“Prayer and petition must signify two different things to you; for prayer belongs to worship, whereas a petition cannot count as worship if you really want to adjust yourselves to the conception.”1
HOW TO PRAY: 2. Petitions and Intercessions
Petitions are also approaches to the Creator that may be intuitively spontaneous or may follow formal reflection. Prayer in its true conception belongs to worship, while in whatever form it manifests, petitions, which have as their basis a request, cannot count as worship. Nevertheless, petitions and intercessions, as we will see later, have an important role to play in the spiritual striving of human spirits if the concepts remain pure.
Formal petitions and intercessions, where we decide to approach the Creator with our requests, are common and are often what people understand as prayer. Spontaneous petitions occur when with our intuitive movement, without any formal presentation, we ask and seek in Creation. The fundamental difference is that while spontaneous petitions start as intuitive inner movement, formal petitions start with thoughts or words, which we then secondarily strive to fill with intuition.
Spontaneous Petitions
Spontaneous petition at its best is seen when the human spirit, who lives in faithfulness to the Will of the Creator in Creation, intuitively desires, thus asks or seeks, for anything in Creation. The intuitive volition of the spirit, which alone can make contact with the pure Neutral power of God in Creation, automatically receives or takes out of Creation that which it intuits. Creation, structured in the Love of God, provides more than we will ever need.
As spiritual beings, nothing is denied us within the Laws of God and we alone can limit ourselves. Even those who do not acknowledge God or His Providence still receive His blessings, for does He not permit His sun to shine on both the good and the bad? In giving us life, He granted us the ability to take out of Creation whatsoever we need and to form our own works. Therefore, our ability to take out of Creation is not taken away even when we refuse to acknowledge the Creator. It is an ability that is intrinsic in the very essence of the spiritual being.
In Matthew 7:7-8, the Lord Jesus taught us the profound Truth: ‘Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened’. This teaching was largely misconstrued to represent an injunction to beg or demand, but this is far from the essence of this great teaching. A human spirit that has learnt to live in the Will of the Creator, who has made the service of his Creator his primary concern and who therefore lives aright in Creation, has nothing to beg for1. Whatsoever he needs is already available in the Creators Providence.
Any activity of the human spirit that originates from or touches the spiritual intuitive volition, the inner essence of the human spirits, carries the pure ability to connect with the Power of God in Creation. Such activity is therefore elevated to a prayer of request by the purity of the intuitive movement that underlies it. All human spirits have this ability as an intrinsic part of their spirituality and as long as the spirit germ remains within, each is capable of achieving this connection.
However the spirit within a man may be so surrounded and encased in evil works and impurities that it becomes incapable of expressing any pure volition or is only able to achieve this off and on. Even amongst those who deny God and those who may be regarded as spiritually dead, the spiritual core, the spirit germ arising as it did from the direct power of the Holy Spirit cannot die, but remains capable of connecting with the power of God in Creation if free to express itself.
Our very existence grants access to His grace, and our spiritual volition, no matter how weak, represents a petition in the real sense, which automatically triggers the dispensing that is structured into Creation. Thus we are effortlessly provided for. This is the lesson of the flowers of the field clothed in effortless beauty and the abundant provision for the birds of the air that the Son of God gave us as encouragement for our path. Creation provides more abundantly than we can ever use and we are permitted to receive of it freely. Once we understand this, it becomes apparent that petitioning is not synonymous with begging.
To ask from a spiritual perspective, which is the only perspective in which we must interpret Christ’s words, means to express a spiritual volition. And this is what happens with the spontaneous intuitive form of seeking, asking, or knocking. On the other hand, asking or better put begging for material wants, which represents the bulk of our formal petitions, does not require spiritual volition but intellectual volition.
It is self-deception to fold one’s hands and just pray for material things because the so-called prayer lacks any genuine inner connection to the Source of All. Such ‘petitions’, which often predominates in the noisy group gatherings where people demand prosperity and solution to all foreseeable challenges in life and even the destruction of their perceived enemies, cannot be equated with genuine prayer.
By our thoughts, words, and deeds but above all by our volition, we ask, seek, or knock. The admonition ‘ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find’ is therefore not an injunction to petition as is often supposed but defines the inherent capacity of the human spirit to take from the abundance of Creation, subject to the Law of reciprocal action that determines that we reap what we sow. It applies to all human spirits. We impact Creation by our volition, thoughts, words, and deeds and the returning effects we receive are automatic, and minutely corresponds to what we have sown in Creation. If we desire to receive blessings, we must give Love and if we sow evil, we must reap evil.
