Contemplation of The Prayer given to us by Jesus

[lizaduff]

Hello fellow seekers of our Father's Divine Love,

I haven't been here in a long time (Hi there!), and so I'm behind the times here, and so I'll just jump in with both feet, without reading up on what I've missed...as that would take a long, long time!

You may know that Jan Blackston, FCNB minister, initiates and holds the space for a study group and prayer circle every Thursday night on skype from 7:30-8:30 Eastern time. The first half hour is study group and beforehand, Jan--or any other member of the group--shares the text of a Padgett message and invites conversation about it. The second half hour begins with a reading of the first 2/3's of The Prayer, followed by silent prayer or spontaneous prayer by any attendee and ends with a reading of the remainder of the Prayer.

Just a few days ago, one of our members suggested in a group email that we 'study' or contemplate together The Prayer. There was a wild-fire response of enthusiasm to that idea! Many have written quite a bit, and I'm hoping that we'll start that study group this Thursday and we won't be surprised if it takes us many weeks because we could probably talk the full time about only one phrase.

That same member then suggested that we write to one another about our first-thoughts about the Prayer as a whole or any one phrase in it. I felt moved to start with the first phrase, and I did write about it and shared it, and I intend/hope/feel led to continue, phrase by phrase to share what-comes-for-me as I reflect on the prayer soulfully.

So that's a lot to tell you, and I'm writing because I'd like to share with you what I sent to my fellow seekers in our study group: (oh, and please excuse me, I don't know how to use italics in this forum):

I started with a little letter to them:

I sat this evening and wrote what came for me after contemplation of the first line of the precious Prayer given to us by Jesus. I wish to share it with you, and want to say that I know all of us--whether we choose to write or not--have a deep connection to The Prayer and we could, and will, continue to mine it ever more deeply in the infinite time ahead.

So I share my words that I've written, knowing that by tomorrow morning, or even an hour from now, I will have something new to write. The Prayer is a gift that will always be fresh and new to us, with more and more to come. So I offer these words, knowing how imperfect my understanding is now and thanking our Father for the great gift of being allowed to continue to contemplate it forever.



Our Father, who art in heaven, we recognize that Thou art all Holy and loving and merciful…

I struggled with this sentence for a long time, knowing I could not in all honesty say it, even though I had already long before dedicated my life to prayer for our Father’s Love and to serving the Foundation Church of the New Birth as my primary work. And yet, I had to be honest, I did not fully know that our Heavenly Father was ‘all Holy, and Loving, and Merciful.’ I couldn’t comprehend it! So I would alter the words and say, “Father, I wish that I could recognize that Thou are all Holy and loving and merciful!’ I could not lie to Him. And I knew He knew my thoughts.

Over time, I saw that of course I cannot, with my mortal mind, recognize God’s attributes. My mind only knows my mortal experiences. My earthly Father did not have these attributes. For a day or two, I stopped calling our Creator “Father,” and explained to Him that this word carried too many other meanings for me, of a mortal father who was very flawed, not at all Holy, only sometimes loving, and what we might call ‘mercy’ was, in my human father, a limited form of tolerance. (Which is true of most mortals, isn't it?).

I saw and felt my inadequacy to express this Prayer with the ‘soul,’ rather than the ‘mind.’ And that has been my path all these many years, wanting to know deeply what it means to pray from my soul. How could I move from me-as-a-person to me-as-soul?

It has changed, this notion of me-as-soul, and I see that it will continue to progress. When I pray now, which is silent and without words most of the time, I have an image and a bodily-felt-sense of my body/me as having a large inner space, and it’s a holy space that has nothing in it, except for a sense of light and beauty, and quietly powerful energy—energy that is always rising gently, and that there is Love there. But all of this without words; these words barely tell of it.

