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Prayer Is Always The Answer

December 19, 2008 by zgardener

            Prayer is always the solution. No matter what kind of difficulty may be facing you, no matter how complicated your problem may seem – prayer can solve it. Of course you will also take whatever practical steps seem to be indicated, and if you do not know what steps to take, prayer will show you. Prayer is constantly bringing about the seemingly impossible, and there is no conceivable problem that has not at some time been solved by prayer.
 
When we remember that God really is omnipotent, untrammeled by what we call time or space or matte r, or the vagaries of human nature, it is easy to see that there can be no limit to the power of prayer. You can pray about a problem and solve it at any stage, but of course, the earlier you tackle it the easier will your work be.
 
… The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much (James 5:16).

When we pray, ask God to remove all barriers and separation between us so we will be one with God as God is with us. Ask God to relax our  body and release all our tensions and earthly concerns. Ask God to lift our spirits and open our hearts, minds, consciousness and will to demonstrate in us God’s universal consciousness, Holy Spirit and divine will so we may express these realities in our lives. Then give God thanks for all our spiritual and earthly blessings, confess our shortcomings, forgive others and ask others to forgive us. Then ask God for those things we need and those we wish to resolve for ourselves and for others. If we pray this way each day and do our best to live a righteous life, then God will answer our prayers and our lives will improve every day.

In communion,
Z gardener

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Mental Drudgery Is Not Prayer

December 18, 2008 by zgardener

            Expect more from you prayers. The power of your prayer depends upon the amount of faith that you yourself have in it. To pray in the spirit that “even if this prayer does not do any good at least it cannot do any harm,” is not, really, to pray at all.

 
Have enough faith in the love of God to believe that a short heartfelt prayer is just as good as a long one. Too long a session of prayer usually means the in your heart you really doubt the love of God, and think that a great deal of effort and toil will be necessary to move Him. Pray quietly and sincerely for a reasonable time – and then leave the matter, expecting success.
 
O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou has done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth (Isaiah 25:1).

The length of a prayer is not what makes it work. It is the expectation of fruition that strengthens prayer, the fervent emotion that quickens it and the action after it  that assures it. So, let us believe our prayers are being answered, invest them with all our hope and confidence while we act as if they are already true. Then God will do wonderful things.

Expecting answered prayers,
Z gardener

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Is It Selfish?

December 17, 2008 by zgardener

            Is it selfish to pray for yourself? Some people think that it is, and say that you should pray only for others, but this, of course, is a foolish idea.
 
You must pray for yourself constantly. How could it be otherwise? We worship God by believing in Him, trusting Him, and loving Him wholeheartedly – and we can attain to that only through prayer. The sole object of our being here is that we may grow like him – and we can do that only through prayer.
 
The more we pray for ourselves the more power will our prayers have for any other purpose whatever; so praying for ourselves is the reverse of selfishness – it is truly glorifying God.
 
Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me: for I am poor and needy … Rejoice the soul of thy servant; for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul (Psalm 86:1, 4).

If we are to love others as we love ourselves, we must pray for our brothers and sisters as well as ourselves. Righteous self love is not vanity based nor is it self worship. It is the acceptance that God loves us and that the Almighty has seen fit to place the Holy Spirit within us. As God’s temple, we are sanctified by God and are consecrated to his service. That is something deserving of love.

Loving all,
Z gardener

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A Treatment Is An Operation

December 16, 2008 by zgardener

            The word treatment is usually applied to a prayer that is made for some specific purpose, as distinct from a general prayer, which is really a visit with God. You must remember that a treatment is a definite practical action, having a definite object and a definite beginning and end. It is in fact a surgical operation on the soul.

 
            Let us suppose that you decide to heal a certain difficulty by prayer. You know that your difficulty must be caused by some negative thought charged with fear and located in the subconscious mind. You therefore turn to God, and remind yourself of His goodness, His limitless power, and His care for you. As you work the fear will begin to dissolve, and the awareness of the Truth corrects the erroneous beliefs themselves.
 
Thank God for the healing that you believe will come – and then keep your thought off the matter until you feel led, after an interval, to treat again.
 
