Spirituality And Just What Is Prayer

Free AI web copilot to create summaries, insights and extended knowledge, download it at here

1702

Abstract

carry it on.</p><p id="aae5">We have talked here before about “Fake it ‘till you make it” and so that is just what I did. Long, drawn-out prayers asking for mercy or help for a long list of transgressions and/or people were instantly shrunk into the few words of the 11th step.</p><p id="0a5d"><i>“God thank you for today’s sobriety and thank you for the knowledge of your will for me and the power to carry it out.”</i></p><figure id="8282"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/0*PTErfP3zuAjEnzgO"><figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@hudsonhintze?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash">Hudson Hintze</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/group-of-people-dancing-HlhBuohsRDM?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure><p id="7c06">Thanking God in advance is Affirmative Prayer, which we learn about in our Spiritual studies. This is simply praying as if it were already true and thanking God for having it happen.</p><p id="b5b3">Bingo, my life immediately started to get much better. I did not know how to pray without it sounding stilted and fake until I read Emmett Fox. Mr. Fox was an early leader in the New Thought Movement and the Spiritual Advisor for the first AAs.</p><p id="c411">He said, “Every thought is a prayer!” Now, that can be both energizing and fear-inducing. Now I’ve gotta even clean up my thoughts! Very quickly, I realized that this simplified my praying by “allowing” me to talk with God as if he were a friend that I was having a conversation with.</p><p id="5378">This, folks, is how I came to be happy, joyous, and free.

Options

If I can do it, you can, too. It is NEVER too late to start! Although, not always easy, it is forever simple.</p><p id="c071">Thank you, God!</p><p id="f4fe">If you like this, please share it on Facebook, Twitter, or your other social media.</p><div id="8fa7" class="link-block"> <a href="https://medium.com/@spiritualityandrecovery/subscribe"> <div> <div> <h2>Get an email whenever James Boylan publishes.</h2> <div><h3>Get an email whenever James Boylan publishes. By signing up, you will create a Medium account if you don't already have…</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*6eoSMkbuq__dt9XH)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="6e4d" class="link-block"> <a href="https://medium.com/@spiritualityandrecovery/membership"> <div> <div> <h2>Join Medium with my referral link - James Boylan</h2> <div><h3>As a Medium member, a portion of your membership fee goes to writers you read, and you get full access to every story…</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*wgUwi8Rbak1ytdVS)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="f377"><a href="https://medium.com/@spiritualityandrecovery">Click here to Read more from Spirituality and Recovery</a></p></article></body>

other than just begging God to get you out of a jamb, probably of your own making

Prayer and meditation were not at the top of my list of priorities for the first 35+ years of my human experience. Oh, I did use the “foxhole prayers” when in a jamb but this was only to get me out of a bad experience.

“God, get me out of this and I will never do it again!” Then, He would get me out of it and I would “forget” and do it again. Or, He would not get me out of the situation and it was further “evidence” for me to believe that He wasn’t even there.

I may have even been a little intimidated when hearing about prayer. The main point was that it was a selfish plea to make me feel better about myself after whatever I had just done that was probably horribly wrong in the first place.

It was always about poor little, self-centered me. The Spiritual program of AA of course had an answer in Step 11, “Praying only for the knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry it out.”

That told me exactly how to pray! Only for the knowledge of His will for me and the power to carry it on.

We have talked here before about “Fake it ‘till you make it” and so that is just what I did. Long, drawn-out prayers asking for mercy or help for a long list of transgressions and/or people were instantly shrunk into the few words of the 11th step.

“God thank you for today’s sobriety and thank you for the knowledge of your will for me and the power to carry it out.”

Thanking God in advance is Affirmative Prayer, which we learn about in our Spiritual studies. This is simply praying as if it were already true and thanking God for having it happen.

Bingo, my life immediately started to get much better. I did not know how to pray without it sounding stilted and fake until I read Emmett Fox. Mr. Fox was an early leader in the New Thought Movement and the Spiritual Advisor for the first AAs.

He said, “Every thought is a prayer!” Now, that can be both energizing and fear-inducing. Now I’ve gotta even clean up my thoughts! Very quickly, I realized that this simplified my praying by “allowing” me to talk with God as if he were a friend that I was having a conversation with.

This, folks, is how I came to be happy, joyous, and free. If I can do it, you can, too. It is NEVER too late to start! Although, not always easy, it is forever simple.

Thank you, God!

If you like this, please share it on Facebook, Twitter, or your other social media.