UNITY WAY

June 27, 2004

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The Art of Prayer: The Everlasting Kingdom

by Andrei Yashurin

"For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, 
forever. Amen" (Matthew 6:13). The final phrase of the Lord's 
Prayer is an exclamation of gratitude and joyful recognition 
of divine majesty. It brings us back to the awareness of God 
as our ultimate Source. 

God is truly Omnipresent. Being All in All, God manifests 
everywhere and through everything, including ourselves. 
This world, with all it contains, is nothing less than 
the Kingdom, the Realm of God. When we earlier prayed for 
the coming of the Kingdom, we simply asked for greater 
realization of already existing reality. 

There is a falce notion which insists that things of this 
world exist by themselves, apart from the transcendent Creator, 
who brought them into being. When we accept this belief, all 
our spiritual life becomes tense. Whether consciously or 
unconsciously, we become afraid of people, places, or 
circumstances. We live in a state of anxiety, thinking 
that some evil forces outside of ourselves could destroy 
our blessings and happiness. We wonder whether this particular 
thing comes to us "from God" or not. Perhaps, we will come 
to a conclusion that it takes a lot of efforts to keep 
a living contact with God, or will spend our time is 
searching for the "perfect" doctrine which promises eternal 
security to its followers. 

But the truth is much easier than all these speculations. 
The Kingdom is present all around us and within us, here 
and now. All the blessings of the Kingdom are available 
to those who are willing to take them. The only requirement 
is to open our eyes and to see. 

The Kingdom is the realm of Abundance. Therefore, we may 
ask for provision with confidence. 

The Kingdom is the realm of Wisdom. Therefore, we may ask 
for guidance with confidence.

The Kingdom is the realm of Love. Therefore, we may ask 
for forgiveness with confidence.

The Kingdom is the realm of Power and Glory. Therefore, 
we are able to become strong and radiant manifestations of God. 

Whatever we direct our attention to, increases. This law of 
mind action should govern our prayer life. Having particular 
problems, it is easy to become problem-conscious and 
to bring such consciousness into our prayers. But Jesus 
teaches us to act in the different way - to leave our daily 
challenges behind closed doors of our "prayer chamber", 
and to concentrate on realities of the Divine Realm. As 
the result, their demonstrations will increase. 

Essentially, prayer is an exercise in directing of attention 
toward God.

But before we finish our talks on the Lord's Prayer, let us 
bring more clarity concerning such terms as "the kingdom", 
"the power", and "the glory". Unfortunately, our common 
understanding might prevent us from knowing what Jesus 
really meant. 

Thinking of the kingdom, it is easy to associate it with 
dictatorship, authoritarian rule. At old times, people 
perceived God as the heavenly Monarch, who brings people 
and the whole universe to subjection through power. Reading 
some of the Old Testament stories, we see God coming down 
with thunder, lightning, and earthquakes. People who witnessed 
it, were terrified. But now it is impossible to take those 
pictures seriously - not because God changed, but because 
our understanding of God and God's Kingdom became more mature. 

God's power is not the one which suppresses and dominates. 
It is the power of love. It is God's healing, nurturing, 
sustaining, freeing, resurrecting influence. It is the subtle 
impulse toward growth and development in all and through all. 

In one of His parables, Jesus likened the Kingdom of God to 
a grain of mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds. 
Here is an important lesson: God's Kingdom often may appear 
as small and insignificant, almost not-existent. God's power 
often may appear as powerlessness. But yet, it will continue 
its work and, in due time, will become clearly revealed.

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Andrei Yashurin: pczine@yandex.ru

http://pcjournal.ru/talks Talks on Truth

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All messages (c) 2004 by Andrei Yashurin