He sent his word, and healed them … (Psalm 107:20).

When we exist in the full awareness of God’s infinite love, goodness, power and intelligence, we are capable of  conquering any fear and overcoming any difficulty through Him. To exist in that state of awareness, we must believe, practice and think in ways that acknowledge God’s infinite ability and his concern for us. We must also face our challenge(s) honestly, confront the fears they cause and remove the self-centered limitations that block the solution. Lastly, we must thank God for that which we expect and live as though it has already happened. The true test of faith is living it in the present reality.

Revealing healing,
Z gardener

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God Works With Joy

December 15, 2008 by zgardener

            Don’t pray or meditate as a duty. Realize that prayer is a visit with God and should be joyous.
 
Neither must you pursue your secular activities as necessary duties to be gotten over, that you may return to your prayer. In the light of Truth, there are no secular activities.
 
You must have regular recreation or you will become stale. Recreation, also, is to be enjoyed – as an expression of God – and not as a task to prepare yourself to pray better. An understanding joy in living, is the highest pray er of all.
 
…in thy presence is fullness of joy… (Psalm 16:11).

This is what is meant by this writer when reference is made to living in the Eden God created for us. Each day that is filled with joy makes the strongest statement of our faith life. If we are living our lives in states of happiness and peace, we are living our witness and our ministry.

Peace,
Z gardener

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Don’t Hurry the Chicken

December 12, 2008 by zgardener

            A city child was spending his vacation on a farm. They showed him a hen sitting on a nest of eggs, and told him that some day a little chicken would come out of each egg. Their child was delighted at this dramatic idea, and every morning he went around expecting to see the miracle.

 
            Days passed and nothing happened. The eggs still looked exactly the same. Not the slightest change occurred in the appearance of things, and gradually his faith waned. At last one day he told himself bitterly that he had been deceived.
 
Next day, however, from habit he went around to the nest as usual, but without any hope; and behold, what was his joy to see a flock of little chickens running about.
 
Of course wonderful changes had been taking place all the time behind the shells, but there was nothing to show for it until the very last moment. Some of our greatest demonstrations come to us like this. In this story it was the spectator who lost faith, and so it did not matter. If the mother hen had lost her faith – well, there would have been no chickens. Give your demonstration time to hatch.
 
And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not (Galatians 6:9).

Time crowds in on us every day and creates many pressures on us to perform based on a schedule. That is a part of life and good in many ways. However, when we are seeking God’s will, his omniscient character is aware of present and future need and always returns to us that which suits our best good, known and unknown. So, we must be patient in our supplications, resting firm in t he knowledge that the all knowing God is answering our prayers on his schedule.

Punched in on God’s clock,
Z gardener

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Give It Time

December 11, 2008 by zgardener

People sometimes accept the idea that a change of thought, plus turning to God in prayer, will transform their lives into harmony and freedom. The logic of this principle appeals to them, and they set to work upon it in earnest. Then, after a few days, they say, “Nothing has happened after all,” and they drop back into their old negative thinking.

 
That is extremely foolish. The results of many years of general negative thinking are seldom corrected in a few days. No one who goes upon a new physical diet or medical regimen expects to reap the advantages in so short a time. You must keep up the new way of thinking and refuse to be discouraged by seeming failures at first.
 
The right20motive for adopting right thinking is that it is right, and that wrong thinking is wrong; and we should do right whether it seems to pay dividends or not. Of course, it does pay dividends – fabulous dividends – but it usually takes a little perseverance in the face of preliminary slowness.
 
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13).

One often overlooked and undervalued benefit of right thinking and right doing is that it feels good immediately. How many things can we do that makes us feel good which are also good for us? Usually what we turn to is some sort of self-indulgence and that is usually not so good for us.

So, when we are not seeing immediate results from our righteousness, we should recognize that it has already begun to work by elevating our state of mind and our self respect. And when we do right and get taken advantage of in the short term, we should remember the tortoise and the hare. Right thinking and doing in the short term ensures that we will prevail in the end. In the meantime, it sure feels good. In this case, “if it feels good, do it”, is the right formula.

