Messages 2021
Question and Answer Session #3: Prayer
March 4th, 2021
Gibsons, B.C. Canada
Received by Al Fike
May the winds of change bring greater light to your world. May humanity come to understand their spiritual natures and the potentials of their souls. May this world find greater harmony and peace. May you all come together to support one another in love, in awakening to the truth, in service to humanity. I come; I am Jesus. I have come once again to answer your questions as we gather here in this Portal of Light surrounded by angels given the blessings of God’s Touch upon our souls. Shall we begin, beloved sister?
Question: Thank you, Jesus. We have received 9 questions on the topic of prayer. The first one is: Sometimes when I enter prayer, I have difficulty quieting my mind and making contact with God. I like to use a Jesus meditation and ask for help to be shown the way. I have a full desire for God’s Love always but at times I find myself just sitting at the Feet of Our Father and just resting. Is this sufficient? Is it acceptable to call on Jesus on the way to the Father? I would like to know the difference between prayer and meditation.
I find it somewhat humorous, the question of a Jesus meditation for I don’t believe there is such a thing in existence nor would I proffer such meditation for those who wish to reach God in prayer for there is a difference between prayer and meditation, is there not? At least in the way many perceive meditation which is the quieting of the mind. Indeed the quieting of the mind is a benefit for those who are in deep prayer. That may be accomplished in a number of ways but it is not a formula or set expression of mindful steps and procedures.
Rather, as one sets oneself to go to God, it is important that there are no distractions, that one is in a state of rest, that one is intent upon the prayer that is to be offered to God. In this way the longings of the soul are allowed to be expressed and flow towards God. Indeed when the mind becomes a barrier to this then the practice of clearing the mind which may be referred to as meditation is of great benefit. But the act of prayer is indeed an act, an active thing. It is the energies, desires, and expressions of the soul reaching to God.
For some, this is a well-worn path, a path easily walked upon in one’s daily practice and time of prayer. For others, the mind continues to have its hold upon the consciousness of the individual and they find it very difficult to shift their consciousness to that of the soul, for they are so engaged in their mindful activities and thoughts, experiences and emotions that the consciousness of the soul is not readily available to them.
For some it is a practice and an effort to train the mind and they seek solutions for the unrealized experience of soul-to-soul, you to God, so they establish mindful preparations and efforts to bring about this connection. I would say that such preparations, routines, and efforts may or may not bring about the desired results. If an individual is very mindful, then to engage in mindful acts while performing one’s prayers to God merely reflects and reinforces the mind. In fact, if one is walking through a beautiful garden on a beautiful day and feels uplifted and appreciates the beauty around them, they are in a far more receptive state of prayer than one who sits with determination and mental desire to accomplish the goal.
It is the feelings of the soul that are brought on by various experiences in life, brought on by a sensitivity, a level of awareness that tends to disengage the analytical parts of the mind and open up the feeling aspects of the soul. It is within those feelings, that desire, that longing where true prayer reaches its mark. That prayer may merely be the composite of these feelings and expressions of the soul or it may be combined with words that are spoken, the repose of the prayerful practitioner where all that is of the material, all that distracts and takes away from this effort to reach God is put aside. If it requires a meditative practice in order to do so, then I would encourage you to do so. If it requires you to walk in a beautiful garden, then please do so. If it requires you to sit in this particular place and play the music that you desire to listen to, then please do so.
Each individual will find his or her way in prayer. Indeed I hear this lament often from my brothers and sisters upon the Earth plane that they do not feel, they do not hear, they do not see, that they are blinded from God and feel removed from God. Indeed the powers of the earthly condition are a distraction and a burden that most of you upon the earthly plane must deal with on a daily basis. But I would encourage you to set aside time daily for prayer. May that time be optimal. May that time be set aside with reverence and desire and longing. May that time be free of material distractions. May that time be a time where you express your love to God and express the desire to be in alignment with God and to know consciously the faith that is within you, the knowing that you will find your way to at-onement with God as you continue to make your daily efforts to place God within your minds, to be present with God as God is always present with you.
Despite all the conditions both inward and outward that one must entertain and consider and at times struggle with, there is always a way to God. That way is often opened with deep feelings, deep yearnings, and deep emotions. The intensity of these feelings is important. I am not suggesting that you need to work yourselves up into an emotional frenzy but I say to you that each and every one of you are capable of feeling such things. Some are afraid of their feelings. Some are blocked by deep feelings within them that are not loving but of hurt and pain and grief. They are distraught within themselves. For those who indeed experience these blockages, might I suggest that you continue in your efforts to pray, even when you feel you are not making headway but rely upon the faith that is within you, that state of trust, that state of knowing that you are loved by God, those thoughts that bring you to higher thinking and feeling?
