Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Teach Me How To Pray



Monday, May 30th, 2011
Today’s scripture: Matthew 6:5-13 (NRSV) (The Message) What might God be saying to me?

My thoughts (Robert Ferguson):

One of the most challenging aspects of this Christian walk (for me, anyway) is the instruction to pray daily and dedicate some of my time for conversation with God. For many years I have struggled with exactly how to pray, what to say while I am praying, and how to listen for responses from the Holy Spirit.

Our verse for today begins, “and when you pray”, an assumption that all of us surely do know the importance of prayer and act upon that. However, between the daily chores of life and the demands that others put on us we are sometimes hard pressed to find even a few quiet moments for time with God.

Event though we understand that the benefits are great, it seems like a daunting task. I have found that the early morning hours are the best time to sit down and talk with God. When we find a quiet time and go before God in sincere and earnest prayer God will deal with us directly, calm our minds, and prepare us for the everyday challenges that may lie ahead. Matthew encourages us today to find a private space, close the door, and speak to God.

When I was younger I felt unworthy to talk with God. I believed the only people who could pray to God were people in white robes — or at the very least, people in big hats. As I’ve gotten older I understand that God wants to hear from my heart. God wants an honest, genuine conversation with me without formalities and hype. It is so easy to get caught up in “proper” language and the “proper” position and the “proper” order of the words. But God tells us that when we pray, pray with sincerity of heart and a genuineness of spirit.

When I was 10 years old, my father moved out of our home. I lived for those times when he would come to visit me. I felt special and important. I was so excited when he would visit that I would talk his ear off, bringing him up to speed on all the happenings in 6th grade. During our long conversations, I wasn’t particularly concerned with the fact that he was my Dad and I was his son. I was more concerned with the fact that he wanted to listen and cared about my well being. That is how I should talk to God.

Free flowing conversation — my gratitude for another day, what it is that I should do with this day, my disappointments, my concerns for others, my accomplishments, my shame, my fears, and my dreams. Most importantly, we need to discuss with God what it is that God desires for us. We can talk about all these things with God just as easily as discussing the day’s events with a loved one.

Thought for the day: Have I dared to talk to God like I would my best friend?

Friday, May 27, 2011

Falling in love can be easy............





Staying in love is too tricky..........~Raphael Saadiq

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

How to Attract Abundance




How to Attract Abundance
Ten steps to feeling successful in your life.
BY: Wayne Dyer
Reprinted with permission from "The Power of Intention" by Wayne Dyer, published by Hay House.

