Pearls of Wisdom

Passages taken from the messages received through James E. Padgett


For a moment, think that there is nothing between you and the Father, and that as regards your longings and His Love, they are face to face, and no mediator intervenes or can intervene. Only the Father's Love and you, alone. Think of this, and you will realize not only what a wonderful thing the Divine Love is, but what a wonderful thing your soul is that it can become so in nearness and in Love with the Father.



Make your daily life one of prayer and aspirations, you can make it a part of yourself. You have only to let your desires turn towards God, and He will meet you more than half way, for He never sleeps or closes His ear to the supplications of His children and, those who have sought Him with an earnest and repentant wish and longing desire of the soul, know that He has always responded to their call.


   
When a man gets to know the truths of the Father, he will become a very happy and wise man, for these truths have in them only those principles that create happiness and wisdom.


   
Be true to yourself, as I have told you, and you will soon be in God's Love and favor. Do not let worries, or disappointments keep you from seeking His Love and believing that He is waiting to enfold you in His arms of mercy and Love, for He is not only waiting but wants you to call on Him. Do not let the thought that He is afar up in the Heavens cause you to think that He is not always near you anxiously waiting your call.



Divine Love is greater than faith or hope, because it is the real substance of the Father, while faith and hope are the qualities which a man may possess by his own efforts, and which are given him that he may realize the possibility of obtaining this Love.



God does not intend to wait until you come into the spirit world that He may give you the full enjoyment of His Holy Spirit, it all depends upon you. If you truly and sincerely seek His Love, you will get it on earth just as easily as you can get it after you have shunned off the body.
The Love of God coming into the soul of a man does not depend upon whether he is in the flesh or in the spirit.


 
There is implanted in the souls of men, a longing for that which tends to elevate and spiritualize them, even though this longing may not be consciously present.


  
It is not a question of what church you belong to, or what particular faith you may have, or who your preacher may be, or to what duties you owe to the church, or to the ceremony of baptism according to the church's dogmas, but whether you have sought God in spirit and in truth, and have received His favor and Love.


 
The Father’s Love will always come to you when you pray. His listening ear is always open to the earnest aspirations of His children, who come to Him with the true longings of the soul. You have the secret of reaching the Father's Love, and on all occasions, when you feel that you need that Love, or desire a nearness to the Father, use the secret and you will not be disappointed.


  
This love of the Father's own Self is of a never changing nature, and in all places and under all conditions is working out the same results and converting the souls of men on earth, as well as of the spirits in the spirit world, into not only the image but the substance of the divine nature.


   
This Love is waiting for every man to possess, who sincerely and with true soul aspirations seek it. It is not a part of, but surrounding and enveloping every man, but at the same time forming no part of him unless his longings and prayers have opened up his soul, so that it may flow in and infill him with its presence.


 

The Father is all goodness and love and truth and forgiveness and kindness, and these qualities the souls of men become possessed of when they receive and possess the divine love. And when man is sincere and faithful and possesses these qualities they never leave him or change.


   
This Divine Love is the greatest thing in all the world, and the only thing that can make man at-one with the Father and change the soul of man into a Divine Substance filled with the Essence of the Father. There is nothing else in all the universe of God that can cause man to become a new creature and an inhabitant of the Father's Kingdom; and when men possess this Love, then they possess everything that will make them not only the perfect man but the Divine Angel.


  
God's Divine Love has the power to change the most hardened sinner into a true child of God, if only through faith and prayer such sinner will seek for it. Let this love take possession of a man or spirit and its power to purify and change the heart of that man or spirit never fails.


 
Divine Love is the life of the Celestial Heavens and the only key that will unlock the gates. When the mortal enters therein, all other love is absorbed by it. It has no substitute and is of itself a thing apart. It is of the Essence of the Divine. The spirit which possesses it is Divine itself. It may be yours. It may be all men's. And it may not. You must decide that question for yourself, not even the Father can make the decision for you.


   
What this Divine Love means to everyone who has received it. He is in a condition of perfect peace and his happiness is beyond all comparison, and he is not willing that anything or power shall lead him to those things that are not in accord with the divine love and God's laws of harmony. He is not only happy, but is away beyond the lower spirits in intellectual development and knowledge of the spiritual things of the Father.