Intuitive movement is an activity of the spirit and the receiving is for our spiritual progress. Material things, needs, and wants are only secondary but we also receive them as consequences of our inner spiritual movements, for the spirit molds its environment. Our material circumstances are consequences of our spiritual activity, which we sow in Creation. Frequently, however, they are returning effects of previous sowing long forgotten. Even those who do not pray or petition in the usually accepted sense also receive, sometimes without realising that they have prayed.
Yes, those who claim not to believe in God, the so-called atheists, agnostics, and free thinkers, receive their life and sustenance out of the bounty of the Lord, often apparently with careless ease. And they, like every being in Creation are subject to the Laws of God that govern Creation. Quite apart from the returning effects of their previous volition, the magnetic power of the enfeebled spirit within them is enough to attract what they desire from the neutral Principal Power flowing out of the Creator. With this, they also are permitted to form their own works for which they bear full responsibility before the Laws of God. Unfortunately, the human spirit in Material Creation has formed much that does not swing in the Will of God.
With only a poor understanding of their spiritual origin in God, they believe that they are bringing progress and that they achieve all this through their superior intellect and industry. This poor understanding is also often exhibited by many who claim to be faithful believers and prayer warriors. These, with a questionably better understanding of the Will of the Creator, think they achieve what they desire due to a special relationship to God and that they can command or demand, based on an imperfect understanding of the teachings of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus.
These wrong uses of the intrinsic power of the spirit eventually return their fruit, heavily laden as a multiple, in accordance with the immutable Law of God in Creation. The return of the fruit, however, is not necessarily immediate, but will manifest in the individual’s life: – in the present earth life, in the beyond, or in another incarnation.
In contrast, if we put our personality and full intuitive force into the worship of God, both the immediate and distant prospects for our lives in the material and spiritual sense are assured for all eternity. The Message of God granted in the work, “In the Light of Truth” assures us that ‘He who bears within himself the firm volition for what is good, and strives to give purity to his thoughts, has already found the way to the Highest! All else will then be added unto him’. Under the protection of His Omniscience, we do not need and indeed will be protected from excessive material gain and attachments; we have an abundant provision in an objective sense that permits satisfaction and deep, real joy.
If we who seek to serve God approach Him and define our prayer only by formal petitions, or a list of material wants and perceived needs, how different are we from the materialists who in any case take out of the abundance of Creation? Is it any wonder that the unbelievers often regard many of us as poor sheep to be pitied; who are incapable or too timid to act for themselves? In so doing, without any special effort on our part, we bring our very faith to ridicule.
Open yourself to the Love of God in Creation. Access His bountiful provision with the purity of your spiritual intuition, by ever keeping the hearth of your thoughts pure, and by always striving with a volition towards all that is good, i.e., all the swings in the Will of God. Your life will then be a prayer of thanksgiving, elevating your ability to take out of Creation to acts of worship.
Although we can and should take out of Creation what we need, we should never take like unbelievers who take without regard for the Laws of Creation, the Will of God. This is the important injunction that we must wait for the pleasure of the Lord. Not that He will revoke our rights as spirits to fashion anything out of His Creation or that He will deny us, but that we, in recognition of His Omniscient Love and Providence, act with due consideration for His Will. We recognize that what we need, will ultimately be granted in a form and manner, and at a time that best meets our spiritual needs.
Since the Lord has granted all human spirits the ability to fashion forms and circumstances with their free will, it is of course possible to change our material circumstances for our pleasure, even without the intervention of intercessors or the so-called miracle preachers. However, such use of the power of the Lord must be adjusted to the Will of God, otherwise it becomes detrimental to spiritual progress and the propensity binds us to the material planes.
Although strictly not part of the discussion here, it must be pointed out that this ability of the spirit to form Matter, and the lawful progression of the Laws of Creation are why, as we frequently observe, evil sometimes seems to prosper in a material sense. However, this is not actually so. It is an illusion arising from our distorted concepts and perceptions. We are free with our intuition to form and mold our environment, directing this to either good or evil. Within a limited interval while the fruits of our activities mature, evil volition, i.e., volition that is contrary to the Will of the Creator, appears to achieve its aims. Ultimately, however, the Laws will catch up with the individual, here or hereafter. Once out of the physical body, following physical death, the human soul experiences the fruits of its activities in a more intense manner.
