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EXCERPT
Introduction
Because you are a reader of spiritual literature, it is obvious you desire a closer walk with God. Religious rites, attendance at spiritual services, and even late-night discussions about God with friends are all evidence that we sense our destiny is a closer walk with God. Do we not entertain the possibility we can actually know God in an intimate and personal way?
May the ensuing chapters and exercises be guideposts for this relationship. Dear friend, do not let A Closer Walk With God be a travelogue in which you are exposed to the wonder of the journey through someone else’s experiences. The principles and practice of prayer are not simply to be read. Let them be an invitation you answer as you embark upon your own journey into the kingdom of God.
Discover the purpose of prayer, and why the the most ideal name for prayer is silence. Learn to utilize affirmations and denials as a lifting wind rather than as consciousness conditioners. Begin to see “The Lord’s Prayer” as more than words to be uttered.
Join me in A Closer Walk With God and acknowledge that although we walk hand in hand, we also rest in the palm of “God’s hand.” Perhaps, we will call one another friend, but let us also be like Abraham and call God our Friend.
CHAPTER ONE
The Prayer of the Divine Being
Prayer’s Purpose
It is human need that first turns us to God. The soil lacks rain; therefore, we pray. The body is riddled with disease, so we call for God’s intervention. Unpaid bills and difficult decisions turn us Godward. Whenever humankind feels impotent, it prays and beseeches the Almighty.
At times, Spirit seems to answer, but for many people prayer appears to yield no results. We feel unworthy and wonder if God has forsaken us. Many a fist have been shaken to the sky because we perceive Spirit has not given us what we want.
Eventually, we realize that our supplications and affirmations have a human origin. This is why they are ineffective. The answer is to pray the prayer of those who know their divine origin, the prayer of the divine being.
Prayer is a mystery and will continue to puzzle us until it is no longer an attempt to have God serve us. Did Jesus not tell us that the kingdom of heaven was within us? Did the Master not say His kingdom was not of the earth? In spite of these statements, we persist in asking God to “come down” and repair our human world. Speculate for a moment. How many people have prayed for world peace during the last two thousand years? War and rumors of war are still prevalent, and peace is not established. If God is withholding His peace, we would think that the sheer number of our prayers would have convinced Him of our sincerity.
Our response has been to pray harder and longer and on occasion to try to be better human beings. We may even visit shrines where God’s power is reported to have been expressed or go to people who are obviously close to God and ask that they intervene on our behalf. The spiritual quest in all its many forms continues, but the answer is so simple: world peace is not a reality, bodies are not healed, famine continues, limiting decisions are made because “we ask amiss.” We have not yet discovered the purpose of prayer, and therefore the prayer of the divine being is outside our grasp.
Prayer’s purpose is not to enlist Spirit’s assistance in living a better human life. A better human life is not the issue. Instead, let us ask if we are willing to live a spiritual life. We will discover the prayer of the divine being when we no longer seek a better human life, but desire to awaken to our spiritual identity and to the beauty and vastness of God’s kingdom.
Let us assume there is a special person we have always wanted to meet, talk with, and become friends with. Would this ever occur if we constantly asked her to send us money and to give us things? If she did grant one of our wishes,an extravagant gift, let us say, would we be content? Would not our deepest desire for a meaningful relationship with that person still remain our desire?
Know God
The prayer of the divine being does not ask for “stuff” or assistance in living on earth. The divine being knows that neither God’s kingdom nor Spirit’s will is of the earth. The prayer of the divine being is humankind’s answer to Spirit’s call, KNOW ME. This is prayer’s purpose, to know God, to awaken to and experience the Presence. This awareness, expressing itself through the law of mind action (thoughts held in mind produce after their kind), will manifest itself in ways that will make life on this planet a wonder.
Lift Up Your Eyes
In the Scriptures, we are told to lift up our eyes to the hills from whence our help comes. This upward glance happens best and easiest when the eyes are closed. It is a reminder to lift up our purpose and to seek a relationship with God. Throughout the ages, our spiritual journey has begun in deprivation and lack.
There has been famine in the land or some challenge in our human world. Most relationships with God begin this way, but we do not find God if we remain in this consciousness of lack. Our vision must be greater. We are not valley dwellers; we are of the mountains; we are from above. Our destiny is elevation. People who always look at the ground never see there are mountains to climb.
My friend, I have something to ask you. This book considers the power and wonder of prayer. It is hoped as you read the chapters and do the exercises, a prayer life will be born in you. However, before we consider different insights into prayer, let us lift up our eyes. Enter into a covenant with your God that for the period of time you read and work with this book, you will pray for only one thing, a consciousness of Spirit, to know God. Let us put aside our list of human wants. These are not our deepest desire. Our prayer life cannot have as its origin a sense of deprivation or lack. Let our times of stillness begin and end with these words, “God, I desire a closer walk with You. This is my only desire, for knowing You is enough.”
Key Ideas
It is human need that first turns us to God.
Prayer is a mystery and will continue to puzzle us until it is no longer an attempt to have God serve us.
Human problems persist because “we ask amiss.”
Prayer’s purpose is not to enlist Spirit’s assistance in living a better human life.
The prayer of the divine being comes from a desire to awaken to our spiritual nature.
The prayer of the divine being does not ask for assistance in living on earth.
The prayer of the divine being is humankind’s answer to God’s call, KNOW ME.
A prayer life cannot have as its origin a sense of deprivation or lack.
Chapter Summary
The prayer of the divine being is humankind’s answer to God’s call, KNOW ME.
Class Statement
I want to know God.