Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/1520

1520 Illumination of the spirit.... not-being-able-to-pray....

July 14, 1940: Book 25

If people would like to imagine that they could solve any problem by utilizing the divine power.... of enlightenment through the holy spirit.... and that they can all put themselves into the state when they want to test the working of the divine spirit. Only the sincere will is necessary, then the human being will fulfil all conditions which result in the illumination of his spirit. And that is why people should not blame God, Who allegedly lets them walk in the darkness of the spirit. It is truly His will to bring light to humanity, yet His efforts are always and constantly resisted and the human being cannot be forcibly placed into a state of spiritual light. On the other hand, however, it is also not possible to regocnize God correctly without inner enlightenment, and thus man can neither be enlightened about His love and omnipotence nor about His activity and reign in the work of creation. And the human being will remain ignorant as long as he does not abandon himself in heartfelt prayer to the power from Whom he himself emanated. But the effect in a spiritual respect is quite dreadful if the human being can no longer pray.... For him the walk on earth is unsuccessful because his own strength is not sufficient for the soul's higher development and he does not utilize divine strength. Every apparent success in life is therefore the power of the adversary, who uses the person's attitude, now considers him in turn and completely distorts his thinking.... He will no longer be able to spiritually raise himself to a higher level because he completely lacks the will to do so. His earthly life and its fulfilment will be enough for him, he will only use all received strength in an earthly sense and inwardly feel far superior to knowledgeable people, for the adversary will strengthen his sense of self and not allow the feeling of weakness to arise in him. And it is difficult to preach the gospel to such people.... it is difficult to make them realize their erroneous thinking because, despite the deepest darkness of spirit, they believe themselves to be in the light and arrogantly reject all instruction. Only a violent shattering of the previous thinking can still bring about success and this can only be brought about by extraordinary events which cause him the greatest physical hardship and force him, as it were, to call upon a higher being for help, unless the distance from God is already so great that he can no longer establish this connection through prayer.... He is lost; but he who still appeals to God for help can be relieved of his spiritual and physical distress....

Amen