Read an Excerpt
Pray Up Your Life
50 Powerful Prayer Practices to Help You Create the Life You Desire
By Charline E. Manuel
BALBOA PRESS
Copyright © 2012 Charline E. Manuel
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4525-4799-2
Chapter One
First Things First
Prayer Anchor: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1 (NKJV)
When we make a conscious intention to pray, it is best to start at the beginning. In the book of Genesis, where the allegorical account of creation is told, a great wisdom is revealed that we can use for our benefit. It unveils the importance of having a conscious place to start. One way to look at this is that the Genesis narrative says God started the creation process at the beginning. Another way to see it is that God is the beginning. From either perspective, whatever we plan to create or to do, the best place to start is with God at the beginning.
When we affirm "In the beginning God" in prayer, we are setting an intention to co-create with God the desires of our heart. We are positioning ourselves at the point where the creative process begins—with God. We are in effect, saying something like, God is the beginning, God started at the beginning, and that's where I will start too—with God as the beginning."
This principle of starting at a specific place called the beginning can be referred to as "first things first." We see this idea modeled for us in nature. The farmer must prepare the soil first before planting his seeds in the ground. To bypass this important step would surely affect the quality and quantity of his crops. His harvest would not bring forth the crop that he desired because he did not honor the rule of first things first.
In spiritual matters, we follow this principle by acknowledging God first. "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."
When we acknowledge God as the foundation on which we pray, we are open and receptive to receive God's direction to the right and perfect answers. This affirms that we want God to be at the core of the outcome. In this way, we make a conscious decision to surrender our personal will to the will of God and therefore to humble ourselves in prayer. Without a little humility, we might make the error that so many folks make, and that is to think that we—apart from God—can achieve the desires of our hearts.
We would do well to remember, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths." "In the beginning God" invites God into our prayers and acknowledges that we know that we need and want divine guidance and assistance.
If we go back and read the creation story, we will see that great patience was taken one day at a time, step by step, to create heaven and earth, living creatures, and humankind. And God did not stop until the job was done. Our Creator does not begin something only to later abandon it—or us. God will see it through to completion in us, according to our willingness to follow the steps, stay open to the process, and start with God at the beginning.
"Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good." So the story goes that after the work was done, God found it favorable and then rested. This is the process we want to follow: We begin with God, follow the steps with great care and patience, trust that the creative process is sound and creates according to a divine plan, know that it will be completed in divine order, and then rest in the realization that it is very good.
God started at the beginning, took the process through to completion, and was pleased with the results. Isn't that what you want; to start at the beginning, stay the course through completion, and then end up with an outcome where you may affirm it is very good? Our first prayer practice invites you to engage the creative process, beginning with God.
Prayer Practice
In your time of daily prayer, begin by acknowledging God's presence. Establish from the start that you are consciously aware that God is the foundation of your life and the source of all that you are, all that you desire to be, have, and experience. God first!
As you become consciously aware of God's presence in prayer, turn your attention inward. When you experience God within you, you add great power to your prayer and your ability to follow through on the outcomes you receive. "... For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you."
Here are a few statements you may use at the beginning of your prayer experience to acknowledge God. Select one or all. The idea is to pray from a consciousness that is grounded in the awareness of God. Say these aloud, concentrate on them, and meditate on them while turning your attention within. After you are centered in God's presence, you are ready to express your prayer desires.
• "In the beginning, God". Fix the idea in your mind that you are one with God, starting out on a prayerful journey within.
• "I now acknowledge the kingdom of God within me." As you pray this statement, turn your attention within—focus on your heart, on your breathing, or toward your abdomen.
• "God is. I am." Repeat this statement until you feel a sense of peace and relaxation, knowing that you are one with God.
• "I AM THAT I AM." Repeat this over and over while your attention is on your breathing. Vary your emphasis from "I AM THAT" to "I AM." In the book of Exodus, one of the names for God is revealed to Moses. "And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you."
• "I am now consciously aware of God's presence within me." Whenever you think or speak the words "I am," remember the scripture from Exodus 3:14. "I am" is your personal name for God—only you can say I am for you.
As you focus your attention on God within, you are engaging your higher self in a sacred meeting where the creative process is set in motion—the beginning. Be patient, and trust that God's carefully designed creative process works and will bring forth results for your prayer in powerful and awesome ways.
Chapter Two
Pray and Get Ready
Prayer Anchor: "Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them." Mark 11:24 (NKJV)
Ask anyone who prays with a specific request in mind if he or she believes the prayer will be answered. Most will say, "Yes! I believe." However, our true beliefs reveal themselves in and through our actions. We can gauge the level of our belief in our answered prayer by noticing the consistency among our thoughts, words, and actions.
So often I have witnessed others praying for a particular need say, "Amen," then go right back to talking as if nothing has changed or will change. To pray and believe means that we consciously open ourselves in communion with God on a matter and then trust that our highest good will manifest. We second-guess neither the prayer nor the God who is able to deliver. We move forward, expecting that results will be realized. Next, we begin to act as though our prayer shall, indeed, be answered with the right and perfect God-directed outcome.
I once was acquainted with a young woman who prayed for male companionship. She prayed, made a treasure map (a prayer desire displayed in pictures), and asked others to pray with her. After several months of all this effort, a young man new to the church that we both attended asked her to accompany him to a work-related social function. I was shocked when she told me she declined the invitation. When I asked her why, she had a list of excuses. She had nothing to wear, she didn't feel comfortable with their first date being a large gathering, she didn't have time to get her hair done before the event, on and on and on. If she had believed her prayer would indeed manifest as she was praying all those months, she would have been preparing in every conceivable way to say yes to an opportunity when it did, indeed, arise.
For our prayers to be even more effective, we infuse thoughts and words that support an inner embrace of what we are praying about. In other words, our beliefs show up in our actions. If we truly believe that what we pray for can be ours and is ours, we will pray and refuse to let minor excuses become obstacles to the opportunities that arise as a result of our prayers.
The epilogue to the story above is that after the woman declined the young man's invitation, he asked another woman in the church to attend the event, and she said yes. They began dating and, two years later, were married.
Now, it is true that all is in divine order with regard to who ended up with whom. However, if we pray specifically for something we say we want, our job is to pray and prepare for the opportunities that will present themselves as possible answers to our prayer.
When we pray, we create and send forth an energy field that begins to work on our behalf. This young man may not have been "the one" for the first young woman, but his appearance in her life does suggest that she was sending out positive energy for what she was praying about. However, when we aren't prepared for a response to our prayer, we send forth a mixed signal regarding what we desire. In times like these, our demonstration may be delayed or redirected toward someone who is "ready" to receive the blessing.
If the young man was not of the particular liking that the first woman desired in a companion, it was proper that she redirect his advances. However, to reject his advances with trivial excuses (like not having anything to wear) speaks to being unprepared for the very thing for which she had been praying.
Great power is added to our prayer when we set in motion action in preparation for the good we desire.
Prayer Practice
Periodically check your level of belief. Take the prayer anchor for this chapter into your time of prayer and meditate on the words. Concentrate on its meaning to you. Determine if your outer actions are in alignment with what you are praying. Observe your thoughts, words, and actions to see if they do indeed reflect what you are praying. If not, this is an area you may decide to work on. If your thoughts and outer actions are in alignment with your prayer, begin immediately preparing for the demonstrations sure to be drawn to you.
Pray with your whole heart for what you desire to manifest in your life. Use the techniques in this book and others that you know. Whether you speak your prayers aloud, affirm them in the silence of your being, write them in your prayer journal, or pray them with your prayer group, when you act as though you believe the prayer is a living reality, you cooperate with the spirit of God within you to bring the prayer into manifestation.
