Prayer

Please note: The use of the term "Creator" and "God" in the following paragraphs is not meant to be misconstrued as an over-riding of your own belief system. The term is being used generically. Feel free to substitute whatever name, term or phrase that resonates with you.

 

The process of turning our will and our lives over isn't a one-time action. It's at least a daily re-commitment. To be proficient in one's spiritual practice is the same as being proficient in any other endeavor. It requires dedication and repetition. It has been my experience that a daily discipline of meditation and prayer, starting first thing in the morning, is the best and most effective method of turning over our will and our lives. The more we meditate and pray, the easier they become to do and the stronger our connection to First Cause becomes. I list meditation ahead of prayer because I believe it is the more efficient means of growing spiritually. There are two ways of connecting with the First Cause. The act of meditation raises us up to the First Cause while the act of prayer calls down the First Cause to us. In addition, the act of meditation allows us to connect with that part of ourselves, the love and the light, that is at one with the First Cause. This is our reminder that we are not alone and that our validation comes from the First Cause and not the people, places and things that we permitted to validate us in the past. The act of prayer allows us to reaffirm our conviction in the virtues we practice and to be thankful for the help in their implementation that comes from the First Cause of our understanding. One of the results of a stronger connection with our First Cause is the establishment of communications from the First Cause. As our connection to the First Cause grows stronger, the First Cause's communications to us become clearer. Though the forms these communications can take are infinite, the most powerful and direct one is that of intuition. Our intuition will always tell us what we need to know and show us what direction our course of action should take. The more we practice the faith of acting on our intuition the stronger and clearer it will become. And as stated before, sometimes the outcome of acting on our intuition will be extremely painful. It may be that these painful episodes are the vehicles for the lessons we are here to master.

 

Prayer is a very personal practice and differs from one person to another. There is no wrong way to pray. As Rumi as once said, "There's a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the ground." What I believe this means is that each and every one of us are one with the Creator. Therefore everything we think, feel, say and do are transmitted immediately to the Creator. What distinguishes prayer from other forms of communications is having the intention of wanting the Creator to be addressed. There is one thing I have learned about praying that I would like to pass on to you. It is that all prayers should be an expression of gratitude and not a request. We should start each of our prayers with a phrase such as "Thank you God for" instead of "God, please give me". The expression of gratitude accomplishes two things. First, it doesn't presume that we know better than God what we need. The second is that it implies a state of Abundance as opposed to a condition of lacking. The following are the prayers I say on a daily basis, over the course of my morning. I recommend always starting with a prayer that affirms our Divinity. The reason for starting this way is that it immediately lifts us out of our default lower state of existence, Ego, and into our optional higher state of existence, Spirit. The following prayers are the ones I say each morning and are being listed as suggestions only. You are a Child of the Creator, create your own or feel free to use mine or some combination there of.

 

I am one with God in Love and Light. Thank you God for allowing me this new day of walking in Your Love and Light. With Your Blessing I'll do so for the remainder of today.

 

Thank you God for the Blessings in my life, for I know You are both the source and the reason for their abundance. Therefore on this day I surrender my will and my life to You, so that I may walk Your path and may do Your work. For I know that only by being centered in Your will and not my own can I find joy and serenity.

 

God, thank you for gifts You have bestowed upon me. It is both an honor and a privilege to facilitate healing in Your name. And I know that I am on a journey whose destination I can not see. But I also know that it is Your will for me to walk this path, that You will always be there with me as I walk it and that I carry Your message to those I meet along it's way. Therefore, I am both Grateful and Thankful for the opportunities I have had and the opportunities yet to come where I can be In Service to others. For I know that only by being In Service to others can I achieve my greatest good and that only by striving for my greatest good, God, can I be In Service to You.

 

God, my affirmation is to channel Your blessing to someone today. I further affirm that I will be a better Spirit being so I can be of better Service to Spirit kind and that I will see Your presence God in everyone and everything that is presented to me this day.

 

God, we are one in Divine Power, Love and Grace. May that be all that this body makes manifest throughout this day.

 

My wife and I partake of a daily practice, as recommended by one of our teachers, of giving daily charity. We place whatever we can spare in a box. After about a month or so we rotate taking the accumulated donation and carry it with us until some person or cause is presented as being in need. The following is the prayer I say while making this daily donation. When I give away the donation I simply state that it comes with God's blessings.

 

In the name of God and in the name of Mercy we make our daily charitable contribution. God, thank you for the abundance in our life and thank you for the Spiritual guidance that shows us how this share that abundance with others.

 

God, thank you for Your presence in my life and thank you for the presence of my teacher(s) and partner. Blessings to them all. Thank you for all the blessings in my life, may I prove nothing but worthy of them this day.

 

This is the prayer I say before eating.

 

Thank you God for the food I am about to eat. May it be nourishing and sustaining. And may all Your children, no matter who they are, no matter where they are, have the abundance of nourishing and sustaining food.