1992-03-29-Prayer and Worship

Session

Opening

Opening Prayer: Prayer of St. Francis

Daniel: "Good evening. I am Daniel. I am your teacher. Again I send my love and admiration to you. Your lives have been filled with many trials, many activities, many adventures. In many of these you have been in wonder and awe for the outcome has been working in your favor. As you come into alignment with the Father, more and more of your daily struggles will seem less, will work toward higher goals, will see their completion much more readily than in the past.

Lesson

Tonight's lesson is on prayer and worship. This has been a struggling question for many of you this past week. Knowing how to come to the Father in prayer and worship which is meaningful, which is real, which is based on a desire to truly follow the Father's will. Prayer is that communication you have with the Father which is founded on many levels.

The most apparent and basic level is that of asking for God's help. Prayer on this level of asking God to provide, to change a situation, is on a very childlike order. This is the beginning prayers that children are generally taught. Prayer is far more than this.

It stems from, first, a desire to know the Father. This is the first introduction that is given. The desire to communicate and know, to learn to love the Father is the first part of prayer. Your prayers in this regard bring you into a oneness with your Inner Consciousness; it brings you to a oneness with the Father.

Prayer is communion, communication that stems from a desire, not only to know the Father, but a desire to do His will. The second stage of prayer, then, is to follow His will. Following the will of the Father is laid out, is set in motion, is the beginning of integration of God Consciousness in your life and this is done through daily prayers with the Father.

Guidance is then the next step in prayer; asking for the guidance that is necessary for you in your mortal lives. Asking for guidance is much different than asking the Father to change a situation. For in seeking guidance you ask for help in whatever area you are praying for, and this still keeps your free will intact. For when you do come in to contact with the Father and choices are presented to you, you will be able to decide which way to go. If your faith and desire are strong, if your true mission is to follow Father's will, the guidance He is providing will be made clear to you and you then can decide to either follow it or not. Prayer should focus on these areas in conjunction with your own personal problems as well as for the problems, cares, concerns of others. When you pray to the Father, do so in a mode of love, of thanksgiving, of gratitude for all the blessings that are bestowed on you during your days. When you approach the Father in this light, in thankfulness, then you are already on the way for changes to happen in your life in regards to your problems.

When you bring petitions to the Father, bring your petitions with respect for the Father's love, the Father's wisdom, and the Father's concern for you. Do not ask for favors or for the Father to change something; rather ask for the knowledge and wisdom to help you work through your problems; to seek a solution that will bring you to higher ground, to higher truths. When you pray in this fashion, often times the problems you are dealing with are easily overcome or become so minute, you wonder why you were concerned before. When you trust the wisdom that the Father has; when you are secure and confident that His ways are working for the good of all; then you are able to pray in a fashion that not only brings you to higher consciousness, it also brings you in more vivid communication with the Father. You are more in tune to His promptings.

Prayer should be spontaneous and should be like talking with the Father. When you have a conversation with a friend, you interject your thoughts in a conversation and likewise so does the friend. So when you have completed your talk with the Father, then you need to come to silence so that you can let the Father talk back with you, interject His comments. For sure, more than often you will not hear words, but the message that the Father sends becomes clear as time goes on. You have a tendency to work through intuition and you wonder why suddenly things happen the way they did; why you responded the way you did. And this is because of your coming to stillness with the Father. This is His way of talking with you.

This prayer is individual as it should be daily. You see, you in your mortal life will take nourishment to keep your body functioning, to keep your energy up. Likewise you have spiritual energy which is to be nourished and this comes about through your daily prayer and silence with the Father. So do not neglect the spiritual nourishment, for it, like the body, becomes depleted as the trials, as the day wears on. It, too, needs to be restored.

Group prayer is another way that you communicate with the Father. Individual prayer brings you in tune, in alignment with your Indwelling Spirit. Group prayer does this, as well as brings you in line with the group you are praying with. And so the alignment of the group becomes a collective prayer, a collective plea, a collective petition, a collective form of gratitude and thanksgiving to the Father. And you form a special bond when you pray together. So do not neglect this aspect, for it benefits you greatly to share in common prayer, in worship of the Father.

