2002-05-03-Dare to Ask God

Session

Opening

Prayer by Bill: May we be mindful of the words of the Lord Jesus who said, "Where two or three are gathered, I am there in the midst". Help us to focus our attention on that still small voice within us that whispers, so that our deepest needs may be met. Amen

Lesson

Aaron(Bill): Let us begin our session together, my friends. I am Aaron who has not departed from this teaching base, although I have not been vocally present recently. We are pleased to see your children in attendance with you at a meeting whose intention is to contact your spiritual side with greater consistency and effectiveness. You display your loyalty to your highest ideals when you come to gatherings of this nature, for whenever you do that you show forth the most important desires in your life. As has already been told you by this TR, our topic tonight is the courage to ask your heart's desire.

Our Master, Jesus, often and consistently put forth this concept to his followers and especially to his Apostles, that people languished in spiritual poverty and in emotional thirst because they did not have the humility to ask God for what they really desired. You see, in those days such an intimate relationship with God was not a part of the religion of Israel. The personal nature of parent/child and father/son or daughter relationship with God was not understood or accepted by all but a very few of Jesus' contemporaries. God was conceived of as the father of the nation, but not that loving intimate individual Whom Jesus referred to as "Daddy". Many were startled when the Master insisted that they ask for what they truly desired and that in the asking they would experience the reality of their relationship as a child to their heavenly Father and receive from Him every good gift.

We will not take time to talk about the asking of things which are less than optimal or for requests having to do with self centered concerns, for Jesus was not referring to these kinds of prayers. He was rather referring to the greatest and most important needs that human beings have: to be understood and accepted as they were; to be honored and valued because of their intrinsic worth as persons; to be able to say, "Abba", Daddy, when speaking with God.

I have been asked to lead this feedback part of our meeting and this is the question that I wish you to respond to: Really and truly, as far as you know your own mind and heart, what is the greatest thing that you desire? If you can put it into words, will you ask it of God?

I realize this is hardly a light weight exercise that I am requesting of you, but I will not force these answers from your lips. We could respond spontaneously in whatever order appears or we could use some structure, moving around the circle. I realize that the question is sufficiently weighty that it does not need additional pressure which might be the case if we go around the circle. Will you be willing to respond spontaneously? Can you answer me audibly?

Dialogue

Group: Um hum. Yes.

Bob P: I prefer to go from left to right. (So he would be last!) (Laughter)

Aaron: So I have heard an affirmation for both methods? (More laughter)

Bob: You can see better than that.

Aaron: Very well, let us begin. (Pause)

Mike: Well, I'll begin. You say, what's your heart's desire, you know. The biggest thing that I really want in my life is a better relationship with my family, especially my kids. I know that personally I have a lot of drawbacks as to where I am in my life. I lose so much by being gone [Mike is a railroad engineer] and not having a really good understanding of Morgan, especially, and Hannah, Lori, and it bothers me. But I know that we are working on it. Lori is helping me a lot, and I do ask for help. Hopefully help will continue to be there, because it is important to me!

Aaron: Indeed, my friend. Thank you for your honesty and for your lovely sentiment. To desire to be a better father to your children and to be more intimately connected to your family is, without doubt, a most noble goal. For you have discovered, by the very nature of your wish, what is really important in life, your relationships and especially as they are nurtured and brought to potential within the family. Mike, I can tell you for certain that you shall receive the answer to your desire. Yes, it will be as a result of many things, but mostly your own effective participation. Thank you for having the courage to lead off. Will another please respond.

Ken: Yes, Aaron, I will. Welcome to our group this evening. Again, you raise a little anxiety in me with your questions and your requirements. I guess my question and my desire is, "How to be more effective in reaching and communicating with the Father".

Aaron: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness", said our Lord, " for they shall be filled". The hungering and the thirsting is crucial. You have expressed this hunger and this thirst for communion with your Indwelling Adjuster. Think about this. How does one quench their thirst and how does one satisfy their hunger? By eating and drinking. Therefore, my suggestion is that you not quell your appetite by eating snacks between meals. (Chuckling) Allow your hunger to become substantial so that when you partake of that meal of the Spirit you will feel satisfied. Also, my comments are just introductory, for surely with such a desire, these is a guaranteed answer. You will receive what you wish for. Thank you for expressing yourself here in the company of your peers.

Ken: Thank you for your answer, Aaron. Very enjoyable. Very insightful. Thank you.

Aaron: You are welcome. Who will be next?

Pat: Well, I'll take a shot at this. Aaron, I'm not prepared to mention a very personal thing I desire at this time. But one thing I desire is . ..as you said about Jesus with people's values . ..I desire so much that this world can learn to value peace for every one involved with war and believe in all the help that we are getting. I know and appreciate that very much. I just desire so much that we Urantians can truly respect one another.

