Some years ago I’m driving my old 1968 VW camper bus with my friend Scot up to visit his grandpa on his homestead along the Wind River in Wyoming. My VW has a habit of occasionally eating its fan belt, so I always carry a couple spares. I am between jobs so I figure it’s cheaper replacing the fan belts than repairing the problem.
Scot and I’ve been driving non-stop for hours now across the vast lonely open spaces of eastern Oregon when suddenly the VW’s warning lights come on. It ate a fan belt. We pull over, open the engine hatch, I pop on another, and we’re on our way.
A half hour later the warning lights come on again! What?! Another fan belt’s gone. I know I have one more, so I fix it. But now I’m nervous. We haven’t passed a town or a gas station for a long time and the idea of being stuck without help and maybe missing out on visiting Grandpa is disconcerting to say the least.
I’m thinking “well, if it’s right to see Grandpa, it’ll work out.” But it’s Wednesday night and Scot suggests that we have our own little testimony meeting (as is common in Christian Science churches) and so we do. I’m reluctant at first, but Scot starts off and soon we’re sharing things we’re grateful to God for and my anxiety lessens dramatically.
Until the dashboard lights up again.
We’ve burned through 3 fan belts in the space of 60 miles. Plus now there are mysterious metal shavings coming off the pulley. Ugh. I rummage around anxiously and – find one last spare fan belt. It feels like a minor miracle.
We put it on, get back in the VW, and both of us start to pray.
Praying trusts our deepest desires to God. It turns us away from the fatalistic resignation of “if it’s right, it’ll work out” kind of thinking. Knowing that God is Love and that Love is power helps us let go of fear, let’s us become still, let’s us see the solution – the salvation – Divine Love has already prepared for us.
And that’s exactly what happens to Scot and me. Praying lets me glimpse that if God really is Love, and if God really is power, and if God is really actively present in our lives, then I can be a witness to that. I cling to this idea. You could say I “stand still” on it, because it is a solid Biblical truth. Not an “if it’s right it’ll work out” kind of thing. No. Solid. It helps me actively look and see what Love has prepared for us, right here and right now. That’s all I need to do, just see what Divine Love has prepared for us.
What a wonderful feeling that is, to know that my job right now is just to be a witness of what Love has already prepared for us. It’s actually fun to think about - because you know it has to be good. Mrs. Eddy – whose life was full of such witnessing, wrote: “Each successive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness and love.” And so it is about to be proven.
So we drive on. And on. And in the growing twilight we see some buildings up ahead. We’re on the outskirts of Boise already! And there, just off the road is… a VW dealership!
It’s almost 9pm now and we figure we can just pull in there, sleep in our bus for the night, and wait until morning to get help. But then we notice that the back door of the building is open. I start to worry “what if no one’s there” or “what if someone is there, but they don’t want to help us.” Then I remember, no! Let's just see what Love has prepared for us.
So we park and walk through the open door. There are five mechanics busily putting things away and cleaning up and obviously getting ready to leave. I start to worry again about burdening them with our problems but then remember again “just to see what Love has prepared” and I hear myself asking “Can you help us?”
One of the mechanics comes over, wiping his hands off on a red shop rag, he asks us what’s the problem. We tell him the story, how we’re on our way to visit Scot’s grandpa, how the VW ate three fan belts and now there are these metal shavings and we weren’t sure why. He comes out to our VW bus and looks at the engine. Then quietly goes back inside and starts looking through a junk box. My mind is filling again with “what if he can’t find what we need” and then immediately I go back to that solid thought of just trusting that God is present, blessing all of us, that we can see what Love has prepared.
He pulls out a pulley wheel and rummages around some more and – in the midst of this big box of all kinds of junk – finds a tiny shim, the missing little piece of metal that wedges the pulley wheel correctly in place. Then he looks around under a shop bench, finds a box of fan belts and pulls out one that had come off an old Chevy. “This’ll fit” he says, then goes back out to our VW and installs everything, sliding in the missing shim, torquing the pulley bolt correctly, and putting on the belt just right.
