HOW SHOULD WE PRAY?

“Let your speech be yea or nay! And when you pray, obey the same commandment! Do not pray in order to hear your voice, but pray because your inner being demands it. Dare to pray only when your soul stirs, be it in joy or sorrow. But every prayer out of presumption or habit is sacrilege to God! Let His Name be too holy for you to have It on your lips on every occasion!”  This admonition was issued to mankind by Jesus when He tread this earth.

When we pray, instead of seeking our selfish interests first, let us give ourselves. Giving ourselves when we pray!  That sounds strange of course. But that is the template Christ gave us when He lovingly gave us the Lord’s Prayer. Unlike the usual begging we are used to, the Lord’s Prayer contains mainly promises man makes to his Creator! These sentences: “Our Father Who art in Heaven!”, “Hallowed be Thy Name”, “Thy Kingdom come”, “Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven” –are actual promises to the Almighty which we should take seriously as carelessness in this regard have dire consequences.

For example, when we say “Our Father, Who art in Heaven!” we are in effect promising the Almighty: “I am here, Lord, to listen to Thee and to obey Thee like a child!”

And when we say: “Hallowed be Thy Name”, we are giving assurances to our Maker that we do not misuse God’s Name through superficiality, because we regard the Name of God as being too holy to do so!

 

How many of us think about these when we rattle off the Lord’s Prayer?

 

The very first petition “Give us this day our daily bread!”  comes only after the vows.   And the Grail Message gave the true meaning of this petition thus:

 

“When I have fulfilled what I promised, let Thy Blessing rest upon my earthly work so that, in attending to my physical needs, I may always retain the time to live according to Thy Will!”

 

The Lord’s Prayer teaches us how to live in accordance with the Laws of God and how to ask and what to ask for with the guarantee of being heard from above.

 

What should be paramount in our prayers should be our yearning for spiritual ascent as exemplified by the thief crucified to the right-hand side of Jesus. Compare this attitude to the attitude of the one on the left who was seeking an earthly relief from his predicament which he brought upon himself.

 

In the end, the foolish thief got no visible advantage while the wise thief got a firm promise of a place in paradise! One can decide the path to follow. It is either the path of those who make self-serving earthly demands and expect arbitrary actions from the Creator, or the path of repentance that pleads humbly for God's forgiveness and strength for spiritual ascent.

 

May we have the strength to pray aright and always seek what is really of benefit to our spirit. Amen.

 

 

 

HOW CAN WE RECEIVE EVERYTHING WE NEED?

I  have a personal story which illustrates an answer to this question.

As young children, my brother and I have been taught not to scramble for gifts when we attend children's parties. Birthday parties of friends were frequent in those days. 

So, we would seat patiently when the big Aunties brought out the fanciful gift items to be distributed to the children attending. Most times all the children at the party would leave their seats, move close to the Aunties, some pulling at their dresses and yelling at the top of their voices to gain the attention of the Aunties.  Most times, the Aunties would notice the two boys seating calmly and watching the scenario.  

The Aunties will then announce that the two boys who did not join in the noisy scramble would be given their own gifts first! 

The same principles apply to our lives as a whole.  It applies to our mundane desires and to our striving for spiritual ascent! All we need to do is to live a simple life, and develop ourselves to be inwardly upright and genuine human beings. What this means is to abide by the Laws of the Almighty. Because His Laws govern the Universe, once we abide by His Laws, we will simultaneously have the intimate connection with the whole of Creation, which will further us in everything that we need for ourselves and for our spiritual ascent. Then, everything we need and everything that brings us joy and peace will stream towards us in rich abundance. 

Let us not be like the children in the story who thought that they will obtain the party gifts by exertion. Such an attitude yields no positive results and is a waste of energy! Instead of engaging in troublesome exertions let us open ourselves in all simplicity to the Word of God which means adjusting ourselves to God’s Holy Will expressed in the Laws of Creation. Naturally, the Laws of Creation will then see to our welfare as agreeable dwellers in Creation! We will know peace and we shall be happy!

