# Chain: Prayer Soul Longing > *True prayer is the longing of the soul, not the recitation of the mind* **The argument it traces:** Prayer is the foundation and anchor of the Divine Love path → but words alone are not prayer; the sincere longing of the soul is what prayer essentially is → repetition without feeling elicits no real response → it is soul-longing that activates God's answer (the Law of Activation) → as Divine Love accumulates, prayer becomes easier and the conscious knowing of God deepens **9** messages · **27** supporting · main statement not yet chosen --- ## Foundation ### 2015-11-28 - [[2015-11-28 The Power of Prayer to Bring Change and Healing|The Power of Prayer to Bring Change and Healing]] Faith establishes that sincere prayer and soul-longing for God's Love brings real change in both the material and spirit worlds; strips prayer to its essence ("Just longing. Just prayer."). Anchors the thread. ## Elaboration ### 2016-01-23 - [[2016-01-23 The Power of Prayer|The Power of Prayer]] Augustine draws the central distinction: prayer is the anchor and foundation of the Path Divine, but "not a prayer that is a recitation from your minds, but prayer that is a longing from your soul"; it is the longing that elicits God's response. ### 2016-01-24 - [[2016-01-24 Lesson on Soul-Desire|Lesson on Soul-Desire]] Augustine refines the chain on a specific point: the desires of the soul and the mind often differ, and this mismatch is what derails prayer (a soul may long for God's Love while the mind feels unworthy; the mind may think it receives where the soul does not truly desire). The remedy is to plumb the soul's true desire and make it the focus of prayer. ### 2016-03-25 - [[2016-03-25 Importance of Prayer|Importance of Prayer]] Augustine affirms that sincerity is what counts: "each sincere prayer given to God will strike the mark and obtain a response from your Heavenly Father," offered "in earnest longing and clear intention." Sits between his own central distinction (2016-01-23, prayer as longing not recitation) and the Keea Atta Kem capstone (2018-07-30); confirms the soul-longing argument and ties prayer to clarifying the soul's purpose and growing the Light each time the circle gathers. ### 2016-07-11 - [[2016-07-11 Pray Daily|Pray Daily]] Adds the cadence requirement and its cost: "you, my beloveds, must take the time, make the effort, say the prayers, sit in silence to receive God's answers to the longings of your souls," measured as "at least one portion of your day," and without the daily Touch "you become lost in the human condition, in the ebb and flow of all the disparate energies of this world." Closest member [[2016-01-23 The Power of Prayer|2016-01-23-af-augustine]] (prayer as longing, not recitation); new facet: no existing member makes the daily interval itself the argument or states the cost of omitting it. ### 2016-09-04 - [[2016-09-04 God's Love Is the Key|God's Love Is the Key]] The floor and the rate, neither of which the thread holds elsewhere. "It is a simple choice to sit in prayer. To long for this Love requires nothing but your effort and time. Even a brief prayer for God for Love will eventually set you upon this course and the more effort you apply in this journey, the faster will be the awakening." A floor, that a brief prayer suffices to begin, and a rate, that effort governs speed. ### 2016-12-07 - [[2016-12-07 Be Fully with God in Your Prayers|Be Fully with God in Your Prayers]] What prayer is not, stated against intercession. Prayer for others is good, but carried as a duty it crowds out the prayer itself, so the circle is given a way to set the duty down, the prayer bowl, "In this way you may write down their names, bring them into your consciousness and put them within this vessel. This allows you in your prayers the freedom to go deep within yourself, and to be released from this mental obligation to pray for others." Then the claim, "Prayer cannot and should not be a burden nor should it be a distraction. It is an expression of your soul and it comes from that place of deep longing, of pure intention," and the instruction, "When you are in prayer, go deep, do not worry about your obligations towards others, say a prayer and let them go." What prayer is for is communion, "always come to that place where you and God are one and there is no thought of anything else but your communion with your Heavenly Father," answered in advance against the charge of selfishness, "It is not selfish, it is what is meant to be for you, it is what God craves." Service follows from it rather than competing with it, "when you emerge from this beautiful, deep place you can then go into the world bringing much to others. For you have been replenished." ### 2017-05-11 - [[2017-05-11 Jesus Speaks of the Pentecost|Jesus Speaks of the Pentecost]] Reception is proportional to the depth of the asking, and Jesus measures the circle against that standard to their face: "if it is your sincere desire to receive the Pentecost, the depth of your longing, the breath of your desire, the capacity of your souls to open and to receive this gift... must be far greater than any of you here are feeling and desiring to receive." He also names what