Practice these things as much as you can. Do not allow the biases of your mind to dictate the limitations of your soul’s ability to connect with God, for these are two different and distinct things within you - the consciousness of your mind and the consciousness of your soul. Indeed for some it takes a great deal of effort to break down the barriers of the mind so as to reach the existence and reality of the soul within them. This is where prayer is important, not a prayer recited out of habit, not a time taken daily done casually and without sincerity, but a time where you beseech God, whether that be in words, whether it is tearful or not, to ask God to truly reach you, to truly place His Love within your soul.
Know that God knows you, knows your prayers, knows all that is within you for the consciousness of God envelops all things in the universe. It is not that God is the universe, but God has the capacity to know all things within it, within His Creation. So you are known and God merely awaits your time when you crack the barrier, when you release the need to control, when you put aside your expectations, and you come to God in all innocence, in desire, in faith and trust, seeking His Love and seeking to be conscious of the benefit and blessing of His Love for all His children when they ask with sincerity in prayer to receive this gift.
There are many layers of consciousness within the individual, but they are for the most part not recognized nor understood by many in your world. They remain a mystery often until great strides have been made within the world of spirit as they progress in their spiritual awakening. But for those of you who are strong, those of you who are dedicated, and those of you who are faithful, you will find your way to God as you traverse across this world. You will come to know God and in knowing God you will come to know your own soul. In knowing your own soul, you will forge such a bond, a powerful connection with your Creator, that your prayers will be fruitful and abundant in blessings.
I cannot tell you, beloved souls, the secret, the formula, the way in which this may happen for you, for each person’s journey towards God is unique and it is made up of very many components, barriers, biases, thoughtful conditions, and yearnings within the soul. We speak of the uniqueness of each soul, each individual. So it is a unique journey for that individual to find their way to God, but prayer is essential. Whatever form that prayer takes, it must be true. It must be a legitimate and real longing within you, not something that you feel you must do or that someone has told you to do. It must be that longing of your heart and your soul seeking God, seeking the Truth, seeking to know who you truly are. In this way, all barriers of the mind will in time be resolved and there will be nothing between you and God but the purity of your soul being nourished by the Living Waters of God and the acceptance of your mind that this is of the utmost importance and priority in your life.
No one is immune from these struggles. Some feel things intensely as their natures allow them more feeling, more sense of themselves, more sensitivity to their souls. Others are indeed blocked by many things, experiences in life, mental fears, and biases. So much can indeed stand in the way between an individual and God. But for those who go through the motions and feel nothing, I say to you there is a great need for introspection, for considering what it is within yourself that holds you from God.
Often within the individual are wounds and pains that are not easily confronted. Yet this must be done in order to break loose the dam of resistance. So I urge those individuals who struggle in this way to ask God to help them to heal, to bring them the assistance that they require in order to release the armour of their fears and hurts and to don the new garb of joy and love and trust. This is not easily done in your world for you are taught from a young age to be guarded, to fear and your innocence becomes lost so readily in the conditions of your world.
So as I have said, to come to God as a child is not readily done for many but that innocence still remains within the soul and requires your prayers, your trust, your consistent efforts, and sincere desire to release the barriers and to truly and consciously be with God. Those who have struggled and have broken those barriers, I urge you to pray with your brothers and sisters who are struggling, to tell them your story for is there anyone upon this Earth who has not struggled to find God? Have they not cried out? Have they not longed and struggled and come to confront their own personal demons so as to free themselves from the human condition?
So many in your world are well-defended and resolute. They rely so very much upon their minds and the orderliness of their minds. They find it difficult to release this control, this stance of mental righteousness. So those who are within this condition find it very difficult indeed to go beyond it but within them is a soul yearning and the echoes of that yearning come to the mind. So a mind that is willing to listen will indeed seek to be with God, will find and yearn for and search the ways and means to do so. But this is a great struggle for many.
The blessed ones are the ones who through some crisis or situation in their lives causes them to cry out from their soul and receive a response, an answer to their prayers. In this way, God has given them proof that He does indeed exist. Many do not believe that God is with them or is interested in them or desires to make connection and contact with them. So these individuals, and there are many, many upon your world, are bereft of a great boon to their lives, to understand that God indeed loves them and may pour His Love within them thus soothing the troubled soul, filling the empty soul, bringing greater light to the soul encrusted with all the remnants of their dark and struggling lives.
Each soul is in need of this gift. Each soul requires God to embrace them if they are to find their way out of their darkened conditions. But indeed they have free will and will not find God unless they desire to do so and make efforts to do so. I am saddened by those who have made a great effort and continue to struggle. For many of these individuals, there is a missing component, that which they need to understand within themselves that keeps them from God and that must rely upon their free will and timing and strength and faith that with their struggle an opening will come, and an answer will come.
