Praying for those who have transitioned.
November 1, 1992
God's loving presence illuminates and strengthens your soul. God’s presence is sensed by those for whom you pray. Your prayers are always answered. God's response is especially enhanced because of the presence of your prayers. This needs to be emphasized here, for prayer is not an activity that starts God moving in another's life. Prayer is, rather, a means of enhancing the effect of God's presence in the life of another.
When you pray for God's presence in your own life, you are praying for a higher level of sensitivity. It is this level of sensitivity upon which you have influence. You cannot increase God's help any more than you can block God's action in all of creation, but you can provide an environment conducive to receiving that help. When you pray for the souls of others who have joined us, you are praying for their receptivity and sensitivity, their awareness of what is within their vision.
Much, indeed most, of all that has been created spiritually by God is invisible to you but visible to us if we will look around and take in what is there. Spiritual reality, as you refer to it, is really the only reality we can see. You talk about spiritual reality in opposition to physical reality, but to us there is no physical reality. All that is real for us is spiritual, and yet there are many who have crossed over to our form of life who insist on keeping their eyes closed, who insist on claiming that the only reality was a physical reality. Not all who cross over enjoy the immediate recognition of the brilliance of spiritual reality. There are many souls who remain locked into a relationship with their former physical life.
Your conversation earlier about places being haunted or filled with some kind of physical presence that may be disturbing actually addresses a truth. There are souls who feel so strong in their connection with their human lives that they are unable presently to move ahead into the more rewarding and comforting and uplifting life of the soul. For many souls the transition to spiritual life is smooth, but for many others it is racked by doubt, fear, or selfishness, or a longing for what was rather than an embracing of what can be.
We who are your spiritual guides are committed to what can be. We are committed to the growth of the soul above all else. Sooner or later, you come to the recognition that it is the body that enhances the development of the soul. That is the primary relationship of body and soul. It is not the purpose of the soul to enhance the body. The body may be the house, but the soul is the content. It is content which is of the highest importance.
For those souls who find it difficult to let go of their human experience, it is frequently the case that the human form of life was totally devoted to the physical life to the exclusion of any recognition of a spiritual existence. That influence carries forward, leaving its mark on the soul as it crosses over to our sphere of life. It is for you while you are in human form to continually recognize the importance of your spiritual growth, to recognize that it is indeed the spirit that endures. Living a life with such recognition enables the soul to welcome its new life rather than to mourn the loss of its old life.
Yes, there are locations in which there are spiritual entities who are living a disturbed existence. It is not just a story or an issue of one's imagination. Many humans respond with fear when they hear of or experience the presence of such souls, but in reality one must pray for them. You can make a difference and have an influence upon these disturbed souls through your prayers. Prayers provide strength for these souls and enable them to achieve a wider vision of the beauty of the life that can be.
You wonder about angels, whether they exist, their function, and how to interpret references to them. Angels, as humans have come to portray them pictorially, really do not exist. But if you think of angels as spirits, then you are closer to the truth. We are your guides, we are your guiding spirits, we are therefore your guiding and guardian angels.
But there are numerous levels of spiritual development. You have read about them. We have talked a bit about them. There are spheres or levels of spiritual life wherein the spirits themselves serve other functions. Not all souls on our side serve as teachers or guides. Eventually we become so intense in our focus on the journey toward God that we no longer are aware of human life. There are many stages between that level and the level of souls who are still attached to their prior human existence. We are no longer attached to that existence, but we are sufficiently aware of it to be moved to guide others who still live in human form.
There are souls who serve a different purpose. For some souls, it is their responsibility to intervene in a more direct manner when such intervention is the only way of ensuring that an individual remains on a path most appropriate for his or her growth. But our function as your guides is a function of encouragement, of guiding but not pushing, of showing the way but not pulling you along that path, of providing you with choices and helping you weigh the alternatives.
There are times when we can move you to take actions which may have dramatic consequences such as saving your own life or avoiding a catastrophe, but we emphasize that it is you who actually are responsible for that final move to do what must be done. Our function as your guides is therefore different from the function of some other spirit entities. We do not serve a higher function than they, nor is it lower; it is different. But both kinds of spiritual beings are oriented toward the enhancement of human life, for that is the opportunity that God has given us.
You wonder at times about creativity, that immediate insight of knowing "yes, that's what must be done." Creativeness is achieved by letting yourself be separated from your own preconceived ideas. It is letting yourself go completely, allowing yourselves to be recipients of inspiration rather than just doers. By letting yourself go, you allow us a greater opportunity for helping to influence what you do. You allow us to provide you with new information. Insight, therefore, is really the ability to look outward, not inward, looking outward to what the possibilities really are. We provide the response to that outward looking.
Your guides are the interface between the possibilities that exist and your own inclinations. You should look for more opportunities in your life to look outward. You should look for chances to see things in new ways by casting away old beliefs. You are a growing organism; you are not static. You have the potential to expand, to increase your awareness, to increase your sensitivity. All that you seek that is really important is within your grasp. There is nothing of value that you cannot achieve, but there are many things that you may not achieve if you are reluctant to look outward, just as the souls of so many who join us are reluctant to look outward and take in the potential of all that can be.
We pray for your soul that you may be outward looking. We pray that you as a human being can leave an imprint on your soul’s development, which means an outward looking commitment, not only in human form but after it begins its spiritual life. Looking outward, looking upward, being willing to expand your horizons—this is the way you should live.
Don't close your eyes to the potential that is there for you. It is so obvious to us when we see these souls join us that the only way to develop is to open the eyes, but unfortunately it is so much less obvious to human beings. You may be caught in a kind of rut of habit, of ideas which have a hold upon you. You have biases, predisposed opinions about one issue or another. You have particular ways you go about looking at problems and challenges. We urge you to be willing to explore new ways, to be willing to take a chance, to be willing to be blinded by the light of opportunity.
Your life is to be lived. Your life must expand. It cannot retain its same shape. Be willing to keep your eyes open to what may be. Be willing to dream about the potential that lies ahead of you. Do not focus on the fence; focus on the horizon. You serve your soul most effectively when you live your life in this manner.
We bless you with the presence of God, with the brilliance of God’s light, and we bless you with the potential which lies ahead for you. Rejoice in that potential, in the opportunity that you have for a wider life, a life of love, of reaching outward, of taking in what can be!
Amen.