{"product_id":"the-complete-conversations-with-god-isbn-9780399153297","title":"The Complete Conversations with God","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn essential collection of Books 1, 2 and 3 in the \u003ci\u003eConversations with God\u003c\/i\u003e series\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e This powerful and engaging volume collects the first and bestselling three books in Neale Donald Walsch's beloved \u003ci\u003eConversations with God\u003c\/i\u003e series, complete with a foreword by the author. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Offering a fresh perspective for spiritual seekers, Walsch’s books have inspired millions of readers around the world, introducing a compassionate, accessible God and deceptively simple truths that have the power to change lives forever. Whether you consider yourself religious, spiritual, or simply open to life’s most profound questions, this uplifting volume will offer inspiration, solace, and a pathway toward truth and deeper understanding.\u003cb\u003eNeale Donald Walsch\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestsellers: \u003ci\u003eConversations with God\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003ebook 1, book 2, and book 3, as well as \u003ci\u003eMeditations from Conversations with God \u003c\/i\u003ebook 1 and book 2, and the \u003ci\u003eConversations with God Guidebook \u003c\/i\u003ebook 1. Walsch lectures and hosts workshops throughout the country, in addition to running his foundation, ReCreation. His books have been translated into twenty-two languages. He lives in Oregon.\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e1\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In the spring of 1992—it was around Easter as I recall—an extraordinary phenomenon occurred in my life. God began talking with you. Through me.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Let me explain.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e I was very unhappy during that period, personally, professionally, and emotionally, and my life was feeling like a failure on all levels. As I’d been in the habit for years of writing my thoughts down in letters (which I usually never delivered), I picked up my trusty yellow legal pad and began pouring out my feelings.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e This time, rather than another letter to another person I imagined to be victimizing me, I thought I’d go straight to the source; straight to the greatest victimizer of them all. I decided to write a letter to God.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e It was a spiteful, passionate letter, full of confusions, contortions, and condemnations. And a \u003ci\u003epile\u003c\/i\u003e of angry questions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Why wasn’t my life working? What would it take to \u003ci\u003eget\u003c\/i\u003e it to work? Why could I not find happiness in relationships? Was the experience of adequate money going to elude me forever? Finally—and most emphatically—\u003ci\u003eWhat had I done to deserve a life of such continuing struggle?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo my surprise, as I scribbled out the last of my bitter, unanswerable questions and prepared to toss my pen aside, my hand remained poised over the paper, as if held there by some invisible force. Abruptly, the pen began \u003ci\u003emoving on its own.\u003c\/i\u003e I had no idea what I was about to write, but an idea seemed to be coming, so I decided to flow with it. Out came…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDo you really want an answer to all these questions, or are you just venting?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI blinked, and then my mind came up with a reply. I wrote that down, too.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBoth. I’m venting, sure, but if these questions have answers, I’d sure as hell like to hear them!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou are “sure as hell”…about a lot of things. But wouldn’t it be nice to be “\u003ci\u003esure as Heaven\u003c\/i\u003e”?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd I wrote:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat is that supposed to mean?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBefore I knew it, I had begun a conversation…and I was not writing so much as \u003ci\u003etaking dictation.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat dictation went on for three years, and at the time, I had no idea where it was going. The answers to the questions I was putting on paper never came to me until the question was completely written and I’d put my \u003ci\u003eown thoughts away.\u003c\/i\u003e Often the answers came faster than I could write, and I found myself scribbling to keep up. When I became confused, or lost the feeling that the words were coming from somewhere else, I put the pen down and walked away from the dialogue until I again felt inspired—sorry, that’s the only word which truly fits—to return to the yellow legal pad and start transcribing again.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThese conversations are still going on as I write this. And much of it is found on the pages which follow…pages which contain an astounding dialogue which at first I disbelieved, then assumed to be of personal value, but which I now understand was meant for more than just me. It was meant for you and everyone else who has come to this material. For my questions are your questions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI want you to get into this dialogue as soon as you can, because what’s really important here is not \u003ci\u003emy\u003c\/i\u003e story, but \u003ci\u003eyours.\u003c\/i\u003e It is \u003ci\u003eyour\u003c\/i\u003e life story which brought you here. It is \u003ci\u003eyour\u003c\/i\u003e personal experience to which this material has relevance. Otherwise you would not be here, with it, right now.