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Read an Excerpt
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Faith in the Presence of the Unseen
Faith was always important to A.D. In this chapter, he speaks about our need to use faith when dealing with the unseen. In the presence of the unseen, we are faced with the intangible. He reveals that it also took a great deal of faith for him in the realm beyond to realize that he could indeed communicate with us here. Faith, he tells us, is the basis of all creativity. It is even an act of faith to live. An excerpt from A.D.'s message on faith follows:
I want to pause a bit with you and think about faith. When you begin to deal with things unseen and intangible to the physical self, you need faith.
Scientists will test a theory until they have something tangible, and then that is their proof. They then must see how many times there is a repetition that proves their theory is correct and true. But in dealing with the unseen, which can't be tested by our five senses, faith must be relied on.
No one can touch the mind. It is impossible to put a finger on a cell in the physical body, and say, "This is the mind." We may put a finger on cells in the body and say, "This is a kidney, this is the heart, this is the throat, and this is the brain." But when you say "the mind," when you say "the soul," then you are using faith. You believe that there is this mind, because it motivates the whole physical body, and it motivates other people.
A great proportion of a spiritual leader's time is spent in using his own faith in the things unseen. Yet, when people come for help or counseling, how can he share that faith with them? He can't just bestow it on them as he could bestow a pound of sugar, or a rose from his garden, or even a text out of the Bible. He has to give it to them by his mode, by his method, his way of speaking, his way of living, his way of ordering his life.
This is where the difficulty comes. Those of you who have faith, how do you demonstrate it? There can be no absolute certainty that you have demonstrated it until it is received. It is like offering a gift. You may send a gift through the mail. You've wrapped it, you've addressed it, and you've taken it to the post office. It's stamped and it's gone. But not until you receive a reply from the recipient do you know that your gift has been received.
It's the same way when you hand faith to someone. You demonstrate faith to that person. You offer it to him as a gift--a gift of God. But it isn't until you see faith working in him that you can know he has truly received this gift of God.
We also have to remember that not everyone uses the spiritual gifts in the same way. And that is very fortunate. How boring it would be if we all expressed our faith in the same way! Fortunately for each one of us, there is always the element of surprise: "Oh, so that is the way he sees it, and that is the way he uses that gift, force, or attribute," we say. "Now, I don't use it that way. I use it this way." It is wrong for any of us--incarnate or discarnate--to say to anyone, "You should do it this way, because I do it this way." Each person is unique and will express God's gifts according to his or her own faith and understanding.
It took a great deal of faith for me to believe that I could send a thought down to Margaret, and to be confident that my thought would arrive resembling what I sent. That took faith. So, please, let people know that in coming back to communicate, we, too, must have faith.
I don't know if I've made myself clear. There is so much bound up in faith that sometimes I feel I will burst. I used to feel like that even when I was in the physical body on earth, because, to me, the Love of God is the basis of all things, and that Love has to demonstrate itself through us. Faith is the foundation of that demonstration.
Please remember that living itself is an act of faith. You can't do anything without faith. Look on yourselves as mirrors to reflect the Light of God, which is given to you through your faith. The Light is passed to you, and that Light must not be hidden under a bushel.
In the presence of death, have faith that life is like a train. Even though at the end of life it may seem as if you are in a dark tunnel, know that the tracks are still under you. The engine or energy is still pulling you toward the end of the tunnel--into the Realm of Light.
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