1999-03-14. Father’s Will
Nashville #74
Topic: Father’s Will
Group: Nashville TeaM
Teacher: Ham
TR: Rebecca
Opening
Ham: Greetings, children, I am Ham and I am grateful to welcome you here this evening once again. Thank you all for coming and for always remembering the lessons and for being conscientious in sincerely seeking to know your Father’s greater will.
Lesson
Barriers
Once again, we are concerning ourselves with understanding and assenting to God’s will. There is no one uniform set of rules you can follow and know you are doing God’s will, contrary to what is taught in your churches. As God the Father has sent his spirit individually to each person separately, so too is the Father’s will unique to each person. Each person has their own individual set of obstacles or barriers that come between that person and God. When Jesus said to the rich young man, “If you would follow me, you must sell all you own and distribute it to the poor”, (163:2.5) he recognized that man’s obstacle and told him the way to overcome it. He did not require all his followers to do this. For another, it might be to leave a family obligation, or in another possibly even a marriage obligation.
Anything, any one thing that you would put ahead of your relationship with God, that is an obstacle. And, if you continue to put that one thing ahead of your most important relationship, you will undoubtedly become more and more unhappy instead of what the Father’s will is which is to become more and more happy and content. Eventually, that one thing, no matter what it is, even if it is sanctified by the church, if that one thing is in between you and the Father, it eventually becomes sin. Sin occurs when you knowingly do something that is contrary to what you know is the Father’s will.
It is so sad for us to watch the noble intentions of the Father’s children being thwarted by some little pet sin. If you would follow the Master, if you would hear his voice and follow after him, you must be willing to sacrifice everything else, personal comforts, relationships, everything — even obligations that seem to be sanctified by society as the Father’s will for all people. In this I mean, perhaps, a child must leave its parents, this kind of thing, a husband his wife, there are many obligations that seem to be sacrosanct but that cannot come between you, individually, and the Father’s will. For some people, personal comfort can become that way— the love of eating and drinking, the love of wealth and its favors, the ease of staying in a certain profession that is not right for you.
I don’t mean to be harsh or to sound extreme, but I want you each to be aware that these things will come up in your lives when you will have to make a choice and it will always be something like do I seek the easy way, the familiar way, do I seek to please my friends and relatives and keep my social standing, or do I take the Father’s path which will be harder. The Father does not promote ease seeking in his children, he wishes you to be strong and he wishes you to be loyal to him first and foremost.
You must understand that anything that you sacrifice for the Father’s will will be give back to you a hundred fold. You cannot really lose anything in following the Father. What you are actually trading is unhappiness for happiness, you are trading sin for righteousness and joy.
Let us take an easy example. Say, for example, one of you smokes cigarettes to excess and you know that the Father does not want you to continue polluting your body, but you continue to do it anyway out of weakness or fear. This addiction will make you more and more unhappy, more and more dissatisfied with yourself and finally physically ill until you can forsake that habit for something greater, God’s will. You can’t walk down two roads at the same time, you have to chose one or the other. You can’t have it both ways. And, as I was saying, what is the Father’s will for one person may not be the Father’s will for someone else. You each have a unique road to walk and what is right for one person at this particular time may be completely wrong for someone else at the same time in their lives.
So, it is up to you, individually, to do something very simple, to ask. Father is this your will for me? If you ask this in sincerity, complete openness, you will receive an answer. But, remember that this answer is for that moment in time and does not remain static throughout your journey. Are there any questions at this time?
Dialogue
The Teachers, Guardian Angels
Q: I have a question that relates to this lesson and last weeks lesson, as we begin to work more with our personal teachers, can you help me understand how to correlate the Father’s will with the instructions we receive from our teachers. I think we place a very high value on something we hear from a celestial, and I want to know how we use that in ascertaining the Father’s will?
Ham: The teachers help you spiritually and also help you to implement your decisions. The teachers are advisors, but they cannot determine for you what the Father’s will is for you. That is something you must do for yourself. The teachers can try to help you make a decision, or encourage you in your decisions, but the teachers cannot make your decisions for you. In regards to your tasks, the teachers give you guidance according to their best understanding, the Father’s will will work out in the actions of the seraphim. So, even though a teacher may say try this or that, the seraphim may block this direction so the Father’s will is ultimately the over rider of all your planning and work, even when done in consultation with the teachers.
Q: Your Thought Adjuster coordinates with the seraphim, correct.
Ham: Yes.
Q: Would you say that the Father’s will turns out to be more circumstantial in our lives or is it more ethereal, thoughts of either or in your mind?
Ham: No, its both. You have decisions before you. Is this the higher path, or is this the better way. The Father tries to stimulate these kinds of decisions through circumstances in the outer world.
Q: You don’t mean for us to sit down and make a self-examination checklist?
