Psalms 37
The Faithful and Wise Witness of an Aged Saint
The Righteous Vindicated;
The Wicked Destroyed
The Wicked Destroyed
NEVER ENVY (1) Painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage. (2) Malice, Begrudge. THE WICKED (1) Morally very bad: Evil (2) Fierce, Vicious. b: Causing or likely to cause harm, distress, or trouble. (3) Disgustingly unpleasant: Vile. SOON THEY FADE AWAY LIKE GRASS AND DISAPPEAR.
TRUST (1a) Assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something. (b) One in which confidence is placed. (2) Dependence on something future or contingent: Hope. (3) A property interest held by one person for the benefit of another. A charge or duty imposed in faith or confidence or as a condition of some relationship, Depend. To be confident: Hope: Believe.
IN THE LORD (1) One having power and authority over others: A ruler by hereditary right or pre-eminence to whom service and obedience are due. (2) GOD b: Jesus.
INSTEAD.
Psalms 37
BE KIND (1) Affectionate, Loving. (2) Of a sympathetic or helpful nature. (2b) of a forbearing nature: Gentle (3) of a kind to give pleasure or relief.
AND GOOD (1) of a favorable character or tendency. (2) Bountiful
TO OTHERS: THEN YOU WILL LIVE SAFELY HERE IN THE LAND AND PROSPER, (1) To Succeed in an enterprise or activity: ESP: To achieve economic success. (2) To become strong and flourishing: Thrive.
FEEDING IN SAFETY. (1) Free from harm or risk: Unhurt (2) Secure from threat of danger, harm, or loss: Healthy, Sound.
BE DELIGHTED (1) High degree of gratification: Joy: Also extreme satisfaction (2) Something that gives great pleasure: Highly pleased.
WITH THE LORD.
Psalms 37
THEN HE WILL GIVE YOU ALL YOUR HEART’S (1) Personality, Disposition, Intellect. The emotional or moral as distinguished from the intellectual nature: Compassion, Love, Affection. The central or inner most part or vital part of something.
DESIRES. (1) To long or hope for: Wish, Want, Crave, and Covet: Stresses the strength of feeling and often implies strong intention or aim: Physical appetite or emotional need.
COMMIT (1) To put into charge or trust: Entrust: The general idea of delivering into another’s charge or the special sense of transferring to a superior power or to place in custody: Committing with trust and confidence with great assurance or reliance.
EVERYTHING YOU DO TO THE LORD.
TRUST HIM TO HELP YOU DO IT AND HE WILL. YOUR INNOCENCE WILL BE CLEAR TO EVERYONE.
HE WILL VINDICATE (1) To set free: Deliver (2) Avenge (3) To free from allegation or blame: Confirm, Substantiate: To protect from attack or encroachment: Defend. (4) To maintain a right to. YOU WITH THE BLAZING LIGHT OF JUSTICE SHINNING DOWN AS FROM THE NOONDAY SUN.
Psalms 37
REST (1) Repose, Sleep: A bodily state characterized by minimal functional and metabolic activities. (2) Freedom from activity or labor. (3) Peace of mind or spirit. (4) To remain confident: Trust.
IN THE LORD.
WAIT PATIENTLY (1) Bearing pains or trials calmly or without complaint. (2) Manifesting forbearance under provocation or strain. (3) Not hasty or impetuous. (4) Steadfast despite opposition, difficulty, or adversity.
FOR HIM TO ACT. DON’T BE ENVIOUS OF EVIL (1) Morally reprehensible: sinful: Wicked: The fact of suffering, misfortune, and wrongdoing. (b:) A cosmic evil force. (2) Something that brings sorrow, distress, or calamity.
MEN WHO PROSPER.
STOP YOUR ANGER. (1) A strong feeling of displeasure and usually of antagonism. Rage: suggests loss of self- control from violence of emotion.
TURN OFF YOUR WRATH. (1) A desire or intent to revenge or punish.
DON’T FRET (1) To suffer emotionally strain: an agitation of mind, to become vexed or worried.
Psalms 37
AND WORRY (1) Mental distress or agitation resulting from concern usually for something impending or anticipated: To make or feel or experience concern or anxiety: Torment: attack that drives one to desperation.