Then the worrying thoughts start to come back again: We hardly have any money. How much is this going to cost? How am I going to pay for this? But I stop. And then I go back in my heart, remembering to just stop being afraid and see what Love has prepared. He looks up at us and says “That oughta do it” and I ask him how much we owe him, and he says “Nothing. Just go have a good visit with your grandpa.”
Maybe all of twenty minutes have passed and, after shaking his hand and thanking him profusely, we are back on the road to Wyoming – rejoicing to be witnesses to the wonderful kindness that Love had prepared for us.
I’ve leaned on this lesson many times since that trip. And it has made me realize how important it is not to resign my thinking to fatalism, to the “if it’s right, it’ll work out” kind of wishful thinking that has nothing to do with the way Jesus taught us to pray and rely on God. Jesus taught us to silence that kind of wishywashy fearful approach. He taught us instead actively pray, to be expectant that God's goodness for us is present, to leave fear behind, to stand still with Love, and then go to that place inside where we can see the salvation of the Lord – where we can feel ourselves being an active witness to what Love – not fear, or fate, or history, or circumstances - has prepared for us.
Mrs. Eddy wrote: “Immortal Mind is God, immortal good; in whom the Scripture saith ‘we live, and move, and have our being.’ This Mind, then, is not subject to growth, change, or diminution, but is the divine intelligence, or Principle, of all real being; holding man forever in the rhythmic round of unfolding bliss, as a living witness to and perpetual idea of inexhaustible good.” Misc. 82:28
So why give in to thinking “If it’s right it’ll work out" when God is already holding you in His arms? When you are already His “living witness to… inexhaustible good”? Divine Love has great things in store for you. Don’t be afraid. Listen to the intuition that guides you to trust in God. Silence the fear and stand with your thoughts still and focused on witnessing divine Love in action. This is seeing the salvation of the Lord. This is receiving your daily bread - your daily grace. This makes your life a great adventure of giving as well as receiving Love’s blessings.
Oh, and by the way, Scot and I had a great time at Grandpa’s ranch, a safe drive home, and my VW bus never ate a fan belt again.
"Give us this day our daily bread."
Give us grace for today; feed the famished affections.
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
The Lord's Prayer & The 10 Promises (Part 1)
Do you realize that the Lord's Prayer and the 10 Commandments - the 10 Promises - are complimentary?
Think about it: Moses heard God's Word as the 10 Commandments. These 10 Commandments promise you the truth about your relationship with God and about your relationship with your fellow human beings. They define you as God's image and likeness. They fulfill all the law and the prophets because they enliven you to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. In them, you are unable to be anything other than what God makes you to be. They promise you that you "shalt not" be anything but His perfect creation.
And this is also exactly what the Lord's Prayer does. In fact, you could say it is the 10 Promises in prayer form.
Look at the first 5 Commandments and the first 4 verses of the Lord's Prayer side by side:
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Our Father, which art in heaven. Our Father-Mother God, all harmonious.
To acknowledge only the One God is to have no other gods. It is to know that this One God is your only Father-Mother, all-harmonious. It is to accept that your source is Divine, your Cause is Life, your Creator is Love, and that you are His/Her perfect image and likeness, healthy, holy, and wholely good. Live this promise as your prayer.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image...
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain...
Hallowed be Thy name. Adorable One.
Hallowing the Adorable One, the Great I Am, makes it impossible to indulge in idolatry - the worship of matter - or to dishonor the name and nature of God in word or deed. God's name - God's perfect nature - is the real thing, the genuine article! You don't need to idolize people or things when you adore the Adorable One. Don't you love what you adore? And if you adore God, divine Love, would you ever even think to abuse His name or His nature? Of course not. And this is your natural state of being, as God's image and likeness.
4. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy...
Thy kingdom come. Thy kingdom is come. Thou art everpresent.
