Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/3616

3616 Request from power.... humility - grace....

November 30, 1945: Book 46

Don't rely too much on your own strength but humbly pray for strength and grace from God so that you can fulfil your earthly task. Recognize the hardship of the time, recognize the low state of the souls and know that people lack strength and grace from above or they would never reach this deep degree of maturity of their souls. For with God's strength the human being inevitably progresses upwards. But anyone who trusts too much in his own strength does not notice that he is completely powerless to develop spiritually, for he only uses the vitality he constantly has at his disposal for as long as he lives on earth for his earthly life. But he lacks spiritual strength if he does not request it from God, which requires profound humility and realization of his weakness. God comes to the aid of the weak and humble, He strengthens him and lifts him up to Himself. But he who believes himself to be strong does not stretch out his hands in supplication, he does not see the father’s hand stretching out to him, but he goes his way alone, he believes to reach the aim alone and without help. But the aim is not God, the aim is not light, but his path leads into darkness, because the eternal light does not illuminate him, because the light cannot shine where it is not desired. Serious desire, however, is only expressed through humble prayer, and only when man recognizes his inadequacy does he become small and humble.... but if he feels great and strong he exalts himself, he does not recognize himself, he is unaware of his powerless state, which is the result of the former rebellion against God. The state of ignorance, however, is also a spiritual low, which requires great earthly hardship in order to be remedied. For through earthly adversity the human being often learns to recognize his lack of strength, through earthly adversity he becomes small and humble, and then he finds the path to God to Whom he humbly submits himself in prayer for help.... If earthly adversity achieves this, it will have been a blessing, and the human being will thank God in eternity that He so visibly made him aware of his own weakness in order to induce him to pray humbly. For only the grace flowing towards him brings about his ascent development, but this is only accessible to the one who humbly asks for it, thus opens himself up to it through prayer. For without the supply of spiritual strength the human being will never reach ascent, no matter how powerful he may be on earth.... The soul will remain weak and incapable of developing if it does not receive help from above. However, help can only be given to the person asking for help, otherwise he would be forced to develop upwards, which is against God's order and thus could never result in anything perfect. And until people recognize this, until they lie on the ground and stretch out their hands to God, to their father of eternity, the influx of divine strength and grace cannot touch them, and the earthly adversity cannot be alleviated either. People can be powerful if they avail themselves of the strength from God, which is at their unlimited disposal.... yet they prefer to go their own way; they believe to possess strength themselves and to be able to master all obstacles in life. And this is the inheritance of the one who thought he could defeat God, who also thought himself strong enough to deprive God of strength and overthrow Him. And as long as the human being still carries this inheritance within himself, as long as he does not recognize that all strength must first flow to him from the eternal source of strength, he will be weak despite his awareness of strength and will not be able to force anything. And only the state of complete helplessness must bring him to his senses so that he turns to the source of strength, the source of strength from eternity, requesting and expecting help from there. Only then will his path go upwards, only then will he distance himself from the one who believes himself to be powerful and yet is completely subject to the will of the one Who is strength in Himself and distributes it alone according to His discretion....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers