This story from Ambrose Worrall’s The Gift of Healing[*] illustrates that not all prayer, however well-intentioned, will necessarily bring about the desired results. Some prayer may even interfere with obtaining the desired results.
Ambrose Worrall had been asked to intercede for a six-year old girl named Kay, who had developed encephalitis following measles. At the time he began, she was completely paralysed.
Pray for yourself first.
When you pray for someone, you become a channel through which the Holy Spirit (or “Life Force”) flows to address that person’s needs. (See Mark 5:30.) You may or may not perceive this flow as it happens.
The Spirit must first address any deficiencies in the channel itself, before it can optimally address the other person. In particular, the Spirit must address any emotional imbalances that may exist in the person who intends to pray. Without this adjustment, at best the Spirit’s flow will be constricted; at worst, the channel may project his or her own needs (e.g. anxieties, aches and pains) onto the patient.
Continue reading * Un[b]locking the spirit
Here is the second portion of the book The Way of Peace, the first portion of which appeared yesterday.
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MEDITATION
Meditation is not the whole of the Way, any more than flour is the whole of cookies. If you want cookies, you must also have butter, sugar, and perhaps eggs, in addition to flour. Flour is essential, however. Likewise as to the Way, meditation is so essential, as to move me to say this: if you have any interest in learning the Way, and do not now have a discipline of meditation, you should start one now — right now — before even reading the rest of this book.
Continue reading o About silence
In 2010, I set out to write a little book that would set forth exactly what I believe Jesus really taught. I entitled it The Way of Peace. Here is the first section of that text, entitled “ABOUT THIS BOOK.”
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Matthew 11:28-30: Jesus said,
Come to me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; …
and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
All my life, I have been concerned for people who seemed to me to have a harder lot than they deserved — who were loaded down with heavy burdens.
In time, I came to see that I likewise carried needless heavy burdens.
Life is difficult enough even without them. Jesus speaks here of a way to live without them. Life’s inherent difficulties cannot be avoided. Needless difficulties can be avoided, and one’s life will be far more pleasant as a result. I humbly believe I have come to understand what Jesus meant, and that is what I seek to set forth here.
Continue reading o The Way of Peace
Although I constantly refer to “silence” and “presence,” I have put off posting any how-to here about meditation, since there are innumerable resources out there and I don’t want to re-invent the wheel. I may eventually post a how-to here.
In the meantime, Brian Williard sent me the below link that I can’t ignore.
I’d urge anyone who’s interested in meditation, or in learning how to meditate, to read it. Actually, I’d encourage anyone who’s not engaged in meditation now, to read it.
The Homeless Blogger 