What could keep the Sabbath holier than acknowledging God's kingdom, His presence and power as being with you right here and right now? What could put you at ease - make you rest - more than knowing that God's work is done, His kingdom come, and that your perfect place in it is secure? There is no effort you need to put out to make this happen. There is no labor you need to add to His already complete perfect creation. There is no work involved in opening your eyes to His everpresence. You are a complete and perfect expression of God. God "finished" you. He is present with you now, holding you, keeping you safe. Healing is the truest fulfillment of the Sabbath - acknowedging and understanding that God's work - you! - are done and and done perfectly. This is God's Sabbath promise to you: you are already whole, complete, divinely fair. Rest in that.
5. Honor thy father and thy mother...
Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.
What better way to honor your father and mother than by obeying them? Than by acknowledging their authority? Why would you want to obey your parents? For at least one reason: their years of experience provides a loving protective wisdom that can guard and guide you as you mature. Like the Good Shepherd of the 23rd Psalm, their "rod and ... staff", their will, their loving desire, comforts you.
And so if you would honor your father and mother by obeying them, listening to their guidance because you know they have your best interests at heart, because they love you, so it is even more important to honor God in the same way. Listen to what God is telling you about who you are. Honor God's name and nature - because you are the image and likeness of that name and nature! So let the will of your Father-Mother God be done in your life here and now as it is in heaven.
And why not? It will only make your will, your love, your life, more like Him, more true to who you really already are, more authentic, more awake to your likeness to your Father-Mother God. Honor that heavenly likeness, that heavenly will by living your life accordingly right now right here on earth. Then you'll not only know that - as in heaven, so on earth, God really is omnipotent, supreme - you'll be demonstrating it. You'll be living it. And that's the most natural thing in the world for you to do.
Think about it: Moses heard God's Word as the 10 Commandments. These 10 Commandments promise you the truth about your relationship with God and about your relationship with your fellow human beings. They define you as God's image and likeness. They fulfill all the law and the prophets because they enliven you to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. In them, you are unable to be anything other than what God makes you to be. They promise you that you "shalt not" be anything but His perfect creation.
And this is also exactly what the Lord's Prayer does. In fact, you could say it is the 10 Promises in prayer form.
Look at the first 5 Commandments and the first 4 verses of the Lord's Prayer side by side:
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Our Father, which art in heaven. Our Father-Mother God, all harmonious.
To acknowledge only the One God is to have no other gods. It is to know that this One God is your only Father-Mother, all-harmonious. It is to accept that your source is Divine, your Cause is Life, your Creator is Love, and that you are His/Her perfect image and likeness, healthy, holy, and wholely good. Live this promise as your prayer.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image...
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain...
Hallowed be Thy name. Adorable One.
Hallowing the Adorable One, the Great I Am, makes it impossible to indulge in idolatry - the worship of matter - or to dishonor the name and nature of God in word or deed. God's name - God's perfect nature - is the real thing, the genuine article! You don't need to idolize people or things when you adore the Adorable One. Don't you love what you adore? And if you adore God, divine Love, would you ever even think to abuse His name or His nature? Of course not. And this is your natural state of being, as God's image and likeness.
4. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy...
Thy kingdom come. Thy kingdom is come. Thou art everpresent.
What could keep the Sabbath holier than acknowledging God's kingdom, His presence and power as being with you right here and right now? What could put you at ease - make you rest - more than knowing that God's work is done, His kingdom come, and that your perfect place in it is secure? There is no effort you need to put out to make this happen. There is no labor you need to add to His already complete perfect creation. There is no work involved in opening your eyes to His everpresence. You are a complete and perfect expression of God. God "finished" you. He is present with you now, holding you, keeping you safe. Healing is the truest fulfillment of the Sabbath - acknowedging and understanding that God's work - you! - are done and and done perfectly. This is God's Sabbath promise to you: you are already whole, complete, divinely fair. Rest in that.
5. Honor thy father and thy mother...
Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.
What better way to honor your father and mother than by obeying them? Than by acknowledging their authority? Why would you want to obey your parents? For at least one reason: their years of experience provides a loving protective wisdom that can guard and guide you as you mature. Like the Good Shepherd of the 23rd Psalm, their "rod and ... staff", their will, their loving desire, comforts you.
And so if you would honor your father and mother by obeying them, listening to their guidance because you know they have your best interests at heart, because they love you, so it is even more important to honor God in the same way. Listen to what God is telling you about who you are. Honor God's name and nature - because you are the image and likeness of that name and nature! So let the will of your Father-Mother God be done in your life here and now as it is in heaven.
And why not? It will only make your will, your love, your life, more like Him, more true to who you really already are, more authentic, more awake to your likeness to your Father-Mother God. Honor that heavenly likeness, that heavenly will by living your life accordingly right now right here on earth. Then you'll not only know that - as in heaven, so on earth, God really is omnipotent, supreme - you'll be demonstrating it. You'll be living it. And that's the most natural thing in the world for you to do.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Thy will be done & desire (part 2)
"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven."
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.
"Thoughts unspoken are not unknown to the divine Mind. Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds."
Desire itself is a form of prayer. Desire as in that yearning, that longing, that wishfulness, that watchfulness for something better, higher, holier, that dissatisfaction with the status quo, that unwillingness to sit still and stay silent. Where do you suppose that stirring comes from? What makes you want something more real and solid? What impells you to move? What awakens you to push the boundaries, to go above and beyond the life you already know, the hunger already fed, the love you already feel?
It can only come from one place, whether you understand it clearly or not: "The intercommunication is always from God to His idea, man."
But the Bible warns you: "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God:"
Why would you want to "try (test) the spirit" of your desire? For the same reason you'd want to avoid accepting a counterfeit $100 bill - to avoid being suckered into accepting nothing as something. Would you really want to accept a counterfiet $100 bill? Would you want to go through the hassle of dealing with the reprecussions of that? or of wasting the time straightening out that kind of situation? Could you afford losing something like a real $100 for a fake $100?
No.
So how do you "try (test) the spirit" of your desire to make sure it's not a fake?
Firstly, be honest about it. Mrs. Eddy makes this astute observation: "Honesty is spiritual power. Dishonesty is human weakness." You can lie to others, but don't kid yourself that you can lie to God. You cannot. Be honest with God about your desires. He loves you and His will for you is only good. Trust Him to open your deepest desires in a way that will be perfect for you - and a true reflection of Him.
Secondly, there are at least few ways - and probably many more - that you can "try" your desires to see if they are authentic to your true nature, such as:
1. is the desire persistent?
2. is the desire a little scarey? does it push your comfort zone?
3. does it feel somehow intuitively authentic and real - even if it seems unattainable?
4. does it make you want to grow in new ways?
5. does it make you want to give? and does it also make you want to receive?
6. does it impell you to exercise your talents - the things you love doing, that express your natural abilities and strengths?
7. does it nag at you to learn and live your real life-purpose?
Such desire is the Holy Spirit stirring you, awakening you, driving you forward to fulfill His will "in earth as it is in heaven." God is never content to leave you sleeping and dreaming away your existence. The Holy Spirit insists on movement. It insists on breathing deeply the fresh air of inspiration and growth. The wind blows, the Spirit moves, and things begin to change. Desire is the awakening in your heart of Emmanuel - God-with-us.
Sometimes your desire is clouded over with the debris of your old ways of thinking and old ways of seeing yourself and others. But even so, even if you're not sure if the desire is real or fake, you can still reach down deep and sincerely hand it over to God.
Sometimes you may need to hand it over repeatedly and persistently. Sometimes you can just offer it up in prayer once and you'll feel OK about it. But either way, you can always trust your desires to God.
You will likely find your passing fancies lose their luster. The counterfeit $100 gets exposed for the worthless thing it is. This is a good - even if sometimes painful - sign.
You might also find that your genuine desires start to blossom in unexpected ways. Opportunities will be put in front of you repeatedly that exercise your newly answered prayers. As your thought opens up about your desires, you take a step and then another, and another, and another, and the doubts begin to fade and you begin to realize you have the ability to live your desires - that your prayers are being answered by your living them.
Trusting God to help you, you will find the courage to keep taking those steps. And a new world will open up, and you will find your life more loving and yourself more loved, and your work more blessed and more of a blessing to others. Your life will be glorifying God - making Him and His perfect will, manifest.
So test this out. Be honest about your desires. Treat them as the prayer that they are. Offer them to God. Let the fakes fall away (good riddance) and treasure the true. And you can be sure that God will mold you and exalt you, and answer your desires, your prayers, in a way that fulfills His heavenly will for you, right where you are right now, in ways more wonderful than you ever thought possible or even expected.
"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven."
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.
"Thoughts unspoken are not unknown to the divine Mind. Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds."
Desire itself is a form of prayer. Desire as in that yearning, that longing, that wishfulness, that watchfulness for something better, higher, holier, that dissatisfaction with the status quo, that unwillingness to sit still and stay silent. Where do you suppose that stirring comes from? What makes you want something more real and solid? What impells you to move? What awakens you to push the boundaries, to go above and beyond the life you already know, the hunger already fed, the love you already feel?
It can only come from one place, whether you understand it clearly or not: "The intercommunication is always from God to His idea, man."
But the Bible warns you: "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God:"
Why would you want to "try (test) the spirit" of your desire? For the same reason you'd want to avoid accepting a counterfeit $100 bill - to avoid being suckered into accepting nothing as something. Would you really want to accept a counterfiet $100 bill? Would you want to go through the hassle of dealing with the reprecussions of that? or of wasting the time straightening out that kind of situation? Could you afford losing something like a real $100 for a fake $100?
No.
So how do you "try (test) the spirit" of your desire to make sure it's not a fake?
Firstly, be honest about it. Mrs. Eddy makes this astute observation: "Honesty is spiritual power. Dishonesty is human weakness." You can lie to others, but don't kid yourself that you can lie to God. You cannot. Be honest with God about your desires. He loves you and His will for you is only good. Trust Him to open your deepest desires in a way that will be perfect for you - and a true reflection of Him.
Secondly, there are at least few ways - and probably many more - that you can "try" your desires to see if they are authentic to your true nature, such as:
1. is the desire persistent?
2. is the desire a little scarey? does it push your comfort zone?
3. does it feel somehow intuitively authentic and real - even if it seems unattainable?
4. does it make you want to grow in new ways?
5. does it make you want to give? and does it also make you want to receive?
6. does it impell you to exercise your talents - the things you love doing, that express your natural abilities and strengths?
7. does it nag at you to learn and live your real life-purpose?
Such desire is the Holy Spirit stirring you, awakening you, driving you forward to fulfill His will "in earth as it is in heaven." God is never content to leave you sleeping and dreaming away your existence. The Holy Spirit insists on movement. It insists on breathing deeply the fresh air of inspiration and growth. The wind blows, the Spirit moves, and things begin to change. Desire is the awakening in your heart of Emmanuel - God-with-us.
Sometimes your desire is clouded over with the debris of your old ways of thinking and old ways of seeing yourself and others. But even so, even if you're not sure if the desire is real or fake, you can still reach down deep and sincerely hand it over to God.
Sometimes you may need to hand it over repeatedly and persistently. Sometimes you can just offer it up in prayer once and you'll feel OK about it. But either way, you can always trust your desires to God.
You will likely find your passing fancies lose their luster. The counterfeit $100 gets exposed for the worthless thing it is. This is a good - even if sometimes painful - sign.
You might also find that your genuine desires start to blossom in unexpected ways. Opportunities will be put in front of you repeatedly that exercise your newly answered prayers. As your thought opens up about your desires, you take a step and then another, and another, and another, and the doubts begin to fade and you begin to realize you have the ability to live your desires - that your prayers are being answered by your living them.