  
As this Divine love increases in quantity, the change and transformation becomes correspondingly greater, until at last the transformation may and will become so great that the whole soul becomes a thing of this divine essence and partakes of its very nature and substance, a being of Divinity.



Religion is a matter of soul and not of intellect, and the greater the development of the soul in the right direction, the higher will be the spiritual state or condition of the soul. Mere intellectual belief - no matter how intense and undoubting - will not tend to bring about this spiritual development, for Religion is really nothing but the relationship and harmony of men's souls with the Soul of God.


   
The Divine Love comes from above, and when once planted in a soul there can be no limit to its expansion and development, even in the Celestial Heavens. Let all men seek this Love and there will be no lost souls not having the Divine Essence of the Father.


  
There is only one possible way in which man can come in unison and at-onement with the Father, and be thereby fitted to enjoy or inhabit the mansions in His Kingdom which Jesus spoke of when on earth, and that is the Way that will make the soul of man like the soul of the Father, and a partaker of His Divine qualities of Love and Life.


 
Love is the One Great Thing in God's economy of real existence. Without it, all would be chaos and unhappiness; but where it exists harmony and happiness also exist.


   
Prayer must be made to the Father in the name of Truth, and to His Love and Mercy. Every individual is dear to Him, and He is ready to bestow this Love upon everyone who asks in faith and pure desire. And in response to the earnest prayer will come Love; and with It, knowledge of things spiritual; and with this, power that may be used for the good of mankind.


  
Do not let the worries of life keep you from loving and believing that He wants you to become one with Him in Love and Grace. He is not only waiting for you to let His Love flow into your heart, but He is anxiously knocking at the door of your heart, that you may open and let Him enter.



Faith is not the belief that arises from the mere operation of the mind, but that which comes from the opening of the perceptions of the soul, and which enables its possessor to see God in all His Beauty and Love. I do not mean that the possessor of this faith will actually see God in form or feature, for he has none such, but his soul perceptions will be in such condition that all the Attributes of the Father will appear so plainly to him, that they will be as real as anything that he can see with the eyes of the spirit form. Such faith comes only with constant earnest prayer, and the reception into the soul of the Divine Love.


  
God recognizes and respects the independent will of His creature. He does not force them to seek His Love, but waits until they, by their own experience, learn that what they once thought was all sufficient for their happiness, is not sufficient; and realizing this insufficiency, they become dissatisfied, and with such dissatisfaction comes the wish to learn the great unknown of desire, which, at last, causes them to feel their dependence upon a source of happiness not emanating from themselves.


  
It has been asserted by many that the beliefs of a man do not count for much in determining his condition of soul and mind, and that only his acts and deeds and the qualities of his heart determine that condition; but this assertion I declare to be untrue, unless these acts and deeds and qualities of heart are the results of beliefs being in accord with the truth.


   
No man can of himself become filled with this Divine Love, for in only one way will it come into his soul, and that is by prayer to the Father for its inflowing, and faith that He will give it to him who asks earnestly and humbly.


   
Divine Love is the influence which makes men on earth think and do that which makes for peace and good will among men. It is not possessed by all men, in fact, by comparatively few, yet its influence is felt over nearly the whole earth. Even those who have never heard of my teachings or of my Father enjoy the benefit of its influence in some kind of belief or faith in an overshadowing spirit of great power and watchfulness.


   
When the spirit leaves the body, there is a breaking of the silver cord and thereby all connection between the spirit and the body is severed for all eternity. Never again can that spirit enter that body, and neither can any other spirit. When the silver cord is once severed, no power that is known to the spirit world, or among spirits of the highest sphere, can again resuscitate that body and cause the manifestation of life.



God is a real existing God of Love and Power and Wisdom, and wrath is no part of His nature. God has for His children on earth, as well as in the spirit world, only Love and Solicitude and Sympathy.


 
The age of a man has nothing to do with his salvation; it is for the old as well as for the young, and no idea or suggestion of any unpardonable sin must be interposed to prevent any man from believing that the Great Love of the Father is waiting for him.


 
God intended, when He rebestowed this love, that every human being, as well as spirit, should have the opportunity to obtain it, and that the manner in which it might be obtained should be made known to all mankind, and in carrying out this intention he specially selected Jesus for this work, who, through his own teachings to mankind, should learn of it.


   
Jesus is not seeking to establish a kingdom on earth, but is working for the purpose of leading men to a new birth of soul, and of showing them the way to the Celestial Kingdom.


