Topical Subjects

Faith and belief are not the same.

Faith and belief are not the same. “Faith,” such as Jesus explains it, “is not the belief that arises from the mere operation of the mind, but that which comes from the opening of the perceptions of the soul, and which enables its possessor to see God in all His Beauty and Love. I do not mean that the possessor of this faith will actually see God in form or feature, for he has none such, but his soul perceptions will be in such condition that all the Attributes of the Father will appear so plainly to him, that they will be as real as anything that he can see with the eyes of the spirit form.”

Faith is greater than mere belief. While belief may arise from a conviction of the mind, faith, however, never can. Its place of being is in the soul, and no one can possess it unless his soul is awakened by the inflowing of the Divine Love. In fact, as Jesus says, “No man can be said to have faith who has not this Divine Love.” In Galatians 5:6 we read, “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by Love.” In Greek, “which worketh” (from: energeo) means, “to be operative, be at work.” So, literally, Galatians 5:6 says, ”(…) faith, being operative by the Divine Love (Agape).”

Faith is a thing real; it is, as Jesus continues, “a progressive quality or essence of the soul, and increases as possession of this Divine Love increases, and is not dependent on anything else.” Faith is only based on the possession of the Divine Love, and without it there can be no faith, because it is impossible for the soul to exercise its function when the Divine Love is absent from it. And so, when we pray to the Father to increase our faith, it is really a prayer for the increase of the Divine Love. And when we pray directly for the Divine Love, faith will increase as well with each new inflow of the Love.

Faith comes only with constant earnest prayer. As Jesus states, “Your prayers call from the Father a response that brings with it faith, and with this faith comes a knowledge of the existence of this Love in your own soul.” How close, if I may sidestep to the Bible for a moment, this is to the word in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the SUBSTANCE of things hoped for, the EVIDENCE of things not seen.” In the original Greek text, the word “hupostasis” is used for “substance” , meaning: “that which has actual existence; a substance, a real thing”. Sic!

Return to Reconciling the Padgett Messages to the Bible

 

This content originally appeared on Mark Kramer’s web site divine-love.org, but some years ago he did not renew it and the site has disappeared. This content has been copied from the Way Back machine, as I believe his insights are unique. I have not however tried to reproduce this in the same unique visual style he created, but the words are unchanged.