Aaron: My dear sister, your desire for world peace and the cessation of war and conflict, which is what I detect in your tone, this desire for the coming of Light and Life to this planet, is also one of our greatest desires. Have I understood you correctly?

Pat: Yes.

Aaron. You will not see it with your mortal eyes but remember, ere you leave this mortality behind you, you will see more progress. Most importantly, I would affirm that you will join us in your ascension career so that you will see, as we will, your desire come to pass. Not, as I said, during your lifetime, but you shall in time behold the answer to your great desire. Some day we will look back on these very meetings and we will laugh about the difficulty many of you, including this TR, had with this whole communication process. You and I will laugh at the struggles we have had with our egos, those egos that were so badly damaged by the Lucifer Rebellion and its aftereffects through the centuries. We will laugh because we will see how foolish were so many of our concerns; how vain were our fears; how needless was our anxiety. We will not laugh in derision. We will laugh as we see the humor from a larger perspective. Know that your prayer, your desire is our desire, and it shall be answered. Thank you, Pat.

Pat: Thank you, Aaron.

Aaron: Isaac, it is your turn!

Bill: Well, that's not cool! How come he designates me? He didn't designate anyone else. (Group chuckles)

Ken: He wanted to give you a break. (More snickering from group)

Bill: At this point in my life, one of my greatest desires is to spend the rest of my days in such a way that I can continue to truly be a help to other people. I am looking forward to that in relationship to my family. But I just don't want my retirement years to be sort of a slow fizzle out of the fire of service. I don't want it to be a bunch of dying embers in the fireplace. I guess that's it.

Aaron: This is Aaron. Have no fear, my friend, that you will become useless baggage at the expense of your children or that your worth diminishes with the strength of your body. While aging is unavoidable, you have learned an important lesson, that the meaning of life is not wrapped up in comfort and self centered living. You know that true joy comes from following the guidance of your Indwelling Spirit and serving your brothers and sisters. So, do not worry that you will become weary in well doing, for giving to others that which you have strengthens life and does not diminish it Just let go of ego worries. You'll be fine.

Bill: Thank you.

Aaron: I am Aaron. Who would like to be next?

Virginia: Well, Aaron, two people have really expressed what I was thinking about. Number one, to honestly know and believe that I am doing the will of God. The other one was the wish that would really solve everything. It would be that Light and Life would arrive. I know I won't see that. But I am also very impatient. I would like to see the sky light up and the truth be written all over the skies and everything would be great! We would all believe and everything would be wonderful. Only I know it doesn't work that way. And, of course, family relationships...terribly important. I am growing old. I am the oldest one here. But, I don't worry about getting old because I have lots of energy and do pretty much what I want to do.

Aaron: You have one desire expressed in two ways. You desire to do the will of God and you wish everybody else would also.

Virginia: But I don't know what the will of God is for me always, so how do I know what it is for them!

Aaron: But you do know the will of God for you and you have a very good idea what it is for the whole planet. It is to recognize who everyone is, brothers and sisters, because they are children of one Source and Center.

You referred to the Serenity Prayer as a guideline which has meaning for you. The response to your statement about miraculous means to bring about the desired end, that all should do the will of God, is discussed in the prayer as the acceptance of that which you cannot change. You are rightly concerned with the second part of the prayer, the courage to change what you can, which is yourself, as you know. But the hardest part of this prayer for most people is the last part, the wisdom to know the difference between what you can change and what you cannot. For some err on the side of passivity and only think of the first part of the prayer, passively accepting everything that comes to them. Others struggle to control as much as possible and have difficulty with acceptance. So what is needed is to ask for wisdom. You can be assured that when you ask for wisdom it will be forthcoming. For anyone who is wise enough to ask for wisdom will definitely receive it. Are there other comments from those who have not shared?

Bob P. Anybody in mind in particular? (Laughter) When I think about these types of things, it sounds easy, but it sure isn't because one of the things that I think I would desire the most relates to faith. I actually feel like I have that at some level. But it is not a real clear guiding reference point for me where I can identify exactly what that faith is in. I see some people with a fairly definite, not unwavering, but fairly definite faith in God and God's Spirit. I don't know that I experience that same faith. I think I have faith in my concept of what God is, but not necessarily on the same level that I see in a lot of people. I think the easy answer is, "Ask and you will receive" and that wanting faith will result in getting faith. I am not convinced necessarily that that is true. I have heard of people saying, "Well a lot of folks have a conversion experience". I don't know that this is necessarily happening or that this is faith, but we make TV shows and movies about that. It certainly seems to work there. The reality is that I am pretty enthralled with life and Spirit and all of that now. But I also feel like there is still a faith issue, because I don't know what my faith is. I know I am more content about having one, but I sure can't put my finger on it.

Aaron: May I attempt to rephrase your statement...

Bob: (laughing) If it is shorter than what I said, sure.