Ham: No.
Morality, Guidance
Q: Do our teachers know what God’s will is for our lives, or do they have an enlightened sense? They encourage us to take certain paths, but do they ultimately know any better than we do?
Ham: Well, yes. Being much older and having been through much, much more experience, they can encourage you to take steps that are in general good for you. But, can they predict all outcomes, no. Will they encourage you to overcome the obstacles that come in your path, yes. But, no they do not see the future as the Father sees the future.
Q: As the seraphim see the future?
Ham: Correct
Q: I thought they operate partially out of time so they can see the future to some degree.
Ham: No, we are still time limited beings.
Q: NO I am talking about the seraphim.
Ham: Yes, the seraphim can to some extent.
Q: As we grow spiritually, can we have more confidence in our decisions even if it does mean breaking sanctified societal rules and causing pain for people?
Ham: Absolutely. Ultimately each person must leave all other people to the Father and do what brings you closer to the Father without worrying about every body else and that is very hard for socially conditioned human beings to do.
Q: This is the way is seems to work for me. You have a personal Socratic dialogue with your teacher, This is a back and forth and a give and take situation. The angels, the seraphim nudge things in you way that are usually for your own good.
Ham: Yes.
Q: Then there you are, with all this wonderful help, still in the position of deciding what to do with these opportunities or crises.
Ham: Yes.
Q: The old free will catch 22.
Q: We should definitely pay attention to the coincidences that occur in our life?
Ham: Absolutely. I would go further and say that human beings are brought together because of what the one can give to the other so pay attention to the people who are brought into your life and what you can give them and not so much what they can do for you. If you concentrate on giving, what will be given back will more than compensate what you give away.
Q: So it is the thing of polarity.
Ham: Yes.
Q: In an unfinished universe like the supreme being, you have something beside nothing and each has its own electromagnetic field so you have reality next to unreality and (se ?) have to choose and each has its own electromagnetic field. The whole thing is polarity, positive and negative. Giving is positive, anytime you give is positive and it pulls you into positive polarity.
Q: Except in the instance of taking from the Father.
Q: It comes from the Father and through our soul and in doing so our souls get stronger and we grow spiritually. Self-forgetfulness – you forget what you want and need and then you get what you need when you give it to others. Its these two electromagnetic fields and you have to figure it out. We have to learn to choose the positive. The Thought Adjuster is totally positive and we are somewhere else and the Father tries to turn us around.
Ham: Yes, in a crude way, I understand your analogy and agree, but in this material and morontia world, the higher reality is thoroughly mixed with what you would call the lower reality. Spirit and matter are mixed together so decisions are not so black and white and ultimately when making a spiritual decision, it is best to rely completely on the Father as the Master did in saying, they will be done. So, in your state as a material being, which is the better more spiritual decision is not always clear and so all you can do is pray for guidance, make your decision, but rely completely on the Father to correct it if it is not his will. Is that helping?
Q: Yes, it’s kind of a different level but yes.
Personal Counsel
Q: Do you have a message for me tonight please?
Ham: Certainly, son. You are learning very much during this time period. You are learning that the old ways of coping with situations don’t always work now, that you have to have flexibility and sensitivity to others and to be able to modify your reaction patterns a little as time goes by. Be at ease with your self, allow yourself mistakes and be tolerant with yourself. Learn to constantly forgive yourself instead of getting mad at yourself and feeling despairing at even small errors. Learn to step back and give yourself forgiveness. Practice that this week.
Q: Ham, Moriah from Holland requested a personal message.
Ham: Daughter, you are doing as you know best. You are doing that which you feel will bring you closer to the Father, and that is good. Remember to simply pray, to keep your relationship with the Father simple and trusting without requiring too much of either of you. I think she will understand my meaning.
Q: Ham, Kid wanted you to give him some advice.
Ham: Son, you are undergoing much sorrow and suffering that is not God’s will for you. You give yourself what it is you think that you deserve. You do not know the Father’s love, but should you decide to turn toward the Father then you will know how blessed and beloved and cherished you really are. But, you must first cease to turn your back on his love. Like the prodigal son, you must turn around before taking the first step home.
Inner Child
Q: Do you have a message for Esmirleda?
Ham: Yes, daughter, be open to yourself, be open to hearing your inner soul’s wants and needs. This is important for there are some things that you deny yourself so automatically that you don’t hear consciously your inner needs for them.
Q: Elena?
Ham: Daughter, you likewise have some inner feelings or levels of being with needs. There is still the inner child needing a father’s love, for example, that must be acknowledged and allowed to receive the love of the Father in heaven. In other words, you have received the Father’s love as an adult, but those lower layers of being have not been fully opened to acknowledging their need for the Father’s love and accepting his love.
Q: Do you have anything for Rebecca?