   
I want to tell you further, that God, (the God of the Master), while He works through His angels, yet He, Himself, comes into our souls by His direct communication. The Holy Spirit is His messenger that causes the souls of men to hear and receive this soul communication; yet God's Love comes direct from Himself.


 
Love knows no sadness, and as the soul speaks its condition by the appearance of the spirit body's countenance, the soul being so full of gladness and joy, the countenance can express only those emotions of the soul. This is the result of the law which declares nothing can be hidden, and every spirit must show forth the truth of its condition.



The soul is to the spiritual things of God what the mind is to the material things of God, and the great mistake that men make and have made is to attempt to learn these spiritual things with the powers of the material mind.


  
Belief and faith are not the same; one is of the mind, the other of the soul. One can and does change as phenomena and apparent facts change; the other, when truly possessed, never changes. For faith possessed by a soul causes all the longings and aspirations of that soul to become things of real existence; which, like the house that is built upon the solid rock, can never be shaken or destroyed.


  
Divinity belongs to God alone and can be possessed by others, spirits or mortals, only when He has transfused into or bestowed upon the souls of men a portion of this Divinity and to the extent thereof made them a part of Himself.


  
The New Birth means the flowing into the soul of a man, the Divine Love of the Father, so that that man becomes, as it were, a part of the Father in His Divinity and Immortality. When this truth comes to a man, he commences to take on himself the Divine Nature of the Father and all that part of him - that may be called the natural nature - commences to leave him, and as the Divine Love continues to grow and fill his soul, the natural love and affections for things of the earth will disappear and, as a result, he will become at-one with the Father and immortal.


  
Truth cannot compromise, even for the sake of peace, and error will not submit or acknowledge its untruth so long as it can get any mortal to believe in and advocate it.
And because of the great gift of free will to man, truth itself, with all the Power and Knowledge of the Father in back of it, will not compel a man to accept it against his will.


  
Let men seek this great Divine Love, and in faith they will find it and forever be One with the immortal Father as He is immortal, and happy beyond all conception.



If men will only think for a moment, they will see that the only relation between God and man is that which arises from the soul's condition. God is Love and for man to be at-one with Him, man must become Love. His soul must be filled or permeated with this Love to such an extent that it will become impossible for anything that is not of Love to be or remain a part of his soul.


   
Truth is of itself a fact. It can have no affiliation with untruth, no matter that untruth is the result of ignorance, for all untruth is the result of ignorance, and must be eradicated from the hearts of men before there can be that harmony between God and man which the very nature of truth itself requires.


  
I know that some men think that prayer is nothing more than an appeal to their own better selves, but I tell you that this is a wrong belief, and when they realize the truth that prayer ascends to the Father and is heard by Him and answered, they will understand the great mission and benefit of prayer.


 
No one can obtain the state of Celestial Bliss, unless they first get the Divine Love of the Father and become at-one with Him.


 
God speaks to us through His Angels, or through the communication of His Soul and ours.


  
So let not men be content with trying to live good moral lives but seek with all their hearts the love that makes them truly angels of God, and such angels as, by reason of the Divinity which such love brings to them, can feel and realize the certainty that they are immortal.



My love for God is such that I love every one of His creatures - be they saints or sinners. And that is the difference between the Love that He inspires in His children, and the love that exists among men and spirits, which has not His Love for its foundation.
No man can be perfectly happy without this Divine Love.


 
The Love of the Father comes only into a man's soul when he seeks It in prayer and faith, and of course this implies that he wills It to come to him. No man is ever refused this Love when he properly asks for It.



Faith and prayer can open the very heart of the Celestial Spheres, and Love will flow down into your soul as the avalanche of snow that feels the warmth of the sun's bright rays, rushes from its mountain heights, when winter leaves with its chilling gloom and blasting breath for other climes.


   
True immortality is the state or condition of the soul that has knowledge that, because of the Essence and qualities of itself, it cannot ever cease to live. The impossibility of its ever ceasing to live being known to it and a fact.


 
The Holy Spirit is that part of God's spirit that manifests His presence and care in conveying His Divine Love into men's souls. This Love is the highest and greatest and most holy of His possessions and can be conveyed to men only by the Holy Spirit; and this appellation is used in contradistinction to the mere spirit, which demonstrates the operation of God's Soul to men in other directions and for other purposes.