the prayer must be allowed to contain: not only joy but the unwelcome material, "To cry out not in joy, but in fear. To cry out in confusion, to cry out tinged with error." And he prescribes escalation: "with each day may the intensity of your desire for this... be doubled and redoubled until you come to that point where the Pentecost is assured." ## Capstone ### 2018-07-30 - [[2018-07-30 Prayer|Prayer]] Keea Atta Kem gives a full treatment: prayer is the language of the soul and an act of faith opening a thread of light to God; names the Law of Activation as the mechanism ("It is prayer that brings the response from God enacting His Law of Activation"); repetition without feeling yields no real response. Ties the soul-longing argument to a named spiritual law. --- ## Also touches on this *These messages restate or echo the idea rather than carry it forward, so they sit alongside the thread rather than in it.* - **1963-12-26** [[1963-12-26 Jesus' Birth and Youth|Jesus' Birth and Youth]] (sighting) - The Love came to Jesus as he was turned "to think of God and long for God's Presence; to pray." - **2014-10-11** [[2014-10-11 Every Soul Can Receive the Divine Love and Be Transformed by It|Every Soul Can Receive the Divine Love and Be Transformed by It]] (witness) - The longing intensified by being met rather than satisfied, "Seek the Love, ask for this gift and you will feel it burning deep within, eliciting you to seek in greater depths, in greater yearning." - **2014-12-01** [[2014-12-01 Express Your Yearnings to God|Express Your Yearnings to God]] (witness) - The circle's yearning as what draws God's answer, "in this yearning, you all express yourselves to God and create a light amongst you that is powerful and beautiful as God responds to your prayers, your soul longings and bring you fully into His presence." Stated in blessing form rather than developed. - **2015-03-28** [[2015-03-28 The Journey of Divine Love Takes Time but Brings Great Benefits|The Journey of Divine Love Takes Time but Brings Great Benefits]] (sighting) - Prayer as desire rather than words or place, "Prayers that go to your Heavenly Father at any time and in any place - these prayers can be sent forth on wings of desire to be with your God." - **2015-03-29** [[2015-03-29 The Greatest of All Types of Healing Is Divine Love Healing|The Greatest of All Types of Healing Is Divine Love Healing]] (witness) - The gift is not imposed, "God does not give His Love to those who do not choose to receive it. It is your choice. It is your prayer. It is your longing." - **2015-10-12** [[2015-10-12 The Difference Between the Material Mind and the Soul Mind|The Difference Between the Material Mind and the Soul Mind]] (sighting) - "there is something else within you that longs to be with God"; the soul's longing as the thread names it, asserted in passing. - **2016-04-13** [[2016-04-13 The Greatest Healing Energy of All Is God's Divine Love|The Greatest Healing Energy of All Is God's Divine Love]] (sighting) - "it is in the asking and the longing that it is given," with the prayer quoted in full; the heart of the thread given as an instruction, without being developed. - **2016-06-06** [[2016-06-06 Continue on This Path|Continue on This Path]] (sighting) - "May you all find what your deep soul longings long for and already know"; the already-knows nuance stated in one clause; sighting against the Foundation ([[2015-11-28 The Power of Prayer to Bring Change and Healing|2015-11-28-af-faith-nyquist]]). - **2016-08-15** [[2016-08-15 Awaken from Your Slumbers|Awaken from Your Slumbers]] (sighting) - Reception-requires-invitation, the thread's premise stated as invitation ("Drink deep, for this gift awaits your invitation, your longing and prayers"). - **2016-08-26** [[2016-08-26 Seek the Light of God's Love|Seek the Light of God's Love]] (witness) - Response-follows-longing in one clause; the Foundation carries it developed. - **2016-09-01** [[2016-09-01 Group Prayer Multiplies Blessings|Group Prayer Multiplies Blessings]] (witness) - The proportionality form, "the capacity to receive this Love is unlimited, only restricted by your own desires and longings"; a sharpening rather than a new facet. Recorded also so the Law of Activation (this thread's registry line) and the Law of Attraction (named here for an adjacent effect) are not conflated at build. - **2016-09-06** [[2016-09-06 Be with God|Be with God]] (witness) - What prayer produces afterwards, stated three ways, "The answers will come in prayer. The answers will come in inspiration. The answers will come as the breath of God blows upon each one of you and clears away the error and the mysteries so that you will truly know," with the receiving end specified, "The understandings that God has placed within your souls will emerge into your consciousness." That chain establishes what prayer essentially is and what it elicits; this describes what surfaces afterwards, and locates the content as already placed in the soul rather than newly given. - **2016-09-09** [[2016-09-09 Nurture Your Soul|Nurture Your Soul]] (sighting) - "none of this work can be done without fervent prayer and preparation," and "Continue to pray with all of your heart and all of