We need not go any farther than our inner experience to find God and commune with Him.[5] The presence of our Heavenly Father within each mortal is also mentioned in the Bible.[6]

After the Last Supper, Jesus addressed the apostles, telling them about the Spirit of Truth he would soon bestow upon the world; he said he would leave with them one who would teach them truth and comfort them, the Spirit of Truth.[7] He told them he could be with each of them at the same time; he would not leave them (or us) without guidance and he would be with them, teaching them.[8]

This spirit guide is exactly like Jesus except for the material body and will live with each of us. Jesus tells us: in this very manner will my Father and I be able to live in the souls of each one of you and also in the hearts of all other men who love us and make that love real in their experiences by loving one another, even as I am now loving you. (Urantia Book 1949.1) He lives in us as the Spirit of Truth just as the Father lives in us by means of the Thought Adjuster. Each of us has powerful spirit guides dwelling with us and they will certainly show us the way if we let them.

We are familiar with the Spirit of Truth since it is mentioned in the Bible where it is called the Holy Spirit.[9] It powerfully activated the apostles at Pentecost, especially Peter.[10]

Our guardian angels assist us in our earthly life, they are the traditional angels of heaven that we are familiar with from the Bible.[11] They have real forms but do not have physical bodies and they do not have wings.[12] Other than this they are very much like us, in fact we were created just a little bit lower than them.[13] Angels have been on this planet since the appearance of intelligent life.

Every person has a guardian angel to watch over them but the number of mortals each angel oversees varies according to the spiritual progress each person has made. At first each angel has oversight over one thousand mortals; as individuals make spiritual progress this ratio changes, decreasing to one hundred, then to ten. Finally persons who have made the most spiritual progress each have a personal guardian angel; actually there are two of them because they always work in pairs.[14]

These guardian angels act according to the directions of their supervisors rather than upon our direct requests; they have orders independent of whatever our passing fancy might be. Our choices may make their work on our behalf easier or more difficult but they do not necessarily respond to our prayers. Any response to prayer comes from God and He may use beings other than our guardian angels to answer our prayers. Guardian angels actually do guard us but they will not interfere with any of our free will choices; our free will decisions are held sacred by all higher beings. When we do make such a free will decision, our angels will do everything possible to help us make the best use of our chosen course.[15] If it is a worthy decision they will help us all they can, if on the other hand it is not, they might work with us to assist us to see the better way, arrive at a better choice.

Contrary to what our physical senses tell us, we are not alone in a friendless world. We are guided, guarded and protected by loving spirit guides. We hinder their work when we engage in selfish materialistic activity, when we put ourself ahead of our sisters and brothers, when we trample on the rights of those beaten down by society, and when we ignore spiritual reality. We must go forth with the certain knowledge of God’s guidance in our lives. Although there may be momentary setbacks, our Heavenly Father is with us and when we trust in this truth we cannot fail.

  1. All references are to The Urantia Book unless otherwise stated. The number refers to the single column version in the format page.paragraph; 1500.2 and 1501.1 ↑

  2. 1860.6-7 ↑

  3. 1415.6 ↑

  4. “The Book of Joy – Lasting Happiness in a Changing World,” His Holiness the Dali Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu with Douglas Abrams, Avery, New York, 2016, p 99 ↑

  5. 62.1 ↑

  6. Bible, I Corinthians 3, 16 ↑

  7. 1947.2 ↑

  8. 1948.2 ↑

  9. Bible, Acts chapter 2 ↑

  10. 2060.2 ↑

  11. 1241.2 and Bible, John 20:12 ↑

  12. 1246.1 ↑

  13. 1248.3 ↑

  14. 1242.2-3 ↑

  15. 1246.2-3 ↑

Death of Our Democracy?

Every day we learn of some new way in which it seems we live in dangerous, changing times. The troubled environment such as America is experiencing is not exclusive to our nation; as we will see there are currently many troubled places on our planet.

The Urantia Book states we are moving out of the sheltered bays of tradition and into rough waters before we will find a more secure harbor based on inclusion, brotherhood and love.[1] Society is moving from one level, materialism, to another more spiritual level. These changes define our times: they test our values; also they present opportunities for spiritual growth and service. The nature of our eternal future will depend on how we respond to current challenges. We definitely need to be certain of our moral foundation before moving into the troublous times ahead.

The Urantia Book gives guidance for this transition period. One section discusses philosophic statements, called mota, which are aimed at increasing our spiritual awareness and guiding us toward a more balanced viewpoint.[2] Selected entries will be discussed with the aim of gaining insight into how we should proceed in the times ahead.

These mota lessons are aimed at teaching the less advanced students on the transition worlds where we will be repersonalized after physical death. The goal is to help them attain a higher awareness of applied philosophy before they proceed to more advanced spiritual realms.

These statements guide us as we seek to deal with the troubling times ahead. They provide guidance as to how we should act, react and seek a better world for each one of our sisters and brothers.

Selected mota:

Few persons live up to the faith which they really have. Unreasoned fear is a master intellectual fraud practiced upon the evolving mortal soul.[3] There is no reason we should fear because each one of us is indwelt by an actual spark of God.[4] All we need do is cooperate with our God within, also called our Thought Adjuster, knowing we have an internal perfect guide who has a plan for our lives. There is no place for fear in the lives of faith motivated individuals.

To enjoy privilege without abuse, to have liberty without license, to possess power and steadfastly refuse to use it for self-aggrandizement — these are the marks of high civilization.[5] By this measure our civilization does not qualify as being particularly “high,” we need only read the signs of our times to see troubled waters ahead.

Blind and unforeseen accidents do not occur in the cosmos. Neither do the celestial beings assist the lower being who refuses to act upon his light of truth.[6] If we follow the internal guidance each of us receives, if we act upon our own light of truth we will be assisted by celestial beings and forces. We are certainly not alone.

The weak indulge in resolutions, but the strong act. Life is but a day’s work — do it well. The act is ours; the consequences God’s.[7] This does not need further comment except to say that the consequences brought by God are strongly influenced by the nature of our actions.

The greatest affliction of the cosmos is never to have been afflicted. Mortals only learn wisdom by experiencing tribulation.[8] Experience certainly seems to be the best teacher and lessons learned during trying times are long remembered. Those who have not been afflicted do not know the thrill of choosing God’s will over lesser choices in times of desperate needs. {Spiritual Free Will}

Impatience is a spirit poison; anger is like a stone hurled into a hornet’s nest.[9] Impatience and anger each bring damage to our soul, they deflate our true self. If we have true faith we will not be tempted into these destroying emotions. True faith is certain guard against them. {True Religion}

Anxiety must be abandoned. The disappointments hardest to bear are those which never come.[10] How often do we worry incessantly about something that never takes place? We might imagine some bad thing that may or may not happen, then waste valuable time worrying about it. Again, we have a perfect guide, God within, showing us the true way; all we need do is listen within and we will know the true path.

The evolving soul is not made divine by what it does, but by what it strives to do.[11] Our goals define us more certainly than do our accomplishments. What we wish to become has more lasting (spiritual) value than who we have been or what we have done.

The destiny of eternity is determined moment by moment by the achievements of the day by day living. The acts of today are the destiny of tomorrow.[12] Each insignificant action in our daily lives appears to be without meaning, but the truth of the matter is there is no such thing as an insignificant act. Each decision may signal a change in the soul’s attitude or it may be a reaffirmation of our dedication to do God’s will at all times.[13]

The argumentative defense of any proposition is inversely proportional to the truth contained.[14] This mota gives deep insight into much rancor in our lives and in our political environment. Stated otherwise, the more violently we shout and argue, the less truth we have. A sign we have no facts or truth to make our point is when it becomes necessary to shout and raise a fuss. If we had reasonable points we would calmly make them, if that is not the case we wave our arms and get red in the face. This is a vital point to remember.

