• Lights of Guidance, number 2042
• From a letter, dated October 6, 1954
• On behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual Baháʾí

Thus you might look upon your own difficulties in the path of service. They are the means of your spirit growing and developing. You will suddenly find that you have conquered many of the problems which upset you, and then you will wonder why they should have troubled you at all. An individual must centre his whole heart and mind on service to the Cause, in accordance with the high standards set by Baháʾuʾlláh. When this is done, the Hosts of the Supreme Concourse will come to the assistance of the individual, and every difficulty and trial will gradually be overcome.

• Selections from the Writings of ʿAbduʾl-Bahá, page 22
• ʿAbduʾl-Bahá

O ye beloved of ʿAbduʾl-Bahá and ye handmaids of the Merciful! It is early morning, and the reviving winds of the Abhá Paradise are blowing over all creation, but they can stir only the pure of heart, and only the pure sense can detect their fragrance. Only the perceiving eye beholdeth the rays of the sun; only the listening ear can hear the singing of the Concourse on high. Although the plentiful rains of spring, the bestowals of Heaven, pour down upon all things, they can only fructify good soil; they love not brackish ground, where no results of all the bounty can be shown. O ye beloved of ʿAbduʾl-Bahá and ye handmaids of the Merciful! It is early morning, and the reviving winds of the Abhá Paradise are blowing over all creation, but they can stir only the pure of heart, and only the pure sense can detect their fragrance. Only the perceiving eye beholdeth the rays of the sun; only the listening ear can hear the singing of the Concourse on high. Although the plentiful rains of spring, the bestowals of Heaven, pour down upon all things, they can only fructify good soil; they love not brackish ground, where no results of all the bounty can be shown.

• Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas, page 611
• ʿAbduʾl-Bahá

... seek only the divine bounties and subjects which lead to the real knowledge of the invisible (world of God), through the mediation of the Holy spirit. Then he will perceive the reality of the triune powers in man, through his innate perception. For, verily, the sign of these triune powers which exist in mankind are spirit, mind and soul. The spirit is the power of life, the mind is the power which apprehendeth the reality of things, and the soul is an intermediary between the Supreme Concourse (or Spiritual World) and the lower concourse (or material world). It, i.e., the soul, hath two phases: The higher aspireth to the Kingdom of El-Baha, and the lights of the mind shine forth from that horizon (or kingdom) unto its higher sphere; the other phase inclineth to the lower concourse of the material world and its lowest sphere is enveloped in the darkness of ignorance. But when light is poured upon this phase, and if this phase of the soul is capable of receiving it, then “truth hath come and falsehood vanisheth, for falsehood is of short duration” – otherwise, darkness will surround it from all directions and it will be deprived of association with the Supreme Concourse and will remain in the lowest depths.

• Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas, page 308
• ʿAbduʾl-Bahá

O maid-servant of God! By God, the Truth, the Spirit of Christ from the Supreme Concourse doth in every and aspect announce to thee this great good news.

• ʿAbduʾl-Bahá in London, page 97
• ʿAbduʾl-Bahá
• Pilgrim’s Notes

The faithful are ever sustained by the presence of the Supreme Concourse. In the Supreme Concourse are Jesus, and Moses, and Elijah, and Baháʾuʾlláh, and other supreme Souls: there, also, are the martyrs.

• The Will and Testament of ʿAbduʾl-Bahá
• ʿAbduʾl-Bahá
• ʿAbduʾl-Bahá in the Supreme Concourse

O ye that stand fast in the Covenant! When the hour cometh that this wronged and broken-winged bird will have taken its flight into the Celestial Concourse, when it will have hastened to the Realm of the Unseen and its mortal frame will have been either lost or hidden neath the dust, it is incumbent upon the Afnán, that are steadfast in the Covenant of God and have branched from the Tree of Holiness; the Hands, (pillars) of the Cause of God (the glory of the Lord rest upon them), and all the friends and loved ones, one and all to bestir themselves and arise with heart and soul and in one accord, to diffuse the sweet savors of God, to teach His Cause and to promote His Faith.

• Psalms 82:1-8 (entire Psalm)
• New Revised Standard Version
• The ʾĔlōhîm of YHWH and the divine council

God [Hebrew, ʾĔlōhîm, Mighty Ones] has taken his place in the divine council [Hebrew, baʿădat-ʾēl]; in the midst of the gods [ʾĔlōhîm] he holds judgment: “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? [Selah] Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk around in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. I say, “You are gods [ʾĔlōhîm], children of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, you shall die like mortals, and fall like any prince.” Rise up, O God [ʾĔlōhîm], judge the earth; for all the nations belong to you!

• Genesis 1:26
• New Revised Standard Version
• This world’s ʾĔlōhîm created to have dominion

... God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”

• Psalms 82:6-7
• New Revised Standard Version
• This world’s ʾĔlōhîm as humans with dominion

I say, “You are gods [ʾĔlōhîm], children of the Most High [i.e., “sons” of God], all of you; nevertheless, you shall die like mortals, and fall like any prince.”

• John 10:34-35
• New Revised Standard Version
• Theoi (plural of theos) as humans with dominion

Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’ [Greek, theoi, divinities]? If those to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’ – and the scripture cannot be annulled ....”

• Deuteronomy 7:6
• New Revised Standard Version
• The ʾĔlōhîm, in this world, as the chosen

For you are a people holy to the LORD [YHWH] your God; the LORD [YHWH] your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

• John 15:19
• Words of Jesus
• New Revised Standard Version

If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world – therefore the world hates you.

• Colossians 3:11-12
• New Revised Standard Version

In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all! As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.

• Matthew 6:7
• Words of Jesus
• New Revised Standard Version
• Gentiles (the nations) are the “unchosen.”

When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words.

• Deuteronomy 19:1
• New Revised Standard Version

When the LORD [YHWH] your God has cut off the nations whose land the LORD [YHWH] your God is giving you, and you have dispossessed them and settled in their towns and in their houses ....

• Luke 21:23-24
• Words of Jesus
• New Revised Standard Version

For there will be great distress on the earth and wrath against this people; they will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken away as captives among all nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.