This Prayer begins with our recognition that God is all Good, all merciful, all loving, not at all like mortals, even at their best. It seems to me that Jesus starts here with us because we have such limited notions of what/who God is. We cannot pray to God if we don’t know who/what He is. Of course, he’s not a person, or a human father; these words simply give us a direction to look toward. To see that our Heavenly Father has created us, and that He has only pure Love and the extraordinary intention to grow us, with no judgement or condemnation when we fail to live in His Love.

He waits for us and hopes that we will feel moved to call out to Him, that the deep magnet of our being will pull His Love toward us, many times more powerfully than the strongest magnet, more powerfully than gravity itself which helps the planets to stay in their orbit.

Our deep soulful yearning for the Love of our Father to fill our souls feels stronger to me now than the power that the moon exerts on the tides of all the oceans on the earth, more powerful than the force of a comet hurling through outer space, more powerful than the lava that forces its way out of the deep ground and changes the landscape. I want to feel that powerful strength of my soul’s yearnings. It is only this that can call out from my deepest being to our Father: yes, Father I want Your Love more than anything, more than anything I think I need in this life. I turn away from all of it Father, all the limited things of this mortal life; I turn to You, Father, who art all Holy, loving and merciful!

[PlenaryGrace]

Thank you for sharing, Elizabeth!

I feel the power of your metaphor, drawing God's Love to our souls like a magnet - more powerful than the gravity that holds the planets and turns the tides. YES!!

What a blessed journey we are on, closer and closer to our Father. I recently realized that I have arrived at the place where I am willing to give up everything, my job, my home, all things of the world, in my pursuit of God's Love. In my desire to serve His Kingdom by serving our brothers and sisters here on earth. Nothing else matters but the Love of God. It is a precious gift.

I'm glad you brought this topic to the Board here. Great place for us to continue the conversation. I hope to write more later.

Much Love,

Catherine

[AlFike]

Thank you Elizabeth for taking the time to share your thoughts. It feels like a truly loving gift to all of us to have these heartfelt thoughts about the Prayer. They are deep and inspiring and real. And they stir my soul because of its authenticity and soulfull language. You do that for me Elizabeth when you speak like this. I would say that this is one of your gifts. To speak with humble, honest authority and that makes you the right person to lead FCNB and to inspire others to seek for God's Love. What you share is always relateable and powerful. I hope that you will share more as you go through this process. Since I am not much of a student of The Prayer, I think that what you could share ( and others I hope) will help me to appreciate the beauty of these powerful verses to inspire the soul. Please keep sharing. Much love.....Al

[lizaduff]

Dear Catherine,
Thank you for welcoming me here, and for sharing what you have about letting all of your personal attachments be less-than your/our need for our Father's Great Love. When I saw the unfoldment of the group emails about prayer among the study group, it occurred to me that some of this might belong here too. So I'd like to share whatever comes for me here as well. I find The Prayer to be the 'encyclopedia' of Jesus' messages through Padgett.

Dear Al,
Thank you, dear friend, for your always-loving-encouragement of my work...I know you read the Padgett messages many times, at least that's what I remember you saying, and so when you say that you 'are not much of a student of The Prayer,' I take that to mean you don't recite it....and of course, prayer doesn't require words, I know, it only requires the yearning of the soul.....and I've seen so many instances where someone did yearn deeply from the soul for our Father's Love long before they ever found the Padgett messages.....including me! And including a new FCNB member that I spoke to today for the first time....very inspiring stories of what happened long before folks learned of the great gift of Divine Love....
with gratitude,
elizabeth

[Geoff]

Dear Elizabeth,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It is always good to see you "around"

hugs
Geoff

[DennisT]

Hello dear Elizabeth,

What an exciting topic, and thank you for sharing it here on this forum as well. I always thought that the reason Jesus took so long to give Padgett the Prayer was twofold: first, to give Padgett the time to prepare his own soul (through the gift of Divine Love) and receive the Higher Truths, but secondly, I truly felt that since Padgett was recording this for prosperity sake, Jesus took the time to make sure the words he chose were indeed special. And it is for this second reason that I believe this prayer is worth studying, phrase by phrase, as I feel certain Jesus chose his words very, very carefully.