There has never been a soul created by God who has lived upon this Earth nor within the spheres of spirit who in their longing and desire to know God has been denied, for this cannot be. It is a contradiction of God’s Laws. For those who watch others experience God, experience the delights of God, the beautiful soul of God in a conscious way and continue to do so consistently and what appears to be easily, there is frustration on the part of the soul who is struggling. They wish for resolution so that the benefits, the blessings will come in a conscious way and come immediately. They do not wish to wait.
This is understandable when one endeavours upon such a path, the desire to seek confirmation and conscious awareness of progress is understandable and a very human thing as the soul continues to be blessed provided that soul has a deep desire for such a blessing. The mind for some continues to block the experience of that blessing. Like a cork in a bottle, one must release the barrier and allow the Living Waters to flow into the consciousness of the individual. I know this is easier said than done but I urge all of you, no matter what condition or state of grace you are in, to continue to consistently strive for the highest, to seek the great blessings of God, to ask God to open your soul faculties, that this may be done with the great inflowing of His Love. In this he or she may find that God is generous, generous in His abundant blessings upon you. He sends His angels to be with you, to assist you as you continue to open to these truths, to find them to be true and real and to express them in your lives.
This path is not a path where one merely prays and at times meditates and contemplates and goes on with their daily life which does not reflect harmony and peace and love. This is a daily moment-by-moment commitment, a path for life, a path to be taken seriously, a path that requires your focus and dedication, a path that also requires the expression of truth through every aspect of your life. If one ignores this requirement, then indeed the conditions that one gathers in a life lived out of harmony with God’s Laws will also contribute to the barriers in prayer which many complain about.
It is a deep commitment to be with God in this way but in the effort of committing to God’s Truth of Love, many, many benefits, insights, blessings come. The awakening of the individual will come as one continues to progress within their soul. For some, that awakening that may indeed be present is not readily recognized as their mindful expectations desire a certain way and means that they have proclaimed as a valid expression and conscious awareness of the soul awakened. Yet I return to this one truth that each individual is indeed individual and will experience these things in their own way.
Patience, perseverance, desire, and consistency are the keys to prayer. When one expresses a prayer, one may listen for God’s answers and sit in silence open and receptive to God’s gifts and blessings. This you may call meditation and indeed the stance of openness, of clarity, of innocence is ideal for prayer. So much can come of your efforts, beloved children of God. Though often it is hard-won and is a struggle, as one reconciles themselves to God comes a purity, a deep desire, an innocence to be with God in prayer and contemplation.
Each of you will find your way for it is God’s earnest desire and is part of His effort to assist you to find your soul which will find your Creator. These subtle blessings that God puts before humanity if acknowledged and His guidance listened to in whatever way the individual may accept, then indeed they are upon the road to the acknowledgement of God.
I do not believe I can make it any simpler for you, my beloved and beautiful friends. Though the journey can be hard, the rewards are great. My wish is that you will have deep peace within your lives, that you will find your way beyond the world of man to the world of God and that in this discovery you will find an ease and a joy in your relationship with God. That this interaction, this bond, this relationship may become a conscious part of your daily life with every moment, with every breath. In this way you become a true child of God. You come to know the deep and wondrous benefits of forging this relationship of Love with your Creator. Indeed the most fundamental barrier to one’s relationship with God is oneself.
My prayers are with you, that those barriers may be recognized and released so that God may heal the wounds, assuage the fears, and bring peace to your soul and your mind when you come to rest in the arms of God as your soul reflexively desires His blessings. May God bless you, beloved souls. I feel I have answered your questions on prayer for I have not much else to comment unless you feel there are specific answers needed. So I will leave it to you, dear daughter, to discern this.
Question: Thank you, Jesus. Thank you very much and yes, I think you have answered most of everything. There is a couple of specific things if you wish to comment further. One person was asking about praying while doing physical activity. Do they know if that prayer is suitably engaging and then another person who has Sjogrens Disease is saying it is difficult for her to produce tears and can she come to God in complete surrender with this condition but other than those two details, I think you have responded to all of the questions?
A physical reaction in prayer is absolutely unnecessary so I would take no concern about the ability to express tears, rather it is the emotion behind the tears that is important. As for those who engage in physical activity while in prayer, I will leave it to them to decide if they are indeed finding the results that they are desiring in these activities. A prayer to God to receive His Love may be answered in any circumstance provided it is sincere and given to God in clarity and strength.
Now I must say good-bye to you, and I will come again in another week and speak to you all. Thank you and God bless you. God bless you all, beloved souls, in peace and love. God bless you.