Feeling good,
Z gardener

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Your Own Brand

December 10, 2008 by zgardener

You cannot claim too much for yourself provided you claim the same thing for all other human beings. In fact, it is our duty to claim all good things and to continue claiming them until they demonstrate in our outer experience. Of course, this law works both ways and therefore you must be very careful not to claim the negative things that you do not want.
 
On the western ranches the owner of a steer brands it with his name, “Bar A Ranch” or some such cipher. Then if it should wander into strange territory, it will always be returned to him. On the other hand, when an animal without his brand wanders into his corral, he says, “Than is not my steer,” and out it goes.
 
Many a foolish person puts his mental brand on a steer that he does not want in the least, and is surprised when the animal stays obstinately at home. People say my rheumatism, my forgetfulness, may poverty, et cetera, branding the steers they do not want instead of turning them out of the corral.
 
When you really want something, brand it deeply with your own name and it will be yours.
 
… but every one … shall keep himself to his own inheritance (Numbers 36:9).

Ever since mankind chose for itself in Eden to partake in the fruit of knowledge of good and evil, we have often made the negative choice. The power to chose is awesome and powerful. It resides, less in the physical but more in the spiritual and mental realm. So we must chose out thoughts and feelings carefully. When we indulge negative thoughts and adopt and downcast spirit, we allow those things in our lives and make them our own. Then they invariably manifest themselves in our lives.

So today, let each of us chose and claim the light God wants for us, and let us also release and reject the darkness which we have indulged and nurtured around and within us. The choice is ours.

Choosing light,
Z gardener

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Tackling That Bugbear

December 9, 2008 by zgardener

            When what seems an especially difficult problem or a great emergency presents itself, many students of the Truth start by thinking, “This is very serious,” and then proceed to brace themselves mentally for a supreme effort; and plan to pray exceedingly “hard” in order to meet the difficulty.

 
All this is quite wrong. It simply builds up the problem into something far bigger that it was originally. The right attitude, the one that brings Victory, is to think “God can and will solve this problem.”
 
Instead of speaking the Word from the low altitude of fear and limitation, and trusting to effort to magnify the Lord, stop thinking of the problem altogether, and rise in consciousness. Having now attained a higher level – speak t he Word gently from that level, and your problem will be solved.
 
For the word of God is quick, and powerful … (Hebrews 4:12).

How often we resist resist the mindset that God can and will solve the challenges we face! Its like we have an obligation to think we must do it by ourselves. This self elevation is simply ego, pride and vanity masquerading as self sufficiency. Not that we don’t have to work hard and carry our share of the load. We do. But the real answer to any of our emergencies or obstacles is the faith that God can and will present the solutions we need.

The other trick employed by the deceiver is to use fear and false perceptions of limitation to make us believe we are incapable or unworthy of a solution. This self devaluation is merely false separation from God blocking our connection to His power.

When we truly know that faith and fear can not occupy the same space and that limitation always yields to the infinite in us, then we are ready to accept God’s solution to that which concerns us. And, we have already overcome the beast.

In faith,
Z gardener

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Bulb and Flower

December 8, 2008 by zgardener

Who has not at some time or other planted a bulb and enjoyed the pleasure of waiting for the plant to appear and develop, and ultimately produce the glorious flower itself? Notice here that you naturally plant the bulb and expect the flower – the hyacinth or the crocus – to follow. No sane person would dream of planting the flower and expecting a bulb to come up; yet in our general life many of us do just that! We expect to begin with the flower. We think that we shall have desirable states of mind or body – happiness, freedom, health – if only we can change outer conditions in some way. Yet this is really trying to plant a flower, because we are trying to put effect before cause.

The law of the universe is thought first, and then expression; and never can this law be reversed.

Let all things be done decently and in order (Corinthians 14:40).

If every thought was as intentional as the planting of a flower, we would never have weeds growing in our hearts, minds and lives. Let us today plant every thought so that we live each day in the Garden God created for us.

Planning the planting,
Z gardener

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