First Step in True Pattern of Prayer - Address God

"Father in Heaven ..."

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Seeking Out God,  Calling On Him in Prayer is Firststep to Making Sure Our Prayers Are Heard

When addressing God, call Him! 

It is common courtesy to call the name of the person to whom we speak when we begin a conversation with that person. God is no different in this respect. We give Him the same respect that we afford each other. We should call on Heavenly Father in prayer by His title of Heavenly Father, Father, or God.

Now, there are times when there is the understood address to God. The understood address is when we address our thoughts to the person and just start speaking--usually, because that person is the only one in the room, or because we are with that person in some respect.

God can be addressed in this manner also, as I have often addressed my thoughts to Him and started speaking. However, it is preferable to call on Him.

The sad but true fact that devils can hear spoken prayers and even answer them warrants that we specify to whom we speak so that we cannot be deceived. It is also important to develop a long-term relationship with God so that when we call Him we know and recognize His voice when we hear it.

His voice is a still small voice of a tender parent that we must seek and be familiar with when we pray. God does hear our prayers and answers when we call on Him.

As often as children call parents by name to get their attention, we should call Father in Heaven to focus on His attention.

God is our Father

We refer to Him as Father in Heaven. Jesus in John 20:17 is recorded instructing Mary after revealing Himself to her following His resurrection

"... go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God." Among other things Christ taught, he revealed implicitly that God the Father is the Father of all of humankind.

He is the father of our spirits. Before everything was created physically, it was spiritually created--including us! God revealed to Moses that before he created anything physically upon the earth, he organized it spiritually (Moses 3:5).

Adam and Eve are the sources of all the physical bodies indirectly that came following them making us all cousins. God is the source of our spirits making us all siblings. There is no ancestor who separates us from God.

We are His direct and immediate family spiritually. We are siblings. As such, we have the same Father in Heaven whom we should address as such.

Think of the children in our lives and how often they call on a parent's name. As a parent, I hear from my six children my name from the time they awake until they are asleep. Sometimes I hear my name in the night!

As often as children call parents by name to get their attention, we should call Father in Heaven to focus on His attention.

It makes sense to call God by name when considering His parental responsibility to us. Knowing God is understanding that He is our Father. Knowing that He is our Father helps us to also know that He will listen and answer when we call Him.

We may also call Him Lord or God.

It is important when speaking to Him that we call His name so that we direct our attention towards Him. As an all-powerful being, God knows all things.

He knows when we are speaking to Him because He knows our hearts and can sense our thoughts. Even with that knowledge, He acts for us when we address Him properly.

As a part of the Plan of Salvation that God has created for us, God allows us to experience life as it comes. During this experience of life, we are expected to call on Him in prayer to communicate with Him.

Seeking out God and calling on Him in prayer is the first step to making sure our prayers are heard.

Recap on the Step of Prayer:

1. So the first step is to Address God in prayer.
2. The second step is to Thank God for what he has already given.
3. The third step is to Ask God for the things that we need and want.
4. The fourth step is to Close in the Name of Jesus Christ.

Cycle of Success

Greetings Cyber Friends!

The cycle of success is the culmination of all the failures and work it takes to succeed. It may seem odd that failure is a part of success. We learn through experiences, personal and researched, the things needed to achieve our successes in life. Some of us learn earlier and faster than others of us.

What can we learn from this little perspective? We can learn that no one, NO ONE can succeed without a support system. The constitution of a support system may differ depending on the field, needs, and personality of the person but it must exist. From criminal networks to the church hierarchy, a support system reigns supreme for it to operate.

When thinking about others and how we compare to them, we should look at our support system and see how well it works to enhance our natural talents. Sometimes the system that we think supports us, actually cripples our creative drives. It may not be that a person is a failure even though he has a support system, but the wrong one!

Also, we should compare support systems only enough to enhance our own. We should avoid the ills of avarice--to want what others have in an unhealthy way. We should enjoy the habit of justifiable acquisitiveness. Instead of coveting what others have. we long to work at achieving our own version of success.

As cliche as it is, we all have a version of success we can obtain along the cycle of success. We need to make sure we have the right type of support system to achieve it, and be satisfied within our own version of it. If we could all be Bill Gates, then his success cycle would not be exceptional. We can all be like Bill Gates in that we can excel within the limits of our spheres growing within our own cycles of success.

It may be a hard pill to swallow admitting to not being good at something, but once it is swallowed, the pill makes us feel so much better and we can enjoy what we have more. Once we appreciate what we have, then comes the opportunity to expand as our support system grows and our cycle of success involves fewer failures.

What is the secret of success? It is gratitude. It is also preparation, willingness to work and ability to accept failure and limitations. Ultimately, the secret of success is the willingness to fail and learn from it.

I should be about to have my moment, 

because I have been great at failure for so long,

 I am bound to succeed!

Kidding aside, as long as we are willing to fail and learn, we have the ability to succeed. It is an eventuality though. Let us not give up because we cannot do it right, right now or just like Bill Gates. Let us learn what works for us and what doesn't. Let us be willing to explore the unexpected and build on the wisdom of others. Let's be glad we have what we have and seek to enhance it one cycle at a time until we build a better support system.

If we all received what we wanted instantly, the struggle to achieve it lacking, the responsibility of it will crush us.

Which Comes First? Thought? or Language?

I was asked to respond to a question, which came first; the chicken or the egg... err, language or thought.

My first reaction to this was, "Wow, somebody wants me to answer a question! Me!"

My second thought was, "Am I being mocked?"

My third thought was, "That seems kinda obvious."

And a bunch of thoughts later, "I will write it!"




Thought Came First

Seriously and somberly I submit that thought comes first if we are speaking strictly from the scientific point of view.

Biologically the brain is developed first as a human develops in the womb because it regulates all the function of the other organs that form afterward.

The bio-electrical impulses that communicate throughout human bodies control unconscious functions before perceptive currents form in the brain.

So, though it may not be popularly thought of as thought, the bio-electric currents that ride the information highway of our bodies are rudimentary thought impulses; therefore thought indeed.

I wonder how many times I could use thought in a sentence?

I thought she thought the thoughts I thought were thought to reflect the thoughts of thoughtful thoughts.

Eight is enough right? Anyway...  So, Rodric's science reasons that thought comes first by a biological construct for number one

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Language Not Necessary For Thought

Besides being the first thing to form, the brain also functions without language initially. Think about a baby newly hatched... I mean born.

A newborn communicates when it comes out feelings of probably cold, disorientation, soreness, and hunger--all without saying or thinking any words. He or she probably follows instinctive drives to feed and seek comfort. At least that's what my seven did when they came screaming into the world.,

Ergo, thoughts come first for two.

Spiritual For Three

Depending on your religious preference, you may have special and sacred beliefs. I know I do. I believe we lived before we were born here on earth.

I believe that God is the creator of our spirits and the literal Father of us all. I also believe as spirits we had mouths and brains, you know, spirit brains and mouths.



I also suspect, not believe, that our spirits were always adult and could speak. So from my perspective language, spirit language could have come first.

But, but (as in hold on there now)...

God had to say let there be light first, and thoughts proceed action! So it is unanimous. Thought came first!

((((applause!))))

The chicken came first too. Somebody had to lay the egg!

And lucky for me, I can use my beliefs to not have to argue about the origins of the chicken!. God took some dirt and made it!

So dirt actually came first then?

My Conclusion!

Thought without language is a common experience with which all humans begin. I Speak therefore I am does not sound as good or make as much sense as I think, therefore I am.