1992-05-10. Faith & Listening – Sessions 1-3 with Will
Tallahassee #20
Topic: Faith, Listening
Group: Tallahassee TeaM
Facilitators
Teacher: Will
TR: Unknown
Session 1 –May 10, 1992
Opening
WILL: The love of God enfolds you. The love of God upholds you. The love of God surrounds you. Wherever you are, He is.
Lesson
Faith, Trust
In looking upon you tonight, I’m taking a look at those of you because you are those whom I love. We have worked hard and are building trust one for the other. It is important that we continue the work together. Doubt not that the work will continue for there is so much to be done. There may be times when you will have doubt, but we encourage you to trudge forward and never wane with the spirit of what we are doing. For what we are trying to accomplish is to stay in tune with the Father’s will and His will is that we provide an avenue for each one of you to open your hearts, to open your minds, to have the opportunity to come into the presence, His presence, and give of yourself whatever you can give.
He offers you the opportunity daily to give forth in small measure that which He has given to you for there are many opportunities for you to bestow upon your fellow man that which our Father has bestowed upon you. Look forward each day to the opportunities that you have and seek for the opportunity, for in doing so you will find that many more floodgates will open as the Father provides many more opportunities for you to serve. It is in doing so that each one of us finds a closer relationship with our Father and as He brings us closer to Himself we then find a closer relationship to each other. We work hard but in the long run the outcome will be so great that you will be glad that you have taken the path. It is a great opportunity to work for God. It is no small measure that the outcome will be one of sincere gratitude.
Each one of you here tonight brings to this group very special gifts and each one of you are very dear to our Father and He loves you. Some of you do not yet realize how close you are to Him but in the future you will feel a closer relationship. All we ask is that you continue to work on the exercises that you have been given and in doing so you will daily find your relationship with the Father increasing until at some point you will feel His presence. You will not have to question whether He is there or not. You will know and that knowing will give you confidence to go forth into the world. To speak to others knowingly about your relationship and to know that God is with you. All doubt will be stricken down and in its place will be confidence such as you have never known. Those of you who doubt even your own faith will have the opportunity to know for certain that all avenues will be open to you. You need not stumble along the way, for you have help at every turn. Some of you feel that you must walk cautiously now and that’s understood. Faith is something that builds over time and as your faith begins to strengthen you will know for certain that you are not alone. Your brothers and sisters already feel it and you will over time.
Our Father spares nothing from His children. Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find for in searching for the Father’s love surely nothing shall be withheld from you. Those of you who are in doubt, I say to you, have confidence and doubt not. Love all and let that love come from the Father and let it be shed on all others, for once the Father’s love is flowing, there is no way to stop it. Those who are truly seeking to do the Father’s will act as a conduit for that love. All other activities seem to be less important because the doing of the Father’s will is of primary importance. Nothing else matters. The only thing that matters is finding the Father’s will and doing it. You have begun and you will find, within time, that that will will be made known to you. It is not necessary that you concern yourself about it at this point in time; all will be revealed in good time.
I ask that you have patience, for not only is it a virtue but it is the only way for God’s children to truly carry out that which needs to be done. Have patience each day as you go through your life. God will show you what He wants you to do. Love each other. Spread that love to others. Show them what you have learned. Part of passing on the kingdom is to show to others what our Father has taught you. It is one thing to learn the facts but to be able to live the life is another. You know what is expected of you. You can never go back to the way things were. Too many of you have changed and for you that would be an impossibility anyway. Not that any of you would want to. The strivings that you have made, the longings of your soul provide an easy opportunity for the spirit to speak to you and growth will be imminent. You want so much to [[do the will of the Father]] and it is such an easy step. You need only to open the door to be led. Given the opportunity, wouldn’t you rather do the will of the Father?
Looking back over your lives haven’t you seen the change that has come over you? Taking a look over the last few months, you see the changes in each other. Look forward then to the times that are ahead for surely there are joyful times. There is yet so much that you do not understand, so many opportunities that are yet unopened for you and yet they are there just waiting until the time you are able to grasp them. Keep working. Keep praying. Keep your silence treatments each day and within that time ask our Father to guide you. Our Father is so close to each one of you. The Adjuster within is a sure-fire way of always being near you. If you can pray for His guidance, that connection should never be broken.
