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What is prayer?

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Context

Jesus set out a template for prayer. This template is called the Lords Prayer. It begins, "Our Father in Heaven". Thereafter are a series of affirmations about reverence to God, the Kingdom of God, obedience to God and establishment of His perfect Will in all of His creation, our physical needs, forgiving and being forgiven, temptation and evil, and finally a recognition that the kingdom belongs to God, within Him is the power that forms all that is, and finally that He is the ultimate reality of life and alone worthy of such recognition.

Jesus told his disciples that certain kinds of demons can only be cast out with prayer and fasting..

At the time of his death on the cross of Calvary Jesus recited part or all of the 22 psalm and then committed his spirit to his heavenly father and died. This also was a prayer. Th

It appears that Jesus prayed for Peter after Peter denied the purpose of Jesus Christ (that he must die at the hands of sinful men) and after which Jesus addressed him as Satan (because Peter had allowed the temptation of the devil to result in denial of the purpose of Christ). It reads in the scripture like the prayer was synonymous and unspoken and occurred as soon as Jesus told Peter that he would pray for Peter.

The New Testament has passages regarding prayer for others, prayer without ceasing, and one instance where Jesus prayed all night.

So exactly what is prayer? To complicate things, Jesus told his followers that whatever any 2 or more of them should agree upon, then it would be done. Why have prayer at all if anything can be accomplished by an agreement between 2 or more believers?

Paul said that some were sickly and dying because they were living in disobedience. Paul clarified how the sick should be prayed for by indicating that the prayer should be issued by a righteous believer and the prayer should be diligent.

And the examples could go on and on. Is there any consistency in any of this?

And further, some pastors use terminolgy that seems to imply we should twist Gods arm to get what we want, persist until he gives it to us. They say things like we should storm Heaven with our prayers, we should repeat, cry, wail, get down on our knees, sweat and cry out to God to get busy and do what we want Him to do.

Some simply refer to one or more of the sayings of Jesus that a Father would not deny the persistent requests of his child. And some even advocate strong emotional outbursts expressed over many hours of prayer time as needful and might quote a bible passage that "moaning" is the unspoken intent of the spirit.

It would seem that for all the praying that is done in the name of Christ there is a lot of contradiction and confusion. This article will attempt to sort it all out. Also read the web page on Christian Leadership (left black panel) for insights that bear upon this topic. T
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The below color abstract represents the purpose of God in Jesus Christ.

The red part of the cross represents the blood of Christ shed in atonement for the sins of mankind. The blue part of the cross represents the resurrection of Christ and his ascension into Heaven as well as his return to rule over the Kingdom of God on this earth. The yellow figure in the centre represents his transition from a crown of thorns prior to his death to his crown of glory and power at the right hand of God Almighty. This transition starts as son of man into the darkness and agony of separation from God and on to his victory over this spiritual separation where as son of God he bridges that darkness and separation and with the power of God creates a place in Heaven that where he is we may be also. Thus it is that God has reconciled us to himself through his only begotten son Jesus Christ being both son of man and son of God.


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Jesus - the "Word" of God

Heb 4:12 (YLT) for the reckoning of God is living, and working, and sharp above every two-edged sword, and piercing unto the dividing asunder both of soul and spirit, of joints also and marrow, and a discerner of thoughts and intents of the heart;
Heb 4:12 (KJ21) For the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Heb 4:12 (RSV) For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Heb 4:13 (KJ21) Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
Heb 4:14 (KJ21) Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed into the Heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our profession.
Heb 4:15 (RSV) For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Heb 5:5 (RSV) So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, "Thou art my Son, today I have begotten thee";
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(RSV) And from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace. (RSV) For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
(KJ21) No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.

God does not reward a disobedient attitude


Warning: This article covers a lot of related issues. Some of the ideas are difficult to explain in a way everyone will get the intended and same meaning. For that reason certain words are carefully defined and then as consistently as possible utilized in the message. Various points touch upon sensitive issues that can easily be misunderstood because of their newness to the reader and the emotional impact upon the reader. So you are urged to read this article carefully and thoroughly and reflect upon its intent. Any suggestions for improving or clarifying the content of this message are more than welcome.