IT ONLY LEADS TO HARM. FOR THE WICKED SHALL BE DESTROYED, BUT THOSE WHO TRUST IN THE LORD SHALL BE GIVEN EVERY BLESSING. (1) Praise, glorify, protect, and preserve: Bringing pleasure, contentment or good fortune: To confer prosperity or happiness upon: To invoke divine care for: Approval, Endorsement, Support, Lucky, Prefer, Priority of help: To ask for divine favor.
ONLY A LITTLE WHILE AND THE WICKED SHALL DISAPPEAR. YOU WILL LOOK FOR THEM IN VAIN. (1) Having no real value: Idle, worthless. (2) Marked by futility or ineffectualness: Unsuccessful, useless: Foolish, silly: An irreverent or blasphemous manner.
BUT ALL WHO HUMBLE (1) Not proud or haughty: Not arrogant or assertive. (2) Reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of deference or submission: Insignificant, unpretentious.
THEMSELVES BEFORE THE LORD SHALL BE GIVEN EVERY BLESSING AND SHALL HAVE WONDERFUL PEACE.
Psalms 37
The Good and the Evil Contrasted
THE LORD IS LAUGHING AT THOSE WHO PLOT AGAINST THE GODLY, FOR HE KNOWS THEIR JUDGEMENT DAY IS COMING. EVIL MEN TAKE AIM TO SLAY THE POOR; THEY ARE READY TO BUTCHER THOSE WHO DO RIGHT. BUT THEIR SWORDS WILL BE PLUNGED INTO THEIR OWN HEARTS AND ALL THEIR WEAPONS WILL BE BROKEN.
IT IS BETTER TO HAVE LITTLE AND BE GODLY THAN TO OWN AN EVIL MAN’S WEALTH. FOR THE STRENGTH OF EVIL MEN SHALL BE BROKEN, BUT THE LORD TAKES CARE OF THOSE HE HAS FORGIVEN. (1) To give up resentment of or claim to requital for: To cease to feel resentment against: Pardon: (2) Allowing room for error or weakness.
Psalms 37
DAY BY DAY THE LORD OBSERVES THE GOOD DEEDS DONE BY GODLY MEN, AND GIVES THEM ETERNAL REWARDS.
HE CARES FOR THEM WHEN TIMES ARE HARD; EVEN IN FAMINE, THEY WILL HAVE ENOUGH.
BUT EVIL MEN SHALL PERISH. THESE ENEMIES OF GOD WILL WITHER LIKE GRASS, AND DISAPPEAR LIKE SMOKE.
EVIL MEN BORROW AND “CAN NOT PAY IT BACK,” BUT THE GOODMAN RETURNS WHAT HE OWES WITH SOME EXTRA BESIDES.
THOSE BLESSED BY THE LORD SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH,
Psalms 37
BUT THOSE CURSED (1) To call upon divine or supernatural power to send injury upon: To bring great evil upon. Evil or misfortune that comes as retribution.
BY HIM SHALL DIE.
THE STEPS OF GOOD MEN ARE DIRECTED BY THE LORD. HE DELIGHTS IN EACH STEP THEY TAKE. IF THEY FAIL IT ISN’T FATAL FOR THE LORD HOLDS THEM WITH HIS HAND.
I HAVE BEEN YOUNG AND NOW I AM OLD, AND IN ALL MY YEARS I HAVE NEVER SEEN THE LORD FORSAKE A MAN WHO LOVES HIM; NOR HAVE I SEEN THE CHILDREN OF THE GODLY GO HUNGRY.
INSTEAD, THE GODLY ARE ABLE TO BE GENEROUS WITH THEIR GIFTS AND LOANS TO OTHERS, AND THEIR CHILDREN ARE A BLESSING.
Psalms 37
SO, IF YOU WANT AN ETERNAL (1) Having infinite duration: Everlasting: Characterized by abiding fellowship with God: Perpetual, Timeless: The state after death: Immortality.
HOME, LEAVE YOUR EVIL LOW-DOWN WAYS AND LIVE GOOD LIVES. FOR THE LORD LOVES JUSTICE (1) The principle or ideal of just dealing or right action: Conformity to truth, fact, or reason: Correctness. AND FAIRNESS: (1) Marked by impartiality and honesty: Free from self-interest, prejudice, or favoritism; Unbiased, Dispassionate.
HE WILL NEVER ABANDON HIS PEOPLE. THEY WILL BE KEPT SAFE FOREVER; BUT ALL WHO LOVE WICKEDNESS SHALL PERISH.