I hope you will continue to update us on the progress of this discussion.

Love and hugs,

Dennis

[AlFike]

Thanks for your response Elizabeth. Yes, I certainly know the Prayer and I know Padgett's work well. After almost 45 years I have certainly put in a lot of time in study and in prayer. I find that as long as I 'tune' into the longings of my soul and say a prayer with my own words, I'm there with the Holy Spirit and God's presence. I feel the inflowing of His Love when I am truly in prayer. This does not happen every time and the intensity of the experience varies wildly but I certainly become inspired and never sated in my soul longings, just satisfied that I have indeed received a little more of God's greatest gift. My thoughts are that the Prayer Perfect acts like a template and guide to our coming to God from our soul's longings and especially for those who are new to this way and path. It can be a very useful tool . It helps the mind focus on the intent and can point the way to the soul. Once we etch a trail from our minds to our souls and then send those inner longings to the Source, we are well on our way to receiving the Love. For some, the routine of using the prayer does its magic and IMHO reassures and calms the mind as we pray. Just as I have my own routines including playing the same taped music each time, using the prayer as a vehicle to reach God in a soulful way can be a vital part of this effort. Different strokes, different folks. Is one way better than another? I couldn't say. What I do is best for me or at the very least, the way I have learned and repeated thousands of times and it works well. As you have eluded to Elizabeth, God reaches us in many different ways and there are far more individuals who have received the Father's Love and not known the ways which we know. The mind only creates the story but the soul truly knows its way to God. Lucky us that we have very clear and unambiguous guidance as to how to get there. Otherwise I don't think that I would be blessed enough to know my way there without the truths given through Padgett. How blessed indeed. Much love.......Al

[Eva]

Thanks for sharing Elizabeth and Al, and I hope others join in this inspiring discussion. I am a part of the email group that Elizabeth mentioned took off like wild fire (it did indeed) and so I am compiling the write-ups into a file to perhaps become, down the line and with some organization and editing a small PDF book.

Here is something I watched this morning and found inspiring -- short videos made by Joseph Babinsky on each of the phrases of the Prayer. They can be accessed from http://www.divinelovejourney.com/list-of-videos.html

Responding to Dennis' comment, a year ago, we featured in the January 2017 issue of the DL Newsletter an article acknowledging the 100th anniversary of when James received the prayer with a bit of history supplied by Joseph, and other insights by Joseph, Ron Shoemaker and myself. Here is the text of the article:

REMEMBERING THE 100-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE PRAYER PERFECT (EVA PECK)

A few days after the last newsletter was sent out, it was brought to our attention that December 2, 2016 marked the 100th anniversary of when the Prayer Perfect was given to James Padgett. Even though the anniversary is past, we decided to feature in this issue a bit of history of this special Prayer, some biblical and contemporary insights, as well as links to video/graphic versions of the Prayer created by various members of the Divine Love community.

A Brief History of the Prayer (by Joseph Babinsky)
The Prayer was given by Jesus and recorded by James on Saturday evening, December 2, 1916 in the presence of Dr. Leslie Stone, a close friend of James. However, at that time, neither of the two men were overly impressed with it. This is shown by the fact that two months later, on February 6, 1917, the Apostle John came to James (with Leslie again present) to write a message explaining why the two did not gladly embrace the Prayer from Jesus. John wrote: “I heard you say that when you first received [the Prayer] there was in its meaning all confusion and that you did not understand that it would convey any great truths, or help very much those who should offer it to the Father.”

It is interesting that Jesus, John and other high spirits had been with James Padgett and Dr. Stone for nearly three years, and yet James still had difficulty understanding the truths that the spirits were trying to convey to him. Obviously, the Prayer did not immediately change much within the soul and mind of James. The Apostle John recognized that both men received the Prayer in a negative way.