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo let’s enter the dialogue with a question I had been asking for a very long time: How does God talk, and to whom? When I asked this question, here’s the answer I received:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI talk to everyone. All the time. The question is not to whom do I talk, but who listens?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIntrigued, I asked God to expand on this subject. Here’s what God said:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst, let’s exchange the word \u003ci\u003etalk\u003c\/i\u003e with the word \u003ci\u003ecommunicate.\u003c\/i\u003e It’s a much better word, a much fuller, more accurate one. When we try to speak to each other—Me to you, you to Me, we are immediately constricted by the unbelievable limitation of words. For this reason, I do not communicate by words alone. In fact, rarely do I do so. My most common form of communication is through \u003ci\u003efeeling.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFeeling is the language of the soul.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf you want to know what’s true for you about something, look to how you’re \u003ci\u003efeeling\u003c\/i\u003e about it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFeelings are sometimes difficult to discover—and often even more difficult to acknowledge. Yet hidden in your deepest feelings is your highest truth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe trick is to get to those feelings. I will show you how. Again. If you wish.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI told God that I did wish, but that right now I wished even more for a complete and full answer to my first question. Here’s what God said:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI also communicate with \u003ci\u003ethought.\u003c\/i\u003e Thought and feelings are not the same, although they can occur at the same time. In communicating with thought, I often use images and pictures. For this reason, thoughts are more effective than mere words as tools of communication.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn addition to feelings and thoughts, I also use the vehicle of \u003ci\u003eexperience\u003c\/i\u003e as a grand communicator.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd finally, when feelings and thoughts and experience all fail, I use \u003ci\u003ewords.\u003c\/i\u003e Words are really the least effective communicator. They are most open to misinterpretation, most often misunderstood.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd why is that? It is because of what words \u003ci\u003eare.\u003c\/i\u003e Words are merely utterances: \u003ci\u003enoises\u003c\/i\u003e that \u003ci\u003estand for\u003c\/i\u003e feelings, thoughts, and experience. They are symbols. Signs. Insignias. They are not Truth. They are not the real thing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWords may help you understand something. Experience allows you to know. Yet there are some things you cannot experience. So I have given you other tools of knowing. And these are called feelings. And so too thoughts.\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow the supreme irony here is that you have all placed so much importance on the Word of God, and so little on the experience.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn fact, you place so little value on experience that when what you \u003ci\u003eexperience\u003c\/i\u003e of God differs from what you’ve \u003ci\u003eheard\u003c\/i\u003e of God, you automatically \u003ci\u003ediscard the experience and own the words\u003c\/i\u003e, when it should be just the other way around.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYour experience and your feelings about a thing represent what you factually and intuitively know about that thing. Words can only seek to \u003ci\u003esymbolize\u003c\/i\u003e what you know, and can often \u003ci\u003econfuse\u003c\/i\u003e what you know.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThese, then, are the tools with which I communicate, yet they are not the methods, for not all feelings, not all thoughts, not all experience, and not all words are from Me.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMany words have been uttered by others, in My name. Many thoughts and many feelings have been sponsored by causes not of My direct creation. Many experiences result from these.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe challenge is one of discernment. The difficulty is knowing the difference between messages from God and data from other sources. Discrimination is a simple matter with the application of a basic rule:\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMine is always your Highest Thought, your Clearest Word, your Grandest Feeling. Anything less is from another source.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow the task of differentiation becomes easy, for it should not be difficult even for the beginning student to identify the Highest, the Clearest, and the Grandest.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYet will I give you these guidelines:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Highest Thought is always that thought which contains joy. The Clearest Words are those words which contain truth. The Grandest Feeling is that feeling which you call love.\u003cbr\u003e Joy, truth, love.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThese three are interchangeable, and one always leads to the other. It matters not in which order they are placed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHaving with these guidelines determined which messages are Mine and which have come from another source, the only question remaining is whether My messages will be heeded.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMost of My messages are not. Some, because they seem too good to be true. Others, because they seem too difficult to follow. Many, because they are simply misunderstood. Most, because they are not received.