Purification

2 days ago

9 min read

There is a real blessing resting upon you. Take full advantage of it and make it your own possession as completely as possible. Let yourself rest in the thought of unity with the Divine. Put aside all cares, all worries, all misgivings of the future and rest in the thought that you are a child gathered into the enveloping folds of Divine Love. There you can remain, serene and confident that nothing can separate you from that which is your own.

In quietness, in contemplation of the things of the Spirit you can go on. Do not be distracted by the more showy kinds of the demonstration of spiritual power; the music of the earth should not interfere with hearing the music of the spheres. You have no time to waste over this theory or that; to explore one channel which seems to lead into the Light and then, finding yourself blocked, to return to seek another. You have your path laid down before you in distinct outline with no confusion of signs.

In quietness, in contemplation of the things of God, purchase that spiritual wisdom which the world cannot give, nor the realms outside the earth. You have been told again and again that the call to rise and to hasten your steps has come to you. Some have queried with great seriousness your suitability, your capacity, even perhaps your wish to answer the call which, even to your blinded eyes, shows a steep and long hill to climb.

These things, the thoughts that pass through your mind, are part of the campaign, part of the equipment and will provide the necessary tools which will be needed later on to surmount a difficult spot.

From the beginning you have never been deceived. You have been told that the hill was long and steep, that the enemies were manifold and that you would grow weary by the way. But you were told too that the protection would be complete, that the Messengers of God would keep step with you, and that the greatest precipices of spiritual downfall should be crossed on the bridges already provided by what you call "the past".

Although your heart may fail you; although the sense of loneliness comes again and again, although even fear itself makes you pause and the voices of the valley sound deceptively sweet to your tired mind, in spite of this you go on because the call has come. The youngest to the oldest should take comfort in the thought that everything that will happen, or could happen, has been foreseen by the Spirits. Even at this early date the barriers of protection are firm, immovable and complete. You should know for you have been told very often that the weariness you experience, the sense of strain and of wondering whether you can continue in the path laid down, comes entirely from the physical and not from the spiritual side at all. You must be aware that it is part of the plan of the shadows to endeavour, by that constant dripping that wears away a stone, to use such means as this to deter and dishearten you in the work that lays in front.

Because of all these things all the disappointments of the past, the delays, the sinking of hope and the gathering together of the fragments of courage; because of this and only this, as a direct comfort from the Master who understands, in His sight you have done well and you shall find the strength to do better still in the days to come. Could you but grasp even the fringe of the meaning which lies underneath His message of Love you would, with a heart full of joy, cast care aside. Resting on the sure support of His Grace you would not only go on but would also lose the sense of anxiety, of strain and of doubt over the material details of your earthly life and those still more anguishing thoughts of your unworthiness to be a chosen servant of the King, acting under His direct guidance; for so it is that you are placed.

As you can imagine, the processes of Purification are manifold. It is not a thing that can be done at a blow, even by the strongest spiritual giant there may. As with all things of a spiritual character, it is the slow evolutionary stages that produce perfection at last! The putting together of little things, the multitude of details, those comprehensive yet infinitesimal thoughts which flit through your mind, seemingly to possess the life of a moment's duration only. It is the minute yet persistent wish for self-control; it is in the pause for guidance, it is in that watchfulness over self, and the desire to detach yourself from the world and the calls of the sense-body. It is in these things and countless others which are going on unconsciously in your spiritual mind that are gathering the resources for the unceasing work of the Spirit.

Here you get in rough outline the first processes of purification, and as you go on they do not change, except outwardly. It is a matter of slow growth, that gathering together of forces which provides the strength to throw off the material cords that bind. It is in the building up, not only brick by brick, but atom by atom. Thus you see that the processes of purification can't be hurried; there are no short cuts to that. Yet, at the same time, you can grasp that the processes can be seriously delayed by those who wilfully turn from light to darkness. The processes cannot be hurried, but they can be worked out as God intended without curb or hindrance; worked out by all in that harmonious and unbroken sequence which signifies God's laws in everything, both in your world and in the Realms of the Spirit.

This is perhaps something that at the moment is a little beyond your grasp in the way of taking it in. So, of necessity, the chief impression on your mind is the stupendous nature of the journey before you, which it seems to you, you commenced with very little preparation indeed. In considering the things of the Spirit it is impossible to avoid giving the impression of immensity, of something which is beyond the finite mind altogether. But immediately you have the cheery reassurance that God is patient, so wonderfully patient that He doesn't expect His children to be able to learn all their lessons at once. With those who work hard on earth, you find that in most cases that the subject so entered upon soon escapes the memory and, for the most part, can be ruled out as not having been learnt at all. It is by the study of a lesson that it is made your own; it is in the use of your powers of thought over the subject under attention that makes you retain, both now and in the far distant future, a pretty accurate remembrance of what you have learnt.

