Jesus is transfigured on a mountaintop. We are illumined as we go to a higher place in consciousness, often through prayer. This stage of the mystical awakening process is about the illumination of the self, in which we gain a greater intuitive awareness that recognizes the sacred in all people and all things and in ourselves.
When I first came into New Thought, I did not understand affirmative prayer in which we make a statement of truth, such as “Christ within me now forgives fully and freely.” That did not resonate with me. It made more sense to say, “Dear God, Help me to get rid of this resentment.” It seemed more personal somehow, until I realized that our prayers do not change God.
Omnipresence cannot be twisted to our will. Prayer changes us and is answered according to our belief in it. Pray and expect your prayer to be answered. Do not pray for something bad NOT to happen but pray rather for something good TO happen. God answers every prayer to the extent that we allow it. When the mind is filled with doubt and fear, the channel for our good is narrowed. But as we come to know the nature of God as absolute good, then our fear is eliminated.
“Our thoughts, and most particularly our intentions, are prayers. A thought is energy, or light, that has been shaped by consciousness.” (Zukav, Gary, Seat of the Soul, p. 106)
Zukav said, “We are a dynamic being of light that at each moment informs the universal energy that flows through us. We do this with each thought, with each intention. We change the way we shape the light which is flowing through us by changing our consciousness. We do this, for example, when we challenge a negative pattern, such as anger, and consciously choose to replace it with compassion, or when we challenge impatience and consciously choose to understand and appreciate the needs of others. This changes our experience.”
Author Elizabeth Jenkins wrote about the powerful impression made on her one time when she read about the great Theosophist and Clairvoyant Alice Bailey, who described watching the energy field of a man sending out an intention. ‘I saw the thought form go out and then was able to see the responding wave of energy, the answer coming toward the man from the universe. At just that moment, the man gave up his focused intention. I saw the two energy fields diverge instead of coming together. They were almost coming together when he gave up.’ Jenkins never forgot this powerful description by Alice Bailey.
We have to persevere! We release our doubt and fear, we affirm our faith, and we trust that as beings of light, we are guided to co-create our reality with our prayerful intentions. And intentions set light into motion! They actually shape light! That gives new meaning to the expression, “Light Bearer,” and our responsibility to become one!
Love & Blessings,
Rev. Kathy