Although the eternal Father is personally resident at the very center of the universe, He is also actually present in the minds of his children on earth, for he indwells them by means of his spirit which we refer to as the divine spirit fragments of the Father. Thus, the Father is at one and the same time farthest removed from, and most intimately associated with, his mortal sons by means of these indwelling fragments of Himself.

These spirit fragments are the absolute essence of the Father. We might understand this by comparing these fragments to a cup of water from the vast ocean. The complete substance and elements of the ocean water are contained in each cup. What is lacking is not quality, but quantity, and consequently power. Likewise, within each of us is the qualitative equal of the Father. This is what is meant when the scriptures tell us that we are “created in God’s image.” (Genesis 1:26-27)

As such, the divine fragments are in all normal minds, and have been ever since the times of Adam and Eve when God made man ‘in His image.’ So, in truth, all humanity are sons of God by the mere fact that we all are endowed with the divine fragments – the Father’s seed. But in order to attain to the reality of our sonship, we must act in harmony with it, ‘becoming perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.’(Matthew 5:48)

It is these fragments who create within us that unquenchable yearning and incessant longing to be like God, to attain Him, and to worship Him. They are the living presence which actually links us with the Father and draws us nearer and nearer to Him. They are the ‘force actuating our minds’ (Ephesians 4:23). And they are the unqualified assurance that we can find the Father due to the fact that he sent these divine fragments to find us and “sonship us” even while we are flesh. It is these spirit fragments that works in harmony with the spirit of truth to confirm our sonship.

“The spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are God’s children.”
– Romans 8:16

These divine fragments were apparently dormant. Mankind did not understand the true nature of their relationship with God until the spirit of truth was poured out which ‘bears witness’ with the divine spirit fragments, already existing in each of us, and confirms that we are God’s children.

With the advent of Christ Jesus, and the subsequent pouring out of the spirit of truth at Pentecost, the divine fragments were activated and we understood, we knew, we were children of God. We had the testimony of two witnesses (Matthew 18:16): the divine fragment and the spirit of truth. This is what Paul meant when he said that ‘all creation is waiting for the revealing of the sons of God.’ (Romans 8:19) Understanding that we hold within us a fragment of the eternal Father should effect our conduct for the good, even without law. We are told:

“Do you not know that you people are God’s temple, and that the spirit of God dwells in you?”
– 1 Corinthians 3:16

“What! Do you not know that the body of you people is [the] temple of the holy spirit within you, which you have from God?”
– 1 Corinthians 6:19

This very fact should move us to live up to the image of the Father by endeavoring to ‘be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.’ (Matthew 5:48) While the Father is infallible in all ways, by the human indwelling of His divine nature, He makes the closest possible approach to sin and evil. For it is literally true that by means of these fragments, He must coexist in the mortal mind even in the very midst of human unrighteousness. They do not abandon us even in our darkest hours. Know also that the divine fragments are particularly tormented by those thoughts which are purely selfish, they are distressed by irreverence for that which is beautiful and divine, and they are virtually thwarted in their efforts to spiritualize the thinking of their mortal host by many of man's foolish animal fears and childish anxieties. We are told:

“Wherefore, now that you have put away falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, because we are members belonging to one another. Be wrathful, and yet do not sin; let the sun not set with you in a provoked state, neither allow place for the Devil. Let the stealer steal no more, but rather let him do hard work, doing with his hands what is good work, that he may have something to distribute to someone in need. Let a rotten saying not proceed out of your mouth, but whatever saying is good for building up as the need may be, that it may impart what is favorable to the hearers. Also, do not be grieving God’s holy spirit, with which you have been sealed for a day of releasing by ransom.”
– Ephesians 4:25-30

Further, we know that God is the actual personification of love. (1 John 4:8) Thus, these divine fragments are the Father's love incarnate in the minds of men – the incorruptible seed:

“Now that you have purified your souls by [your] obedience to the truth with unhypocritical brotherly affection as the result, love one another intensely from the heart. For you have been given a new birth, not by corruptible, but by incorruptible [reproductive] seed, through the word of [the] living and enduring God.”
– 1 Peter 1:22-23

The love of these Father fragments is demonstrated by the fact that they remain with us in all disaster and through every sickness which does not wholly destroy the mind. But how unkind knowingly to defile or otherwise deliberately to pollute the physical body, which must serve as the earthly tabernacle of this marvelous gift from God. All physical poisons greatly retard the efforts of the spirit to exalt the material mind, while the mental poisons of fear, anger, envy, jealousy, suspicion, and intolerance likewise tremendously interfere with our spiritual progress.