The title "God does not reward a disobedient attitude" implies the answer to all of the questions set out in the adjacent black Context panel. But first we must define what is a disobedient attitude. It affects us all much more than you might suppose. Our attitude is either obedient or disobedient depending upon whether we are developing in the New Reality or living in the carnal physical reality. If we pray from the New Reality we experience victory but if we pray from the carnal physical reality we pray in vain. The underlying basis of the New Reality is obedience to the Will of God. There are different views on how obedience and disobedience are defined but if they are defined outside the New Reality they do not agree with the teachings of Jesus Christ. Therefore to first understand prayer we must understand obedience and to first understand obedience we must understand the New Reality taught by Jesus Christ.

There are several web pages on this site that deal with the New Reality. You should try to understand this term. Briefly, the New Reality is a God based perspective of life. To develop in the New Reality, one is transformed to see everything from the perspective of God. For this perspective to happen we must be transformed into the likeness of the mind and character of Jesus Christ. The term New Reality is not used as such in the New Testament. The term born again is used by Jesus and many of his teachings deal with the Kingdom of God which he said is spiritual and "within you" as opposed to a physical kingdom which is outside of you. Also, Jesus prayed that we (the believer) become one with the Father even as he is one with the Father. Again, one becomes a citizen (so to speak) of this spiritual kingdom only when one turns away from the sinful fleshly reality of this physical dimension and establishes oneness with God when Jesus Christ sends the Holy Spirit to a believer. So the term New Reality encompasses "oneness" with God through Christ, transformation of mind and character to be Christ like, the teachings by Christ of the Kingdom of God, and the turning away from sin through the rejection of the carnal physical reality. So the term New Reality as used here is based on New Testament teachings. But there is much in the way of detail that needs to be clarified.

When the spirit of the believer is joined to the (Holy) Spirit of God, the believer partakes of the Eternal and Loving nature of God. But this is just the beginning. Once God has so incarnated into the believers soul a transformation process begins. The goal of this transformation is to regenerate the believer into the mind and character of Jesus Christ. This transformation is to proceed to its logical conclusion where the willing process of the human soul is so integrated to the Will of God that every thought, feeling, and action is driven by His Will. Don't let this thought get by you. We are talking about the motivational character of the human soul, the seat of all willing processes that result in thoughts, feeling, and actions. We are talking about what makes you "You". We are talking about a dynamic every moment situation in the human soul where all willing decisions are derived from the Will of the Holy Spirit. We are talking co-worker with Jesus Christ under the authority of God the Father. This is serious stuff and can have a dramatic impact on your life. These are not vague ideals these are firm requirements. Many professing Christians have no idea of the extent of committment required to follow Jesus Christ. For those that do this can be a hard and painful process for many because it means gradually breaking down the "reality" based on the terms of this physical dimension and transforming this old reality to the Divine reality, the New Reality, the perspective of God for each individual so engaged. In bible terms, the old man must become new. So we have moved from repentance to regeneration. And we have established that regeneration will produce us in the likeness of Jesus Christ, his mind and his character. We have established that this regeneration means going all the way with God and is the only way we can partake of His eternal and loving nature. Our attitude must be 100% committed. We must be prepared to give up ourselves and become like Christ. If all of this is offensive to you then you are not experiencing the regeneration and you are still living in the carnal physical reality. Let us examine this further in terms of need for repentance and need for regeneration.

The old reality is a mind and character that interprets all things from the physical perspective - in physical terms - and cannot comprehend God and is enmity to God. Even the common language we use whether it be English, French, German, or some other language is fundamentally rooted in the terms of this physical dimension into which we are born. If this is not self evident then refer to the article on this web site that clarifies this issue. But the New Reality accepts the spiritual as enclosing all other dimensions including the physical dimension into which we are born as a new soul. Jesus Christ, God Incarnate in His fullness - being both God and man and not possessed of the physical reality, brought into the world by demonstration and teaching a New Reality. The New Reality is to replace the physical reality in our lives. The New Reality explains the physical in terms of the spiritual. Jesus taught that human rationale and emotions based on the physical reality can only explain the creation but are inadequate to explain its creator. He said this by example and implication.