THE GODLY SHALL BE FIRMLY PLANTED IN THE LAND, AND LIVE THERE FOREVER. (1) For a limitless time (2) At all times: Continually: Excessively long.
THE GODLY MAN IS A GOOD COUNSELOR BECAUSE HE IS JUST AND FAIR,
Psalms 37
AND KNOWS (1) To perceive directly: (2) To recognize the nature of: Discern: To be acquainted or familiar with: (3) To have experience of: Be aware of the truth of: Convinced or certain of: To have practical understanding of:
RIGHT FROM WRONG.
EVIL MEN SPY ON THE GODLY, WAITING FOR AN EXCUSE TO ACCUSE THEM AND THEN DEMANDING THEIR DEATH. BUT THE LORD WILL NOT LET THESE EVIL MEN SUCCEED, NOR LET THE GODLY BE CONDEMNED WHEN THEY ARE BROUGHT EFORE THE JUDGE.
DON’T BE IMPATIENT (1) Restless or short of temper esp. under irritation, delay, or opposition: Intolerant. Bearing pains or trails calmly or without complaint. (2) Manifesting forbearance under provocation or strain. (3) Steadfast despite opposition, difficulty, or adversity.
FOR THE LORD TO ACT!
Psalms 37
KEEP TRAVELING STEADILY (1) A direct or sure movement: Unfaltering. Firm in position: Fixed (2) Showing little variation or fluctuation: Stable, Uniform. (3) Not easily disturbed or upset; Constant in feeling, principle, purpose, or attachment. Not varying throughout a course.
ALONG HIS PATHWAY AND IN DUE SEASON (1) Having reached the date at which payment is required, expected or scheduled to arrive or be ready: Timed for a certain hour or date.
HE WILL HONOR YOU WITH EVERY BLESSING, AND YOU WILL SEE THE WICKED DESTROYED.
I, MYSELF, HAVE SEEN IT HAPPEN:
A PROUD AND EVIL MAN, TOWERING LIKE A CEDAR OF LEBANON, BUT WHEN I LOOKED AGAIN, HE WAS GONE!
I SEARCHED BUT COULD NOT FIND HIM!
BUT THE GOOD MAN – WHAT A DIFFERENT STORY!
Psalms 37
FOR THE GOODMAN – THE BLAMELESS, (1) Not responsible, without fault.
THE UPRIGHT, (1) Marked by strong moral rectitude: Honest.
THE MAN OF PEACE (1) A state of tranquility: An undisturbed state of mind; absence of mental conflict: Free from war; Harmony: Freedom from public disturbance or disorder: Public security: Law and order.
HE HAS A WONDERFUL FUTURE AHEAD OF HIM. FOR HIM THERE IS A HAPPY (1) Favored by luck or fortune: Enjoying or characterized by well-being and contentment: Glad: Pleased: Pleasant.
ENDING. BUT EVIL MEN SHALL BE DESTROYED, AND THEIR POSTERITY (1) All of a person’s descendants. (2) All succeeding generations.
SHALL BE CUT OFF. THE LORD SAVES THE GODLY! HE IS THEIR SALVATION (1) Deliverance from the power and effects of sin. (2) Liberation from ignorance or illusion: Deliverance from danger or difficulty: (3) Preservation from destruction or failure.
Psalms 37
AND THEIR REFUGE WHEN TROUBLE COMES.
BECAUSE THEY TRUST IN HIM, HE HELPS THEM,
AND DELIVERSS THEM FROM THE PLOTS OF EVIL MEN.
Bono Speech National Prayer Breakfast
LUKE
LUKE CHAPTER 4
October 1981 Nazareth, Israel
The beginning of Jesus Galilean ministry
October 1981 Nazareth, Israel
The beginning of Jesus Galilean ministry
THEN JESUS RETURNED TO GALILEE , FULL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT’S POWER. (1) Ability to act or produce an effect: (2) Possession of control, authority, or influence over others: Jurisdiction, control, command, sway, dominion. Implies possession of ability to wield force: Force, energy, strength; Spiritual ability to act or be acted upon.
SOON HE BECAME WELL KNOWN THROUGHOUT ALL THAT REGION. FOR HIS SERMONS IN THE SYNAGOGUES: EVERYONE PRAISED HIM.