 

 

JUDGEMENT AND RAPTURE.

There are many who think that on the Judgement Day the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall resurrect physically and together with believers still on earth ascend to meet Lord in the sky.

 

This belief is not in conformity with the Laws of God!

 

The Laws will not permit earthly bodies that have been buried thousands of years ago to resurface and ascend to the skies. Neither can the physical bodies of those living on earth transform suddenly and ascend to Heaven. The natural happening is that at death, the human spirit leaves the body, passes over and ascends or descends in the beyond. The physical body on the other hand originates from the earth, was acquired by us from earth and must remain on earth after the departure of the soul.

 

What is really connected to the prophecies of the Day of Judgment is not the resurrection of all the dead, but resurrection of all that is dead inside of man! Contrary to the popular picture in our minds that the approximately 7 billion people in the world will one day line up  day and night  to be judged, the Holy Spirit Who is the World Judge will simply  send out judgment rays from His Sword of Justice into the Universe! These rays of judgement then goes forth and strikes everything in Creation with unprecedented force. When these invisible rays fall upon the human soul, all his dormant qualities that have hitherto appeared to be dead will awaken and become strong. Whatever is hiding inside man will develop into thought and deed, so that according to its nature it will in manifesting judge itself. What is impure will be shattered and burnt up and what is pure will blossom and grow strong.

 

Whatever is slumbering in man will come to life! This is the true meaning of the resurrection of all that is dead and such is the manifestation of the World Judgment in its simple naturalness! We are witnessing unprecedented deeds of madness worldwide today  because the majority of men have loads of poison slumbering inside them. The activities of terrorist groups, individual and group suicide bombings, widespread homosexuality/immorality and its endorsements by “advanced countries”,  religious fanaticism, mind boggling corruption, ripping off easy going believers by sweet talking/ miracle peddling religious leaders and false prophets show precisely what we all have inside us. These will now come out in the ongoing judgement for us and all others to see! The current exposure of our inner self together with the accompanying natural catastrophes are the loud trumpets of the judgement!

 

Therefore, those who are impure within, who cling to evil and remain slaves to material things will be exposed by the Light of God and together with their wrongdoing will be swept into perdition!

 

The way to understand the second coming of the Lord Jesus and the Rapture is to see these in the spiritual sense.

 

Christ comes to us in the New Gospel brought to mankind by the Spirit of Truth as promised by Jesus.

 

In the fulfilment of this sacred Promise, there is on earth today The Message which is the true Gospel of Christ. This Message speaks of Him and glorifies Him. It comes to mankind before the end of one epoch and the start of a new one which usher in the Kingdom of God on earth. We read in Matthew 24:14 -- And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

 

Those who listen, accept and live by this Gospel will be able to ascend back to Paradise (rapture). The ascent is made possible for these human beings because their longing for the Kingdom of God and their obedience to the Holy Word of God makes them spiritually pure and light so that when they leave the flesh they will naturally ascend to the Beautiful Gardens of our God.

 

We must therefore deal with all that is within us and purify ourselves in our innermost wishes, thought, word and deed so that we will be among those who will be permitted to ascend to the Kingdom of Heaven!

WE ARE MANAGERS

When considered in the light of Truth, we can see "management" as alignment to the harmony of creation. Not to be a disturbance but to observe the laws of creation and thereby contribute to the ever continuing development.

At the earliest times when the material world had reached the peak of its development, there was a need for further development. The highest animals had reached their peak and in order not to be a standstill which will lead to decay, man arrived on the scene thus ensuring the further development of this part of creation.



This brings one to the many  write ups that suggest that man is nothing, not special and that the earth will thrive better in the absence of man. Of course, these do not reflect the truth.

You and I are to be helpers in these lower parts of creation and further it as mediators of Light to all other creatures.

New knowledge available today informs us that the power of the Almighty flows through all things including man. In our case we are specially made such that we are like lenses and can gather this power and direct it specifically to achieve one aim or another. You may call this "management" as we will be held responsible for how we use this power entrusted to us.