Whenever our prayers are delayed, the first place to examine ourselves is in the area of belief. Your part in manifesting your desire is to pray, believe, and prepare for the demonstration you seek. If there is some particular desire you are praying to manifest, set it in your mind to do something daily in preparation for its manifestation. If your desire is really what you want, you'll know because you will enjoy preparing to receive it.
Chapter Three
Stay Positive
Prayer Anchor: "Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." Philippians 4:8 (NRSV)
Our power to decide what we will think, what we will say, and what we will do is truly one of God's greatest gifts. I can remember times in my life when I was firm on a decision that I had made, and with unwavering, persistent faith, miraculous things happened. I had set in mind an intention and made a decision, and my outer circumstances cooperated with my mental choice.
One such time was when I decided to go back to school to get my master's degree. I had just moved to Kansas City, Missouri, the previous year with my son, who was five years old at the time. I had no family there and knew only a few people I worked with and a few friends in my church family. The challenge was who would baby-sit Benjamin while I took classes at night. I remember thinking on the day I registered for classes, "I don't know how I'm going to do this without something in place for my son's care." But I registered anyway.
Until the night of my first class, I had no one to look after Benjamin. I fed him dinner, praying the whole time something like, "Dear God, I know I'm going to class tonight, and I know that Benjamin will be safely cared for—I just don't know how yet, but I know there is an answer." Even Benjamin was concerned. He must have asked ten times or more, "Where am I going when you go to school? Am I going with you? Who's going to keep me?"
Just after we had finished dinner, there was a knock at the door, and it was a little boy and his mom who lived a few buildings away in our apartment complex. Benjamin had played with the boy, and I knew his mother only well enough to say hello in passing and to wave to when the boys were playing. The boy and his mother came to invite Benjamin to their home that evening. It was the boy's birthday, and the mom was inviting a few of the neighborhood boys over for ice cream and cake and to play a few games. I told her I had to attend a class that night and would not be back until about 9 p.m. She said that was fine.
That was the start of what became a friendship with this woman who kept Benjamin when I had night classes. On Saturdays, when she needed to run errands, I kept her son with Benjamin and me. I could not have planned a better arrangement myself.
But that experience taught me the power of a made-up mind. I had decided I was going back to school, and the details were worked out beyond what I could have ever imagined. Staying positive can make the difference in achieving a seemingly challenging goal.
One tool for helping us to form our desires in our mind is focus. Focus can propel us toward our desires in miraculous ways. When we focus on what we want rather than what we do not want, we set in motion the power to manifest the desires of our heart. With the conscious, faithful, and persistent focus of our thoughts, we become magnets for unseen possibilities to find us. The process of affirmations (positive statements of truth) and denials (statements that drive negative thoughts from our mind) help us form the quality of thoughts that draw to us the good we desire.
So often it appears that our prayers are not answered, yet the truth may be that we were not clear, definite, or specific about what we were praying for in the first place. Affirmations and denials help us get into the mental space of knowing what we desire. Once the desire is clear in our mind, we anchor the desire with the steady flow of positive thoughts. Desire can take the form of a powerful energy when set in motion as a series of affirmations spoken aloud; this is called affirmative prayer. When we make positive thinking a habit, we prepare our minds for positive results.
Prayer Practice
The prayer anchor for this chapter can be helpful in training the mind to think positively. For nine days, write the scripture shown as the prayer anchor for this chapter as though you are writing a letter to yourself. Imagine your "higher self" writing this important message to you for your greater good. Write it out this way three times each of the nine days as early in the morning as you can: "Finally, beloved_________________ (your name), today, ________________(day and date) set your mind on whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable. If there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."
Each day, after you have written the letter, prayerfully read it in your own handwriting first aloud, the second time softly, and the third time, think it to yourself. Then spend a few minutes in silent concentration on this scripture.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Pray Up Your Life by Charline E. Manuel Copyright © 2012 by Charline E. Manuel. Excerpted by permission of BALBOA PRESS. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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