WHEN HE CAME TO THE VILLIAGE OF NAZARETH
THE BOOK OF ISAIAH THE PROPHET WAS HANDED TO HIM, AND HE
LUKE CHAPTER 4
OPENED IT TO THE PLACE WHERE IT SAYS: THE SPIRIT (1) An animating or vital principle held to give life to physical organisms. (2) A supernatural being or essence as: Holy Spirit. (3) The immaterial intelligent or sentient part of a person. (4) The activating or essential principle influencing a person.
OF THE LORD IS UPON ME: HE HAS APPOINTED (1) To fix or set officially (2) To provide with complete and usually appropriate or elegant furnishings or equipment. To exercise a power of appointment.
ME TO PREACH (1) To proclaim publicly. (2) To deliver a sermon. (3) To urge acceptance or abandonment of an idea or course of action. (4) To advocate earnestly. GOOD (1) Of a favorable character or tendency (2) Bountiful
NEWS (1) A report of recent events: Previously unknown information: TO THE POOR: (1) Lacking material possessions: Of, relating to, or characterized by poverty (2) Less than adequate: Meager: Small in worth (3) Exacting pity: Humble: Unproductive, Barren: Unfavorable: (4) Lacking a normal or adequate supply of something specified.
HE HAS SENT ME TO HEAL (1) To make sound or whole: Restore to health (2) To cause an undesirable condition to be overcome: To restore to original purity or integrity or a sound state.
THE BROKEN HEARTED (1) Violently separated into parts: Shattered (2) Damaged or altered by breaking: Subdued completely: Not complete or full. AND TO ANNOUNCE THAT CAPIVES (1) Taken and held as or as a prisoner of war: Kept within bounds: Confined (2) Held under control of another but having the appearance independence: A situation that makes free choice or departure difficult. SHALL BE RELEASED AND THE BLIND (1) Sightless: (2) Unable or unwilling to discern or judge; Lacking a directing or controlling consciousness: (3) Something put forward for the purpose of misleading. SHALL SEE, THAT THE DOWNTRODDEN SHALL BE FREED (1) To relieve or rids of what restrains, confines, restricts, or embarrasses: Not subject to the control or domination of another: Implies a usually permanent removal from restraint from whatever binds, entangles or oppresses. FROM THEIR OPPRESSORS, (1) To crush or burden by abuse of power or authority: (2) To burden spiritually or mentally: Unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power: Depression: Weight heavily upon: AND THAT GOD (1) The supreme or ultimate reality as: The being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshiped as creator and ruler of the universe: Eternal spirit: Infinite mind. IS READY TO GIVE BLESSINGS (1) To invoke divine care for: To confer prosperity or happiness upon: Protect: Preserve: Endow, Favor: To bring pleasure, contentment or good fortune.
TO ALL WHO COME TO HIM.HE CLOSED THE BOOK AND HANDED IT BACK TO THE ATTENDANT AND SAT DOWN, WHILE EVERYONE IN THE SYNAGOGUE GAZED AT HIM INTENTLY. THEN HE ADDED, “THESE SCRIPTURES CAME TRUE TODAY!”
RELIGION - OUTSIDE - THE - BOX
Hebrews 11 (Sam’s Version)
King James Version
NOW (1) a: at the present time or moment b: in the time immediately before the present *thought of them just now* c: in the time immediately to follow: FORTHWITH *come in now*
2 — used with the sense of present time weakened or lost to express command, request, or admonition *now hear this* *now you be sure to write*
3 — used with the sense of present time weakened or lost to introduce an important point or indicate a transition (as of ideas) *now, this may seem reasonable at first*
4: SOMETIMES *now one and now another*
5: under the present circumstances
6: at the time referred to *now the trouble began*
7: by this time *has been teaching now for twenty years
FAITH (1) a: allegiance to duty or a person: LOYALTY b (1): fidelity to one's promises (2): sincerity of intentions
2 a (1): belief and trust in and loyalty to God (2): belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion b (1): firm belief in something for which there is no proof (2): complete trust
3: something that is believed especially with strong conviction; especially : a system of religious beliefs *the Protestant faith*
Synonyms see BELIEF
–on faith: without question *took everything he said on faith*
IS THE SUBSTANCE (1) a: essential nature: ESSENCE b: a fundamental or characteristic part or quality c Christian Science : GOD 1b
2 a: ultimate reality that underlies all outward manifestations and change b: practical importance: MEANING, USEFULNESS *the bill*which will be without substance in the sense that it will authorize nothing more than a set of ideas — Richard Reeves*
3 a: physical material from which something is made or which has discrete existence b: matter of particular or definite chemical constitution c: something (as drugs or alcoholic beverages) deemed harmful and usually subject to legal restriction *possession of a controlled substance* *substance abuse*