As incorruptible elements, these spirit fragments further serve as the assurance of our eventual perfection and as a foretaste of the step by step ascension “from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18) until we finally attain the divine presence of the Father.

“For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, should be dissolved, we are to have a building from God, a house not made with hands, everlasting in the heavens. For in this dwelling house we do indeed groan, earnestly desiring to put on the one for us from heaven, so that, having really put it on, we shall not be found naked. In fact, we who are in this tent groan, being weighed down; because we want, not to put it off, but to put on the other, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now he that produced us for this very thing is God, who gave us the token of what is to come, that is, the spirit.”
– 2 Corinthians 5:1-5

“He has also put his seal upon us and has given us the token of what is to come, that is, the spirit, in our hearts.”
– 2 Corinthians 1:22

“But you also hoped in him after you heard the word of truth, the good news about your salvation. By means of him also, after you believed, you were sealed with the promised holy spirit, which is a token in advance of our inheritance, for the purpose of releasing by a ransom [God’s] own possession, to his glorious praise.”
– Ephesians 1:13-14

The purpose of the divine fragments is to spiritualize our thinking. To gradually make over the mind (Romans 12:2), and to coordinate our thinking processes so that we can look beyond mortal uncertainty into the clear shining eternal future. It attaches a feeling of reality to our spiritual insights and even fosters better human communication with our brothers. It is this gift that most differentiates us from animals, that which allows us to be elevated from ‘earthly, animal, demonic’ thinking. (James 3:15)

The work of the divine fragment is not done on the conscious level such that we are vividly aware of its activities. Nor is it done on the subconscious level as if it were an automatic process. It works on what we might call the superconscious level, intervening in the vast gap between the divine mind of the Father, and the human mind of his earthly children.

The gulf between the human and the divine mind is vast. Thus, the Father fragments find it next to impossible to communicate directly with us. And when they do find it possible to flash a gleam of new truth to the mortal mind, this spiritual revelation often so blinds the creature as to cause a convulsion of fanaticism or some other intellectual upheaval which results disastrously. Many a new religion and strange "ism" has arisen from the aborted, imperfect, misunderstood, and garbled communications of the divine fragments.

As such, we are encouraged to remember that fostering divine ideas and ideals is the purpose of the Father fragments so when we are able to perceive a divine communication, we can maintain our emotional and mental stability. Although, it is far more likely that the ‘voice’ we hear, if any, is in reality a product of our own intellect.

It is also important that we do not confuse and confound the mission and influence of the divine fragments with what is commonly called conscience; they are not directly related. Conscience is a human and psychological reaction. It is not to be despised, but it is hardly the voice of God to the soul, which is indeed what the divine fragment’s voice would be if such a voice could be heard. Conscience, rightly, admonishes you to do right; but the spirit fragment, in addition, endeavors to tell you what truly is right, when you are able to perceive its leadings.

In this brief overview of the divine spirit fragments, we hope to have conveyed the truth that we are all children of God, whether we know it or not, and that our sonship has always been the Father’s purpose for his human creations. He has always desired our fellowship and continues to draw us closer and closer to him until we attain to the status of full spirit sons able to stand in his actual presence.

To help us realize and actuate the divine fragment, the Father sent his Son in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, to reveal the truth of our sonship, which is the message of the Kingdom of the Heavens – the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. And after Jesus’ departure, the Father had another provision:

“If you love me, you will observe my commandments; and I will request the Father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever, the spirit of the truth, which the world cannot receive, because it neither beholds it nor knows it. You know it, because it remains with you and is in you.”
– John 14:15-17

We will examine this relationship in the next article, The Bestowal of the Spirit of Truth.