Jesus taught in parables and analogies because our language based on the physical reality was inadequate. The only provision in man that empowers him towards an understanding of the creator is experience. We must experience God because we cannot in any other fashion come into harmony with His person and purpose. Man is designed to experience God even though the language of his physical reality is inadequate. But that does not mean that natural man does experience God. Designed to experience and experiencing are two different things. God came to man in the physical dimension and in human form to facilitate this experience. But even the experience of seeing God incarnate - as Jesus Christ - was too difficult for many. So also were his teachings. As it was then it is so now. Man on the basis of his sense of reality, the way he naturally perceives life, cannot comprehend or know God and can only experience God through Jesus Christ.

In the teachings of Jesus he describes a New Reality. He basically demonstrated in his life among other things that unbelievers must encounter and experience God in those that have the New Reality. In this regard he declared himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He also said, "he who has seen me has seen the Father". This process began with Jesus, moved on to his disciples and followers, and has survived to this day. When the "experience God" process began with Jesus, his followers were able to see, listen to, and touch the incarnation of God. Today we have to pragmatically do so by acting on his recorded words and teachings and pragmatically experiencing God. Some won't like this word pragmatism so lets deal with it before continuing on. Remember, here we are only talking about how sinful man, natural man, can approach God.

Pragmatism is the doctrine which tests the truth of anything by its practical consequences. Therefore, truth is held to be relative and not attainable by philosophical or metaphysical speculation of the carnal mind whose reality is formed in the physical dimension. The underlined part is not in the dictionary and so this definition goes a bit beyond the dictionary but it is obviously assumed in the dictionary that such speculations are carried on by those with what the Bible calls a "carnal mind", a mind steeped in the physical dimension and using physical terms - the so called everyday natural man. Most non scriptural references assume this mentality as they know of no other.

Technically, pragmatism does not mean that certain truths are not absolute, it means that we (with a carnal mind) cannot determine truth by speculations coming from our sense of reality (based on the physical properties of this physical dimension). The doctrine is expressed differently by different people but what is intended by this word is that we determine by our experiences what to believe about anything. Many people that say they are pragmatists don't believe in the spiritual dimension, or God, or Jesus Christ, because they have not experienced him from within their carnal physical reality or measured him in the terms of this physical reality. But these people do not own the English language and we here are very carefully setting out our intended meaning. That doesn't mean they cannot directly experience God, they simply have not tried in the right fashion. And it has already been indicated that they cannot directly experience God on their own from within their natural physical reality and that this has to be enabled by Jesus Christ. If they try without the help of Jesus Christ they will fail. But they have been so committed to the physical reality that when they do indirectly experience God in a believer having the New Reality they care not to go further with this experience for they are content where they are at. And because of that Jesus Christ will not send the Holy Spirit to them and so the direct experience is not enabled. There are those whom the bible declares as rich and worshippers of themselves. They limit their experiences based on self aggrandizement and do not feel they have to extend their experiences in a way where their self worship would have to be discarded. They are then bound into the physical reality and hopelessly lost to the consequences of sin.

However, a seeking believer, on the basis of the Bible, takes a chance, a leap of faith in the teaching of Jesus, and pragmatically tests the truth, and attempts to directly experience the New Reality having perceived that others seem to have it. It is then that Jesus Christ sends the Holy Spirit into the believers life and a work of God ( not of man ) proceeds. And this is the "experience God" process that Christ first demonstrated as God incarnate and enables now when he sends the Holy Spirit. To repeat: When a seeking believer takes what seems to be a risk (for the seeking believer has not yet received the Holy Spirit and partaken of the Divine nature) he/she is rewarded, for at that moment Jesus Christ sends the Holy Spirit. So, to review, sinful man must experience God indirectly in the believer having the New Reality. This experience is enough to cause the sinner to take the leap of faith towards the New Reality which begins in his life when Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to merge with his spirit. Now (after receiving the Holy Spirit), the sinner is a true believer who has directly experienced God and looks forward to growth in the New Reality.

