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Originally Posted by Bluth  I'm interested in hearing peoples take on prayer and what purpose it serves in their life. |
Bluth,
What is prayer, and how do you do it ?
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."
(Matt. 7:7-8)
Why ? Because the solutions we seek PRECEDE our need. What you ask for already exists before you ask; what you seek already exists before you find it; and the door you knock upon opens to the answer you want....or you would be utterly unable
to ask, or seek, or knock in the first place.....if what you desired were itself not already available to
be received, found, or opened....
....exactly like the availability of air (answered prayer) precedes your need to breath it (prayer request). Do you see ?
Breath deeply....
"The trick, according to Chiang, was for Jonathan to stop seeing himself as trapped inside a limited body that had a forty-two-inch wingspan and performance that could be plotted on a chart. The trick was to know that his true nature lived, as perfect as an unwritten number, everywhere at once across space and time." "To fly as fast as thought, to anywhere that is,” he said, “you must begin by knowing that you have already arrived" "Perfect speed is being there."
Excerpted from page 17/28 of the PDF source below
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
Why ? "Perfect speed is
being there"....exactly like perfect prayer is knowing that
what you have asked is already yours. Do you see ?
As author Baird Spalding says in the reference,
”Becoming aware of yourself as a spiritual being, offspring of an infinite spiritual system and one with all the powers and capacities within that system, is the very essence of attainment. To grow from the present state of awareness of himself as a material being and into the consciousness that he is a spiritual being contains the full secret of man's attainment.' Man's nature cannot be reversed for he always remains a spiritual being. He can only reverse his notion of himself. Instead of doing this, he should reverse his mistaken idea that he is a material being and retain the truth that he is a spiritual being created in the image and likeness of God."
….and as also indicated in the 2nd reference,
"Perfection does not come from projecting our own ideas but from awakening to the knowledge that it is already the established order of things."
The Creator Himself IS the VERY pattern by which mankind was made. Our Father also created Jesus just as He created us...the exact Spirit and Likeness of Himself. Jesus' message and reason for coming to this earthly dimension was to show us, in as stark, as uncompromising, and as definitive a manner as possible, that we are as He is, which is as our Creator endowed us all to be, and that is as immortal, Spiritual beings who are the Spirit and Image of our Creator. We are NOT physical beings. We are Spiritual Beings like He is!
Our true nature lives, as perfect as an unwritten number, everywhere at once across space and time. But thou, when thou mayest pray, go into thy chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who is seeing in secret, shall reward thee manifestly.
Young's Literal Translation of Matthew 6:6
Why ?
Many people have been lead to believe that they are supposed to follow Jesus who will solve the problems in their lives. Does it make sense to you that if our Father, the loving Creator of ALL beings, allows US to solve the problems we make for ourselves, WHY would He burden Jesus with the task? Jesus, Buddha, Lao-tze, Babaji, and many others came to show us the error of the lies we had adopted as the truth about ourselves. They came to show us that the way back to Our Creator has ALWAYS been awaiting WITHIN US....EVEN though we had forgotten Who we are!
We, too, were created as the Spirit and Image of God, I AM.
....AS the Image of God..the exact likeness of the Creator, Himself.....NOT a subservient follower of whatever religion we choose or adopt !!
Most revealing to me was the discovery that we are not supposed to just follow these Masters. We are invited to follow these Masters' EXAMPLE !!!
We are invited to
FOLLOW WHAT THEY FOLLOWED, which is....Our Father.....the I AM which is in us, as well as in Them !
....
in order to REAWAKEN and REALIZE our OWN mastery as Spiritual Beings, not to subjugate ourselves to Their mastery. Again, we are ALSO as these Masters are, which is as our Creator endowed us ALL to be, and that is as immortal, spiritual beings who are the Spirit and Image of our Creator. Jesus is, even TODAY, trying to show us what is TRUE of ALL OF US, not what is ONLY TRUE of Him.
The goal is to follow what He followed. Human beings are NOT flawed creations who need to be saved. We are PERFECTLY CREATED BEINGS.
We ALL are Sons and Daughters of the Most High, but we have forgotten Who we are! We must learn to seek the power AND answers where our Creator placed them, which is INSIDE of us, just as our Brother, Jesus does.
That is also why I believe He said, "Of myself, I can do nothing. It is the Father in me who does the works." I believe that statement is the very Truth about ALL of us. Of ourselves, we can do nothing. It is the Father within us who does the works, too! No different than it is for our Brother, Jesus. Or for our Sisters, either. Because male AND female made He (our Creator) them. And that is the same Christ within Him who is equally omnipresent within us, as well. In the sanctity of our OWN SELVES, God has placed Himself within us as the very I AM of us.
Even if you
don't believe in spiritual Truths, consider that the Principles of Life uncovered by scientists that govern the relationship between mass, gravity, time, and the curvature of space to produce black holes have been in perfect operation just as eternally before their discovery of those principles as is the frequency upon which you enjoy listening to your favorite music; indeed, existent ever since the Universe cooled it into resonance along with the infinite gradations of frequency radiating beside it. These principles HAD to have been in operation just as perfectly BEFORE we discovered how to harness them into technology as they presently operate now. Or we would not be able to continue to utilize them for our technology today, much less build them into technological improvements tomorrow!
....and if we really thought about it, if the accomplishment of miracles was not ALSO based on perfect, unchangeable principles, Jesus would not have been able to truthfully say to us,
"Greater things than these shall you also do." Not so just one person can do it (Him), but so that anybody could do it, following relevant principles. As great a teacher as Jesus is, how could he possibly have made such a statement about
our God-given capability, except truthfully?
It does absolutely no harm to ask help from our Brother, Jesus, Who would give it just as readily as His and our Father asks ANY of us to do, and for the very same reason.
He teaches us, even NOW, to love one another even as His and our Father loves us.
Our Brother, Jesus, and others, can help us in an infinity of ways.
But He cannot live for us....
That task, privilege, and duty was given solely to us by our Father, Who lovingly gave ALL of us His Own power to do so.
Do you see? The gift is
already ours to discover and use !
Seems like a pretty good way for all God’s children to “grow into a mature realization of our infinite potential” FOR OURSELVES, don’t you think?
Fly....
Hope this helps...
Source(s)
http://img1.liveinternet.ru/images/a...on_seagull.pdf
Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East (Vols 1-6)
by Baird T. Spalding
Seek and Ye Shall Find