I welcome the opportunity to talk with you and I listened to you tonight. I know that you have concerns. I ask that you wait. Be patient, for there is a lot going on right now. I may not be accessible to answer all of your questions, but I am aware of your concerns. We ask that you just continue as you are, holding fast in faith. Hold fast to that you which know is the right path. Continue to love each other. Continue to call upon each other. Trust in God. Trust in each other. You know that you have found a bond among all here so that any one of you can trust the other. This is very important. Oh, if we could only spread that throughout the world. We have seen such terrible things over the last week the Los Angeles riots and we all weep for the world. We are doing everything we can to help, but there is so much work that has to be done. As you go through your week we ask that you go through it with a joyful heart thinking about all the many blessings you have. You have so much more than most people and certainly more than the people that you have seen this last week.
Closing
Know that the Father is with you. Doubt not His love for you. And love each other. For tonight, we will stop. But I bid you adieu. Remember that I love you. Shalom.
Session 2 – MAY 24, 1992
Opening
WILL: The love of God enfolds us. The power of God supports us. Wherever we gather, He is. Good evening. I am your teacher, Will, who loves you.
Lesson
Jesus, Simplicity
There are many distinctions between yourselves, ordinary humans of the realm, and Jesus of Nazareth. For example, at a rather young age, he was fully cognizant of his dual status as an ordinary mortal and also his position in the spiritual bureaucracy of creation and his role as the creator of a local universe. Such differences caused him to be unique as a human living upon this planet and caused, for example, his decision, choice, not to defend himself since such defense might result in death or damage to a human under his dominion which would be inconsistent with his role as the creator of this local universe.
Numerous factors similar to this cause the man, Jesus, to approach his policies in a manner which is fundamentally different from the choices which you must make in conducting your earthly lives. However, there is one similarity that bonds you so closely to him that it was a valuable experience to live his life among you. It is the mechanism of communication between the human and the Heavenly Father through the ministry of the Thought Adjuster. In the fundamentals of life, Jesus, in no way differed from you in your relationship with the [[Heavenly Father]]. We often wonder how is it that he could live an absolutely blameless life? How is it that his life could perfectly conform to the will of the Heavenly Father? And the answer to these questions is deceptively simple.
He could do so because he never concerned himself with superficial matters. When any choice presented itself among multiple options, he concerned himself with only the fundamental issue which was determining which path most closely conformed with the will of the Father in heaven. We feel that this technique is of valuable import to you all and the basic rule which we divine from the circumstances of Jesus is this: by concerning himself only with the fundamentals, he never made a mistake. By having as his source of true concern only the discovery of the Father’s will, he was assured that he would never stray from the path. This technique is open to you. We encourage you to embrace it. Incorporate it in your daily lives, in your dealings with your friends, your enemies, with strangers, and family. Try to look through the smoke and the veneer and sense the fundamental issues at hand. This will require great listening skill on your part for you must listen to your neighbor before you can understand their meaning.
Listening
Ah, but then you ask, how can I listen more closely? We think we know the answer to your question. Our advice is, don’t think about what you are going to say in response. Pay your companion a compliment of actually listening to what they have to say before you begin composing your response. Hear them out and you will find that you will be a much better listener and you will hear with more than merely your ears. You will hear the pauses and the spaces, and the changes in tone. You will hear all of the things that you are unable to discern when you spend your valuable time thinking what you will say in response before the person has yet finished. Armed then with that valuable information and having quieted your own mind, you are much better prepared to dive deep and determine the fundamental issues presented. You will have then passed through the veneer, through the smoke and the dust and arrived at that situation which Jesus so naturally dealt with. If you practice this technique, you will be successful among your fellow men and they will notice that there is something different about you.
They will be drawn to you and you will once again have an opportunity to demonstrate with every thought and deed, the degree to which you understand the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as if he were standing by your side. You must know by now that that is surely so and you will once again have an opportunity to allow the love with its source and the Father in heaven to flow through you to your conversations, and you will have an opportunity to do so without jokes and wisecracks and to making light of the opportunity of which you are engaged. When you do this, you will be [[doing the Father’s will]]. The consequences then are within your realm to shape. Now, compared with that, of what value is it to be able to speak with me or any other personality amongst the ministering spirits?