Worship is a natural flow of energy that comes from prayer. When you have reached the state in your prayers where you are so in tune with the Father, where you become unconscious of your own being, when you are in adoration of the Presence of the Father, then you begin to know what true worship is.

There are many forms of worship that mortals participate in: from the inspiration derived from looking at or being a part of nature to, unfortunately, idolizing people or material aspects in your life. When this kind of worship prevails then there is a short circuiting of your spiritual lifeline. So while you need to enjoy the beauty and goodness of nature, enjoy the music, the wonders of art, of other peoples, keep this in bounds so that it becomes a vehicle to bring you some pleasure, which is important in your life, but does not become worship. Worship is for the Father.

In worship you are motivated, you are energized, you are given many blessings, many gifts which sustain you in your daily life. You see, worship is your knowledge of the presence of God, of His love, of His goodness, His beauty, His grandeur. And in God's love for you, He in turn gives back to you this same love, this same goodness, this same beauty you see in Him; He gives back to you. And so worship is like a ring. It is circular. When you reach for the Father and you feel that Presence it is because He, in turn, is reaching back to you. And in those moments pure worship is attained.

Worship can, also, be done individually and as a group. You must continue in your worship mode, in always seeking to adore the Father, to be in awe of His glory, His wonderment, His love. As you progress along higher level paths, worship become much easier, becomes much more a part of your daily lives. It cannot stem from any pretentious feelings or hypocrisy. It is genuine heartfelt giving of yourself to the Father, of knowing His presence and feeling it.

I hope this has helped you in some way to see the difference in these areas. As you take time in your lives to be at prayer, you will find that peace and a sense of well being is a part of your life despite the daily trials and struggles. One must realize that just because one is in alignment with the Father, that one truly has committed themselves to following the Father's will, that their life will not be made easier, that the adversities of life will not disappear. This is not possible. This does not happen. Rather it is through your prayers that you are able to shoulder the responsibility of these adversities, and through the guidance you ask for, you are able to make decisions that are founded on truths that are in alignment with God consciousness. And what happens is, that when you reach this level, your life changes and you do not see life as what is right or wrong. Rather you see life as coming to the positive; to do what is right because there seems no other way that you could do it, that you would want to do it. And so when you are in this state, your life becomes a testimony to your inner belief systems. That is to say, that while you may falter, you will be less likely to make errors that are very harmful. You are more in line with God for you see, your outer and inner life start to merge; and what you desire on the inside in your inner life, becomes more reflected in the outer life. And this is done through your daily prayers, your daily silence with the Father. I will now accept questions."

Dialogue

Teaching Mission

B1: "Daniel, this is B1. I am sure I speak for more than myself when I say that that was a wonderful summary of prayer and worship. We know you can read our minds and obviously you have been with us and you surely covered the field in a beautiful way. And I am sure we will have some comments and questions about this. I just need to settle one quick business matter relative to your teachings. As you probably know, I'm sure you do know, I received a telephone call from Tallahassee, Florida from the group where Will is their teacher and are probably meeting right now. And among other things we talked about sharing teachings. I said that I thought it was probably ok with you if we would send a copy of your teachings to the Tallahassee group, but I felt I would like you to definitely give me that permission so that there is not doubt about it. Is that ok with you?"

Daniel: "I foresee no problems with this. The teachings of the various teachers will be more and more given to other groups. I am pleased that there is communication among these groups. This will strengthen the mission, will bring more validity to these teachings to those who are skeptical. Yes, these teachings may be sent to Florida."

Thought Adjusters

B1: "Thank you Daniel. Then I would like to discuss a little bit with you....you said after we make our conversation to our Father and we have said our part..as in any dialogue, then we need to be quiet and wait for an answer, or wait for the Father to respond. I have had some experiences recently where I hear words in my mind and I tend to think it is my own mind..but it's like the conversation is a two way street. These words appear to be the words of my Indwelling Adjuster and at one point as this was happening I got the sense that it was my mind answering my mind, so to speak, but it wasn't just my mind..it was Adjuster influenced words. I don't know if I am making myself clear or not but...do you think that I have interpreted this process correctly or do you have any advice for me about this?"