Because man is spiritual then we may not look at management as being limited to mere earthly management of material resources. We ought to be more holistic in our approach and remember that the spiritual aspects are even more important and determines what happens in the material.

The type of noble management worthy of man's striving include:

1. having a firm volition for what is good.

2. Giving purity to our thoughts.

3. Doing what we have to do for the joy and welfare of others and not how to harm them.

4. Generally working in harmony with the order in creation by adherence to creation laws.

With these, miracles upon miracles will unfold before us visibly such that all doubts will disappear.


We will then be good managers, good householders and good helpers in creation and good warriors on the side of the Light capable of slaying all darkness!

With our strict adherence to God's laws, we become useful helpers in His Vineyard and can then be considered as children of God!

WHAT DO WE DO WHEN THEY MAKE US ANGRY?

Others can provoke anger in one and anger wells up...

However, how we act thereafter is what is important. Do we act based on the feelings of anger? Do we let the anger calm down before we say or do anything? Do we react based on the anger emotion or do we respond with a clear mind after the anger has calmed?

When a person acts whilst under the influence of anger, then the person acts without protection as the physically invisible helpers stand aside leaving the person alone. Such a person can then be used by the darkness and after the anger-based deed has been done then as the saying goes: the eyes will now be clear. This is because the anger has beclouded all clear thinking, leading to unedifying words and wicked actions.

Between the time the anger wells up and the anger-based words and action, there is a small space. We can use that small space to decide not to act based on the anger but to delay all actions till when the anger has cooled. Then one is more able to respond properly rather than reacting emotionally.

We will succeed if beforehand we have decided fully to do only what is good. The firm decision to think, say and do only what is good has the effect of helping us maintain our poise when we are provoked. Even when we are squeezed, only the good will come out because that is all we have inside of us!

 

 

DEALING WITH OUR WEAKNESSES

Who can claim that he has overcome all weaknesses? How are we to react to temptations? Somebody once said he can resist everything except temptation. I have watched a film actor saying something like... the best way to overcome temptation is to fall for it!

Definitely we do not want to be in such deplorable conditions. Some may also think themselves already good because their circumstances have not permitted them to exhibit their inner weaknesses. They look down on those who make mistakes but who may have acted inadvertently without evil intentions.

In all seriousness, what we need to deal with are our propensities. Those deep-rooted characteristics of ours that have more or less formed how we behave. These can be greed, and its cousin covetousness. It can be sordid sensuality the lust to steal and all such things. Until these propensities leave us, we are not free from them - even if we have not been able to act out such deep immoral desires.

A step ahead can be found in developing a moral shyness to all of these weaknesses. As for temptations, we must not give approval to which temptations can cling. We will have to keep the basis of our thoughts pure. We need to watch all the thoughts assailing us, give room only for the noble, beautiful and true, then pray for help from our Maker.

May we attain to victory in this struggle. Amen!

HOW ABOUT JOKES?

Humour is capable of bringing laughter to us and our audience. This is good because cheerful laughter arising from a sincere heart is a great antidote to being weighed down. It makes us feel  light and free.

 

However, we ought to be extremely careful about the types of jokes we share. It calls for engaging our delicate intuition at all times to weigh carefully what we take in as jokes and what we share as humour.

 

We may make witty remarks, crack jokes and make use of instructive anecdotes but then we do not need to use coarse language, malicious remarks and irresponsible words. Neither are we to toy with the Holy Names in the process. For example, it will be most irreverent to share any joke that has to do with the Holy Name of the Lord Almighty and the Name of Jesus. The Holy Names are sacred, should be hallowed and never taken in vain.

 

Furthermore, we ought to be wary of body shaming jokes, jokes employing wicked words, ones that make fun of races, tribes or nations, the ones that promote the war of the sexes and so on.

 

We can employ humour creatively to pass on a serious message, to admonish, to break the ice when we wish to strike up conversation and generally for promoting all that is good. In cases like these, once we choose our words carefully and we give due consideration to the feelings of others we will bring about nothing but peace and happiness!