I beg you, do not aim low. Raise your sights. Beyond the work of Jesus, to the work of [[the Father]]. Let your life be a reflection of the understanding of the Father. He is freely available to you. He is always on duty. He has done all that He can at the moment to reveal Himself to you. Most of Himself which He has so far revealed has been disregarded. He is not fully appreciated by any person alive on this planet, in this day. Yet He has not abandoned you; far from it. He waits for you to contact Him. We recommend that you take the time to do so, first on a regular basis and, second, whenever you feel the need for a true friend, for pure, honest guidance and for the inspiration of your eternal souls. It is astonishing to us that you do not take more advantage of this gift, yet it remains yours to freely embrace whenever you so choose. We think you will like it. It takes a little getting used to, but the result is good. That is my message for you tonight.
Error
It has been sometime since we had a good communication. I have heard some wonderings about inconsistencies and gaps in our communication lately. Certain members of this group have described errors and characterize them as fiascos but like all things spiritual, it depends on your perspective. The gathering of this group is something of a novel experience for you, all of you. We have commented many times on the family quality of this gathering, a quality which we hope to develop even further yet, but aside from the situation from these meetings, for most of you the general rule is isolation. In that circumstance when you are confronted with a difficulty, you call it a problem, we call it an opportunity, but we see it as an opportunity because of the difference in perspective and the difference is simple.
We do not work alone. We have learned from experience that the fastest road to error is attempting to work alone and then, you might say, well how could this business of materializations come about when we are here all working together, not only this group, but numerous groups scattered back and forth across this country. We are not in the business of dashing human hope and once that juggernaut was set loose, it was difficult for us to rebut that information because no one wanted to hear it. It was a fine ride while it lasted, was it not? That day will one day come, but not today. In the meantime, we have the important work of the Father to do. That will never change. You will all be doing that same work forever. The time far in the future where you are a resident on Paradise is but a way station for you will continue doing this work.
You have quite a career ahead of you. In worlds yet unformed, your services are needed. Our recommendation is that you start practicing. Don’t worry yourselves overly about the return of Michael. He is doing the same work you are. Take the lessons offered in your daily life and embrace them. Learn from the lessons that are offered daily. Some day there will be no more. There will be teaching and guidance and help in profusion, but you are here for the experience. Don’t deny yourselves the experience through the process of isolation and material comfort. A life of repose is not a life spent in the service of the Father. The Father is pleased with his set of schools. This is one. You may not take great consolation in that thought, but the result is good and we are all in this for the long haul. We urge you also to take the long view. Live your life to the fullest. Listen to your brothers and sisters. Respond as the Father would have you respond and then act on that highest understanding. That is the path across the high ground. Many of you will travel where no blade of grass has ever bent. It is an exhilarating experience. We envy you. None of us can ever go back and here are you…with more opportunities daily than we can count in a month. We envy you.
Closing
That is all I have to say. Until we meet again, God bless you and keep you. He will pour force into you to help you be about His work. Shalom.
Session 3 – MAY 30, 1992
Opening
WILL: Good evening. I am your teacher, Will, who always loves you. I thank you for your attention tonight. Please bear in mind that my assignment is as your teacher. I have many duties that correspond to that assignment and, although I shirk none of those tasks, my job is primarily to instruct you, to jolt you and move you forward into things that are meant to be for your personal development. It is certainly not my task to entertain you. And for you to know that progress has taken place, it is necessary for me to be quiet from time to time to allow you to experience things.
Lesson
Expectations, Stillness
You know the personal acquaintances with the Master while he was alive in the flesh frequently neglected their association with him because they preferred to think how life would be when the Messiah actually came. Now in comparison, I frequently see the members of this group neglect their own spiritual events and their time of uninterrupted communication with the Heavenly Father because they prefer to think about how life will be when the Creator’s son returns to this planet. I do not see a tremendous distinction between those two attitudes. It is true enough that you are in the frying pan, outside lies the fire. We all have confidence that you will survive the experience. I tell you without reservation that virtually all survive the experience. The Maker has not set in motion a plan that confounds the existence of the majority of his creation. Virtually all who are subject to spiritual advancement survive.