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy most powerful messenger is experience, and even this you ignore. Especially this you ignore.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYour world would not be in its present condition were you to have simply listened to your experience. The result of your not listening to your experience is that you keep re-living it, over and over again. For My purpose will not be thwarted, nor My will be ignored. You will get the message. Sooner or later.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI will not force you to, however. I will never coerce you. For I have given you a free will—the power to do as you choose—and I will never take that away from you, ever.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd so I will continue sending you the same messages over and over again, throughout the millennia and to whatever corner of the universe you occupy. Endlessly will I send you My messages, until you have received them and held them close, calling them your own.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy messages will come in a hundred forms, at a thousand moments, across a million years. You cannot miss them if you truly listen. You cannot ignore them once truly heard. Thus will our communication begin in earnest. For in the past you have only talked to Me, praying to Me, interceding with Me, beseeching Me. Yet now can I talk \u003ci\u003eback\u003c\/i\u003e to you, even as I am doing here.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHow can I know this communication is from God? How do I know this is not my own imagination?\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat would be the difference?\u003c\/i\u003e Do you not see that I could just as easily work through your imagination as anything else? I will bring you the \u003ci\u003eexact\u003c\/i\u003e right thoughts, words or feelings, at any given moment, suited precisely to the purpose at hand, using one device, or several.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou will know these words are from Me because you, of your own accord, have never spoken so clearly. Had you already spoken so clearly on these questions, you would not be asking them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo whom does God communicate? Are there special people? Are there special times?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll people are special, and all moments are golden. There is no person and there is no time one more special than another. Many people choose to believe that God communicates in special ways and only with special people. This removes the mass of the people from responsibility for hearing My message, much less \u003ci\u003ereceiving\u003c\/i\u003e it (which is another matter), and allows them to take someone else’s word for everything. You don’t \u003ci\u003ehave\u003c\/i\u003e to listen to Me, for you’ve already decided that others have heard from Me on every subject, and you have \u003ci\u003ethem\u003c\/i\u003e to listen to.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy listening to what \u003ci\u003eother\u003c\/i\u003e people think they heard Me say, \u003ci\u003eyou\u003c\/i\u003e don’t have to \u003ci\u003ethink at all.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is the biggest reason for most people turning from My messages on a personal level. If you acknowledge that you are receiving My messages \u003ci\u003edirectly\u003c\/i\u003e, then you are responsible for interpreting them. It is far safer and much easier to accept the interpretation of others (even others who have lived 2,000 years ago) than seek to interpret the message you may very well be receiving in this moment now.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYet I invite you to a new form of communication with God. A \u003ci\u003etwo-way\u003c\/i\u003e communication. In truth, it is you who have invited Me. For I have come to you, in this form, right now, in \u003ci\u003eanswer to your call.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhy do some people, take Christ, for example, seem to hear more of Your communication than others?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBecause some people are willing to actually listen. They are willing to hear, and they are willing to remain \u003ci\u003eopen\u003c\/i\u003e to the communication even when it seems scary, or crazy, or downright wrong.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe should listen to God even when what’s being said seems wrong?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEspecially when it seems wrong. If you think you are right about everything, who needs to talk with God?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGo ahead and act on all that you know. But notice that you’ve all been doing that since time began. And look at what shape the world is in. Clearly, you’ve missed something. Obviously, there is something you don’t understand. That which you \u003ci\u003edo\u003c\/i\u003e understand must seem right to you, because “right” is a term you use to designate something with which you agree. What you’ve missed will, therefore, appear at first to be “wrong.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe only way to move forward on this is to ask yourself, “What would happen if everything I thought was ‘wrong’ was actually ‘right’?” Every great scientist knows about this. When what a scientist does is not working, a scientist sets aside all of the assumptions and starts over. All great discoveries have been made from a willingness, and ability, to \u003ci\u003enot be right.\u003c\/i\u003e And that’s what’s needed here.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou cannot know God until you’ve stopped telling yourself that you \u003ci\u003ealready\u003c\/i\u003e know God. You cannot hear God until you stop thinking that you’ve already heard God.\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI cannot tell you My Truth until you stop telling Me yours.