   
The earth is the great plane of probation and the development of the souls of men depends upon their correct living in accordance with those principles, which the Father has established as the means whereby they may receive this condition of Love, which - alone - can make them at-one with Him.



There is now a Kingdom in the Celestial Spheres, but not a finished one, for it is still open and in the process of formation. It is open to the entry of all spirits, and men must seek for it in the only Way that the Father has provided. No man or spirit will be excluded from it who, with all the longings of his soul, will aspire to enter that Kingdom.


   
How does Divine Love come into the soul, and what must men do to induce its inflowing?
There is only one way, and that is by the opening up of the soul in such a manner that this Love - when it comes in response to sincere seeking - may find an entrance and a condition of development that will cause it to find a lodgment and abiding place, harmonious and satisfactory to the qualities of its own existence.


  
When a man in true earnestness and sincere aspirations prays to the Father for this Divine Love, such prayer not only brings Love, but causes those portions of the soul - which are capable of receiving this Love - to open up to its coming and to work in such a way as to attract the Love.


 
The Holy Spirit never performs this work of preparing the soul for the reception of this Divine Love, but merely brings the Love and causes its inflowing, when the soul is in condition to receive it.


 
What are called moral deeds and good thoughts will not cause this inflowing of the Divine Love, because these things are necessary steps towards the purification of the soul in its natural love, and no matter how pure this love may become, yet it is not the Divine Love or any portion of it.


   
God never changes. His laws never change. Only man has changed from the perfection of His creation; and man must change again before that perfection will again be his.



This New Birth is brought about by the Divine Love flowing into the souls of men, whereby they receive the very Nature and Substance of the Father, and wherefrom men cease to be the merely created beings, but become the souls of men born into the Divine Reality of God.


   
As the prayers of the sincere, earnest soul ascend to the Father, that soul becomes opened up to the inflowing of Divine Love. The soul's perceptions enlarge and come more in rapport with the conditions or influence that always accompanies the presence of this Love and, consequently, its entrance into the soul becomes easier, and its reception more perceptible to the soul sense.


  
When once the Divine Love finds a lodgment in the soul - to the extent that it receives the Love - the soul becomes, as it were, a changed substance partaking of the Essence of the Love.


 
As water may become colored by an ingredient foreign to itself and which changes not only its appearance but its qualities, so this Divine Love changes the appearance and qualities of the soul. This change of qualities continues ever thereafter. The natural qualities of the soul - and the Essence of the Love - become One and united. The soul is made altogether different in its constituency from what it was before the inflowing of the Love, but this only to the extent of the Love received.


     
It is a fact that the regeneration of the human soul is caused more by the quiet meditations of mortals of the truths of the Father and by the silent longings of the soul, than by the emotions that arise from the fervid and persuasive sermons of the preachers and evangelists. These latter may arouse the dead souls to a realization of their need of a reconciliation to God, but not so often do these emotions bring the soul into rapport or unison with the Father, as do the silent meditations of which I speak.


   
There must be the true soul longings and aspirations for this Love of the Father, and in such cases these longings do not arise from the emotions produced and, especially, where such emotions are the results of fear created by the picturing of an angry and revengeful God. No, in the silence of the home chamber, where the mortal is alone with God and lets his longings go to the Father for the bestowal of His Love. Because of the Love that the mortal may have for the Father does this Divine Love come in response and regenerating power.



Jesus, when on earth, never tried to create emotion or excitement, but his teachings were as the still small voice that enters the soul and draws it to a contemplation of the Father's Love in all the power of a soul's longings - hungry and craving.


  
Forgiveness is that operation of the Divine Mind which relieves man of the penalties of his sins that he has committed, and permits him to turn from his evil thoughts and deeds, and seek the Love of the Father; and if he earnestly seeks, find the happiness which is waiting for him to obtain. It does not violate any law that God has established to prevent man from, avoiding the penalties of his violations of the law of God controlling his conduct.


   
Let not your desires originate from only the intellect, but try to bring the longings of the soul into being. And do not rest satisfied until a response shall come - as it will certainly come - and you will know that the Divine Love is present and working Its transforming power upon the soul.