Their destiny is to meet the Father face to face. However it is true that there is little that we can do for you when you are distressed particularly since most of the distress takes place within the mechanism of the animal structure that the human inhabits. It is difficult or impossible for us to communicate with you when you are severely distraught or distressed mentally. We recommend that under such conditions in order to regain your composure, you should attempt to stop your ceaseless chatter. Sit down, close your eyes and put it into the hands of the Heavenly Father. You who have attempted to carry out this advice will tell you without hesitation that it is very effective. We entreat you each to try it. It is a great balancer and a sop to the abuse of the material life. I am your teacher and I love you. It is my duty not to pave your road, but to illuminate it for you and when, from time to time, you are able to perceive more in the space immediately around you, I will assist you to raise your sights and apply the light as far into the future as can be seen. But none among you are capable of looking down that road and maintaining the long view and that development is yet in the future for all of you. For now, we work closely. It is not a reflection on your failure.
To the contrary, we think you are making solid progress. There is no person here with whom we are displeased. In fact, we are proud of you because you each possess the potential for perfect communication with the Father as an integral part of yourselves. We envy you and, to a certain extent, your complaints fall on deaf ears for, from our perspective, we think you have the only true reliable resource within your grasp at all times. There is no proof for it except to apply yourselves. It is one of those things for which there is not a precise term in your language. It is not just a skill. It is not just an art nor a talent, nor experience. It is all those things. There is no description in any language large enough to encompass the totality of the Heavenly Father. There exists not even the description large enough to encompass His love for you, for all things by Him created and, though you may stumble and thrash about, suffering confusion and disorientation, He will not abandon you. Your associates here will not abandon you. Certain of your material life brothers and sisters might attempt to prey upon you but you well know that no great tragedy will befall any of you. The days of those gross events are behind.
Listening
Each of you has reached the point in life where now spiritual concerns are predominant. The skills that you have applied in your lives to this point are but the foundation from which you will construct a new understanding; a new life in the light. Nothing is wasted but neither is any position static. We think that if you but try moving forward in an orderly manner, you will like the result. We think you will find it pleasing even if it is not possible for you to understand with much certainty your role in the scheme. So we request that you apply yourselves to the assignments so recently rendered, that is, to listen. It is a fine skill. Each of you already knows that few people are genuinely interested in hearing your stories anyway but you can provide them a good service by listening to theirs. We are quite certain that by listening, you would learn things that you would not otherwise know.
The knowledge of the species is not contained in books. The life essence of your people is also too large to be encompassed by any description. You can kill it and dissemble it to its parts and you can record those parts. You no longer have a viable product. Disciplines are devoted to exactly that process in your society. We think it is better that you simply listen and bypass the steps of categorization and ranking. We think that, by listening, you can learn something about the Heavenly Father’s plan and about His participation in your neighbor’s life, much the same as His participation in your life. The Father works through all instruments. No tool is too crude to be turned aside for His purposes and, by listening, we think that you will better be prepared for the intersection of God fragment with God fragment for, in that spark, there is mystery. Therefore, we simply ask that you listen. It is a good and durable skill. It will serve you throughout your universe career. In fact, it is indispensable and barring that development, you will each have grave difficulty making further progress anyway.
On another topic, I have begun the process of regularly reporting the criticisms of this and other groups to my superiors. It is not always pleasant, but we think it is instructive. I will say only that your comments are not in vain. It is apparent that those directing this outreach program are sensitive to comments in response to developments and failure of developments. We certainly do not know all and it has been a long time since there was any concerted effort to communicate with Urantia mortals. [Pause] Excuse me, I was called away. I am instructed to render greetings from Michael, Machiventa Melchizedek and Malaventa Melchizedek and the visitors. They are pleased and in no way dismayed by your occasional disenchantments. They entreat you and all of us to participate more fully. That is all I have to say.
Closing
I love you and I look forward to the times that we have together like this and on an occasional individual setting. It is my pleasure to accompany you side by side in the daily events of life and the schedules that allow. Until we speak together again, listen to your brothers and sisters.