Therefore, as is well known, evil contains within itself the germ of its own destruction. Sooner or later the Mills of God’s Will demands reciprocity; For the Will of God is immutable in Justice and Love and, as has been said, ‘although the mills of God may grind slowly, they nevertheless grind exceedingly fine’. The interval of grace is permitted in the Love of God that wishes to allow us maximum freedom and leeway to experience and learn. It should not, therefore, be taken to imply that there is no God or that He does not interest Himself in the affairs of His Creatures. It should not be an incentive to materialism.
There is no independent evil power. Both good and evil are produced in Creation from the Principal Neutral Power of the only independent, eternally existing Power, God. The ability to form works of our own, intrinsic in our spirituality, is a gift of His Love, but we must also appreciate that the Omniscience of God immanent in His Creation as His Will, minutely oversees and balances every movement in Creation.
Formal Petitions
Petitions that may count as prayer are those which carry the power of spiritual intuition. But this intuitive movement does not only arise spontaneously but may also commence as a formal, planned approach to God. In this form of prayer, we first approach with our emotions and thoughts, formed as words, and only seek secondarily to awaken the intuition through the words. The words of our prayer themselves cannot ascend because they are limited to earthly space and time, but can only serve as signposts to indicate the direction of our intuitive perception. Thus, the words of our prayer must arouse the kind of intuitive perception within us that they seek to express. It is only the intuitive perception embraced by the words, which depending upon their strength and purity, can ascend above the boundaries of formed words1.
The words may be compared to the voice of a broadcaster which cannot travel beyond the studio of a radio station, but through the medium of the transmitter, the voice of the broadcaster can be received great distances away. The spirit’s intuition serves as the transmitting /receiving antenna that connects with higher centers. The strength and purity of the intuitive perception determine the effectiveness of the prayer.
Thus, although formal periods of prayers lack the spontaneity of the great experiencing, they may nevertheless be filled with intuition. This is made much easier by knowledge of the Will of God in Creation, which opens us to the great virtues of humility, childlikeness, and purity. And when this can be consistently achieved, when we can always approach the Lord in childlike humility and purity, it marks a high development in the individual.
Unfortunately, this is where many attempts at formal prayer fall short of the true meaning of prayer, for only rarely are we able to fill these formal approaches with intuition. Yet this deliberate form of approach, often lacking in childlike humility and any recognition of the sublimity and Majesty of God, is indeed what many people regard as prayer.
Formal petitions are important for our path but the necessary pre-requisites are childlike humility and inner purity that allows the words of the request to be filled with the power of spiritual intuition. And for this to be possible we must recognize, accept and adjust our lives to the Laws in Creation that embody the Will of the Creator. The Lord Jesus taught us how to pray, especially when we approach the Creator in personal prayers. The Lord’s prayer gives us a comprehensive view of how to form our formal approach to the Almighty and was not intended to be rattled off in one sitting. First, we must recognize, accept and acknowledge the Father-Child relationship.
The approach, therefore, starts with “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name”. This is followed by the promise or vow to live in subjection to His Will in Creation and to fulfill all He expects of us by working in such a way that His Kingdom will be established here on earth as it is in higher, more luminous Realms. Only on this basis may we then proceed to present our daily needs, in simple reliance and confidence in His Providence. We ask for our immediate needs (give us our daily bread), without any presumption or demand as to how He should grant these.
Since our greatest need is to experience and live in His Will in Creation, our material needs are muted in the Lord’s prayer, and the emphasis is on forgiveness for our failures and protection during temptations and all that may derail our spiritual progress. The profound importance of the Lord’s prayers, the relevance for our path, and how we should use it have been explained for us by the Bringer of the Grail Message1.
Formal petitions as planned approaches to our Creator in times of need and difficult challenges, in moments of joy, and even just as a planned contact for any and all reasons, is necessary for all human spirits who have matured to become children of God. Many truly striving human spirits have learnt to dedicate periods of the day, during which they break their mundane activities, to connect with higher guidance. We have been guided to dedicate special hours of the day for prayers and for most people this period is early in the morning, on waking up, or last thing in the day before rest.
To make a humble petition for the things we really need is an essential part of our being. It serves the dual purpose of increasing the bonding of dependency on God for us as well as allowing for increased and sustained contact with the Luminous Spheres. It strengthens the Father-Child relationship, which we must attain if we are to live aright in Creation, but which is different from the human parent-child relationship. Sometimes our earthly parents do not know exactly what we need and in addition, there is the fact that the relationship is bonded in genetic or species similarity. The relationship with God is that of a creature with its Creator and If this creature fulfills and matures according to the Will of the Creator, it may attain the status of adoption as a child of the Creator.
