prayer always helps

"God answers man's prayer by giving him an increased revelation of truth, an enhanced appreciation of beauty, and an augmented concept of goodness." *

May I ask You? I came across this quote, and thought, we humans pray endlessly, and people all have the experience that we get what we pray for, at least sometimes but not always (think believers) or never (think many critical and unbelieving people). Of course we often ask if You want to make 1+1 3 instead of 2, so the impossible, or something that is not possible or something that is not for us. But this quote is promising. I can imagine it somewhere, that if a person opens the window of his limited consciousness, and addresses Something in the cosmos, that something special may enter through the opened little window. Always something, You have explained this before in previous blogs. Would You still like to comment this?

Yes, always something. And sometimes more. And sometimes everything. Every person comes up with a different story about the effect of prayer. The window of your limited consciousness is always less limited by praying, by opening a window, more receptive to something. Always.

The Urantia Book speaks of truth, beauty, and goodness. Are those words big exaggerated words that are not applicable to the ordinary person and his little prayer? Not so.

Truth is also: accepting a little easier how much suffering a person is undergoing, or seeing opportunities to improve or tackle things.

Beauty is also: seeing bright spots in the ugliness of a miserable or sick situation, being happy with a flower or enjoying a view.

Goodness is also: suddenly getting an angel on your path in the form of a sweet doctor or a nice shop assistant, or getting a text message from a distant friend.

In short: let the message of this quote be: pray, trust in your prayer, feel how it always helps, and be confident if it doesn't seem that way. Continue to pray. Anytime, in any situation, anywhere. The world would be a better place if more people prayed more often.

My blessings to you all

No 593

* From the Urantiabook 91:8.11 (1002.3)

How does one actually pray?

My God, may I ask You. I personally notice that people struggle with prayer and what they can and cannot ask for, especially when it comes to war, difficulties and misery. A friend said to me, "I'm not going to ask God to take care of me when I'm struggling, just like God doesn't take care of me though and like I'm rebuking God." Well, then I ask You, I of course want to respond to that.

Respond first, my son. 

I said to her, no matter how hard your life is at the moment, and how you pray or what you pray for, in all cases you open even more of a window to the spiritual world through which the spiritual world can better reach you. And God is certainly not offended if you ask “take care of me”, and will not say "Am I not already doing enough?"

Kind of.

So it is, my son, and although there is much to say about it, and in the blogs the subject of prayer has been discussed before, and some things may be repeated endlessly, this is it. 

When a person prays, he opens a window to the spiritual world, and thereby the spiritual world can serve him better, reach him better, influence him more strongly, achieve more than if a person does not pray.

And that is not because God does not know exactly when what is needed on earth, but because man, from his free will, then contributes more to the cooperation between God and man. Prayer is strengthening this cooperation. Shorter and better and more powerful We can't bring it. So you have spoken to your female friend well and honestly and purely. Keep up the good work, my Son. 

My blessings to you all

No 551

God, who comes to rest in man (W.H. Auden)

 I read a poem by W.H. Auden, "At Schrafft"'and this part struck me:

 

Having finished the Blue-plate Special

And reached the coffee stage,

…A somewhat shapeless figure

of indeterminate age

… our globular furore,

…Which of the seven heavens

Was responsible her smile

Wouldn’t be sure but attested

…That, whoever it was, a god

Worth kneeling-to for a while

Had tabernacled and rested

At the end of that blog (check blog label W.H. Auden) you said; 

God, Who comes to rest in man. This is worth a separate blog, My son.

You then responded to this poem by Auden, Would You like to comment on this now?  

That's what I like to do. Commenting the sentence “God who comes to rest in man”. 

 

God works on the evolution of planets, plant species, animal species and of the intelligent being, man, who becomes the crowning glory of creation. A being who finally consciously and passionately will kneel before God and then recognizes what God has accomplished.  

 

God who waits so many years for this moment, and labours, and tries, and gives, and hopes, and beckons, and bestows and loves and searches for man.  

 

And then there is that man, however void and unsightly, who kneels before God and focuses on God and recognizes God and only then lives in truth at that beautiful and scarce moment.  