your soul to receive this great Gift and the barriers will be broken." The barrier-breaking is stated as a consequence without a mechanism. - **2016-09-10** [[2016-09-10 You Have Joined a Network of Light|You Have Joined a Network of Light]] (witness) - The same minimum-requirement claim as [[2016-09-04 God's Love Is the Key|2016-09-04-af-john-the-beloved]]: "All it requires is some time, some focus, to come to know that soul desire within you." - **2016-09-12** [[2016-09-12 You Are Supported in Your Struggle|You Are Supported in Your Struggle]] (sighting) - The prayer Jerome gives is a scripted formula of surrender, "Heavenly Father, these are my burdens, this is my cloak of pain". Recorded because the thread's argument is that words alone are not prayer and it is the soul's longing that answers, and the spirits nevertheless supply words. The message does not engage the tension, so nothing is claimed. Also a practice-file candidate. - **2016-09-16** [[2016-09-16 Will You Walk with God|Will You Walk with God?]] (witness) - Prayer as the precondition for service rather than for the seeker's own growth, "Without your time with God, without allowing God to infill your soul with His Love you cannot act as his emissaries of Love and Truth." Nearest to it is [[2016-07-11 Pray Daily|2016-07-11-af-confucius]], the daily cadence and the cost of omitting it. The service-precondition framing recurs in this circle's material, so it is a repetition rather than a new facet. - **2016-10-19** [[2016-10-19 Divine Love Creates a Bond with the Father|Divine Love Creates a Bond with the Father]] (sighting) - The anchor image against drifting, "So many in this world drift and have no anchor... it is important to secure yourselves with the Heavenly Father." Adjacent to [[2016-01-23 The Power of Prayer|2016-01-23-af-augustine]], where the same spirit calls prayer the anchor and foundation of the Path Divine. Here the anchor is the bond itself rather than the practice, a small shift and not worth a role on one sentence. - **2016-10-26** [[2016-10-26 Be Open to God's Touch|Be Open to God's Touch]] (sighting) - Earnestness named as the condition of the opening, "as you are earnest and pray for this opening of Love. It will come." A clause in passing. - **2016-12-02** [[2016-12-02 A Prayer for Those on the Path of Love|A Prayer for Those on the Path of Love]] (sighting) - The longing itself given by God, "God has put within you a deep desire, a longing to receive and you must acknowledge this and continue to pray for this great gift of His Love." - **2016-12-07** [[2016-12-07 Pray from Your Heart|Pray from Your Heart]] (witness) - The form of prayer set aside for the longing behind it, "do not spend time worrying about how you pray, for a prayer is a prayer, is it not? And a prayer from the heart, a longing from the soul is a longing to God," with the longing known before it is voiced, "God knows your longing before you know your longing." [[2016-12-07 Be Fully with God in Your Prayers|2016-12-07-af-augustine]] lifts the sense of obligation from prayer; this lifts the worry about its form. - **2017-01-25** [[2017-01-25 Building a Foundation of Spiritual Growth and Development|Building a Foundation of Spiritual Growth and Development]] (sighting) - "Reach out to God in this simple way with a longing and a desire to receive this essence, this blessing and to be with God." - **2017-08-21** [[2017-08-21 Only the Soul Can Know God's Love|Only the Soul Can Know God's Love]] (witness) - Prayer as the means of experiencing rather than of asking, "this, my beloveds, is why you continue to pray and long for this Love, to experience it on all these different levels of awareness." - **2018-06-18** [[2018-06-18 The Reality of the Soul Can Be Merged with the Mind|The Reality of the Soul Can Be Merged with the Mind]] (witness) - The Law of Attraction applied to the communication itself, "Where there is that longing, that desire, we are able to come and be with you because you invoke the Law of Attraction and you invoke the Laws of Love." - **2018-10-09** [[2018-10-09 The Integration of the Material Mind with the Soul Mind|The Integration of the Material Mind with the Soul Mind]] (sighting) - The thirst that grows by being met, "the soul stirs and awakens. Emanating from the soul is a deep desire for more of this sustenance, these living waters, to refresh the parched soul." - **2019-01-21** [[2019-01-21 Divine Love Path and Natural Love Path|Divine Love Path and Natural Love Path]] (sighting) - The gift attributed to soul yearning over mental grasp, "it is the strength and urgency within your souls that brings you to this gift." - **2019-02-15** [[2019-02-15 The Experience of Pentecost|The Experience of Pentecost]] (sighting) - "listen to the beating of your souls... this is the soul yearning for God" restates prayer as soul-longing as counsel rather than developed argument. - **2019-03-14** [[2019-03-14 Love Is My Message|Love Is My Message]] (sighting) - "the power of prayer... sincere and longing from your soul", with a channel-of-love adjacency alongside; the message's chain-bearing contributions are to [[Chains/Religious Error|Religious Error]] and [[Chains/Who Jesus Was|Who Jesus Was]].