An Eastern tale shares about Mullah Nasruddin's house on fire. He ran to the roof. His friends gathered in the street below. They held a blanket for him, shouting, "Jump, Mullah, jump!" Said Mullah, "Oh no, I won't! I know you all. If I jump, you'll pull away the blanket to make a fool of me!" "Don't be silly, Mullah. This isn't a joke!," replied the friends. "This is serious. Jump!" "No!" hollered Nasruddin. "I don't trust any of you!" He said, "Lay the blanket on the ground, and I'll jump."
Prayer, from vocal to mystical, is lifting up of self to God. The attitude of prayer is humbleness. This does not mean one disowns self or its innate powers; rather, the self and its powers cooperate with Divine Power in openness, dependence, and trust.
Much is now being written about the Law of Attraction. There is truth to the Law, however, there are pitfalls.
Prayer sees in attraction much more than an impersonal force or the power of mind. Universal-cosmic laws are operative that make Faith cooperative or not with Grace. Grace is not simply the power of the universe; Grace is the powerful Presence of Divine Love and Energy.
The Law of Attraction is too simplistic in many cases, and it, likewise, does not rightly take into account the complexity of interactive wills. Rather, the Law is generally presented in a very individualistic way.
A truth in the Law of Attraction is the power of faith. The specific act of trusting opens self to the universal Creative Force ~ who not only created but creates: this "who" transcends personal and impersonal. The nature of the Divine is to extend in manifestation, and this Power wills to do so in and through you and me, evidencing Creative Will from Pure Spirit to Matter.
Paul could say of his companions and himself: "our sufficiency is from God." He speaks of this "sufficiency" as the means of serving others, not the means of drawing material wealth are egocenteric wish-fulfillment to enhance his false, or ego, self. Likewise, we are most open to the Universal Source of Power when we are most selfless in our prayer.
4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
*2 Corinthians 3.4-6, ESV
Now, Jesus does speak of abundance. He says in the Gospel of John:
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
*John 10.10, ESV
He does not speak of material abundance, however. He speaks of life overflowing. This life is the eternal, spiritual life, written in the Greek New Testament as zoe.
Likewise, note the words of Jesus to a woman at a well, a woman thirsting for zoe:
13Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again. 14But no one who drinks the water I give will ever be thirsty again. The water I give is like a flowing fountain that gives eternal life."
15The woman replied, "Sir, please give me a drink of that water! Then I won't get thirsty and have to come to this well again."
*John 4.13-15, CEV
Also, of import is the role of trust within faith community. Attraction in the Gospel sense pertains to being an integral part of a spiritual community. This community is a faithing whole and a context of discernment about what is the Divine Will and gives accountability to each participant.
Says N. Graham Standish, on "Open to God as Power," a chapter in his Becoming a Blessed Church:
When we are open to the Holy Spirit, a new kind of unity forms that is grounded in God's call and possibility.
The Holy Spirit is the immediacy within and among of the Power of God. Spiritual unity, which is much more than agreement or gathering in a shared space, evolves from grounding in a sense of being called to serve and in the Divine possibilities. This is, indeed, a "new unity," and one many churches never come to know.
Trust, a communal and personal act, is cooperative with the Divine Will and Power, in unity with others who faith in God. This trust is an energy-act connecting us with Spirit. The Spirit will bless us abundantly to the extent of our trusting and humble receptivity to the inflow of spiritual life for the service of others and the spiritual expansion of our beings for the good of all beings and Nature.
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*Brian K. Wilcox lives with his wife, Rocio, their two dogs, St. Francis and Bandit Ty, and their fish, Hope, in Southwest Florida. Brian is vowed at Greenbough House of Prayer, a contemplative Christian community in Georgia. He lives a contemplative life and inspires others to experience a deeper relationship with Christ. He advocates for a spiritually-focused Christianity and the renewal of the focus of the Church on addressing the deeper spiritual needs and longings of persons and empathic relating with diverse spiritual traditions, East and West. Brian has an independent writing, workshop, and retreat ministry, for all spiritual seekers.
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