Daniel: "Yes, you are correct in your assessment. It is often one's own mind that does communicate. However, as you become more confident, as you become more at ease with your prayer sessions, your meditation, then you will be able to discern those times when the thought Adjuster is providing answers, is providing input and sometimes it is just a feeling. And so when these feelings come, when these thoughts occur, take them and contemplate them. And then ask the Father for help in knowing if this is His will. It takes time to really hear the Indwelling Spirit. And it is often difficult to discern whether it is your mind or the Indwelling Spirit. So I would say to you that these are probably your own mind thoughts, however you are coming along in your circle attainment very nicely, and you will definitely be more ready to hear, to feel, to know when these thoughts are real, are the Indwelling Spirit. The thoughts that you are now having are beautiful, are uplifting, and they did bring more spiritual nourishment to you. And so in time with continual prayerful contemplation, meditation, these things that you are hearing will be made clear and you will know. Does this help?"

B1: "Yes, Daniel. So just one final clarification. The thoughts that I hear back as though they are an answer from the Father are my own mind, but sometimes I think that they are definitely Adjuster influenced and you more or less said that, didn't you?"

Daniel: "Yes, correct."

B1: "They're just not literally the Thought Adjuster's words at this point in my circle attainment?"

Daniel: "Correct."

B1: "OK, thank you. I appreciate that very much."

Daniel: "You see, many of you are becoming attuned and are feeling the presence of the Indwelling Spirit through your intuition, through the things that seem to flow through you, the things that you wonder where that thought came from....that how could I have thought of that? These are promptings from the Indwelling Spirit reaching out to you. And as you spend time learning to know this Mystery Monitor within your own being, then you will become very much aware of the real presence, the real words when it happens. It takes work. It takes time. It takes desire and commitment. And it is wonderful that so many of you are working toward this end. My desire for you as your teacher is that you do grow spiritually. For it is in this spiritual growth that you will be those mortals who bring about wondrous change in the outer world. You, as you grow spiritually come into contact with others and your spiritual nature touches them. And you see, you become teachers for many in your daily lives. So if you are to become the light for others you must keep your light nourished. A candle needs oxygen to keep the fire going. It needs a wick. So you need to be aware of the responsibility you have in keeping this light burning. That is all."

V1: "Hello, Daniel, this is V1. And your teaching tonight reminded me of a couple of things. Number one, I know that God never changes green to blue or that sort of thing in circumstances, and yet I am reminded of Scripture from the Bible that says that sometimes He answers prayer before we even know what to ask for. Last night a small miracle in our lives indicated to me that there was prayer being answered before we even uttered them or even knew what to do and in a sense it really caused other people to be spiritually awakened and so I'm wondering sometimes if this isn't just our mortal experience or is this just something that we are wanting in our lives rather than something that really does happen...that God cares for us and takes care of us before we even know what to pray for."

Prayer

Daniel: "Most certainly He does. Prayer, your communion with the Father, is really for your benefit. For the Father already knows your wants, your needs, your desires. You see, prayer helps you to come to terms with what your motives are, what your desires are, what your being is. It helps you in sorting out and deciphering right from wrong, in coming to terms with your outer life, in helping to bring the inner life more in line with what goes on in the outer life, and vice versa. You see, prayer is that thing which helps you to grow. It is interesting to observe mortals on their ascension in their spiritual development. For, you see, when a child prays they say, 'thank you father for this and that' and then they say, 'I want this and I want that'. And, unfortunately, many adults still pray this way. What is beautiful is to observe your prayers in that your praying is on a much higher development. In your prayers you are saying, 'Father, help me to know Your will. Help me be in line with you. Give me the guidance, the knowledge, the wisdom that I can use in my own life to bring about Your will'. You are not asking the father to do for you, but to give you what you need to carry out His will. And in circumstances such as last night, prayers are often answered before they are given, but in a way, any thought, any communication you have can be a prayer. And your spiritual alignment helps bring about answers readily, helps set the path, helps in making answers available to you, that had you not been in spiritual alignment, would have been closed off. You see, you are like a river channel and if the water is damned up, it cannot go anywhere. If you dam up your spiritual path, then the water will become stagnant, will become a dead end. So open up your channels and keep the water flowing continuously, and in this continual flow, answers are found. You have many beings around you, angels and the like, which when among those with open channels, are able to bring about change. Do you see?"

