Spiritual Solutions

Prayer is not just a one-time thing, it’s living in a consciousness of God’s presence, present with us at all times. Prayer is drawing us to that awareness; it opens us up to it. The words we use are simply tools to open us up to the flow which is God’s eternal willingness within to bring that eternal good, the riches of God’s presence, into our lives.

This is the abundance and joy that Jesus talks about. So when Jesus speaks about asking he’s talking about claiming the good that is already ours; it’s that kind of asking. It’s the asking that steps out in faith knowing that God’s good is already ours. It’s the kind of asking that moves us into the spirit of truth.

Jesus said, "God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." So if we are praying for life, we must get in the spirit of life. If we are praying for health, we must get in the spirit of health. If we are praying for guidance, we must get in the spirit of wisdom. We have to get in the spirit of it. We have to live it; it has to be a part of us. It’s not something separate that we get "out here," it’s already here and we have to step into the consciousness of it, or in the spirit of it.

The spirit is the energy, the presence which flows in and through the universe in every aspect of it. It’s the cosmic mind which flows throughout the universe that we are one with at all times. Prayer is to lift us into the consciousness of that cosmic energy, so we become aware of it at all times.

So prayer is really a life. What is your life like, in terms of prayer and in terms of what you have in your life? In the book, "The Quest," Richard and Mary Alice Jafolla give an example of a man who was really praying for healthy lungs and a healthy heart. He would spend a half-hour every day praying for that, because he was having some difficulty. But in the other twenty-three and a half hours he was still continuing to smoke three packs a day. On the one hand he was praying for the right answer, to have a consciousness of health, but on the other hand he was not doing anything to aid that.

We are talking about a life of prayer. If you are praying for something, then you must get in the spirit of that which you are praying for. You must get in the spirit of God’s healing life within you, and do the things that are necessary to fulfill that, to bring it into expression.

There is another example of a person who has a drinking problem and who is praying for God to take away the desire for alcohol. But that person is also going to AA and a twelve-step group, is working with a sponsor and is also helping others to overcome their addiction. So this person is working to be in alignment with the prayer, and that’s the whole idea - to make it a life of prayer. Prayer is not something separate from our life. It’s part of our life. That’s a really important realization to have.

What are you doing? What is your life like now? It’s what your intentions are; our intentions are what bring about the results in our life. Do you have a high intention about the things in your life? Is it a love-based intention, in other words? If so, then you will have love-based results, won’t you? If you have good attitudes, with love-based intentions, then you will have good results in your life. If you have low intentions, or what you might call fear-based intentions, doing things that are motivated by fear, then the results in your life will reflect the fear that you have. They won’t be happy results. So your intentions and your attitudes bring about the results in your life.

So what is your life like? If you want to know what to pray for, take a look at the results in your life. If you are not happy with those results, then take a look at the intentions you have about those areas of your life. Are they high intentions? Are they love-based? Or are they fear-based? And what are you doing along with your prayers to bring about the right results? Is your life congruent? Is it of one piece? Are you in sync with the divine flow of universal good that is always seeking to come into expression?

Remember, God is eternal willingness that is always present and your good is always seeking to come forth into expression. Think of it that way - eternal willingness. And all we have to do is open our minds to it, and accept it. So our work is to bring us into that level of acceptance.

It’s like the story of the man in the flood. His house was flooding and he clambered onto the roof, and he was praying for God to save him. A boat came by, and he said, "No, that’s all right, you go on. I’m praying. God will save me from this." The water crept higher and higher up to the roof and another boat came by, and again he said, "No, no, I’m praying for God to save me. It’s OK, don’t worry, I’m fine." And the boat goes on its way. Then a helicopter comes by and the water is getting up to the top of the roof by this time, but the man waves them off saying, "No, God will save me. Don’t worry." And the water comes up and the man drowns. And the next scene is before God in the heavenly realms. The man is saying, "Well, I don’t understand. I prayed for you to save me." And God said, "What do you want? I sent you two boats and a helicopter!"

We have to accept our good, don’t we? We have to be open to accept our good. Jesus said, "It is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom." That’s the whole kingdom, not just a little bit of it.

There’s another illustration in the book, "The Quest," about a millionaire who lived in a great big mansion yet he was only really focused on one room, because that’s where he kept his stack of gold coins. He more or less lived in that one room, and he would count his gold coins over and over again. But he forgot the rest of the mansion. There were many other rooms there. So sometimes we too live in one room, we live in one little room in our minds and say something like, "This is my little room, I don’t need much more, and this is all right." And we don’t expand our consciousness to accept all of God’s good that is waiting for us. Prayer is that which opens us up to the possibilities that are there for us, to become what we are to become.

True prayer is all about becoming. It’s all about being what we truly are. It’s about learning and growing. It’s about following God’s guidance. It’s about listening for God’s will, which is always the highest and best we could ever want and much more than our greatest dreams could wish for. God’s will for us is good, absolute unchanging good. Our prayers are for aligning ourselves with that highest good, of opening ourselves to God’s presence. That’s the purpose of prayer.
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Rev. Alan Rowbotham, a Unity minister for thirty-five years, invites you to enjoy more articles and/or subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, “Spiritual Solutions,” at www.spiritualsolutionsblog.com

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