Step 1: See the world as an abundant, providing, friendly place. When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. When you see the world as abundant and friendly, your intentions are genuine possibilities. They will, in fact, become a certainty, because your world will be experienced from the higher frequencies. In this first step, you're receptive to a world that provides rather than restricts. You'll see a world that wants you to be successful and abundant, rather than one that conspires against you.
Step 2: Affirm: I attract success and abundance into my life because that is who I am. This puts you into vibratory harmony with your Source. Your goal is to eliminate any distance between what you desire and that from which you pull it into your life. Abundance and success aren't out there waiting to show up for you. You are already it, and the Source can only provide you with what it is, and, consequently, what you are already.
Step 3: Stay in an attitude of allowing. Resistance is disharmony between your desire for abundance and your beliefs about your ability or unworthiness. Allowing means a perfect alignment. An attitude of allowing means that you ignore efforts by others to dissuade you. It also means that you don't rely on your pervious ego-oriented beliefs about abundance being a part of or not a part of your life. In an attitude of allowing, all resistance in the form of thoughts of negativity or doubt are replaced with simply knowing that you and your Source are one and the same. Picture the abundance you desire freely flowing directly to you. Refuse to do anything or have any thought that compromises your alignment with Source.
Step 4: Use your present moments to activate thoughts that are in harmony with the seven faces of intention [creativity, kindness, love, beauty, expansion, abundance, and peaceful receptivity]. The key phrase here is present moments. Notice right now, in this moment, if you're thinking that it's hopeless at this stage of your life to change the thoughts that comprise your belief system. Do you defeat yourself with thoughts of having had such a long life practicing affirmations of scarcity and creating resistance to your success and abundance that you don't have enough time left to counterbalance the thoughts that comprise your belief system?
Make the choice to let go of that lifetime of beliefs, and begin activating thoughts rights now that allow you to feel good. Say I want to feel good whenever anyone tries to convince you that your desires are futile. Say I want to feel good when you're tempted to return to low energy thoughts of disharmony with intention. Eventually your present moments will activate thoughts that make you feel good, and this is an indicator that you're reconnecting to intention. Wanting to feel good is synonymous with wanting to feel God. Remember, "God is good, and all that God created was good."
Step 5: Initiate actions that support your feelings of abundance and success. Here, the key word is actions. I've been calling this acting as if or thinking from the end and acting that way. Put your body into a gear that pushes you toward abundance and feeling successful. Act on those passionate emotions as if the abundance and success you seek is already here. Speak to strangers with passion in your voice. Answer the telephone in an inspired way. Do a job interview from the place of confidence and joy. Read the books that mysteriously show up, and pay close attention to conversation that seem to indicate you're being called to something new.
Step 6: Remember that your prosperity and success will benefit others, and that no one lacks abundance because you've opted for it. The supply is unlimited. The more you partake of the universal generosity, the more you'll have to share with others. In writing this book, wonderful abundance has flowed into my life in many ways. But even more significantly, book editors and graphic designers, the truck drivers who deliver the book, the auto workers who build the trucks, the farmers who feed the auto workers, and bookstore clerks. all receive abundance because I've followed my bliss and have written this book.
Step 7: Monitor your emotions as a guidance system for your connection to the universal mind of intention. Strong emotions such as passion and bliss are indications that you're connected to Spirit, or inspired, if you will. When you're inspired, you activate dormant forces, and the abundance you seek in any form comes streaming into your life. When you're experiencing low-energy emotions of rage, anger, hatred, anxiety, despair, and the like, that's a clue that while your desires may be strong, they're completely out of sync with the field of intention. Remind yourself in these moments that you want to feel good, and see if you can activate a thought that supports your feeling good.
Step 8: Become as generous to the world with your abundance as the field of intention is to you. Don't stop the flow of abundant energy by hoarding or owning what you receive. Keep it moving. Use your prosperity in the service of others, and for causes greater than your ego. The more you practice detachment, the more you'll stay in vibratory harmony with the all-giving Source of everything.
Step 9: Devote the necessary time to meditate on the Spirit within as the source of your success and abundance. There's no substitute for the practice of meditation. This is particularly relevant with abundance. You must have an understanding that your consciousness of the presence is your supply. By repeating the sound that is in the name of God as a mantra, you're using a technique for manifesting as ancient as recorded history. I am particularly drawn to the form of meditation called Japa. I know it works.
Step 10: Develop an attitude of gratitude for all that manifests into your life. Be thankful and filled with awe and appreciation, even if what you desire hasn't arrived yet. Even the darkest days of your life are to be looked on with gratitude. Everything coming from Source is on purpose. Be thankful while empowering your reconnection to that form from which you and everything else originated.
. . .

The energy that creates worlds and universes is within you. It works through attraction and energy. Everything vibrates; everything has a vibratory frequency. As St. Paul said, "God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance." Tune to God's frequency, and you will know it beyond any and all doubt!


Read more: http://www.beliefnet.com/Holistic-Living/2004/03/How-To-Attract-Abundance.aspx#ixzz1NOUrMDOq

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

I am Ready for Love




Dear God, I am ready to have a relationship
With a wonderful person,
Who truly gets me, loves me, and adores me,
And is ready to build a life with me.

I know in my heart there is a special person out there for me.
My name is written across his heart.
Please put me on the right track toward true love.
And lead me to a place of committed love.

I am willing to work on myself and
To make myself ready for love.
Please grant me the power to look
At love through spiritual eyes, and to
Remain sincere about finding the relationship
I have longed for.

Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway