If I Were Going to Pray 2
If I were going to pray, I would have to believe (as I said in part 1) that something was there to hear me which was powerful to effect change. What is the point of praying if there isn't? Well, there are a lot of evidences that there is something in the twain, as I was calling it--supernatural occurrences, visitations, psychic phenomena, ESP, synchronicities, etc.. There are testimonies galore. Neville Goddard put forth that this element can be tested, experimented with. "Why not test it?" he asked, "It costs nothing, not one thin dime, to see if it is true."
That said, one then has to consider what it is that is being prayed to, and the respect that is due it. In 1975, I went forward and accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, because I was quite certain that the Bible was true history and that Jesus, whatever he was (and is), was conscious of me and powerful in this dimension. Subsequently, I asked for the gift of tongues. Nothing happened. To make a long, already told story short, I found that I had not so respected God, whatever It be, as to thoroughly submit to It. I had disregarded the natural superiority of "what is in the twain" and had retained self-lordship. Big mistake.
Whatever It is, the medium and power that is God is greater than us. Though I believe that we are It "ignoranced," we are ignoranced and wholly subject to It. I take the verse, "The fear of YHWH (God's action) is the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 9:10), to mean exactly that: fear that thing, for that is smart. That "Thing" is capable of rolling not only you and I but also this planet, the solar system, even the entire Milky Way Galaxy between Its fingers like a bugger and flicking us off into oblivion. Were It to want to. You have to respect power like that.
You have to respect, too, that Its power isn’t used that way. There is character expressed in its non-use. It expresses some kind of patience and intent, that we are making progress, and given time we may come around. Come around to what? To that character. Maybe we are supposed to have the twain’s character, supposed to cultivate and adopt Its attitudes: long-suffering (putting up with contradiction), patience, kindness, mercy, grace, forgiveness, faith, hope, love. If I were going to pray, I would want to take this character with me as my character, and I would go in with a lot of respect for the One of Whom this character is Its nature.
That said, one then has to consider what it is that is being prayed to, and the respect that is due it. In 1975, I went forward and accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, because I was quite certain that the Bible was true history and that Jesus, whatever he was (and is), was conscious of me and powerful in this dimension. Subsequently, I asked for the gift of tongues. Nothing happened. To make a long, already told story short, I found that I had not so respected God, whatever It be, as to thoroughly submit to It. I had disregarded the natural superiority of "what is in the twain" and had retained self-lordship. Big mistake.
Whatever It is, the medium and power that is God is greater than us. Though I believe that we are It "ignoranced," we are ignoranced and wholly subject to It. I take the verse, "The fear of YHWH (God's action) is the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 9:10), to mean exactly that: fear that thing, for that is smart. That "Thing" is capable of rolling not only you and I but also this planet, the solar system, even the entire Milky Way Galaxy between Its fingers like a bugger and flicking us off into oblivion. Were It to want to. You have to respect power like that.
You have to respect, too, that Its power isn’t used that way. There is character expressed in its non-use. It expresses some kind of patience and intent, that we are making progress, and given time we may come around. Come around to what? To that character. Maybe we are supposed to have the twain’s character, supposed to cultivate and adopt Its attitudes: long-suffering (putting up with contradiction), patience, kindness, mercy, grace, forgiveness, faith, hope, love. If I were going to pray, I would want to take this character with me as my character, and I would go in with a lot of respect for the One of Whom this character is Its nature.
posted by Daniel C. Branham-Steele at
2:34 PM
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