So the leap of faith is rewarded but not for some as they they took that leap of faith irresponsibly. They may have understood they were getting something for nothing. Maybe a believer or someone professing the faith told them that salvation and eternal life were freebies from God. Salvation is freely available but one must be prepared to give up everything associated with the physical reality and be transformed into the New Reality - God consciousness, where everything is viewed from the perspective of God. Jesus makes this abundantly clear. Nothing must be more important than the prize of becoming one with God. If they don't know this ahead of time or are not prepared to do this they begin and continue the process with the wrong attitude. Some expect God to reward the wrong attitude. But God cannot reward and join to a sinful attitude or He would be contradicting His own purpose and plan. So in conclusion. It is built into man and all intelligent creatures, that if something is first achieved by one it may then be achieved by all. This is the benefit of experience. It is the means of God reconciling man to Himself through Jesus Christ..We must personally and directly experience God through Jesus Christ.

So we have established that man cannot experience God by his carnal mind and character. This nature is there as soon as man is born. This carnal nature which develops in the physical reality separates natural man from Gods Will. Further, there is no alignment between the will of man born in this physical dimension and God whose seat of power is in Heaven - a Holy realm in which flesh and bone and blood cannot inherit or exist. So man is said to be born in sin. Man inherits a sinful nature. Sin is disobedience to the perfect Will of God. It is also disobedience to the social laws of God specified in the Old Testament. And again, it is simply any motive or intention that would violate these laws. A thought, motive, or feeling are just as much sin as an action or behavior. General behavior is righteous or unrighteous from that perspective. This article is not about reconciliation, redemption, and transformation. It is about prayer. But prayer cannot be understood without the foundation of the New Reality. If you do not have the New Reality then you are wasting your time reading this article about prayer. For your prayers are not heard no matter how dramatic you act out your prayer request. Prayer is enabled only by the New Reality by God in dwelling our soul, by His will guiding our will thus making us obedient and righteous. Only the prayer of a righteous man will be heard. God does not reward the disobedient attitude that exists in those not having the New Reality.

The key point made so far is only this. The willing process of the Christian must reflect the Divine intent for that individuals life. If the will of the Christian is not progressing in the New Reality then that individual may be acting contrary to the perspective of God for that individuals life. If such be the case, then that individual is living in disobedience. This means their turning from sin is not a committed action, their focus and desire is not towards the fullness of the New Reality but toward something less. This is an attitude of "I will only go so far with this God thing". It is an attitude that is condemned. There is a difference between progressing towards the fullness and not really wanting to get there in the first place. None, that I know of are totally free of the "baggage" of sin. We all sin to some degree because, after all, we are being transformed from one nature to the Christ like nature. We are not transformed but we are being transformed. But our attitude is a focus and desire to be fully transformed. It is an attitude of faith, a thing earnestly hoped for that we have not attained but expect to attain. And we behave according to this expectation, that is we wait upon and expect God to take us forward to the fullness of this experience. This attitude is acceptable to God. If we have this attitude then God does not view us as unrighteous but deems us with a status of being righteous. He looks at us through Christ as Christ is our mediator, Christ sends us the Holy Spirit, Christ works with God the Father and the Holy Spirit to mould us in his image and according to the purpose set by the Father for each and every one of us as His co-workers. Christ makes it possible for us to be one with the Divine nature of God because the Holy Spirit merges with our spirit to establish this Eternal relationship. So what this all comes down to is "attitude". Not attitude in the conventional sense for that would diminish the significance, but what is our attitude towards the two realities. Only one attitude is acceptable to God. One attitude is obedience exercised in faith and the other attitude is disobedience.

It took a while to get there but now we have the basics for understanding prayer and its success or failure. If you have the New Reality, that is, if you are progressing in the New Reality then your will should reflect His Will and what you ask should be in accordance with his plan and purpose for your life. Otherwise, you ask amiss. This may also be the case if you are immature in the New Reality - just too much baggage - and you need the assistance of those mature in this New Reality (if you can find anyone). That is the big problem, "if you can find anyone". How would a believer immature in the New Reality recognize a believer that is mature in the New Reality? Not very easily! One would expect that if you go to a church that professes the leadership of Jesus Christ then most everyone there should be developing in the New Reality and are citizens of the Kingdom of God and members of the Body of Christ. And they will all profess that this is the case. But that is exactly where Christianity is breaking down. It's membership and its leadership are more preoccupied with their denominational empires and specific church creeds and their conversion numbers, and the things of this world, than they are with the New Reality. Let me explain how the apparently sincere can be caught in a trap of insincerity because of their immaturity in the New Reality.