 

And then God visits this man.

And God can then rest in a certain way in the sanctuary of man.

And God gets recognition of Its work and knows that it has been accomplished, and that is so together with man. Everything is so accomplished, everything that has been sought for has been achieved. For a moment there is the Kingdom of God on earth. For a moment, creation has come to its senses. For a moment, God can rest and enjoy. Yes in the temple of man, built by man, reached by man, desired by man, and visited by God.

That's where God can rest.  

My blessings to you all

No 489

The temple of prayer

Recently I was praying in my room. The candles were lit, the incense was burning and there were vases of fresh roses near relics and portraits. And suddenly I got the feeling that I was in a spiritual temple and I experienced a great sense of holiness and devotion.
 

Would You like to comment on this?

I love to.

It helps you to come into the sphere of holiness and worship by using incense and candles and portraits and relics, that is your Catholic background.
But know that a spiritual temple is being built up, or if it is already existing reinforced, for every person on earth who prays.

A Protestant with only a cross, a Muslim with only a word in Arabic on the wall of his living room, a Hindu for an image of Shiva, a Zen Buddhist in an empty white room, a Jew who is while swaying reading the Torah, a New Age adept who meditates on his spiritual teacher, all come into the same situation as you, even if everyone is experiencing something different and is giving different words to it.

As soon as a man prays, the spiritual world is building around this person a spiritual temple of unprecedented beauty. And the more often a person prays, on the more regular basis he is doing this, the longer and more intensely he prays, the bigger and more powerful the temple will be.

And the temple is indeed a fact in the spiritual world. It is a powerful transformer for spreading spiritual energy. This energy flows through this praying man to the environment of this person and of course to whom or  what he is praying for. I mention it consciously in this order, because that is reality.

A praying man is a blessing for his environment and an instrument for the spiritual world to reach the earth with healing, inspiring or uplifting energy. If men knew how wonderful the environment becomes when one prays, how beneficial its effect is and how fruitful for the cooperation between the spiritual world and the evolutionary earth, one would certainly pray more.

 
My blessings to you all

No 421

We do not know for sure what we are praying for

Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers. ~Pat Alger, Larry Bastian, and Garth Brooks, "Unanswered Prayers"

Would You like to comment on this words?

Man does not always know what he is praying for. Sometimes he should not get what he's praying for, and sometimes the best what can happen to him is something he is horrified about. Therefore, it is really wise to sigh always after prayer “but Your will will be done”. Then this man admits in his prayer that he is leaving the hearing of his prayer to God, and actually he says : “I do not know if my prayer must be heard, God. You know better”.

And so it is.
 
My blessings to you all

Nr. 394

Meditating means listening to God or the cosmos

Prayer is when you talk to God; meditation is when you listen to God. ~Diana Robinson

Would You like to comment on this?

It is not entirely correct.

Aren’t you regularly listening while you pray? And as many of you.
And God has a lot of experience with men who meditate and are at the same time very much attaining or wanting  or desiring something, that is not much of listening.

But Diana Robinson has a point to be considered.

If man talks with God or the cosmos, let Us include the humanists, the agnostics, the Zen Buddhists in this story, then there is the simple question to every man: are you sending or receiving?
Are you asking and talking and hoping, or have you become quiet and are you listening? For a man can, and this is the case in a normal conversation between two people, only really listen when he has become quiet and when he is really willing to be open, then it really has become  listening. And then everything will be possible, one could just be able to hear the voice of God or the voice of silence.
Diana Robinson is blessed.
 
My blessings to you all

Nr. 380

A simple prayer (Huston Smith)

The scholar of religions Huston Smith is deceased (97 years old), his books on religion are sold millions and he started to write about religion and religious experiences after he himself had had a religious experience using halllucinating mushrooms. His work always testified great respect for all religions, anyway.
He said he learned his favourite prayer from a nine year old boy:

"Dear God, I do my best"

Would You like to go comment on this?