Trusting God to help you, you will find the courage to keep taking those steps. And a new world will open up, and you will find your life more loving and yourself more loved, and your work more blessed and more of a blessing to others. Your life will be glorifying God - making Him and His perfect will, manifest.
So test this out. Be honest about your desires. Treat them as the prayer that they are. Offer them to God. Let the fakes fall away (good riddance) and treasure the true. And you can be sure that God will mold you and exalt you, and answer your desires, your prayers, in a way that fulfills His heavenly will for you, right where you are right now, in ways more wonderful than you ever thought possible or even expected.
"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven."
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Thy will be done & desire (part 1)
"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven."
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.
"Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds." - Mary Baker Eddy
Isn't turning your will, your deepest desire - which really is your most sincere prayer - over to God a way of yielding to His will? Isn't it a way of letting His will be done in earth - your current human experience - as it is in heaven - your actual spiritual identity as His perfect image and likeness?
And if so, wouldn't that imply that God's will for you on earth is as beautiful as His will is for you in heaven?
And if so, couldn't you trust your most secret heart-felt even unspoken yearnings over to Him? Especially if you knew that to do so would only mean that they would be molded and exalted for you? So that they would be clarified and purified and beautified for you before you experience them? Wouldn't that be a good thing? Wouldn't that be letting God's will be done in your heart as it is in His?
But, honestly, you're kidding yourself if you think that yielding your desires to God is easy. It often isn't. In fact, how often are you even honest with yourself about your innermost desires? How easy it even to trust yourself with your own deepest feelings and needs and wants?
But here in this verse, Jesus is encouraging you to take that step of trust with God. You can do it. You can let go of your will, your attempts to control your life, your love, lust, your status, talents, paycheck, companionship, family, safety, duties and obligations, your fulfillment, your life, your joy.
And notice something important: Mrs. Eddy said "Desire is prayer." She didn't put qualifiers on it. She didn't say "good desire" or "spiritual desire" or "righteous desire." Mrs. Eddy said "Desire is prayer." Desire itself is a form of prayer. All desire is a form of prayer. In fact, it's probably the most sincere form of prayer there is because, in essence, it's wordless. It's what you feel. It's what you yearn for.
So who are you praying to? who are you trusting your desires to? A bottle? a body? a drug? food? adreneline? solitude? entertainment? ritual? fear? shiny objects? Are you trusting your desire - your prayer - to these "gods"? Then you may be asking amiss.
Do you think you can only bring your nice polite desires to God? Do you think God can't handle your mean selfish lusty passionate crazy desires? that you can't trust Him with those? You can - if you are prepared to be molded and exalted! Because you will be.
Remember Jesus, who companioned with sinners, walked with outcasts, who touched lepers. He "molded and exalted" the desires of anyone who turned to him, who asked him for help, who trusted in him. Molded, how? in the image of God. Exalted, how? He "lifted their lives higher than their poor thought-models would allow" (as Mrs. Eddy states it), and his correct view of God's will in their lives healed every one of them.
And God still does the same thing. For you. Now. Jesus' prayer promises you that.
As the old saying goes, you can let go and let God. You can let God's perfect will for you grow in your heart. Let His perfect purpose for you emerge gently in your life. Let it awaken you to clearer views of what your desires are really telling you. Even let it even "explode in a fury of blossom!" as the poet says.
To trust your desires to God is to connect with Him in the most fundamental way. "...and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires..." Why? Because God is Love itself. God's will for you in earth is exactly the same as His will for you in heaven: it is perfection, wholeness, unity, authenticity, bliss. It is total goodness. As it says in Philippians: "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."
And notice that it's God's good pleasure that works in you. Not His burdensome pleasure or His boring pleasure or His unsatisfying pleasure! So take that step. Trust your will, your yearning, your deepest desires to God. Let Him mold and exalt them - purify, clarify, and enthuse you about them. As you do, you'll find His will becomes your will. And you will find that it is a joyful thing. You'll find reflecting God's will is indeed a good pleasure.