It is true that the Prayer is not easy to learn to use. There appear to be blocks within our soul and mind that resist memorizing it and using it in an active way. John confirms this as he continues his message:

“Well, I have no doubt but what you say is true, and there is a good reason for this. It is so full of the declarations of wonderful truths and thoughts for soul aspirations, that it was difficult (and almost impossible) for your mind or soul to grasp this. And like every other truth that men do not understand, it does not at first reception appear to be a thing of truth that men can learn, and learning make their own.
But the truths of that Prayer, when rightly analyzed, will appear sufficient to meet every necessity that men need or are in want of to bring them to a perfect at-onement with the Father and assure them of eternal salvation as His Divine children and the partakers of immortality.
Very soon I will come and give you a full explanation of the Prayer and its deep and vital truths, so that you may become real possessors of its full meaning.”

It appears that the Apostle John never returned to give James and Leslie a full explanation of the Prayer. However, others were inspired to give us a better understanding of it.
 
Contemporary Insights into the Prayer
In the November 2015 newsletter issue, p. 8, we featured an excellent article by Ron Shoemaker entitled The Prayer Perfect as the Way. Ron sees the prayer “like a map, pointing to the path or way that will enable each human soul to become free from its finite condition and experience an at-onement with the Love of the Father.”

Joseph Babinsky sees the Prayer as “the way of soul transformation” – “a life-long process designed to change the soul of man.” The Prayer is answered by receiving the essence of God’s Divine Love which transforms the qualities of the person’s soul into a new soul. In an unpublished article written in 2010, Joseph wrote: “This is the way of soul transformation: It is the desire of a person to try the great experiment of prayer, and of receiving the essence of Divine Love to transform the qualities of the soul into a new soul. How does this happen? And what is the process? The process of soul transformation is simple, uncomplicated, easy to understand, and to do. All that is required is a sincere desire to begin to pray the Prayer that Jesus wrote one-hundred years ago recorded by James Padgett – received on Saturday evening, December 2nd, 1916.”

Bible Prayers for Divine Love
The Apostle Paul’s letters to those under his charge, preserved for us at least partially in the Bible, also include prayers for the Divine Love. That this is so may not be recognized at first sight, but here are some examples with the relevant parts briefly elaborated on:

Ephesians 1:16-19: I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened [prayer for increased soul perceptions] in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance [Celestial Kingdom] in the saints, and his incomparably great power [Divine Love that transforms our souls from divine image to divine substance and mortal to immortal] for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, …

Ephesians 3:16-21: I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, [soul growth and soul perceptions through Divine Love] so that Christ [Divine Love] may dwell in your hearts through faith. [Divine Love in the soul] And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. [all Divine Love here] Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us [the power of Divine Love, through which miracles can be performed], to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Philippians 1:9-11: And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, [prayer for growth in Divine Love and soul perceptions] so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God. [righteousness through Divine Love transforming the soul.]

Colossians 1:3-6, 9-14: We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints – the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven [Divine Love and accompanying faith] and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth. [Divine Love is a gift of grace] … For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. [soul perceptions] … Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. [Celestial Kingdom reached through Divine Love] For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, [Celestial Kingdom of which Jesus is the Master] in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. [through praying for and receiving the Divine Love].

The Prayer for Divine Love on the Internet
The Padgett writings also tell us that all humans and spirits will have received the knowledge of the Divine Love and be given the opportunity to pray for it before the time that the Celestial Kingdom closes (TGRABJ Vol 2, page 273). We in the Divine Love community have the wonderful opportunity and privilege to assist in teaching both humans and spirits this truth, however we are not the only ones. While we do what we can, we don’t have to feel frustrated or discouraged that our efforts appear to be small or insignificant. Each of us is a vital link in a chain and making a contribution, the result of which may not be known to us till we pass over. We may be pleasantly surprised or even shocked to learn how many people and spirits our loving example and efforts have touched and the ripple effect of those seemingly meagre efforts far and wide.