The term New Reality means more than just an individual perspective. Not knowing this or experiencing this leads to a trap which closes us off from further maturation in the New Reality and limits our victory. This is very important to appreciate. But if you miss it you miss the most important aspect of the New Reality, the aspect that provides victory in the life of the believer. This is the aspect that promotes growth towards the fullness of the New Reality - the God based perspective of life. That aspect is "fellowship". Oh! We all know what Christian fellowship is, right? At this moment, before reading on, I want you to carefully and thoughtfully write down what you think Christian fellowship is all about. Then you can judge yourself after you continue reading this article.

We are not talking about attending church services with others who profess the faith. We are not talking about prayer meetings and bible studies. We are not talking about casual camaraderie and social gatherings. We are talking about something much more than all of these together. This is the most important part of the New Reality and proof that one has the New Reality. We speak of the Body of Christ functioning together as a world wide collection of believers all of whom have established "oneness" with God through the Holy Spirit. Now here it comes!!! There is ONE Holy Spirit. That means that if a believer is truly united with God and partaking of the eternal and loving nature of God then they are also one with each other through that same Holy Spirit. Lets not buzz over that point too fast. Too many speak of it but don't integrate it into everything they think and do. Have you a collaborative and supporting relationship of trust and confidence with other believers where you can honestly, without fear and judgement, share and discuss your life, its intimacies and its problems with others and they with you? Does this relationship extend beyond your congregation to others of all denominations? And is this a common experience for you? And finally, are you growing in the New Reality because of this experience with other believers?
If not then you do not have the Christlike collaborative relationship between Him and His that will promote growth to the full New Reality. Read that again, very carefully. Do you want the fullness or is this asking too much? Now this condition may not be entirely your fault. It may be in large part that you are enslaved to an environment that is hostile to this requirement. Yes, a professing Christian church can be a hostile environment to your progress in the New Reality.

Does the church leadership promote this kind of collaborative and supportive relationship - why not? Do the members of your congregation promote it - why not? Is it because of fear? Is the leadership and the majority of the congregation avoiding these intimacies becasue of fear? Is it deemed wise to not even begin this sort of thing because there is already difficulties of many sorts between church leaders and members of the congregation? Are there cliques within the congregation? Is there a strong and enduring effort to bring everyone into equality and sharing and a common accord? Does a church leader or a member of the congregation treat such intimacies as "none of your business", "butt out", "I only discuss things like this with the pastor", and similar avoidance type and fearful responses that show distrust and anger. Is there a lot of finger pointing, suspicion, and blame going on? Do you get the "God never intended that we share our lives in this manner with each other - that is a distortion of the truth" response? That last one is akin to calling Jesus "of the devil" as some of the religious leaders of his time called him. Or does the minister or pastor indicate that he alone is the pivotal point of church behavior and members should go through him (not the Body of Christ)? Life in the church proceeds in the church according to his program or a committe endorsed program? Or perhaps it is a committe that is the pivitor point. Or, even worse, "we have a church consellor who is skilled in helping members with their lives and spiritual development (we don't need the body of Christ)? Are the members of the congregation led in a fashion that they never grow in personal leadership skills and therefore cannot be trusted with this kind of intimacy? Is there a strong and successful trend in the church to make members less dependent on a single pivitol leadership and more dependent on each others leadership and a recognition that each has a vital contribution they can make in the edification on the other? Do members of the congregation meet in each others homes for this specific purpose? This is in great part what "forsake not the assembling of yourselves together" really means. It does not mean gather all together, all in a nice neat row, face the pivitol leadership point in the front and be directed in all things. Be directed in Bible study, be directed in prayer meeting, be directed in teaching, be directed in regular church services, just plain be directed in all things. That was never the intent. There are different leadership roles but we are to all be in the service of one another and that does not relegate one function over all other functions.

In point of fact, all church leadership should be - as equals - engaged in this collaborative and intimate sharing with members of the congregation not only for the benefit of the congregation but for their own benefit. It is deceitful for them to behave in a manner that presupposes and teaches by example that their function is higher than the function of any other member in the congregation. Supposed templates that appear in New Testament activities have a historical and cultural significance and there was and still is a need for so-called church leadership. But for such leadership to posture itself as the pivitol center of spiritual development, that is only the case for congregations in their infancy and where the members have not developed in the New Reality or are very immature and do not have access or knowledge of the scriptures, and that sort of thing. Church leadership is supposed to build up the Body of Christ and bring out the leadership roles of each individual. Church leadership is to feed the word so that the congregation develops in the New Reality and progresses to the point of dependency on each other and the Holy Spirit and not on a pivitol leadership point.

