Do you Approach Prayer as a Trick or a Treat?

On this Halloween day, it occurred to me that many of us approach prayer as a trick or treat venture.

On the “Trick” side:

What is the trick to successful prayer?

Will God give me what I so desperately need?

Should I pray all the time, begging him to answer my prayer?

Will more faith turn the key to the storehouse of God’s miracles?

On the “treat” side:

I love talking to my Source.

I pray not for more goodies but for more of a connection to my maker.

I view prayer as communion with God.

God is love and I always keep that in mind when I pray to God.

A Mixture Trick-or-Treat

I think most of us approach prayer with a mixture of that trick-or-treat feeling. However, I think it’s important to know that all you really need to do is ask God to help you to have more faith. Ask God to teach you how to effectively pray. Ask God to show you his love.

Remember…everyone that asks, receive.

Why your Prayers Aren’t Working

Are you frustrated that your prayers don’t seem to work? Do you ask, and ask, and ASK for something, but the Universe almost never grants your requests? Are you tired of pleading, in desperation, for a miracle to happen in some aspect of your life, only to receive…nothing?

Would you be surprised if I told you that the Universe has answered your prayers every time you prayed? It’s true. You are pleading, and begging, and asking and every time you do, you are praying for your lack. You are praying for what you don’t have rather than what you want. The Universe is answering your prayers by giving you more of what you don’t have.

A Little Thing Called Faith

Faith is an important ingredient in your prayer being answered. Here’s what Jesus had to say about faith and prayer.

Mark 11:23-24

For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be though removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them.

Does this sound like the prayer of someone begging and pleading for what he does not have? NO. This is the prayer of a person who knows his own power to create whatever he desires. This is the prayer of a person who demands that the mountain be removed. This is a person who has the faith that it will be removed.
This person spends no time telling God how big the mountain looks, or how he’s prayed countless times and God has done nothing to the mountain, or how it must not be God’s will to remove the mountain. He simply says, “move,” and the mountain moves.

Believing is Receiving

Before you will receive the answer to your prayer, you must believe—with absolutely no doubt—that you will receive your request. Yes, this is hard to do. But here are some tips that can help you to develop the faith necessary for you to receive the answers to your prayers.

• Never pray for something. Instead, thank the Universe (in advance) for answering your prayer. If done consistently, this will build your faith.

• Use affirmations of achieving your goal or your dream several times a day, but state them in the present tense. For example, say “I always have enough money to meet all of my bills,” not “I will have money to meet my bills.”

• Spend some time each day visualizing yourself in possession of the object of your desire. Try to visualize your desire being true for you right now. Don’t visualize your dream coming to you, visualize it already with you.

• Get emotional. Above all, feel the emotions of having your desire fulfilled. Feel the excitement, pleasure, awe, etc. of actually being in possession of your dream.
When you are able to actually feel yourself in possession of the subject of your prayer, you shall have it. Guaranteed.

By the way, this isn’t just a religious belief. Quantum Physics has proven scientifically what Jesus, Buddha, and other ancient spiritual traditions have been saying for ages:

You’ll see it when you believe it.

The Divine Matrix: Book Review

The Divine Matrix: Bridging Space, Miracles, and Belief. Gregg Braden. New York: Hay House, 2007. 223 pp.


Gregg Braden’s, The Divine Matrix, proposes that we are more than mere specks in a universe that doesn’t care about us, a universe that we have no control over. Rather, he proposes that we are the creators of our world and of what we experience in it. We live in an interactive universe, Braden says, one in which our participation is mandatory. Whatever we have faith in, will come to pass. The Divine Matrix guarantees it.

Yes, organized religions have been touting the importance of faith in unseen forces (or God) forever, so Braden’s claim is not new. Neither is his theory of an interactive universe particularly new. (Everyone from Deepak Chopra to Dr. Wayne W. Dyer have quoted the same studies in quantum physics that seem to indicate that particles and waves (scientific gobeldy goo that I don’t understand very well) requires a conscious observer for it to “collapse” into our reality—the reality that we expect to see.

But Braden, a former senior computer systems designer, just does it better.

Throughout The Divine Matrix, Braden lists study after study from quantum physics (and explains them in a way that a scientifically-challenged person, such as myself, can understand) that builds inexorably toward the conclusion that we are all responsible for the reality that we observe.

And there is no escape. We are constantly creating whether we believe in his theory or not. We are constantly creating whether we realize it or not. We are constantly creating whether we want to or not.

As Braden says in the introduction, The Divine Matrix “provides the container, as well as a bridge and a mirror, for everything that happens between the world within us and the one outside of our bodies. The fact that this field exists in everything from the smallest particles of the quantum atom to distant galaxies whose light is just now reaching our eyes, and in everything between, changes what we’ve believe about our role in creation.”

But Braden just doesn’t tell us how the Divine Matrix works; he also tells us how we can change the reality that we’ve unconsciously created for ourselves.

In reading The Divine Matrix, my view of my role in creation certainly shifted. For the first time in my life, I felt empowered. I was not just plopped down on earth as an innocent victim of life. I, puny little me, could make a difference in my life and the lives of everyone and everything in the universe. (Everything that happens in the divine matrix affects everyone in the matrix, even if they are on the other side of the world!)

The Divine Matrix is well-written and is wonderfully inspirational. I rank it #1 on my list of the best spiritual/inspirational books on the market.

And I’ve read a lot of spiritual/inspirational books.

By the way…Braden does not discount the existence of a higher power. On the contrary, it is the energy of a higher power, Braden says, that is the creative power of the Divine Matrix.

Buy or borrow a copy of The Divine Matrix, read it, and let me know what you think!