Several members of the community have uploaded creative versions of the prayer in video or graphic form (please see the original newsletter at http://www.fcdt.org/community/documents ... 202017.pdf for the imbedded links as they got lost in the text below):
• Two modern versions of the prayer at New-Birth.net (Geoff Cutler) and Facebook (post by Dave Kenney).
• A video (created by Helge Mercker – DivineLove PrayerSanctuary) of an expanded paraphrase of the Prayer prayed by Joseph at a retreat in Caloundra, Australia in 2014.
• A video narration by Care Darby Walsh (uploaded by Geoff Cutler).
• A music video rendition with the text on a background of roses (created by DivineLoveVictor).
• A rendition with art and music background (posted by Evolved Living Holistic Health Management).
• An illustrated downloadable PDF file of the Prayer (created by Eva Peck) with a JPG here.
• Translations of the Prayer into various languages can be found here and here.

One hundred years ago, Jesus gave James Padgett – and through him, all people – a special prayer for the Divine Love, which has also become known as the Prayer Perfect (there is also a totally unrelated Prayer Perfect on the Internet). Just as the Prayer didn’t initially resonate with James and Leslie, even today it doesn’t resonate with everyone in or outside the Divine Love community. When I translated the Prayer into Czech and asked a Christian friend to check it for me as far as the language, some of the concepts didn’t resonate with her. Fortunately, the Padgett messages also show that a formal prayer is not necessary to receive the Divine Love; that some have the Love in their souls without specifically having prayed for it or formally understanding it; and that just soul yearning without even being in prayer will result in the Love being received. The most important is that whichever way each of us prefers to sincerely ask for the Divine Love, our loving Heavenly Father will respond. As we enter a new year and whatever challenges it may bring, may we always respond in Love – following Jesus’ example and fulfilling his Eleventh Commandment to love one another as he has loved us.


Much Love to you all and may we all continue to grow in God's Divine Love,
Eva

[lizaduff]

Thanks, Geoff, it's good to 'be around'....and thanks, Dennis for your welcome as well....yes, the Prayer, and all that Jesus shared with Padgett was for posterity....and thank you Eva for all you do in sharing your gifts, I'm grateful....and Al, I like hearing from you, and this, which you wrote: "...the mind only creates the story, but the soul truly knows its way to God..."

It occurs to me to mention this: Jesus conveyed to Padgett--on that day that he gave us The Prayer: "...the only prayer that is necessary is the prayer for the inflowing of this Love...." and that "...all other forms...will not tend to produce this Love in the souls of men...."

After Jesus gave us The Prayer that night, again he wrote through Padgett in the same message: "This is the only prayer that men need to offer to the Father. It is the only one that appeals to the Love of the Father..."

My understanding is that we were being shown that prayer for material things is not the same as prayer for our Father's Love to transform us, to transform our souls....

...and my understanding is that Jesus was talking about the deep truths within The Prayer, not an insistance that we say these words and no other....that when we speak to our Father, wordlessly, or with our own words of the moment, and when we are seeking to enter into the deep meaning of that Prayer that Padgett received, that is the prayer that appeals to the Love of the Father....

AS you know, the Foundation Church of the New Birth is dedicated to preserving the original words of the Padgett messages, both the paper originals, their transcripts, and even the typed transcripts, and is dedicated to preserving them in electronic form as well, so that future generations will have those words to protect mankind from misunderstandings, erroneous additions, and deletions. It's our hope these physical and electronic copies will continue to be available for as long as is needed.

These messages--and the truths found in them--are a gift to all of us. We wish to do everything we can to preserve them. Everything on this earth is temporary, of course, and will eventually pass away, including these precious archives. But the Divine Love will not pass away.

I want to tell you all how grateful I am to be part of this larger community....I know that everyone who visits this forum, and those who have created this forum and maintained it so faithfully, are dedicating your lives to the seeking of this Great Love and to the sharing of it with all who wish to learn of it. I am happy to be here in your presence.

[PlenaryGrace]

Amen, Elizabeth! Thank you for your dedication to preservation. And thanks be to God!

Love to All,

Catherine