It's a wonderful prayer, because it shows that the nine year old boy was in direct contact with his Spark of God. The love of God and the understanding of man, that you really can not do more than your best, are expressed herein.  This boy knew this, Huston Smith knew this, and so he could write with tolerance and respect about all religions, and he did thus an plea for interreligious tolerance *.

After all, aren’t they doing all their best?

However, a simple prayer can be more powerful and can contribute more to what is possible between God and man.

For doesn’t  God already know that this praying man is doing his best? In this prayer is nothing of the knowledge of man about what God is doing and there's nothing about the future, for the person who is praying is going to try and undertake something, that’s the case in 99% of the situations in which man is starting to pray.
So I propose to stay at least with a simple prayer:

"I do my best and I know You will do the rest"

Or:

"Help me to continue doing my best?"

The nine year old boy and Huston Smith are blessed.

 
My blessings to you all

Nr. 367

* Dutch newspaper Trouw, 2017, 9 January

God is not a plumber

Many people pray as if God were a big aspirin pill; they come only when they hurt (B. Graham Dienert)

My God,

would You like to comment on this quote?

It’s not really God’s primary focus to make you feel comfortable.

Of course, God loves you and will help you and support you and comfort you and God teaches you the right direction.
But God is not a plumber.
Once something is leaking, you call the plumber who will fix it.
But God is not a plumber.

It really could be the case that the awkward situation you are end up in is totally arranged by God.

So if you pray to be freed from it, you ask the wrong thing.
Because maybe you guys should thank God for that awkward situation, because it will bring you exactly what is needed.
To realize something, to eliminate a blind spot, to get to know your little will, to change, this all could be possible.
So ask yourself what you are praying for.
And in all cases, if you do not know for sure what you are asking, say next “Thy will will be done”.
Then it's always good.

And it's always appreciated when you address to God not to get something, but only to thank for what you have received.

My blessings to you all

Nr. 280

Prayer changes us more than God

Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays. ~ Soren Kierkegaard

Would you like to comment on this quote?

Kierkegaard is wrong.
A praying man changes God as well.

A praying man is always heard by God.
What prayer whatsoever, from desperate pleas to a humble thanksgiving.
And God hears them, accepts them and if possible fulfills them.
And God will always be touched by them.
For God is becoming in man.
So God is touched by the prayer of a man.
God IN man is touched by the prayer of this man.
For the prayer of a man brings him closer to God.
The prayer of a man invites God to conquer further room in the heart of man.
God becomes in man.

But man!
A praying man is opening to God.
A praying man will be touched by the spiritual world.
A praying man changes in his inner world automatically .
A praying man relaxes.
A praying man lets go.
A praying man feels he is not alone.
A praying man IS not alone.
A praying man is growing energetically.
A praying man is experiencing surrender, harmony, trust, peace.

So God changes when man is praying.
But a praying man changes much more.
And if you could see the aura of a praying man, compared to its former state, before praying, you would be amazed at the beauty of it.
You would all pray much harder and much more and much longer.

My blessings to you all

Nr. 272

The prayer of a suffering man

Why have You forsaken me?

I am here. Feel assured.

Why do I only hear Your voice and do I not feel Your support? I'm struggling with life, tired of all efforts, I feel burdened by all my worries. My nights are tormented by anxiety and nightmares. I tryto surrender to You, but my whole personality is doing other stuff.
I know You're there. And You are saying that this is a trial, temporary, but My dear God, whyaren’t those wordscomforting me, why do I not feel them ?

Why do I feel all alone, wretched man in a cold cosmos, all comfort seems to be so far away, and the fear and misery so near.
About Your voice, I am thinking now I invented it myself, the revelations seem sofar away, the inspiration is gone.
I am alone with my body, which is tired and stressed and overworked and staying sick in bed, and there is nothing else.
I am alone with a troubled and confused mind, full of fears and worries.

Who am I then to hear Your voice, look at me, shouldn’t I be inspired, shouldn’t I be an example?Shouldn’t I demonstrateGod in my life is making me a better person? Why is this all there is?

Feel assured. And know that you are loved by Me. Accept all, trust Me, let everything as it is. And do not forsake Me.
Do not worry.

My blessings to you all

Nr. 109