When edification of all by all with God in all is achieved, then and only then will we see proof that the Body of Christ at large demonstrates the presence of God incarnate collectively in the church membership. Read these areas of the New Testament and see for yourself. We are not talking about bible study, prayer services, standing up in a congregation and giving a testimony, sharing our lives with the pastor or a counsellor. We are talking about sharing our lives with God incarnate in fellow believers and by so doing edifying each other. The growth of the New Reality must go beyond the individual and be present in the Body of Christ at large. The will of God is that we not only be one with the Father but one with each other - spiritually of course, and very much so in mind and character. Our thoughts, feelings, and actions should all be directed toward the purpose of God for each one of us and that includes supporting the purpose of God in the other members of this Body of Christ. That necessitates a harmony of action that only the Divine Will can manage - not a pivitol leadership position in the church. We must learn to trust this Divine Leadership of the Holy Sprit. It necessitates a moment by moment obedience to the Divine Will in each of our lives. It necessitates organization and communications where all these believers are working together in harmonious accord and intent.

What we are considering here is the 3rd part of the Lords Prayer, it is "Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Now lets get serious. Is this happening? Certainly not! There is no question at all. This is not happening. Denominationalism, creeds, and out of focus ministries are all contributing to a situation where Christian groups are isolated from each other with respect to the Divine Union of Believers as just explained. This Divine fellowship is the incarnation of God which collectively represent the Body of Christ on this earth. The word is body, not collection of saints. Collectively, our physical bodies - each the temple of the Living God - are the physical appearance of Jesus Christ on this earth. He mediates each one of our lives and collectively we are his physical appearance on this earth. The rest of the world sees Jesus Christ in terms of how they see (experience) the Body of Christ. Now bringing this discussion down to a lower mentality. If you were the boss of a company suffering convulsions, one part at odds with the other, no part acting in concert with the other part, would you for one moment tolerate or reward this kind of behavior? Of course not. Would you hire new employees that would behave this way? Of course not. How difficult is it then to understand that the Body of Christ is of far greater value to God than a company is to you or to me. It is pure idiocy to subject the Body of Christ, this Divine Fellowship to such disgrace. But God is not disgraced. For those that do this will pay the price. God will not reward nor tolerate such conduct. This is why real victory is not experienced as it should be in all these separated packets of so-called Christians. There is more effort being put out within denominational perspectives to achieve denominational objectives than there is in helping Christians mature in the New Reality. Additionally, if one were to do a time analysis on how the average Christian is spending their time - not money, time - what would we find?. And are those activities engaged in from the perspective of God? And does the exercise of those activities demonstrate a person that has the New Reality? And remember, the New Reality necessitates the establishment and maintenance of the Divine Union of Believers - the caring for the Body of Christ at large.

We must learn to objectively and honestly examine ourselves, our motives, and our effectiveness in serving the Body of Christ.

That is right - serving. In serving one another we serve Christ. The mandate to go into all the world and preach the gospel was from the perspective of the New Reality, the Kingdom of God, and the establishment of the Divine Union of Believers (the Body of Christ). The mandate was not for a specific denomination, a specific creed, a specific race, or a specific nation, a specific calling or occupation. It was a call for "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven". Are there denominations in Heaven? How ridiculous to even think such a thing! Are there different creeds in Heaven? Is heaven all partitioned out into groups of angels that dissent with each other and neglect Gods primary directives? I don't think so - do you? Do angels barter about who gets information on the purpose and plan of God? Lets get real here, we as Christians, are in big trouble because there is a rampant "attitude" problem.