V1: "Yes, D2,...D2!, Daniel. Boy, I have trouble with names, don't I! Along that line, Daniel, I was really thinking what I read this morning in terms of water and your illustration just now of the dam is very beautiful. But in the Urantia book this morning I read that a stream can never go higher than its source and to me that helped me realize why you have been telling us to take care of our lives and make our lives better so that which we are trying to accomplish in this world will be high enough that we are able to keep the stream we are working with high. Anyway, I really thank you for that illustration. That also, adds to this and thank you very much for your teaching."

Daniel: "Very well put V1. And you are most welcome."

Guidance

M3/K2: "Daniel, this is M3. I just wanted you to convey my thanks to whoever was with me in that awful incident on the plane Wednesday and somebody was leading me in the right direction and that all worked out, hopefully, ok. And another thing is I seemed to do ok until I came home again today and those little feelings are back. Maybe you could give me a little pep talk in terms of what is going on. Thanks."

Daniel: "Yes, M3. You were listening intuitively this week. Know that in all things it is one's own attitude that carries the weight of your thoughts, your feelings. If your attitude is not in harmony, in balance, then the outer world will not be in balance as well, and that which you seek to do will have many barriers. You see, even those who pray, even those who are in communication with the Father daily will not have smooth sailing. Look to Christ Michael and His path. Even the Son of God, the Son of Man] had difficulties, had problems, and He was the best example of prayer, worship, and communication that we have or will ever have.

And so I say, you must continue this aspect which we talked about tonight and then you must realize that in daily life you are in relationships with people who are not in alignment spiritually. And that in certain trials in certain times of the day even you yourself fall out of alignment. This is natural. The ideal is to get back in alignment. If this does not happen then the imbalance created will spread over into your personal relationships. And the attitude that you carry into these relationships will reflect what you are feeling.

Flow

You all know how when you are feeling up and great and good, that it takes an awful lot to bring you down. But in those days when you are physically tired, or not well, or when the stresses, the strains of daily living become greater than your sense of well being, then problems arise. And K2, you have had much stress this week and this is carried over into all that you do. And a natural flow then, is disharmony in relationships. If you in your attitude take this as being permanent, it will be. If you see it as part of the flow of life, of the daily in and out of living and that on the horizon the sun always rises, then you will be able to weather these storms of discontentment. And, you see, when you are in spiritual alignment these storms become like little showers that quickly go through, quickly pass. They do not become raging blizzards that wreak havoc and chaos in the environment.

So K2, and all of you, seek the inner life and its ideals, so that when the realistic outer life falls apart, you will not be in a blizzard but in a gentle rain shower that quickly passes. Bless your situation and remember to always give back love even when it is the hardest to be tolerant and understanding of others. For, you see, their life is just as hard for them as yours is for you. And in some respects when you who are so fortunate as to know of the Indwelling Spirit, of the Love of the Father, you have an advantage over them, for you have this to fall back on, where others often don't.

So again I say, begin loving yourself again, forgive yourself, have tolerance in your own life, and then reach out in love and understanding to those, especially at home, with the ones that mean the most to you. These often are the people that are easiest to hurt and the ones we hurt the most. Know that in all your struggles, in all your trials, that the Father is there with His love. Utilize this beautiful resource and allow it into your heart, your life. Feed on this love. Let it nourish your soul. Peace be with you, K2."

M3/K2: "Thank you Daniel."

Closing

Daniel: "A very quiet group this evening. You must all be hungry. It is nice to have group get togethers for you see tonight you are nourishing not only your souls, but your bodies as well, together as a group. Since there seems to be no more questions, let us take a moment to pray.

Father, as mortals, as ascending beings, this small group comes to You with open arms, with love, with adoration for Your Presence, for Your Being, for the Love, the generosity that you bestow. Grant that in the ensuing week the trials, the joys, the ongoing life of each mortal here will be blessed with the knowledge of Your ever present Indwelling Spirit that You so generously bestowed on each mortal. In thanksgiving, in love, in awareness of life as a lesson, as a school, we ask that You be ever with each of us in our thoughts and in our consciousness of the group together.

I will leave you now as there seems to be no further questions. I will be back again next Sunday. Enjoy your meal. I send you my love and ask God's peace to be with you this week. Goodbye."