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut my truth about God comes from \u003ci\u003eYou.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWho said so?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOthers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat others?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLeaders. Ministers. Rabbis. Priests. Books. The \u003ci\u003eBible\u003c\/i\u003e, for heaven’s sake!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThose are not authoritative sources.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThey \u003ci\u003earen’t\u003c\/i\u003e?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNo.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen what \u003ci\u003eis\u003c\/i\u003e?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eListen to your \u003ci\u003efeelings.\u003c\/i\u003e Listen to your Highest Thoughts. Listen to your experience. Whenever any one of these differ from what you’ve been told by your teachers, or read in your books, forget the words. \u003ci\u003eWords are the least reliable purveyor of Truth.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere is so much I want to say to You, so much I want to ask. I don’t know where to begin.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor instance, why is it that You do not reveal Yourself? If there really is a God, and You are It, why do You not reveal Yourself in a way we can all understand?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI have done so, over and over. I am doing so again right now.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNo. I mean by a method of revelation that is incontrovertible; that cannot be denied.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSuch as?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSuch as appearing right now before my eyes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI am doing so right now.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhere?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEverywhere you look.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNo, I mean in an incontrovertible way. In a way no man could deny.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat way would that be? In what form or shape would you have Me appear?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the form or shape that you actually have.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat would be impossible, for I have no form or shape you understand. I could \u003ci\u003eadopt\u003c\/i\u003e a form or shape that you \u003ci\u003ecould\u003c\/i\u003e understand, but then everyone would assume that what they have seen is the one and only form and shape of God, rather than a form or shape of God—one of many.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePeople believe I am what they see Me as, rather than what they do \u003ci\u003enot\u003c\/i\u003e see. But I am the Great Unseen, not what I cause Myself to be in any particular moment. In a sense, I am what I \u003ci\u003eam not.\u003c\/i\u003e It is from the \u003ci\u003eam-notness\u003c\/i\u003e that I come, and to it I always return.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYet when I come in one particular form or another—a form in which I think people can understand Me—people \u003ci\u003eassign Me that form forevermore.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd should I come in any other form, to any other people, the first say I did not appear to the second, because I did not look to the second as I did to the first, nor say the same things—so how could it have been Me?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou see, then, it matters not in what form or in what manner I reveal Myself—\u003ci\u003ewhatever\u003c\/i\u003e manner I choose and \u003ci\u003ewhatever form\u003c\/i\u003e I take, \u003ci\u003enone\u003c\/i\u003e will be incontrovertible.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut if You did something that would evidence the truth of who You are beyond doubt or question…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e…there are still those who would say, it is of the devil, or simply someone’s imagination. Or any cause other than Me.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf I revealed myself as God Almighty, King of Heaven and Earth, and moved mountains to prove it, there are those who would say, “It must have been Satan.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd such is as it should be. For God does not reveal Godself to Godself from or through outward observation, but through inward experience. And when inward experience has revealed Godself, outward observation is not necessary. And if outward observation is necessary, inward experience is not possible.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf, then, revelation is requested, it cannot be had, for the act of asking is a statement that it is not there; that nothing of God is now being revealed. Such a statement produces the experience. For your thought about something is \u003ci\u003ecreative\u003c\/i\u003e, and your word is \u003ci\u003eproductive\u003c\/i\u003e, and your thought and your word together are magnificently effective in giving birth to your reality. Therefore shall you experience that \u003ci\u003eGod is not now revealed\u003c\/i\u003e, for if God \u003ci\u003ewere\u003c\/i\u003e, you would not \u003ci\u003eask\u003c\/i\u003e God to be.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDoes that mean I cannot ask for anything I want? Are You saying that praying for something actually \u003ci\u003epushes it away from us\u003c\/i\u003e?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is a question which has been asked through the Ages—and has been answered whenever it has been asked. Yet you have not heard the answer, or will not believe it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe question is answered again, in today’s terms, and today’s language, thusly:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou will not have that for which you ask, nor can you have anything you want. This is because your very request is a statement of lack, and your saying you want a thing only works to produce that precise experience—wanting—in your reality.