4: material possessions: PROPERTY *a family of substance*
–substance less \-l*s\ adjective
–in substance: in respect to essentials: FUNDAMENTALLY
OF THINGS (1) a : a matter of concern : AFFAIR *many things to do* b plural : state of affairs in general or within a specified or implied sphere *things are improving* c : a particular state of affairs : SITUATION *look at this thing another way* d : EVENT, CIRCUMSTANCE *that shooting was a terrible thing*
2 a: DEED, ACT, ACCOMPLISHMENT *do great things* b: a product of work or activity *likes to build things* c: the aim of effort or activity *the thing is to get well*
3 a: a separate and distinct individual quality, fact, idea, or usually entity b: the concrete entity as distinguished from its appearances c: a spatial entity d: an inanimate object distinguished from a living being
4 a plural : POSSESSIONS, EFFECTS *pack your things* b: whatever may be possessed or owned or be the object of a right c: an article of clothing *not a thing to wear* d plural : equipment or utensils especially for a particular purpose *bring the tea things*
5: an object or entity not precisely designated or capable of being designated *use this thing*
6 a: DETAIL, POINT *checks every little thing* b: a material or substance of a specified kind *avoid fatty things*
7 a: a spoken or written observation or point b: IDEA, NOTION *says the first thing he thinks of* c: a piece of news or information *couldn't get a thing out of him*
8: INDIVIDUAL *not a living thing in sight*
9: the proper or fashionable way of behaving, talking, or dressing — used with the
10 a: a mild obsession or phobia *has a thing about driving*; also : the object of such an obsession or phobia b: something (as an activity) that makes a strong appeal to the individual: FORTE, SPECIALTY *letting students do their own thing — Newsweek* *I think traveling is very much a novelist's thing — Philip Larkin*
HOPED FOR, intransitive verb
(1): to cherish a desire with anticipation *hopes for a promotion*
2 archaic : TRUST
Transitive verb
1: to desire with expectation of obtainment
2: to expect with confidence: TRUST
Synonyms see EXPECT
–hoper noun
–hope against hope: to hope without any basis for expecting fulfillment
1 archaic : TRUST, RELIANCE
2 a: desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment *came in hopes of seeing you*; also : expectation of fulfillment or success *no hope of a cure* b: someone or something on which hopes are centered *our only hope for victory* c: something hoped for
THE EVIDENCE (1) a: an outward sign: INDICATION b: something that furnishes proof: TESTIMONY; specifically : something legally submitted to a tribunal to ascertain the truth of a matter
2: one who bears witness; especially : one who voluntarily confesses a crime and testifies for the prosecution against his accomplices
–in evidence
1: to be seen: CONSPICUOUS *trim lawns Tare everywhere in evidence — American Guide Series: North Carolina
2: as evidence
OF THINGS NOT SEEN. transitive verb
1 a: to perceive by the eye b: to perceive or detect as if by sight
2 a: to have experience of: UNDERGO *see army service* b: to come to know: DISCOVER c: to be the setting or time of *the last fifty years have seen a sweeping revolution in science — Barry Commoner*
3 a : to form a mental picture of : VISUALIZE *can still see her as she was years ago* b : to perceive the meaning or importance of : UNDERSTAND c : to be aware of : RECOGNIZE *sees only our faults* d : to imagine as a possibility : SUPPOSE *couldn't see him as a crook*
4 a: EXAMINE, WATCH *want to see how she handles the problem* b (1): READ (2): to read of c: to attend as a spectator *see a play*
5 a: to take care of: provide for *had enough money to see us through* b: to make sure *see that order is kept*
6 a: to regard as: JUDGE b: to prefer to
New International Version
1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2This is what the ancients were commended for.
The Amplified Bible
Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, R1 the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith
Perceiving as real fact who
New Living Translation
What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see. Amplified Bible
November 4, 1956
A WONDERFUL EXPLANATION OF DEATH
A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to leave the examination room and said, 'Doctor, I am afraid to die. Tell me what lies on the other side.'
Very quietly, the doctor said, 'I don't know.'
You don't know? You're a Christian man, and don't know what's on the other side?'
The doctor was holding the handle of the door. On the other side came a sound of scratching and whining, and as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.
Turning to the patient, the doctor said, 'Did you notice my dog?