Then this verse in Psalms will start ringing true for you:
"As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness."
"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven." Because God enables us to know, as in heaven, so on earth His will is omnipotent, supreme - and supremely good for you, everyone around you, and, in fact, everyone in the universe.
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.
"Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds." - Mary Baker Eddy
Isn't turning your will, your deepest desire - which really is your most sincere prayer - over to God a way of yielding to His will? Isn't it a way of letting His will be done in earth - your current human experience - as it is in heaven - your actual spiritual identity as His perfect image and likeness?
And if so, wouldn't that imply that God's will for you on earth is as beautiful as His will is for you in heaven?
And if so, couldn't you trust your most secret heart-felt even unspoken yearnings over to Him? Especially if you knew that to do so would only mean that they would be molded and exalted for you? So that they would be clarified and purified and beautified for you before you experience them? Wouldn't that be a good thing? Wouldn't that be letting God's will be done in your heart as it is in His?
But, honestly, you're kidding yourself if you think that yielding your desires to God is easy. It often isn't. In fact, how often are you even honest with yourself about your innermost desires? How easy it even to trust yourself with your own deepest feelings and needs and wants?
But here in this verse, Jesus is encouraging you to take that step of trust with God. You can do it. You can let go of your will, your attempts to control your life, your love, lust, your status, talents, paycheck, companionship, family, safety, duties and obligations, your fulfillment, your life, your joy.
And notice something important: Mrs. Eddy said "Desire is prayer." She didn't put qualifiers on it. She didn't say "good desire" or "spiritual desire" or "righteous desire." Mrs. Eddy said "Desire is prayer." Desire itself is a form of prayer. All desire is a form of prayer. In fact, it's probably the most sincere form of prayer there is because, in essence, it's wordless. It's what you feel. It's what you yearn for.
So who are you praying to? who are you trusting your desires to? A bottle? a body? a drug? food? adreneline? solitude? entertainment? ritual? fear? shiny objects? Are you trusting your desire - your prayer - to these "gods"? Then you may be asking amiss.
Do you think you can only bring your nice polite desires to God? Do you think God can't handle your mean selfish lusty passionate crazy desires? that you can't trust Him with those? You can - if you are prepared to be molded and exalted! Because you will be.
Remember Jesus, who companioned with sinners, walked with outcasts, who touched lepers. He "molded and exalted" the desires of anyone who turned to him, who asked him for help, who trusted in him. Molded, how? in the image of God. Exalted, how? He "lifted their lives higher than their poor thought-models would allow" (as Mrs. Eddy states it), and his correct view of God's will in their lives healed every one of them.
And God still does the same thing. For you. Now. Jesus' prayer promises you that.
As the old saying goes, you can let go and let God. You can let God's perfect will for you grow in your heart. Let His perfect purpose for you emerge gently in your life. Let it awaken you to clearer views of what your desires are really telling you. Even let it even "explode in a fury of blossom!" as the poet says.
To trust your desires to God is to connect with Him in the most fundamental way. "...and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires..." Why? Because God is Love itself. God's will for you in earth is exactly the same as His will for you in heaven: it is perfection, wholeness, unity, authenticity, bliss. It is total goodness. As it says in Philippians: "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."
And notice that it's God's good pleasure that works in you. Not His burdensome pleasure or His boring pleasure or His unsatisfying pleasure! So take that step. Trust your will, your yearning, your deepest desires to God. Let Him mold and exalt them - purify, clarify, and enthuse you about them. As you do, you'll find His will becomes your will. And you will find that it is a joyful thing. You'll find reflecting God's will is indeed a good pleasure.
Then this verse in Psalms will start ringing true for you:
"As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness."
"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven." Because God enables us to know, as in heaven, so on earth His will is omnipotent, supreme - and supremely good for you, everyone around you, and, in fact, everyone in the universe.
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