So given all of this, is there any hope that with general rampant disobedience God will answer any prayers. Yes, there is "limited victory". God gives up on none that are committed for they have the right attitude regarding the New Reality. But at the same time God cannot reward disobedience. So if you ask in obedience you will receive, but if you ask in disobedience you will not receive. If two or more ask in obedience then it will be granted, but if in that agreement one of the two is in disobedience then it will not be granted. And finally if you get a mixed crowd of attitudes you get this weird situation where a request is granted and the disobedient think it was because they were involved. So granting a request in a mixed crowd is very iffy to say the least because God does not reward disobedience and may not reward a disobedient crowd even though there are those in that crowd that are obedient. The crowd is its own entity for good or bad. But for the crowd that is driven by the Holy Spirit, it does matter, so very much, that Christians support each other in their thoughts, feeling, and actions, and therefore that implies their prayers.

So we know when a prayer is answered, but exactly what is a prayer. Prayer is communion with God. But it is a special kind of communion. It is our soul interacting with the Holy Spirit and that involves a whole lot more that just asking for something to happen. We are to be co-workers with Jesus Christ. This means God will implement things on the basis of our requests and actions - as He did for Jesus Christ. We have communion with God, that is conscious interaction and we have unconscious interaction. Unconscious interaction is prayer without ceasing. This is possible only because of the New Reality. Our spirit and the Holy Spirit which has merged with our spirit interact towards the end that we have been taught and begin to live in obedience to His Will every breathing moment. This obedience is not so much based on templates of action but on moment by moment considerations between our spirit and the Holy Spirit. Meditation is prayer, where we reflect upon our past and future actions and consciously interact with the Holy Spirit to resolve difficulties known to us in various ways. Prayer can and often is conscious supplication (verbal and otherwise) on our own behalf or on behalf of someone else, where we approach God for a special intervention, like healing, conversion, wisdom of action, and so on. Prayer can be done on our own or collectively with others. When done collectively with others it is an agreement of the sort, where two or more agree it will be granted.

One of the prayer aspects that is missing in Christian gatherings is collective meditation where every believer interacts consciously in the process of examining their lives before each other and providing feedback and advice in a group scenario. This is the supportive and collaborative and intimate sharing that we already covered. And within this context prayer takes on a dimension of power that few ever experience. The reason this is not happening lies in several things and we will come back to this very important aspect of prayerful living. But the critical point to understand is that prayer is communion and communion cannot exist in those not having the New Reality. Otherwise prayer/communion is just a form of behavior, a form of worship, not having what it stands for, like an empty container of water. The container is there but not the water. From this perspective then all the questions from the left top black panel can be easily answered as well as any others.

Jesus only acted on things God the Father spoke to him about and only told his followers what God the Father had revealed to him. Because we are in a state of transition regarding the New Reality we need to often review with God through the Holy Spirit how we are progressing. Ask for a status report. You will definitely get one in a form God finds appropriate to the working of your mind. When the Holy Spirit needs to reveal something to you that is not gradually working through your consciousness then you may dream, see a vision, or some other manifestation, and in all likelihood it will take a while to interpret that manifestation as you commune with God about it. Often symbology is used and contains multiple threads of information. You need to figure out what that symbology means specifically to you and how it relates to what you have been asking about and struggling with. But your attitude has to be acceptable to God as previously mentioned. Is your attitude right and do you commune with God?

Watch out! You can also commune with the devil. Yes there is a devil but that is an entirely different topic. But the devil can mess you up so you had best understand a few things. On this web site there is a feature article on this subject - look for it.

