PRAYER POWER!    GP 302   5/72

         1. The Lord really leaves a lot up to us & our concern & prayer. If you only cry with half a heart you only get half an answer. If you cry with your whole heart you get a whole-hearted strong answer! If you turn it on real strong then it reflects real strong. Like a beam of light focused on a mirror, prayer will REFLECT or be answered with the same intensity as it ORIGINATES!
         2. The Lord leaves a lot up to us: If we stir OURSELVES then God will stir HIMSELF! An awful lot depends on US, OUR faith & OUR prayers & what WE want done. A lot of people have sort of a lazy attitude & seem to think the LORD will do it all, no matter what. But the truth of the matter is, a LOT depends on US.
         3. He wants us to show concern & pray about it, & be specific about it. If you really BELIEVE, EVERY prayer is heard & answered. But if you DON'T pray it is NOT done! It's like you have to visualise the people you're praying for & pray specifically for them with that thought on your heart & ask the Lord to do this or that for them, & it is no sooner said than done. In fact, He often answers BEFORE you call, because He knows you're GOING to.
         4. For example, when you play tennis, the ANGLE the ball LEAVES the racket depends on the angle at which the ball strikes the racket. The POWER with which the racket HITS the ball & where it goes depends on the force with which it hit the ground & the stroke of the player. How HIGH it bounces has a lot to do with the way it is DIRECTED & the FORCE with which it is directed & the PLACE that it strikes, all of which determine where it finally winds up.
         5. Billiards is the most scientific of all sports having to do with the bouncing of balls. It's the most amazing thing how an expert can shoot that billiard ball with a cue! The way his cue strikes the ball can even give it a twist to make it curve. He controls the original force & direction & the power & way in which it is sent out; the spin & everything that happens is a reflection of the way he STARTED it off.
         6. He controls the original direction & force, & if it is guided just right, the cushion & the other balls reflect his ball & they bounce it back & give it a little extra push. A lot depends on the distance. That space in a sense regulates the time. God has regulated the location of the stars & planets, sun & moon, etc.
         7. The fellow who does the break shot starts off with the triangle of balls & the opening shot that scatters the balls all over the table. The second man then has to shoot to get all the balls he can into the pockets, which are the scoring shots. He is not allowed to move the balls by hand from their original positions, even his own ball, & is not allowed to adjust the positions where they have been created, so to speak, or where they have landed, like where God has placed the planets. The only thing he can do is try to shoot his ball in such a way that it strikes the cushions & the other ball at such an angle that it knocks one or more of them into the pockets.
         8. God is the One Who fired the break shot & everything is out there in the position He destined it to be in. HE HAS SET THE STAGE WITH HIS ORIGINAL SHOT BY THE CREATION OF THE PLANETS ETC. & THE RULES BY WHICH THE GAME IS PLAYED & THE POSITION OF THE BALLS, & you've got to play it by HIS rules & the position He's put all the balls in.
         9. But the way in which we shoot at them is like our prayers. The force, the angle, the twist, or spin you put on itthe way in which you shoot it is like the way a prayer is worded or expressed, or the way you ask God to answer. It may be a forceful prayer in the right direction, but HOW do you want God to answer? But then the position of the planets or stars that these prayers reflect from are like the various people & circumstances involved & the distances & positions of all factors affected, like the billiard balls, all have something to do with the time that it takes to do the job.
         10. Really, those astral bodies like individuals regulate by their original position the time it takes & how they reflect. How come it takes so long for some prayers to be answered? Again, the picture of the billiard table: The balls are numbered, & the player is supposed to hit a ball of a certain number in proper sequence at a certain time.
         11. But you can't hit that ball until its number comes up. And of course, the One Who CREATED the game NUMBERED the balls! And you don't regulate where that ball's going to be at the TIME it's supposed to be hit. That's all ordered by the way the balls were scattered in the first place. You have to wait until YOUR ball & THAT ball are in just the right position to make the right shot to get the ball where you want it to go.
         12. In a way, it's almost like the lead player is God, & He is the One that made the break shot that scattered the balls originally. And as you go along, HE plays TOO & keeps changing the position of the balls by HIS shots. The only difference is, God is not trying to BEAT you. He's trying to HELP you WIN if you're on His side, like playing DOUBLES: YOUR partner is GOD, & your opponent's partner is the DEVIL! GOD'S shots are made to try to make it easier for YOU. Of course, it doesn't matter how good GOD sets things up, if YOU don't shoot straight it won't do any good.
         13. And no matter how good your shot is, that ball, planet or person has to be in a certain position for it to hit right. YOU may be firing away, hitting the planet right, but if the OBJECT of your prayers is not at the right angle of REFLECTION it's not getting through to HIM.
         14. A lot depends on him, the recipient of your prayers, too, to get the benefit of your prayers. YOU'VE got to be in the right position, the PLANET that controls his situation has to be in the right position, & HE has to be in the right position. It's like the Holy Spirit is the POWER of the prayers. She provides its current. The power can be there, but if your transmission is out of whack, it doesn't transmit right. If there's sin, or you're not tuned in right, or on the wrong channel, it won't work.
         15. But if you're in tune, the Holy Spirit directs it. If your set is automated & the Holy Spirit is absolutely in control, then it's automatically tuned just right--power, beam, direction, everything--by the Lord's Own computer, & it can't miss! But if YOU'VE been fooling around with the dials & the settings, you can mess up the whole works by trying to do it YOUR way.
         16. Also, the Lord has to have His satellite of His Will in just the right position to bounce it down to the receiver, & the RECEIVER'S got to be in just the right position to RECEIVE it. The satellite is on a FIXED orbit that you can't change, like God's OVERALL plan that is FIXED. You must aim WITHIN that fixed orbit. Then, depending on your prayer & the recipient of your prayer, & providing conditions are right & you aim right in the direction that God has already sent the satellite of His Will, you can hit right on target! It's GOT to be according to GOD'S general direction if you want it to work.
         17. Then if your receiver gets in the right position he'll receive it. If the recipient is tuned in right & has the right power & is on the right channel, he will get the message.
         18. So there are an awful lot of factors which affect the whole process of prayer. Which is one reason, of course, why you don't always get the answer right away. The trouble may be with YOU, or maybe it's not GOD'S TIME 'cause His satellite isn't in the right position yet, or the trouble may be at the OTHER end.
         19. So prayer depends on three principal factors: YOUR position, GOD'S position & the position of the OTHER person for whom you're praying. YOU don't control it completely, THEY don't control it completely, & GOD has specifically limited HIMSELF not to control it COMPLETELY, but to let it be affected by YOUR position & THEIR position.
         20. The position of His satellite is set, but how it is used depends on you & them. In other words, HE'S set the position of HIS OVERALL PLANS but how YOU fit INTO the plan depends on YOUR position & THEIR position.
         21. So God has left a lot up to you & a lot up to them. He'll always do His part HIS orbit is set & HIS satellite will always be in the place it is supposed to be. So the only thing that will CHANGE things is YOUR position & THEIRS.
         22. It's like a mathematical problem: The more complicated the problem is & the more factors involved, the more difficult the solution. The bigger the problem & the more parts there are to the problem, the harder it is to work out the answer.
         23. It's a little bit like astrology: All the stars, constellations, sun, moon, planets & all, have to be in a certain conjunction & positioned at just the right time in order to get the right results. You can't rush God, the planets or the stars. You have to wait till they're in the right position. You've got to wait till it's God's time. But if you wait on GOD'S TIME & YOU shoot straight at the right time, you'll get the right answer!


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