  
No man can come to the Father's Love except he be Born Again. This is the great and fundamental Truth, which men must learn and believe; for without this New Birth, men cannot partake of the Divine Essence of God's Love, which when possessed by man makes him at-one with the Father. This Divine Love comes to men through the workings of the Holy Spirit causing it to flow into the heart and soul and filling it, so that all sin and error must be eradicated. Yet, without this Divine Love within, they will be only natural men and nothing more.


   
God gives Faith to him who seeks for it in earnestness and longing desire.


   
I only want to say that the faith that the preacher spoke of tonight as being possessed by Elijah is the faith that you must try to obtain, and then you will realize that you will be superior to all the worries and troubles that may come to you. This is the kind of faith that overcomes every obstacle and makes you a true child of the Father and one who He will never forsake or let go unprovided for.



No man can become a part of God's Divinity until he receives this Divine Love and realises that he and his Father are one in Love and purity.


   
The eye of the soul is that interior perception which needs not reason from cause and effect to discern and forever establish the truths of God.


  
As the soul develops in the Divine Love, this development means that what comes to it as a fact is a truth - the everlasting truth.The soul does not learn all truths at once, but the truth that it does learn is one that never changes, and lets no revision alter or set it aside. The truth of the soul's discernment is never shown to be in error, and no error ever becomes a part of the soul's discernment of truth.



What does it mean to be "born again?"
It is the flowing of the Holy Spirit into the soul of a man and the disappearing of all that tended to keep it in a condition of sin and error. It is not the workings of the man's own will but the Grace of God.
It is the Love of God that passes all understanding.


  
God wants and is patiently waiting for the love of man, and He is always the Loving Father Who delights not in the suffering of His creatures. He wants their love to come voluntarily, and without constraint or fear of punishment or hope of reward, except that reward which must necessarily follow the blending of God's Love and the love of man.



The soul has its faculties and is not dependent upon the mind for this faith, and upon my exercising these soul faculties would depend the question of my receiving this love and this faith; for as love came, faith would come also, which faith was not a mere mental belief, but something greater and different.



But the soul and not the mind was the thing! And Love — this Divine Love of the Father - made happiness mine and everything beautiful and satisfying. He who seeks only the mind, and lets the soul slumber is poor, indeed; but he who seeks the development of the soul finds that as his soul develops, his mind does also and rich he is beyond compare.
"If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.   



The more earnest the prayer and sincere the longings, the sooner faith comes and with this faith, the realization that the Divine Love is permeating the soul.


   
You must not let the things of your earth life keep you from the higher things that the Father has prepared to give you.
You will soon know, as I know, that the only things worth striving after are the things of this spiritual Love of the Father. Be more anxious to get this knowledge, and it will come to you in all its beauty and convincing force.


  
The opportunity is now given, and will in the future be given, to all men and spirits to become the children of the Father in the angelic and Divine sense. And if they refuse to become so, they can have no grounds upon which to base the accusation of injustice against the Father or His Love.


   
No man can expect to have the perfection of the Father in quantity, but he may in quality; for the Spirit of Truth that enters into the soul of a man in response to prayer and faith, is a part of the Divine Nature of the Father, and the essence is the same, and the quality must be the same; but, of course, no man can obtain it to the extent of making him pure and holy, as the Father is pure and holy.



If you seek earnestly for God's grace and Divine Love, you can obtain them on earth, and when they are obtained on earth, greater will be the progress of the spirit when it comes over to the spirit world.


   
The soul was made the highest and most perfect of all God's Creation, and to such an extent that it was made in His image - the only one or thing of all His creations that was made in His image, and the only part of man that was made in His image.


  
Only soul can understand soul, and the soul that seeks to comprehend the nature of itself must be a live soul with its faculties developed to at least a small degree.


  
The human soul must be a creature of God, and not an Emanation from Him as a part of His Soul.
And when men speak and teach that the human soul is a part of the Oversoul, they teach what is not true. This soul is merely a creature of the Father, just as are the other parts of man, such as the intellect, the spirit body, and the material body; and which, before its creation, had no existence.


   
Whenever the human soul partakes of the Essence of the Father, and thereby becomes Divine itself, and the possessor of His Substance of Love, that soul realizes to a certainty that it is Immortal and can never again become less than Immortal. As God is Immortal, the soul that has been transformed into the Substance of the Father becomes Immortal. And never again can the decree, "dying thou shalt die," be pronounced upon it.