December 23, 1991

• Awareness of differences in the human spirit provides understanding of spiritual development

• The nature and power of God and the necessity of the human response

• Energy of prayer

God joins the collection of each of you in the assembly of your individual guides. It's a glorious group, for although there may be disagreements, there is nevertheless harmony. It is this harmony that you must continue to seek. When many are together, there will always be different perspectives, different concerns, and yet despite those differences there is the potential for complete harmony.

You cannot go through your life expecting everyone to be in agreement about a direction to be taken, a belief to be held, a decision to be made. Such differences are manifestations of the different places you occupy along your individual travels toward a union with God. These differences are important to be voiced, for each can learn something of the perspective of another. Having a wider perspective means that you have a greater understanding of what life in human form really means.

You are all divine, but each of you is unique. It is this uniqueness which provides the breadth of experience that is a part of human life. We have spoken of your unity, we have spoken of your divinity, but these exist within the theater of diversity. If all were the same and there were no differences, life would cease to carry with it the potential for growth. Growth means to be stretched, it means to be challenged. It ultimately means to be drawn away from the place you now occupy.

Such growth cannot take place without an awareness of differences. You are all spiritually aware to one degree or another of what entails a human life, but we do not see enough awareness of the real differences between people. You certainly see visual differences. You see differences in personality, in the way people respond to stimuli, but these are not the differences of which we speak. We are talking about differences in the spirit, the development of the soul. No two individuals occupy the same position on the road, but despite these different positions, each of you who travel on this road is aware of others nearby.

We would like to challenge you to become more aware of others who travel at a greater distance. We mean by this not only those who are less developed spiritually, but those who are more developed spiritually. Your guides are anxious for you to become more aware of the continuum of this spiritual development. If from your position you are aware of those close and those a little more distant and those much further away, you are then aware of the nature of the road, the nature of the journey, for you see direct evidence of what constitutes spiritual progress. If you are aware only of those who are spiritually developed to a similar degree to your development, you lose that sense of perspective, you lose a sense of what the road really is. To understand the road you must look forward and sideways and back, thereby forming a stronger understanding of the nature of journeying and the nature of your own journey.

Just as you do not live your life in a vacuum, your soul does not grow in a vacuum. It is so essential for each of you to develop a perspective of what spiritual growth really is. When you achieve such a view, you will have a more thorough understanding of the placement of God's power and presence in human life.

One of you wonders whether there is more to God than what is manifest in human form. The answer is of course a resounding yes, for God is a part of virtually all creation. It is because of God that creation took place. All springs forward from God. God is not limited just to human manifestation, for God is part of nature, is a part of what you can see and what you cannot see that has been created. God is the sum of all creation, but God’s far greater than the sum of all humankind.

God responds to your prayers. God’s response is through the divine response of which we have spoken, but God’s response goes beyond the divine response for it is God who ultimately is responsible for soul to soul communication. It is God who provides the potential for one soul to be open to another. Without God's presence in this, there would be no potential, there would be no receiving of what has been given. It is the presence of God which enables humans to provide the divine response.

The power of God is not unlike a catalyst in a chemical reaction. The reaction is not just because of the catalyst, but the catalyst must be present. The power of God is a power because it is present, and because it enables the divine response. But it is humans who provide the response which is the answer to so many of the prayers which are offered to God.

Can God respond without humans? Can a body function completely with no hands or no legs? It is still a body. It still thinks, it still responds, but the legs, the hands are an essential part of what comprises the human body. The human divine response is an essential part of what comprises God's response to prayer.

Without the human presence, there is still God. You are a part of God. All of creation is a part of God. All of creation shares in the divine, but the divine is greater than those parts. The divine was present before those parts were created. God existed before humans existed. God existed before the earth was created, so you may be assured of the presence and power of God being above and beyond the presence of human beings. But it is the response of humans which provides the evidence of God's response within human life.

You benefit from the existence of plants which create oxygen. Were it not for the plants, human life would not exist. It is easy to understand that this entire relationship between plant life and animal life has been designed by God. It is not accidental. There is a force beyond the human life. There is a force beyond the plant life. There is no question of the larger presence of God in all that one calls reality and existence.

But the responsibility that each of you shares for the divine response, as it has been called, is nevertheless essential to your own spiritual development. When we say that your response may be determined by asking yourself what is God's response, obviously you cannot know with full certainty what God's response is in an abstract manner, but nevertheless asking yourself that question automatically eliminates certain other responses which are not loving, which are not supportive, which are not conducive to the growth of another. So although you cannot answer that question with certainty, you are already being guided in the proper direction. That is what we mean by the divine response. There is no one who knows exactly how the power of God would respond to a particular issue, but turning your thoughts in that direction provides a basis for your understanding and ultimate response.

You pray for peace—inner peace, world peace. By so praying you are putting forth energy into your lives and into the world to help those responsible to initiate actions that ultimately result in greater peace. You cannot change another's mind, but you can make another more receptive. You can open that person's perspective so that he or she may choose another direction. That is what can take place when you pray for peace.

The energy of prayer is unmistakable. It is the medium for communication from soul to soul. Just as air is the medium for communication for sound from one place to another, prayer operates in a similar fashion. The energy that is created and directed through prayer provides a means which is conducive to the receptivity of another soul. Whether the issue is peace or health or a sense of compassion or understanding, love, it is for all responses. Take hold of the divine spark within each of you and let that spark ignite your souls into action.

We bless you with the intensity and brilliance and warmth of God's presence in your lives and in all that has been created.

Amen.