He's never been in this room before. He didn't know what was inside.
He knew nothing except that his master was here. And when the door opened, he sprang in without fear knowing little of what is on the other side of the door.
You don't know? You're a Christian man, and don't know what's on the other side?'
The doctor was holding the handle of the door. On the other side came a sound of scratching and whining, and as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.
Turning to the patient, the doctor said, 'Did you notice my dog?
He's never been in this room before. He didn't know what was inside.
He knew nothing except that his master was here. And when the door opened, he sprang in without fear knowing little of what is on the other side of the door.
So, you ask me what’s on the other side of the door we call death? Well, I don’t know.
However, I do know one thing.
I know my Master is there and that is enough!
Live Beyond The Edge
The Voice of the Soul
How little is said or taught about the soul-life and its complete identification with the human being! To most men the soul is something apart from themselves that is only to be talked of and trusted in on special occasions: there is no real companionship, no intimate affiliation, between men's minds and souls in their everyday existence. Now there is in every man a divine power, and when that divinity, which is his real self, is acknowledged and understood by the mind, it takes a very active part in man's life — indeed, it should fill at the very least one half of his thought-life. When we have this full view of the identity of man with the soul, we move outside the ordinary way of thinking and find ourselves on a new path, daring to think towards the unknowable, the seeming impossible. In doing this, we bring the soul into action.
According to my philosophy, every normal child when it is born is enveloped and covered, protected so to speak, with soul-forces. We must not think of the soul as something apart from ourselves, as something that occupies a special compartment in our brains or in our thoughts, for every time a child is born, through the operation of those sacred and wonderful laws of nature which men do not yet understand, it has the spiritual backing, the spiritual support, the divine enfoldment of the soul. And if the child is rightly understood, this spiritual part will be at least as fully recognized as the material part.
How many children go wrong; how many parents wear their lives out trying to bring their children up rightly. When I think of the failures along this line, it looks to me as though the ignorance, stupidity, selfishness, and egoism of the age had turned the children directly away from these soul-forces and launched them out into the world without their support. We cannot see these refined and wonderful forces of nature, we cannot easily describe them nor can we fully measure them. It is not for us to understand them fully, yet we all catch glimpses of them.
A child should be nourished with spiritual food and care as much as with material food and care. Every true mother has at least some understanding of the spiritual laws of her own being from the beginning of the gestation of the child. With her love and care she carries the child, envelops it, holds it, and serves it with what knowledge she has. And when the child is born, in her innermost thoughts she knows that there are two sides to the little one entrusted to her care: on the one hand, there is the immortal, divine, eternal, and real essence of the child's character brought over from previous lives; and on the other hand, there is the material body, itself produced in a mysterious, almost magical way from a tiny seed.
The soul of man is seeking to utter itself from the time of its physical incarnation. It knows its birthrights; it knows more than is apparent. But it is thrust into the world under very adverse circumstances, and the child is fed, cared for, loved, and nurtured as a physical being and as little more, with the vague possibility of having a future life somewhere or somehow. But we are sacredly and divinely made and built for this life, and only by understanding the lives of our children, approaching and reaching them from the standpoint of spiritual knowledge, can the soul speak.
Some people may say: all this is too abstruse, it is too far away, and we have no way of proving it. Well, men and women do not even understand themselves and are mysteries to themselves. When a child is born, can the father and mother explain the profound mysteries of how that soul came into physical incarnation — of the processes that took place when from a seed the child stepped out into our universe, radiant in its spiritual potentialities although not visible to the human eye — and became a part of the human family? If we know so little about the creation of physical life, how can we expect parents to have the information needed for them to do full justice to their child in the spiritual sense?
Our great scientific thinkers accomplish wonders in very many ways, but unless they dare to face the unknown, unless they have imagination that stretches out beyond time and space almost, unless they recognize the higher imagination as a spiritual and divine attribute of the soul instead of a faculty useful only for the play of fancy, to entertain or to give pleasure, they will never hear the voice of the soul. Let us reach basic truths. We must study causes; we do not study them enough. The usual way is to study effects. We are afraid to step out and venture in thought, in action, in will power and determination, into the unknown and with imagination to visualize the dignity of the soul of man.
