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September/October 2006 Spirituality
Why Prayers Aren't Answered

by Almine

Almine

Human beings have felt abandoned as they bargained, pleaded and tried to have faith in whatever form of god they have prayed to throughout the ages of human existence.

Where are the answers to our prayers? Why does God not respond when we sincerely try to do our part?

Some have maintained a belief in a God who rewards good with good and withholds or punishes when they are not good. This has left humanity, which knows deep within that life should not have to be this hard, with an unbelievably large reservoir of guilt and shame.

How we can overcome the pitfalls of prayer to become masters of our own fate?

• Pitfall: Expecting the patient to be the doctor.
  We have been praying to God the Father, God the I AM or God the Creator. This is the equivalent of the physical body asking the mental or emotional body to make it better when the unresolved portions of the mental and emotional bodies are the very reason for the physical discomfort.
• Solution: Communicating with our own highest self to realign with our purpose.
  Our highest self holds the blueprint for our various lifetimes, which is our true purpose. However, if we wish to impose our will on the path we are walking in a way that does not serve that purpose, assistance will be withheld. If our prayers are for the planet, which is part of the physical body of God, then directing our petition to the three higher bodies of the Infinite—the spiritual emotional, the spiritual mental and the spirit body—is the most direct channel.
• Pitfall: The release of suffering in answer to prayer takes time.
  Prayers may take longer to answer than we realize because the very nature of the word “density” denotes a more complex relationship between time and space. Suffering precedes and prompts perception. The unfolding of humankind’s awareness will be less painful as a result of our prayers even though that process may take place over many years.
• Solution: Change our focus from outward form to indwelling life to become free from expectations on outcome or timing.
  By changing to an indwelling focus, suffering is not the real tragedy, but instead it is the failure to use the priceless opportunity of learning information never accessed before and which we have contracted to learn. To remove one’s challenges is to remove one’s growth. The only option left is to surrender to life with the utmost awareness. This dramatically decreases the level of pain required to prod change. Life becomes a fluid cooperative dance between the lightseeker and the higher self.
• Pitfall: We feel we cannot receive and hear guidance from higher realms.
  We may even feel as though our suffering is unfair since it comes to prod us into change when that would not be necessary if God would just tell us what to do. After all, is it not our obedience or the relinquishing of our will that God wants?
• Solution: Remember that we are exploring the unknown.
  God, in whatever form perceived, is light. Light is the known. If it is only obedience God wants, all growth would stop since it would always stay within the pool of the known. The Infinite has the tools to deal only with the known. That is why the Infinite needs us: we deal with the unknown by feeling the indwelling life within it. Through feeling, we access the truth behind appearances. So the Infinite does not just need obedience, but our diligence as explorers of consciousness in learning the things the Infinite does not yet know. Relinquishing our will to the larger purpose of our being is inclusiveness. We do not ask for ease but for impeccability of conduct. We ask only for the clarity to see the highest choice each step of the way.
  But even as the highest wisdom guides you, know that because you are blazing a trail into the unknown there are simply places where you have to walk, sometimes with faltering steps, through uncharted territory where no guidance other than your sense of what is life-enhancing exists. You can do it with impeccability as a shield and truth as your armor. You have come here just for this purpose with the keen sword of awareness to cut a broad swath from the darkness and turn it into light.
• Pitfall: We often don’t realize the power of our daily thoughts and prayers.
  As we allow fear to get a foothold in our emotions, these negative thoughts and emotions create a negative world. We have done this innocently, not realizing we are as powerful as we are.
• Solution: Warriors of light stalk their minds endlessly.
  They strive to fill their minds with only the most beautiful thoughts possible, making their thoughts their prayer. They create their reality consciously, reverently and with joy. We may be the child in terms of being the created offspring of the Infinite, but we have been endowed with all we need to grow up and create the beautiful world for which we pray.
  

Almine, author of Secrets of the Hidden Realms: Mystical Keys to the Unseen Worlds, is a Toltec three-pronged Nagual who is globally recognized as one of the leading mystics of our time. Her interest lies in teaching others how to move beyond self-imposed limitations so they can access their innate personal power. Visit www.spiritualjourneys.com.