\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe correct prayer is therefore never a prayer of supplication, but a prayer of gratitude.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen you thank God in advance for that which you choose to experience in your reality, you, in effect, acknowledge that it is there…\u003ci\u003ein effect.\u003c\/i\u003e Thankfulness is thus the most powerful statement to God; an affirmation that even before you ask, I have answered.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTherefore never supplicate. \u003ci\u003eAppreciate.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut what if I am grateful to God in advance for something, and it never shows up? That could lead to disillusionment and bitterness.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGratitude cannot be used as a tool with which to \u003ci\u003emanipulate\u003c\/i\u003e God; a \u003ci\u003edevice\u003c\/i\u003e with which to fool the universe. You cannot lie to yourself. Your mind knows the truth of your thoughts. If you are saying “Thank you, God, for such and such,” all the while being very clear that it isn’t \u003ci\u003ethere\u003c\/i\u003e in your present reality, you can’t expect God to be \u003ci\u003eless clear\u003c\/i\u003e than you, and so produce it for you.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGod knows what you know, and what you know is what appears as your reality.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut how then can I be truly grateful for something I \u003ci\u003eknow is not there?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFaith. If you have but the faith of a mustard seed, you shall move mountains. You come to know it is there because I \u003ci\u003esaid\u003c\/i\u003e it is there; because I \u003ci\u003esaid\u003c\/i\u003e that, even before you ask, I shall have answered; because I \u003ci\u003esaid\u003c\/i\u003e, and have said to you in every conceivable way, through every teacher you can name, that whatsoever you shall choose, choosing it in My Name, so shall it be.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYet so many people say that their prayers have gone unanswered.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNo prayer—and a prayer is nothing more than a fervent statement of \u003ci\u003ewhat is so\u003c\/i\u003e—goes unanswered. Every prayer—every thought, every statement, every feeling—is creative. To the degree that it is fervently held as truth, to that degree will it be made manifest in your experience.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen it is said that a prayer has not been answered, what has in actuality happened is that the most fervently held thought, word, or feeling has become \u003ci\u003eoperative.\u003c\/i\u003e Yet what you must know—and here is the secret—is that always it is the thought behind the thought—what might be called the Sponsoring Thought—that is the controlling thought.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf, therefore, you beg and supplicate, there seems a much smaller chance that you will experience what you think you are choosing, because the Sponsoring Thought behind every supplication is that you do \u003ci\u003enot have now\u003c\/i\u003e what you wish. \u003ci\u003eThat Sponsoring Thought becomes your reality.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe only Sponsoring Thought which could override this thought is the thought held in faith that God will grant whatever is asked, \u003ci\u003ewithout fail.\u003c\/i\u003e Some people have such faith, but very few.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe process of prayer becomes much easier when, rather than having to believe that God will always say “yes” to every request, one understands intuitively that \u003ci\u003ethe request itself is not necessary. Then the prayer is a prayer of thanksgiving. It is not a request at all, but a statement of gratitude for what is so.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen you say that a prayer is a statement of what is so, are you saying that God does nothing; that everything which happens after a prayer is a result of the \u003ci\u003eprayer’s\u003c\/i\u003e action?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf you believe that God is some omnipotent being who hears all prayers, says “yes” to some, “no” to others, and “maybe, but not now” to the rest, you are mistaken. By what rule of thumb would God decide?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf you believe that God is the \u003ci\u003ecreator and decider of all things\u003c\/i\u003e in your life, you are mistaken.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGod is the \u003ci\u003eobserver\u003c\/i\u003e, not the creator. And God stands ready to assist you in living your life, but not in the way you might expect.\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is not God’s function to create, or uncreate, the circumstances or conditions of your life.\u003c\/i\u003e God created you, in the image and likeness of God. \u003ci\u003eYou\u003c\/i\u003e have created the rest, through the power God has given you. God created the process of life and life itself as you know it. Yet God gave you free choice, to do with life as you will.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[. . .]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tarcher","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303336300773,"sku":"NP9780399153297","price":45.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780399153297.jpg?v=1767738776","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-complete-conversations-with-god-isbn-9780399153297","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}