Let us seek to awaken in our growing children a consciousness of the nearness of this affectionate, indescribable something which I have called the soul. Teach them that they are not thrown out into this world alone, that they are not ignored, but that they are enveloped in the soul-life and possess the inner wisdom with which they were born. Then with the environment that our children can have through the intelligence of the parents, and with the noble examples that should be set by every man and woman on the face of the earth, the voice of the soul would he heard and recognized.
The closer we come to the beauties and realities of nature, the more quickly shall we begin to feel the power of the soul-life. But alas, there are so many distractions and allurements in the world. Then, too, there is the bread-and-butter question that has to be solved. There are poverty and suffering and vice and crime that must be faced, and these things are not lessening, they are increasing.
We must dare to do something more than we ever did before, dare to step up higher, to climb. We must dare to do it alone, without public heralding or recognition but just within the silence of our own soul, of our own conscience. This superb opportunity is at hand for all. Yet we go on day after day drifting and drifting, until we have drifted beyond all likelihood of recovering our anchorage in this lifetime.
There comes the question: Why has not somebody done something? It is because nearly everybody is waiting for everybody else. In spiritual efforts we do not need to wait for unity. Let every man and every woman act for himself or herself according to the individual evolution and enlightenment. One must have the disposition and the daring to act alone, indifferent to results so far as they affect himself or herself, so long as the motive is pure. When we reach this state of mind, we shall see new cheer in the world, new evidences of purity in the lives of men and women, and consequently more purity and more joy in the children of the masses. This is the way to reach our children and to enable them to hear the voice of that divine part of us that is our real self — we could not exist without it.
On the other hand, there is the picture before me of how this innate divinity is ignored, how it is thrown aside, and how it takes nearly a lifetime for people even of the highest intelligence, striving to do their best in order to gain knowledge, to reach the first fundamental idea of their own soul-life. It is true that we have opportunities for wonderful scholastic education; our country as a whole has plenty of wealth, great territory, and an overabundance of public laudation of our outer material progress and prosperity. But the inner life, that silent power that speaks to us, is very largely ignored.
To me one of the most beautiful experiences in life is to retire into the inner sanctuary of one's own being, away from all the rush and so-called allurements of the outer life, and in the silence to listen to the voice of the soul, to hear its pleadings, to know its power, to clasp hands with the spiritual soul, the higher self — to work with it and walk with it and live with it. A man must do this before he can be absolutely sure of anything. If I go to school, I am entitled to full educational equipment, provided I reach out for it; but I must get it by application and conscientious work. So it is with the wider schooling of each earth-life. I must get it by devotion, by understanding the fundamental principles and ideas upon which I hope to live, and by a harmonious relationship with my fellow men and my environment.
Then I may know something about the voice of the soul.
By Katherine Tingley
How little is said or taught about the soul-life and its complete identification with the human being! To most men the soul is something apart from themselves that is only to be talked of and trusted in on special occasions: there is no real companionship, no intimate affiliation, between men's minds and souls in their everyday existence. Now there is in every man a divine power, and when that divinity, which is his real self, is acknowledged and understood by the mind, it takes a very active part in man's life — indeed, it should fill at the very least one half of his thought-life. When we have this full view of the identity of man with the soul, we move outside the ordinary way of thinking and find ourselves on a new path, daring to think towards the unknowable, the seeming impossible. In doing this, we bring the soul into action.
According to my philosophy, every normal child when it is born is enveloped and covered, protected so to speak, with soul-forces. We must not think of the soul as something apart from ourselves, as something that occupies a special compartment in our brains or in our thoughts, for every time a child is born, through the operation of those sacred and wonderful laws of nature which men do not yet understand, it has the spiritual backing, the spiritual support, the divine enfoldment of the soul. And if the child is rightly understood, this spiritual part will be at least as fully recognized as the material part.
How many children go wrong; how many parents wear their lives out trying to bring their children up rightly. When I think of the failures along this line, it looks to me as though the ignorance, stupidity, selfishness, and egoism of the age had turned the children directly away from these soul-forces and launched them out into the world without their support. We cannot see these refined and wonderful forces of nature, we cannot easily describe them nor can we fully measure them. It is not for us to understand them fully, yet we all catch glimpses of them.
A child should be nourished with spiritual food and care as much as with material food and care. Every true mother has at least some understanding of the spiritual laws of her own being from the beginning of the gestation of the child. With her love and care she carries the child, envelops it, holds it, and serves it with what knowledge she has. And when the child is born, in her innermost thoughts she knows that there are two sides to the little one entrusted to her care: on the one hand, there is the immortal, divine, eternal, and real essence of the child's character brought over from previous lives; and on the other hand, there is the material body, itself produced in a mysterious, almost magical way from a tiny seed.