The same applies precisely to the things of the Spirit, and all you are asked to do, indeed it is better to act in this way, is to continue to work at the task at hand. Yet it cannot be got through without much care of thought. Here you get the great difference between the speed and the slowness of the purification. It is quite possible for the simplest tasks, for the most trivial things in daily life, to be largely instrumental in the speeding of the purification of the soul. Unfortunately, it is the world's point of view that only the big things count and only the public things that matter. When people pass over they have to completely revise their impressions of the things of the Spirit and the things of earth.

Get these things in their proper place and in their right perspectives. It is no use during the evolutionary stages to fix your mind as you do, almost desperately, on attaining the highest point in one particular direction. The attainment of that is the ideal, and by worrying and abusing the physical side of your mind you won't be able to make that coveted treasure your own however much you try. Yet the wish to reach the highest counts a lot, a tremendous lot! But remember that in the purification stages things have got to be level; level and thorough in every direction in order that you may pass on from one stage to the next.

Most of God’s children have what they call a "weakness" of one sort or another, and because it happens to be in regard to something they dislike intensely this should tell them immediately that it is not of them in the sense they think. Because that weakness calls up so much self-reproach God and the Spirits feel very sympathetic towards them. The Spirits tell them not to worry in the way they do, but to just scan their life in broad detail for by putting forth effort and concentration and always the wish to rise they shall find that almost automatically, or perhaps unconsciously, that weakness falls behind and can be forgotten for ever more. The strength gathered on the whole has made the levelling up possible and as a natural consequence this and other kinds of frailties are as a retreating army which has been defeated and overcome.

You have been told that in the future calls will be made upon you in various directions. So conserve your forces, seek to get the upper hand of your physical mind, try and govern your thoughts and do not allow them to master you. Show that because you are linked to the Anchor of the Christ you can be steady and still and quiet when the occasion demands. It is most important that you should have this firm hold on your mind. You cannot set out for any battle without the necessary equipment; but all the equipment that you will ever require can be attached to you now by the observance of the little things, by the harnessing of the powers within for a definite given purpose and by the seeking of self-control in all matters and in all ways. Later on that same self-control is going to be used by God to further His purpose in the raising up and the establishment of humanity where it should be, and must be, because it is His will.

It is purely a weariness of the body and not of the mind or the soul at all. You get the difference, and it would seem to you that being of a physical character only it would hamper the Spirits practically not at all. Yet they are dealing with physical laws; they are using the physical body, voice, and many organs which you would think they need not trouble about. So, for the time being because they work hand in hand with nature, the Spirits shall want all your help in order to lessen the strain and show replenished strength instead of a lower vitality still. The Spirits have done this over and over again, but they do it by legitimate means and not by a wrong exercise of the power lent to them by God. They do not go contrary to those most beautiful laws which He has thought out and put into being for your sake and for theirs; for your Soul’s sake, for the working out and the purification of that which is not allied to Him.

As usual you have tried a few experiments, and on the whole they have been successful. From the Spirit’s point of view they have been very successful indeed, but you are prone to look at things from the limited, yet superlatively critical attitude of the physical mind.

When you meet in peace you part again in the sense not only of peace but a little farther on towards the goal of understanding. Be quite certain that at the stage you have now arrived at, with much effort and much strain, nothing will happen in your life now that is not a direct means for advancing you on towards that fuller comprehension, when you shall see life as it is, and grief in any form will be unable to touch you.

Remember just one thing; that as you strive and as you hope to get on so the Father sends the power! If you could only grasp this literal fact it would save you much; if you could only realise that when you strive, as a natural consequence, so the extra power is given and can be used by you.

Ponder upon these things and of that greater, wider life, which lies just outside your limited, smaller existence. So shall your emancipation come; so shall the less strong ones find within themselves that dominant courage, so shall the stronger, imbued with the Spirit of God, force their way through the remaining difficulties. They shall be free from narrow sympathies; free from the judgment of others, free from all those little things which hold back the pioneer. Free from the earth they shall no longer seek God and yet seem to miss him. They shall seek and find, they shall knock and the door will not only be opened just to them, but shall be flung back and no power shall be strong enough to close it again.

Commend yourself to God once more! Hand over your life, your thoughts; all that represents yourself into His loving care, and you shall find peace and confidence and the sun of His beneficent goodness shall shine down upon you for ever more!

This message was first given in 1924 through Winifred Moyes.

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