Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. (Mark 11:4)
As we continue our Lessons in Awakening, once again a statement by Jesus may baffle us. Taken literally it seems we are asked to believe an outcome that is not actually true. If we are only viewing this aphorism from the material paradigm, we remain perplexed. So often, this is where many truth-seekers get stuck and miss the deep implications of the Master. I've been there...as have most of us.
From the surface mind, material perspective, we pray in supplication, imploring God to grant our wishes, to intervene, and make something happen that we want or need. From this state of consciousness that beholds lack or limitation, the injunction to believe "you have (already) received," flies in the face of all appearances. Failing to understand, we may dismiss it out of hand as some mystical riddle. To do so is to miss the central message and the life-changing power of what the Master calls us to see.
Jesus said, "It is the Father's good pleasure to have given you the Kingdom" and "The Kingdom of God is within you." This is what you and I are asked to "believe that you have (already) received." “Prayer is not conditioning God with your needs, begging for handouts from Heaven. Rather prayer is conditioning your life with the activity of God[1].
Spiritual practice that bears fruit and prayers that transform us are all about shifting consciousness. Beginning with negating the surface mind chatter with its endless tales of lack and need, based on a sense of separateness and not enough, to recognition and affirmation of the Presence of the Eternal Life, Love and Power of the Infinite within us. It is vital that we recognize all desires of the mind and heart are actually, in truth, spiritual yearnings cloaked in various forms. And it follows that our response to these desires demanding life to be different compels us to remember and claim the truth of our Being as the only true remedy for our discomfort. What we truly are, is what we are looking for. Our search for peace and happiness is a journey without distance... and ends with a realization of our Oneness with the Allness of God.
Join us Sunday via Facebook Live stream at Unity in the Olympics as we continue the series, Lessons in Awakening, and further illuminate the power and effectiveness of the affirmative approach of spiritual practice.
Peace and blessings,
Rev. Larry
[1] Eric Butterworth
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