Whatever we believe in, we give power to, and bring into existence in our lives. Likewise, whatever we focus the majority of our mental attention on has the most power over us. This is our God-given power, but we also have the freedom to choose to whom or what we surrender our power to, through thoughts, emotions, and beliefs. “What we believe, we receive,” whether positive or negative, harmful or helpful. Just as every wish or dream we have is a prayer for something we want to happen, so is worrying over something a prayer for what we don’t want to happen.

Thought is prayer, whether or not we’re intentionally directing our thoughts toward God. However, once we become consciously aware of God’s presence within us, we cannot help but know that every thought, wish, and fear is a prayer. The most important things we can learn about prayer is that the act of praying is a form of meditating, or concentrating on either positive or negative factors, the problems or the solutions.

Also, prayer does not change God, but ultimately, it changes us, and our perceptions. If we spend more time praying, or concentrating on our problems than on solutions and the positive aspects of our lives, we are, even through prayer, giving power to the negative forces we’re praying to be released from. We are actually building and strengthening our beliefs in the negative rather than in the positive. And in the spiritual principle of receiving what we believe, concentrating on our problems or fears will actually bring or compound them in our lives.

This is a perfect time to suggest the use of a “God Box.” Take a shoebox, or one of similar size with a lid; decorate it if you wish, or at least make it identifiable in some manner so that you or someone else doesn’t inadvertently throw it away. Cut a long slit along the length of the box lid and widen it just enough for slips of paper to slide easily through into the box. Write down each of your worries on small separate slips of paper. Read each of them once, pray about them, asking God to show you their solutions, or grant you the strength and acceptance to walk through them with grace, faith, and dignity. Do this only once for each slip of paper. Fold each in half, write the current month on the outside of the paper, and then put them into your God Box.

In this human existence, we often need tangible means of relating to God, and that is exactly what the God Box is designed for. The box represents God’s hands, in which we place all our worries for Him to take care of. Once we give our worries to God, we don’t take them back, and we don’t peek in on Him to see how he’s doing every few minutes or even days.

When the worry-papers go into the box, they stay there and out of our minds, and each time we catch ourselves worrying about these problems, we picture the box in our minds, and remind ourselves that we’ve already given them to God, Immediately, we turn our attention to something positive, either an activity, making a phone call, writing a friendly note to mail to a friend or acquaintance, read an uplifting spiritual book, doing something nice for someone without telling them you did it, helping someone else, or sitting down and writing out a Gratitude List.

About every six months, open the box and take out only the oldest slips of paper, according to the month you’ve written on the outside of each folded paper. Read those worries you placed in the box six before and discover which ones you’d forgotten all about, which have been resolved and how, and then record those in your Miracles Journal. If any of them are still worries, pray about them again, and put the back inside the box.

Another symbolic way of releasing your worries, fears, or resentments is to buy a helium balloon, write your concerns on small slips of paper, tie them to a string on the balloon, and after you’ve prayed about them, release the balloon outside and watch it drift upwards out of sight.

When we pray, or make a wish, which is the same as praying, if we undoubtedly believe we’ll receive it (without worry or urgency), we will. It’s the doubts and half-hearted beliefs that stand in the way of our dreams coming true. And to truly believe mean our belief doesn’t change or falter under pressure, nor is it contingent upon our circumstances or surroundings. True faith that God will fulfill our wishes – provided they do not defy the laws of nature, man, or God, and not do infringe upon another person’s will – such faith is as steadfast, doubtless, and without emotional concern as the faith we have that the sun will rise and set each day.

It’s our emotional attachments to our desires that hinder their fulfillment, as well as our fears of being unloved, unimportant, and unworthy. It’s one thing to believe that God CAN work miracles, but another thing entirely to believe that He WILL. It’s easier to conquer our low self-image and feelings of unimportance to God, than to let go of our emotional attachment to our wishes and dreams.

When any desire becomes more important to us than our trust in God, and so important that we think about it constantly, losing gratitude for what we already have without that desire, then our ego prevents us from receiving that wish. The bottom line is, I have to be peaceful and content just where I am and with what I already have before my desires can manifest in my life. If I’m depending on the fulfillment of a desire to make me happy, peaceful, or a better person, then that desire has become my god. In essence, I’m praying to my own desire to fulfill itself for me, rather than looking to my Creator, and am depending on the fulfillment of that desire to give me the peace, comfort, and joy that only Divine Power can give.

If we find ourselves consumed with our wishes, we then need to ask God to help us be peaceful and content with ourselves, and thankful for the life we have. Rather than asking God to remove our problems or heartaches, we need to ask Him for the strength and fortitude to walk through hard times and learn whatever lessons we can from these experiences. Our spiritual health and well-being must always have top priority, and be the only truly important desire of our hearts. When we are whole complete, and content just where we are, then everything else is just icing and candy sprinkles on the cake of life.

If we can believe God will fulfill our wishes, when He knows the time is right, and without any emotional attachment to them, we’re then at peace, and are assured that we’ll be all right even without that wish or desire coming true. When we reach this phase of our spiritual development, it’s easy to ask for our desires, know they’ll be given to us, and then go on about living without giving our request much further thought. And we certainly don’t worry over it, wondering when or if it will come, and feeling a sense of urgency or desperation over its fulfillment. Certainly, this is one of the most difficult plateaus to reach, as we’ve been conditioned all our lives to be emotional creatures. Some even believe that the stronger our feelings are about the request, the more likely God will be to grant our desires. However, that emotional investment is precisely what changes our god-figure from our Creator into the desire we so desperately wish for. And only God has the power to fulfill our wishes, whether directly and immediately, or through opportunity, circumstances, or other people.

Only when the desire ceases to be important, or seen as the means of changing our lives, can that wish become reality. The stronger our emotional attachment to a desire, the further it id from our reach. The problem with understanding this principle is that we will then try with all our mental faculties to make it lose importance, so that we can receive the desire. And that approach just doesn’t work, either. Trying to let go of the importance we’ve attached to our wishes as a means of gaining that wish is an obvious sign that it’s still just as important and urgent as ever. Why? Because our motive for wanting to let go is rooted in selfishness and the idea that we can somehow manipulate spiritual laws.

Circumstances rarely change for the better in our lives when we’re miserable, unless we change the course of our lives to relieve our misery. Likewise, we rarely receive a desire when we’re miserable without it, because our happiness is contingent upon having what we want. When we can be peaceful and content without that wish, and know deep within that we’ll be just fine without it, then the door opens for us to receive what we desire. Why does it work that way? We must place our full trust in God, to take care of us and give us all we need, rather than depending on the fulfillment of a dream to make us happy and whole. When we’re spiritually fit, we can be at peace with our lives just as we are, trusting that God will always provide for our needs. Having peace of mind becomes more important than any earthly desire.

|Review Parts 5 & 6 Part 7, the conclusion|

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