For now, in this paragraph, here is some basic theology in a sort of related point form. You are a soul born into this physical dimension and your reality is expressed only in terms of that physical dimension. You are first a spirit and when you enter this dimension you incarnate and have a body and develop a soul. The soul is the sum of the body and the spirit but contains the template of your mind and character. The soul is you. The soul - your mind and character part - survives the death of the body as you leave the physical dimension. The soul was created when your spirit entered this physical dimension and develops as you live in this physical dimension, so don't be in a hurry to leave. This web site is full of material on this subject - look for it. When Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to you, God is incarnating your soul and your body is to be considered the temple of the Living God. Jesus Christ was the fullness of God Incarnate, that is where we significantly differ. When we receive the Holy Spirit and that Holy Spirit merges with our spirit we begin to develop in the New Reality. Jesus is and enables that New Reality and we are to become co-workers with Him. Humans are designed to be receptive to the spiritual realm - if we can call it that. What influences - none, some, all - that reach us from the spiritual realm depend entirely on our mental and emotional makeup. If the unbelievers basic character seeks reinforcement for disobedience he will be receptive to diabolical influences and if his character seeks reinforcement for obedience he will be influenced by the Holy Spirit. Man is designed to be spiritually receptive and needs to take direction, in order to exist, from his spiritual basis. This is not the same as receiving the Holy Spirit and taking on the New Reality. The New Reality is not this human aptitude to connect to the spiritual realm it is a personal union with God among other things as has already been explained. However, a believer having the New Reality is also subject from that spiritual realm to the influence of the devil. Jesus Christ himself was tempted by the devil. So think about that. The difference is that the New Reality manifests through the soul from the persons spirit. Once the merger occurs and the New Reality begins to develop then the believer is sealed. However, if the attitude is not towards obedience the New Reality never begins and the seal is not made. But those having the seal must of necessity be tested. Testing here is in the engineering sense of the word. A material is tested to determine if the manufacturing process has resulted in the desired qualities necessary to meet the specifications so that it can be used in the production of some product. As the product evolves it is further tested and so on. It is my understanding that God tests us by allowing the devil to tempt us. Therefore, we should take joy if we are tested as we know God is proving out his workmanship in our soul. Joy, because we know he is making us into the likeness of Jesus Christ.

But all is not roses. Think of your soul as a large country with many regions and areas. If we give into temptation and begin to think along disobedient lines we have given up some parts of those regions and areas to the devil and the devil has incarnated in our soul - in a limited way but incarnated nevertheless. This is a disgusting and hateful process and we should look at it from that standpoint when we are tempted. We are warned in the bible to resist the devil and flee temptation. Divorce yourself from it and have nothing whatsoever to do with it. The more we hate sin the less this will happen. We are stewards of our body - the temple of the Living God - why then should we allow the devil to desecrate it or any portion of it. That should also be our attitude to the Body of Christ and its members. This limited incarnation is not demonic possession, they are two different things. When we have allowed the devil to incarnate then he is known as Satan for he now has a human form or at least part of one that he will work very hard at taking over. But remember, this manifestation of the devil initiates from a channel built into the human psyche and not from the spirit of the person. You will learn to make that distinction as you are developing in the New Reality.

The New Reality is the greatest miracle and the greatest truth ever! The New Reality is centered around Jesus Christ as He enables our oneness with God and the development of the oneness in our souls. It is our mandate to spread the good news world wide. This is truly good news so why is it watered down? So where are the voices of those that have the New Reality? Why are these voices hiding behind denominational objectives and boundaries? Our victory as Christians, our answers to prayers, our successes in "Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven", are all dependent upon our progress in developing according to the New Reality. For too long now Christians have believed the lie that our conduct will in no way influence the second coming of Jesus Christ. So we evangelize the world with the message of repent and be born again but then we fail utterly to either progress or allow others to progress in the New Reality as has been previously explained. Now this is not a judgement on Christians but it is an assessment based on behavior. The New Reality exists whereever there is proof that it exists. If professing Christians are living non victorious lives, where their lives do not demonstrate the love and power of God, then the New Reality is not developing there. If the Body of Christ is divided then the leadership are not demonstrating the New Reality in their lives.

And now we will return to the issue regarding communion between the saints where they engage in joint meditation and intimately share their progress in the New Reality with each other and enter into collaborative discussions with each other regarding problems of various sorts. This is not a prayer meeting, a bible study, or a church service, it is the meeting together of equals where each has as much concern for the other as they do for themselves. This is not happening. It is necessary to happen if the Body of Christ is to develop in the New Reality. It is necessary before Jesus comes a second time. There must be a true witness in the Body of Christ. Because this most important phenomena is not happening there is no proof or evidence of God in our collective lives. This is a disgrace and the burden of change lies upon the Christian leadership for through their direction the New Reality is opened to all or closed off to all. Traditional Christian leadership is not doing the job expected of them by God and God will raise leadership that will break down these imposed barriers.

We should be listening to the Holy Spirit and living in obedience. Each of us has to stand up and be counted as being for the New Reality, first and foremost, above all things in this world, and above all denominationalism and other differences.

Commune with God and those of the New Reality. Focus and desire that above all you will grow in the New Reality and you will find the others so inclined. Jesus through the Holy Spirit will lead you to them and together you will experience victory and transform the world around you.