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"Praying" for something seems
to me to be like a letter to
Santa Claus or wishing for
something we really have little
hope for. It doesn't sound like
Jesus' teaching to ask of God,
"Our Father," who loves us!
My definition of the essence
of prayer is the acknowledgement
of God. So meditation is my idea
of how to pray. In meditation we
are in communion with God,
trusting God. God is not a
reluctant parent, so we ask,
expecting what we have in mind or
something better. God wants only
our Highest Good, and that is
what we want!
Praying for something is only
hoping for it. In meditation we
give thanks, as Jesus did, before
we receive it. Meditation is
never future- oriented. It is a
NOW experience. God is NOW. Any
desired thing is NOW in God-Mind
and in God's willingness in terms
of what I have written above.
I may have wished for
something or other at Christmas
when I was a small child, but
Unity has helped me to go beyond
wishing. Preoccupation with
materiality has always been
extremely distasteful to me. But,
at the same time, for years I had
a vague realization that this
kept me from acknowledging things
that were perfectly legitimate
for me to ask for.
That last sentence let's you
know what I am seeking to convey
to you. You and I are channels
for bringing God's limitless
creativeness into expression and
manifestation. Technically Unity
thinks of expression as in
relation to intangibles such as
the expression of talents.
Manifestation we relate to
physical, material things: food,
clothes, money, houses, and
laptops!
I suppose I used to think of
material things - or wanting
material things - as unspiritual.
But there is nothing
intrinsically unspiritual or bad
about material things. Basically
my point is Jesus' point: don't
be caught up in what Jesus called
"this world" - wanting things
more than the fulfillment that
comes simply from the
consciousness of never being "in
want" -
"The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want." - Psalm 23.
Unity minister, Catherine
Ponder, is without question the
most qualified Unity teacher on
the subject of prosperity.
Dealing with the appearance of
scarcity as a single mother in
her early years of study and
teaching, she entered into an
intensive study of the Fillmores'
writings on the subject and went
on to check out how prosperity is
taught in the Bible. As a result,
she has written a series of books
on prosperity and has for a good
many years kept up a lively
correspondence with her readers
whose stories provide evidence
for the efficacy of her ideas
about rising above the poverty
and scarcity consciousness that
has bedevilled the human family.
She has become affluent and is
noted among us Unity ministers
for her amazing consciousness of
giving. For example, she has
donated hundreds of her books to
Unity churches. I bring her up in
this piece because she has been
blessed in never falling into
materiality, but is an advocate
of the idea that it is ridiculous
to live in lack!
I was a director of Unity
Training School, predecessor of
our present seminary, when
Catherine was in her years of
preparing for the Unity ministry,
and I well remember her
refreshing, vital personality.
(She looked like Audrey Hepburn).
I had the pleasure of visiting
her and her young son in
Birmingham, Alabama when she was
just starting out. From her
humble beginning in those tiny
quarters, she has indeed come a
long way! I am grateful for her
excellent work in the field of
giving and receiving of God's
abundance because she has helped
me get rid of some of my faulty
thinking.
Unity minister, Hal
Rosencrans, a close friend of
mine who also came through my
teaching days at the School, said
something one day that influenced
my thinking on prosperity. As a
Unity Field Lecturer, I was
visiting him in West Palm Beach,
Florida. Hal had a real
prosperity consciousness. Several
millionaires were very pleased
with his teaching and gave
generously to the ministry which
became one of our outstanding
churches. Hal and I were arguing
one day about the subject of
ministers' salaries. I was
arguing from the position of
yielding salary so the church
could have the money. This was
too much for Hal. He of course
was as interested as I was that
his church should prosper, but he
shouted at me, "But how much are
you willing to accept?!" In other
words, do you suppose it is OK
for you to prosper too? I got the
point and returned to my
prosperous church in Seattle and
worked out a much better pay
arrangement.
The message is there for all
of us: how much of God's
abundance are we willing to
accept? Our Victoria church
blesses the offerings we give to
our church with the statement
PLENTY TO SHARE AND PLENTY TO
SPARE.
I think we all know how we
would answer the question, WOULD
YOU HONESTLY PREFER TO BE POOR OR
RICH? And then we would say, "And
I want everyone in the world to
share abundantly of life's
riches!"
So, as it turns out, asking
and accepting are the same thing,
the acknowledgement of God's
willingness:
"Fear not, little flock;
for it is your Father's good
pleasure to give you the
kingdom." - Luke 12:32.
How you and I acknowledge God
has everything to do with all
that we do and experience! Simply
to move away from whatever
negatives are operating in our
consciousness by focusing on God
instead is the basic idea. We
then are in the position of
opening up to all that we believe
is true about the cosmic God
nature that is best defined in
terms of unlimited creativeness.
To do this immediately creates a
celebration in me. So the larger
idea of what I mean by
acknowledging God is the
celebration of God "in awesome
wonder," realizing that “it
is no secret what God can do." It
is not so much what God can do;
it is more what God is doing
perpetually, every moment of your
life and mine, regardless of what
we think the problems are!
The great prayers of history
are essentially celebratory.
Think of the Psalms, The Prayer
of St. Francis, The Prayer of St.
Patrick, The Prayer of Faith,
James Dillet Freeman's favorite:
God is my help in every need/God
does my every hunger feed, etc.
All present tense!
Prayer is what we do to be in
sync with life, with ourselves,
with people, with our talents and
desires. In buying and selling
and in making choices, prayer is
not hoping everything will work
out. It is rather knowing God is
now in the process of working it
out as a win/win experience for
everyone. As we move out of doubt
and fear and every other
negative, God's answer, God's
supply, can slip through the
cracks!!
God is continually informing
us with what we need to know and
do, also unfolding a deeper
understanding of life's secrets.
The more we meditate, get quiet,
contemplate, celebrate, the more
we get in touch with! The Unity
idea of affirmative prayer, which
we basically use to identify
ourself with God as who and what
we are, is a great way to
acknowledge God. When we have a
problem or a need, we affirm the
Truth and thereby open a
channel.
"In all thy ways
acknowledge him, and he shall
direct thy paths." - Proverbs
3:6.
Don
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