Where we are going?

What are some indications that severe changes are imminent?

Our nation, the United States of America, is currently experiencing political turmoil; there is no point in dwelling further on this. Our neighbor to the north, Canada, recently had an election where no party gained a majority; the current ruling party will need to form some sort of a coalition to be able to pass legislation. Another nation that is politically unsettled is Great Britain, which has voted to secede from the European Union but there is no mechanism for them to do this. The recent election in Israel also gave no clear winner and negotiations to form a government are ongoing.

There are other nations where there are riots and anti-government protests.[15] Among these are: Hong Kong, Lebanon, Iraq, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, Egypt, France, Ethiopia, and Syria. Including some from earlier in the year adds the following:[16] Guinea, Haiti, Nicaragua, Malawi, Russia, Sudan, Spain and Zimbabwe. These are generally protesting unfair government practices. More than ten percent of the nations on Earth have some sort of political turmoil, and these are only the ones that are in the news.

There are also movements protesting the effects of climate changes such as Extinction Rebellion, which started in London and FridaysForFuture, started by Greta Thunberg.

Each one of these movements has a valid, important point to make; each one declares more must be done to bring about a better life for all citizens.

We are witnessing the beginning of the collapse of state-ism; our patchwork of individual sovereign nations will not work in an increasingly interconnected world. The transition from our current state of affairs to recognition that every person on Earth must have individual and equal sovereignty will necessarily be contentious, but eventually the transformation will be recognized as being vital to the survival of life on Earth.[17]

If we look at our democracy, or any statist democracy, as one of the so-called individual sovereign nations on planet Earth then, “yes” this should be the end of our democracy, and the end of every sovereign nation on our blue orb in space. The only valid sovereignty is the sovereignty of all mankind or that of each individual. There is nothing in between. The universe name for our planet is Urantia.

War on Urantia will never end so long as nations cling to the illusive notions of unlimited national sovereignty. There are only two levels of relative sovereignty on an inhabited world: the spiritual free will of the individual mortal and the collective sovereignty of mankind as a whole.[18]

There is already a framework for global government called the Earth Federation. There is a masterful constitution for this world government. When the citizens of Earth recognize that statism has failed they will seek to join the Earth Federation and accept the constitution of Earth. Only this way can there be peace on Earth and good will among all humanity.

  1. All references are to The Urantia Book unless stated otherwise. The number refers to the single column version in the format page.paragraph; 1086.6 ↑

  2. see pages 556-7 for the full list of mota ↑

  3. 556.4 ↑

  4. Bible: I Corinthians 3:16 ↑

  5. 556.8 ↑

  6. 556.9 ↑

  7. 556.13 ↑

  8. 556.14 ↑

  9. 557.4 ↑

  10. 557.5 ↑

  11. 557.8 ↑

  12. 557.10 ↑

  13. 1475.1 ↑

  14. 557.14 ↑

  15. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-protests-markets-graphic/global-protests-gaining-attention-in-financial-markets-idUSKBN1X326E, retrieved 10/24/2019. ↑

  16. https://reliefweb.int/report/world/press-briefing-note-protests-and-unrest-around-world-25-october-2019 retrieved 10/26/2019 ↑

  17. 1489.1 ↑

  18. 1487.9 ↑

Website Progress and Service

Developing this website is a fascinating challenge, so many new things to learn. With each new thing there is a plugin that must be chosen, installed, learned, applied to the website, errors located and fixed. This is all about developing a platform to get the message out; this message must be shared with our sisters and brothers.

An important aspect of this website is the extensive crosslinking throughout the postings and pages. While reading a page, if there is a link to something you want to explore, right-click on the link and open it in another tab for later study. For example, if there is a reference to our Planetary Prince clicking on the link will present further information about him.