Ham: Yes, Rebecca, you also are experiencing these older layers of a child’s needs at this time. Go through the steps of acknowledging that inner child need of going back there and as that inner child asking your father for those things that you needed and then giving yourself permission to accept those things from the heavenly Father. This is important, daughter, give yourself some time.
Q: You know all this I have been going through about my dad since he has been dead. Is my anger and resentment lessening lately towards him?
Ham: I would say so, yes. You still have a lot of anger that gets expressed through harming yourself.
Q: Self-punishment?
Ham: But it is very much anger at the father figure. You need to do still more work by going back to the inner child, telling your father what you needed. You and Rebecca can do this together. Each one playing the other’s father.
Q: Do you think that Ian or Daphne would help us with that too?
Ham: Certainly. Son, you are doing fairly well. You have come up against the same obstacle once more and so you are being tested, can you forsake it or not? If not, why not? Is it linked to your father? And, will easing that pain translate into the now time. Continue to do this inner work and we will speak again.
Q: Ham, do you have a message for Katy?
Ham: Certainly, daughter. You are experiencing much excitement and change. Remember to practice your stillness every day, do not neglect this and you will feel much calmer and less frightened. Stay centered while performing. Don’t be rushed or forced into a time frame or a something where you don’t feel comfortable. Also, be open to some experimentation. Just go ahead and do it, you don’t need permission. In other words, don’t be afraid of what your inner voice is telling you to do.
Q: Ham do you have a personal message for me tonight?
Ham: Certainly, son. You are going through some period of change, both inner and outward, a time of some uncertainty and anxiety. Like learning to swim, the child is first anxious in the water until he learns to use his own strength and his own mind to swim or to dive or to float in the water. Uncertainty is the water. It is the excitement that allows you to propel yourself forward. Some day all of you will learn to thrive on uncertainty.
Q: Ham lasts week’s message was a great blessing to me. I wonder if you have anything for me this week?
Ham: Certainly, son. Your life is actually stabilizing after a period of turbulence. Remember to give yourself some time every day for stillness, for just reflection about life, but some time, that is just yours where you don’t have to do anything or answer to anybody. This takes discipline but is much needed by all of you. Therefore my advice is to learn this discipline and incorporate it into you life.
Q: Do you have feedback for me this week please?
Ham: Certainly, son. You are continuing to make good progress. Your sincerity and willingness to make the extra effort to incorporate the lessons into your life is very commendable. Likewise, you have some father issues that are still buried quite deep and sometimes you’ll experience a trigger that will bring up a memory or an experience that is puzzling to you, that makes you feel uneasy. When this happens, instead of pushing it aside, work with it. Go ahead and go to those places you don’t want to go to. There is within you anger toward your father, resentment, confusion, a feeling of betrayal that the father cannot be trusted, all kinds of things that make it difficult for you to accept the Father’s love today. Go ahead and work with that this week and we will speak again.
Q: I have a two fold question, do you have any personal advice for me and do you have any advice for dealing with my own father?
Ham: Certainly son. First you must accept in yourself that you love your father very much, that that little child that reached up to the father who was your first god, your first , all knowing all perfect being, that that child is still there. But also, you now have the knowledge that your father was not god, was not perfect and you have to actually forgive him for that within yourself and this will take a lot of time and a lot of understanding and there will be times when you will want to go places in your relationship with him that he won’t want to go and you will have to forgive him for that too.
You have to forgive him for not understanding you and you have to forgive yourself for not understanding him. There are some things that you just don’t know about your father and may never know because he is extremely conscious of what he shows you. He is probably too careful. In wanting you to respect him, he’s kind of fallen into a pattern with you that has boundaries. So he does not want to go outside those boundaries. Is this helping?
Q: Yes.
Q: Ham, do you have anything for me this week?
Ham: Certainly, son. Let’s stay on this subject because you have still many unresolved issues with your father as well. Like Rebecca and Jarad and Brodan, you’ll have to do some role playing and tell your father what you needed from him that he didn’t give you as honestly as you possibly can. Then, try to be our father and explain to you as a child why he did what he did. This can be very powerful and can open up levels of self-understanding that are blocked.
Q: Is my father at all aware of conscious of his responsibility to the situation? I’m just wondering if he feels remorse or anything?
Ham: That’s a very complicated question. He would if he were in touch with that part of himself but he’s very much in denial about his responsibility. Will he always be, no, but right now yes.
Q: We were talking earlier about the possibility of another meeting during the week that would combine an introduction to the Urantia book and the Teaching Mission and I wonder if you have any thoughts about that.
Ham: I encourage this, but I also want you all to participate in deciding what it will be and how it will be conducted. I will not interfere in those decisions.
Closing
Very well, are there any further questions? Then my love and my prayers are with you each, go in peace, I love you each one, farewell.
