17 aPray without ceasing.
18 In every thing give athanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Those two phrases, Pray without ceasing and in everything give thanks, have taken on a whole larger meaning for me in my recent studies of the Law of Attraction and "The Secret". In the movie, "The Secret" Rhonda Byrne and other masters of LOA, teach that gratitude is the single most powerful element in the successful practice of the Law of Attraction methodology. To be grateful for what we will receive, or to be grateful even for what we now have, is extolled repeatedly as the secret to gaining our desires, and vibrating in synch with that which will give us more.
I believe that true prayer is not the words that we utter, but is in fact, the feeling of gratitude we have in our heart for the laws of God enacted in our lives, for the things we have and for the processes we are involved in. To be in an attitude of prayer without ceasing, I believe we have to be in a mode of gratitude for the smallest things in our lives. It is how we begin to see the hand of God in all things, and are able to feel he is in fact unfolding marvelous things in our lives.
To pray without ceasing does not require us at all to be uttering or even thinking words, and certainly is not about asking Him for anything, but merely requires us to be mindful of His presence and His majesty in all that surrounds us. It is an attitude that sees God in the smallest of His creations, and in the brother or sister who might not even acknowledge His existence.
To give thanks in everything means that we learn to see all things, good or bad, as part of the flowing picture of life, and we begin to understand that what we see as good or bad, God sees as part of the flow of all things as one great whole. We can then understand that death, and pain and all forms of hurt are as necessary as the joy and the beauty that we see, and that without one we can never appreciate its opposite. Being grateful in all things begins to consume our thoughts and we stop having negating thoughts or accepting them for very long.
That to me is how the scriptures teach a very important principle of gratitude being so important to the attainment of all we desire. We must begin by trusting in God's plan for our happiness.
Those two phrases, Pray without ceasing and in everything give thanks, have taken on a whole larger meaning for me in my recent studies of the Law of Attraction and "The Secret". In the movie, "The Secret" Rhonda Byrne and other masters of LOA, teach that gratitude is the single most powerful element in the successful practice of the Law of Attraction methodology. To be grateful for what we will receive, or to be grateful even for what we now have, is extolled repeatedly as the secret to gaining our desires, and vibrating in synch with that which will give us more.
I believe that true prayer is not the words that we utter, but is in fact, the feeling of gratitude we have in our heart for the laws of God enacted in our lives, for the things we have and for the processes we are involved in. To be in an attitude of prayer without ceasing, I believe we have to be in a mode of gratitude for the smallest things in our lives. It is how we begin to see the hand of God in all things, and are able to feel he is in fact unfolding marvelous things in our lives.
To pray without ceasing does not require us at all to be uttering or even thinking words, and certainly is not about asking Him for anything, but merely requires us to be mindful of His presence and His majesty in all that surrounds us. It is an attitude that sees God in the smallest of His creations, and in the brother or sister who might not even acknowledge His existence.
To give thanks in everything means that we learn to see all things, good or bad, as part of the flowing picture of life, and we begin to understand that what we see as good or bad, God sees as part of the flow of all things as one great whole. We can then understand that death, and pain and all forms of hurt are as necessary as the joy and the beauty that we see, and that without one we can never appreciate its opposite. Being grateful in all things begins to consume our thoughts and we stop having negating thoughts or accepting them for very long.
That to me is how the scriptures teach a very important principle of gratitude being so important to the attainment of all we desire. We must begin by trusting in God's plan for our happiness.
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