The soul of man is seeking to utter itself from the time of its physical incarnation. It knows its birthrights; it knows more than is apparent. But it is thrust into the world under very adverse circumstances, and the child is fed, cared for, loved, and nurtured as a physical being and as little more, with the vague possibility of having a future life somewhere or somehow. But we are sacredly and divinely made and built for this life, and only by understanding the lives of our children, approaching and reaching them from the standpoint of spiritual knowledge, can the soul speak.
Some people may say: all this is too abstruse, it is too far away, and we have no way of proving it. Well, men and women do not even understand themselves and are mysteries to themselves. When a child is born, can the father and mother explain the profound mysteries of how that soul came into physical incarnation — of the processes that took place when from a seed the child stepped out into our universe, radiant in its spiritual potentialities although not visible to the human eye — and became a part of the human family? If we know so little about the creation of physical life, how can we expect parents to have the information needed for them to do full justice to their child in the spiritual sense?
Our great scientific thinkers accomplish wonders in very many ways, but unless they dare to face the unknown, unless they have imagination that stretches out beyond time and space almost, unless they recognize the higher imagination as a spiritual and divine attribute of the soul instead of a faculty useful only for the play of fancy, to entertain or to give pleasure, they will never hear the voice of the soul. Let us reach basic truths. We must study causes; we do not study them enough. The usual way is to study effects. We are afraid to step out and venture in thought, in action, in will power and determination, into the unknown and with imagination to visualize the dignity of the soul of man.
Let us seek to awaken in our growing children a consciousness of the nearness of this affectionate, indescribable something which I have called the soul. Teach them that they are not thrown out into this world alone, that they are not ignored, but that they are enveloped in the soul-life and possess the inner wisdom with which they were born. Then with the environment that our children can have through the intelligence of the parents, and with the noble examples that should be set by every man and woman on the face of the earth, the voice of the soul would he heard and recognized.
The closer we come to the beauties and realities of nature, the more quickly shall we begin to feel the power of the soul-life. But alas, there are so many distractions and allurements in the world. Then, too, there is the bread-and-butter question that has to be solved. There are poverty and suffering and vice and crime that must be faced, and these things are not lessening, they are increasing.
We must dare to do something more than we ever did before, dare to step up higher, to climb. We must dare to do it alone, without public heralding or recognition but just within the silence of our own soul, of our own conscience. This superb opportunity is at hand for all. Yet we go on day after day drifting and drifting, until we have drifted beyond all likelihood of recovering our anchorage in this lifetime.
There comes the question: Why has not somebody done something? It is because nearly everybody is waiting for everybody else. In spiritual efforts we do not need to wait for unity. Let every man and every woman act for himself or herself according to the individual evolution and enlightenment. One must have the disposition and the daring to act alone, indifferent to results so far as they affect himself or herself, so long as the motive is pure. When we reach this state of mind, we shall see new cheer in the world, new evidences of purity in the lives of men and women, and consequently more purity and more joy in the children of the masses. This is the way to reach our children and to enable them to hear the voice of that divine part of us that is our real self — we could not exist without it.
On the other hand, there is the picture before me of how this innate divinity is ignored, how it is thrown aside, and how it takes nearly a lifetime for people even of the highest intelligence, striving to do their best in order to gain knowledge, to reach the first fundamental idea of their own soul-life. It is true that we have opportunities for wonderful scholastic education; our country as a whole has plenty of wealth, great territory, and an overabundance of public laudation of our outer material progress and prosperity. But the inner life, that silent power that speaks to us, is very largely ignored.
To me one of the most beautiful experiences in life is to retire into the inner sanctuary of one's own being, away from all the rush and so-called allurements of the outer life, and in the silence to listen to the voice of the soul, to hear its pleadings, to know its power, to clasp hands with the spiritual soul, the higher self — to work with it and walk with it and live with it. A man must do this before he can be absolutely sure of anything. If I go to school, I am entitled to full educational equipment, provided I reach out for it; but I must get it by application and conscientious work. So it is with the wider schooling of each earth-life. I must get it by devotion, by understanding the fundamental principles and ideas upon which I hope to live, and by a harmonious relationship with my fellow men and my environment.
Then I may know something about the voice of the soul.
THANK YOU! - GREAT SPIRIT!