Not all who have heard of Christ or claim to belong to Him can claim adoption but only those who have received and allowed the Truth to come to maturity within them. These facts have been clearly expressed in many transmitted and revealed writings. John in his gospel tells us “…to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God”2. We should note that what is given is the right or the power (King James’s version translates it better) to become children of God and that the realization of the goal still remains a personal effort – we still have to mature into the status of children of God.
On the assumption that we are children of God, because we believe in his Son, petitioning has degenerated into unreasonable demands for material things, most of which we do not even need. The thought is now openly offered to ‘believers’ that it is their right to live in material abundance and that indeed, it is a mark of disfavor from God if they lack any material thing. This so-called doctrine of prosperity is pernicious! Nothing can excuse the arrogance and selfishness that underlies this doctrine of prosperity, not even the assumption that one is a child of God or more appropriately a child of Creation. In their conceit, these disciples of prosperity make their so-called petitions with such arrogant words, as they will not even use with their fellowmen. All in the misconception that it is their right and a sign of belonging to the Lord. They are fond of quoting the intensity of some prayers recorded in the scriptures without considering the intuitive perception that went into those prayers, which the scriptures also always faithfully documented.
It denies the repeated injunction of the scriptures that preoccupation with matter makes the spiritual path of man difficult. It fails to recognize, that material things whether in their abundance or their lack are absolutely irrelevant, except as to the use we make of them in the service of God. Those who make a habit of petitions also frequently assume a special relationship with God that is often not reflected in their spiritual standing. In thus assuming that the Creator arbitrarily favors them, they impute imperfection as an attribute of the Perfect God.
The Lord God does not need to intervene to grant us material abundance. He has already provided abundantly in His Creation, and all human spirits can take out of Creation what they need, simply by their spiritual intuitive desiring. Even unbelievers may also be wealthy and are often more so. How does the doctrine of prosperity account for this if it is a mark of God’s special favor in this present existence to be prosperous?
In most cases, however, the prosperity preachers use the name of the Almighty in other to feather their own nests, without any consideration for the poor souls they are misleading. In the epoch in which we live, when every spirit is urged to maximum spiritual effort if it is to pass in the judgment, these false leaders may be seen as spiritual highwaymen, robbing and looting their poor victims. However, such misled individuals are really victims of their own indolence. The Eternal Father has provided all we need in Creation, and minimum corresponding effort on the individual’s part grants access to abundant help. These provisions however may not always correspond with our perceptions of need. While our real needs are those things that will benefit us spiritually, the demands of our world and other physical wants intervene to cloud our perceptions.
The prominence of formal petitioning in our lives is because we do not have the consciousness of God as the central theme of our lives and so only remember to approach Him at moments of want. Demanding material things is not only wrong but in almost all instances also completely unnecessary. Dependency on formal petitioning makes the approach to God all the more difficult because of the necessary planning and the perceived need to perform it well, even if only to meet our own standards.
The wrong conception of prayer as a petition also prevents the necessary recognition of the lessons of life which we need for our ascent. Each human spirit at incarnation already brings along with it its own unique fate, predetermined by what it has previously sown in Creation, what it has to experience and overcome. Thus, it comes with precisely what it needs to achieve its goal of development. Its birth circumstances and all the experiences it needs to mature in the recognition of God, which is the goal of life in Matter, are placed before it, not as chance events, but as dictated by the Love and Justice of God.
In the sense that we aspire to be children of God, we can of course bring any request to Him, but we must do this with humility, with an understanding of the fact that our ultimate goal is spiritual; but above all as children, we must then leave the answer to His Omniscience. If one wants a car for instance and nothing short of a car will represent an answer to his petitions, where is there any intuitive spiritual movement? The form in which the answered prayer may reach us, we must recognize, is the best for us since it flows from the Love and Benevolence of the All-Knowing, All-Seeing God.
With this recognition petitions, in the form of begging or demanding lose their importance as an active form of prayer. Any circumstance or event that oppresses us should indeed be brought before our Creator since if we are living aright the Lord should be our nearest and dearest. But this approach should be from deep intuitive perceiving of the moment and not a calculated list of petitions. Moreover, once these are laid before Him our burden should have been shed, and in full trust and confidence in His Love, left to His Omniscience.
There is, therefore, no indication to make a long list of petitions, requests, and intercessions to be recited daily. Is the Lord then deaf that He cannot hear us? It is indeed a great delusion to assume that such so-called petitions serve as prayers.
In the Light of Truth, The Grail Message by Abd-ru-shin. 2. John 1:12
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