To find a reference to The Urantia Book, there is a link at the bottom of the Home page. This link goes to the new Urantia Foundation online search engine that finds the reference in question. There is even an audio option for the quotation that can be found at the beginning of the Paper. For example entering 1496.1 and clicking on the reference starts the paper about John the Baptist. Very soon I will have a separate page on the website linking to the online search engine and the text of The Urantia Book, so stay tuned, this is an ongoing process.

A recent addition to the website is a short commentary about each photo accessed from a link under the photo; there is also a page, “Photos,” that has each photo, a description and a link to its page.

Another new addition to the website is a link on the main page enabling users to sign up for the email list; once added they will be notified of new postings and other news. How could such a simple thing be so complicated? For this I needed two plugins and it was a struggle to get them working together. They are now up and running, but enough of that; what about service?

We know there is a spark of God within each thinking mortal, everyone has this gift from God and because of this everyone has equal spiritual value. Our Heavenly Father is actually present in our lives; we do not need to seek for Him elsewhere. This means He can literally guide us if we sincerely listen and follow this divine guidance. The more we listen and follow this internal advice, the easier it becomes the next time. God has a plan for our lives; it is up to us to follow that plan. The consequence of this is times when we must give attention to opportunities of service, even though it means we have to delay something else we want to do.

For example before Jesus was thirteen years old, a celestial messenger appeared before him telling him it was time to be about your Father’s business. (Urantia Book 1376.1) Just over a year later, when Jesus was barely fourteen, Joseph was killed in an accident at work; for Jesus this meant his young human nature must also shoulder the responsibility of caring for his widowed mother and seven brothers and sisters — and another yet to be born. (Urantia Book 1388.1)

Jesus had been instructed to be about his Father’s business, yet he had pressing obligations to his family that could not be denied. The story of how he lovingly cared for his family is a thrilling tale of devotion to duty; for example he spent two days in prison with his young brother Jude who had said unkind words about Roman soldiers.[1]

Jesus spent many years helping his family and learning how people lived their lives. He also toured the Mediterranean Sea for more than a year. Eighteen years after the celestial visitation Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River at Pella and began his public work.

Jesus was focused on following God’s guidance even though this meant delaying something else important, being about his Father’s business.

If you sincerely seek to do God’s will, there are going to be serious choices to make; if you are not so tested, your faith is not yet strong enough to be tested. If you are living a life of ease you have not faith because having true faith means being willing to go where we will be uncomfortable. God’s ways are not our ways, He knows the true way and only when we cooperate with His loving guidance can we make real spiritual progress.

Talking about service, Betty and I both have family obligations requiring us to delay other needful things, like developing this website for my book “Light of Truth: Anticipating the triumph of Righteousness” and other important obligations.

My brother needs surgery on both knees because he is in constant pain and his wife has trouble getting around. It is a long sad story of bureaucratic nonsense but he has been trying since February to have the operations; just recently he has finally been given a date in early September for the first knee. Betty and I need to be there to assist them during his recovery. Twice this year we have driven from western North Carolina to near Tampa, Florida thinking the operation was imminent only to find out otherwise.

Betty’s son on the southeast coast of Florida is downsizing and needs considerable maintenance, yard work and other necessary work. He has sold one house and another needs to be made presentable for prospective buyers.

We do these periods of service knowing our Heavenly Father has a plan for our lives; it is up to us to accept and cooperate with His plan. At each step along the way we must choose whether we accept and follow the will of God or reject His guidance.

If we have a strong moral foundation based on doing the will of our Heavenly Father there should be no hesitation when presented with service opportunities. This moral foundation guides us and gives us assurance that we have a firm underpinning upon which to build our lives and guide our decisions.

Periods of service are only partly about helping somebody else; they are also about growing a soul of eternal advancement possibilities. Each of us should sincerely and joyfully choose to do the will of our Heavenly Father because then our soul grows stronger, we help ourselves as much as we help others.

Tags: God Within, service, spiritual free will, Urantia Book, Truth Seekers

  1. The Urantia Book; the number refers to the single column version in the format page.paragraph, 1415.5-7 ↑