The Courage to Prepare

And with this Preparation comes a Calling to respond and to prepare, to find the humility to do this. So many people think they know things that…are not true. To find the courage to undertake a Preparation you did not invent for yourself or that was not invented by some person that you might admire; a Preparation created by Heaven, so perfect it is: so simple and yet, so deep. It asks everyone who can respond to become simple and deep, because that is our natural state.

This is a gift to humanity from the Source of all life, whom we call God—not just a God of this world, but a God of the entire universe and of other dimensions of reality, beyond our comprehension, and of Timeless Creation, beyond all physical manifestation.

A God now so great that it will require re-evaluation of our understanding of God’s Power, Presence and Activity in the world in a whole new way. For God works in the world mysteriously, working through people from the inside out. And for this to happen optimally requires a Preparation from Heaven itself, to be given to a struggling humanity now facing change and global instability on a level never seen before—given in language so simple that it can be translated easily into other languages, given in terms that are accessible and understandable to us, given in ways to honor all the great Revelations that have come before, for this represents their next inspiration and demonstration.

This Teaching is powerful and profound, but it takes time to recognize it and to feel it and to know it and to apply it. So my Calling for you tonight, in honoring this great Gift, is to have the courage to prepare, to take the Steps to Knowledge, to have the courage to look at the world with new eyes, to look at your life from the very much greater standpoint, to evaluate your strengths and your weaknesses as objectively as you can and begin to discover the Living Presence within yourself, which has always been there, waiting for you to respond.

This is not a cosmetic spirituality. This is not something you use to adorn yourself for your own self-edification, or to amplify your current beliefs, but to take you somewhere very new, to give you a new life; not simply to add a sweetener to the bitter taste of your old life, but to give you a new life altogether, based upon a deeper resonance and strength that God has put within you, called Knowledge.

You will ask, certainly, perhaps many times, “What is Knowledge?” And as you take these Steps to Knowledge, your answer will change and grow, as if you were climbing a great mountain, and with every turn in the trail going upward, the mountain looks different; sometimes you can see the summit and often you cannot.

This new life is not based upon belief or circumstances merely, but upon a deeper well of experience that God has put within you, to guide you, to protect you and to lead you to a greater life of service in the world, for you have come here to serve.

It is that service that will restore you and redeem you and liberate you from your troubled past and all the shadows that seem to haunt you and follow you and all the voices in your mind that demean you and belittle you and condemn you. For there is no condemnation in God, only calling and restoration, for that part of Creation that has entered separation, living in a physical realm of great challenge and difficulty now.

So much has to be reconsidered, to receive a Gift of this magnitude. Never before has a Revelation of this nature been given to the world, for the world was not ready. It was too violent, too primitive, too uneducated.

But now as humanity stands at the threshold of a greater community of life in the universe of which it knows nothing at all, and as humanity has built a foundation for global communication and interaction, the great Revelation of Knowledge must now be given to a young humanity, facing an ancient universe.

We can only barely understand the timing of this, the correctness of this, the appropriateness of this—for we would have to be beyond the world to see these things. But within us we resonate with that which is true and innate. Even beyond our own ideas and fixed beliefs, there is something within us that responds to a greater truth and reality. And this is what Steps to Knowledge speaks of within you when it refers to Knowledge and what it speaks to in you so that you may respond at this level.

So I call you to have the courage to receive the greatest gift, perhaps, that has ever been given to the world, given now at a time of great need and growing need, given at a time when your life, perhaps, is at a turning point, no longer satisfied with the small pleasures and great pains of living in separation, you seek for something greater—more essential, more natural, more profound and more true.

This new life—you need a new life to face a new world. In an old life you will not be successful in facing a new world; you will not be safe. But you need help from beyond to do this. You need the power of Knowledge that God has put within you, and you need your own determination and courage, to rise to this great occasion.

I see Steps to Knowledge as a great occasion. You will find nothing else like it in the whole world, try as you may. It presents things that have never been presented to humanity before, except to the great saints and contributors and savants of the past—but this is a gift to the whole world.

Therefore do not concern yourselves at this moment with changing the world and changing others, for it is you who must undergo this profound change, this restoration, this power, this freedom. With determination comes freedom, for it liberates you from all small things that would belittle you and cast your life in doubt.

I’m calling you to your Preparation. Heaven has sent you your Preparation. If this is your Preparation you will not find it anywhere else in the world, search as you may. I’m asking you to be true and real in this regard.

I’m asking you to take the Steps to Knowledge, to learn of the great Practices presented in God’s New Revelation for the World, to learn how to gain authority over your mind with wisdom and power and strength and compassion.

I’m calling upon you to build the four pillars of your life: the Pillar of Relationship, the Pillar of Health, the Pillar of work and the Pillar of Spiritual Development—the foundation for a greater life in the world, which Steps to Knowledge will help you to build, carefully and correctly.

I call you to a greater honesty within yourself, for beyond all deception and confusion, you do have the power to see the truth, but it takes encouragement and clarification and a journey of this nature to reveal that deeper honesty and truth within you. It is only with this that you’ll be able to recognize and carry out a greater purpose for being in the world.

I’d like to read a quote to you now from Courage and the Will to Prepare, a Teaching in God’s New Message:

To prepare requires courage. You must face things you have not faced before. You must consider things you have not considered before. You must question your beliefs and your assumptions and the beliefs and assumptions of your culture, your family, even your religion if necessary.”

For, courage is found by facing and resolving difficult things and strength is found by meeting the challenges of life that really exist. Courage, strength, perseverance—you’re not just born with these things; you have to build them. And you build them through the experiences, the difficulties, of life.

You will need this strength and this determination now, to be able to navigate a new world reality and the great change that is coming here. And you will need this strength to find your power and your purpose and your connection to Knowledge, which is here to bless and to guide your life.

It is a very tenuous time to be in the world now—but God has spoken again. We’re living at a time of Revelation, nothing less. It is your time. I’d like to conclude by reading a Blessing from Step Twenty-Eight, which is a Review in Steps to Knowledge; it’s a beautiful Blessing; I’ve always loved this Blessing:

I accept my Knowledge as a Gift from God.
I accept my Teachers as my elder brothers and sisters.
I accept my world as a place where Knowledge can be reclaimed and contributed.

I accept my past as a demonstration of life without Knowledge.
I accept the miracles of my life as a demonstration of the Presence of Knowledge and I give myself now to cultivate that which is of the greatest good within myself to be given to the world.”

This is a gift of Heaven for you and for others, through you. May the power and the blessing move you, guide you and hold you back when necessary.

Nasi Novare Coram.