Aaron...and see if I grasped the essence? My understanding of what you said is that while you desire faith, you don't want credulity. You desire a faith that you earn and achieve by your own effort and struggle rather than something magically dumped into your head in conversion experience, for example.

Bob: I'd take that! But the point...yeah, I think you're right. I don't know about the earning part, but I am saying that people seem to come across faith in a number of ways and I haven't had that experience, I don't think.

Aaron: You remind me of the person who approached Jesus with a mixed mind. He said, "I believe, help my unbelief. In other words, there is some sort of faith in the understanding of God. But you are willing to have that expanded, however that may come about. Is this accurate?

Bob: I think that might be...

Aaron: May I make a recommendation?

Bob: Sure.

Aaron: Continue to pursue your open minded attitude in reading the Urantia Book among other things and continue to let your soul flow with the grace which is yours in great abundance, by the way. You are correct in your assessment that you are a man of faith. It is not your heart that is blocked. It is not your mind either, but it is more in your mind than in your heart, if you follow my understanding.

Bob: Um Huh.

Aaron: To those who have high intellectual gifts, more problems are apparent, whereas simpler minds do not see as much to distress them..(laughter from group). It is one of the side effects of the major gift of ability. I am honored to have you ask this question, for to strive for a living and satisfying faith is a most worthy goal, indeed. Thank you.

Bob: Thank you.

Nancy: When dad, Bill, stated before the lesson began that he knew what the lesson was about and that it was, "Ask and you shall receive", the topic took me back to one of my very early meetings in our first Michael celebration that we had in the Teaching Mission here in this house. I asked a question with a lot of conflict of Ham. His response to me was, "Ask, and you shall receive". I was very annoyed! (Laughter). However, sometime after that I started experimenting with "Ask and you shall receive" and asking in particular about the fruits of the Spirit. When I felt myself short on patience, I asked for patience, courage, understanding, forgiveness, depending on the situation and what I felt I needed. It seems that I made remarkable strides! It was like cruising down the moving sidewalks in the airport..I love to walk fast on those.

Aaron, you led into your beginning statement and the rephrasing of it was just powerful! It sent me searching to find my heart's true desire because I have asked for so much and I have received so much. Many of the things have been resolved for me for which I was asking at earlier points in time. The other thing that passed through my mind in all of this regarding your opening topic. It took me back to a learning exercise that I did twelve years ago, in which we were to ask for what we wanted, which was more in the material realm, and we were to look at what the emotional experience was that this led us to. For example, I wanted a new dress. Why? So I could look pretty. Why? And going back and back with that type of looking for deeper understanding. So I kind of went reeling on that question and passed right into what Pat said. It almost took me back to early childhood where I wanted so much to see the world without hunger, without war, and all of that, see the rivers running clean and the air clear, and flowers brilliant. What I finally came down to was a single word which was, purpose. I wanted my life to have purpose in that greater sense of those large social issues. That took me to, "Father, I want to be of service to You in the healing of this planet". And that is my first desire. I am so glad that I get to dabble in absurd ways in my job, because when I look at it with just the eyes of ego, as our human nature, there doesn't seem to be much going on there but a lot of legal jostling. But I feel like it has purpose and somehow it will take me to that greater sense of purpose for which I search. It is good to be here, tonight.

Aaron: Yes, PamElla, thank you. You have in your soliloquy traced your heart's desire back to your roots, to your first conscious awareness of the presence of your Indwelling Spirit, for those yearnings come from no lessor source. The evolutionary universes that we are a part of yearn for the same thing, their completion in perfection, in perfectedness. Your residence on this particularly afflicted planet only heightens that desire to see the harmony and beauty of Paradise replicated through evolutionary development. You have pointed out that many of your wishes and desires that were so passionately present in your mind as a younger person, have now finally come to pass. Be assured, my dear, that we all shall all rejoice in the completion of the desire of your heart as well, to see this world, this system, this constellation, this universe, this superuniverse and eventually all of the grand universe achieve absolute perfectedness.

I can only offer you my opinion about your career. It appears to me that you are acting out your desire. You do not know the outcome of all the many decisions that you make on a daily basis, as to how this affects the web of interaction of the whole that you are so intimately involved with. You have learned to come from Spirit and not from ego in this; for this is the desire of your Spirit which you experience. It shall come to pass that upon the review of all of your lives, if you stay the course with Spirit, you shall be very satisfied.

My dear Lori, do you wish to conclude the meeting?

Lori and Virginia: There is Marty, too!

Aaron: That's right, my apologies.

Lori: If I can express my heart's desire on a personal level...I would like more understanding. That's where I seem to fail. Understanding my family as individuals, my peers, people all around . .. and myself, and being understood.

Aaron: Thank you for expressing this important desire. Understanding is the root from which the tree of love and forgiveness is nurtured. The more you understand yourself and others, the more you will be able to love yourself and them. To become more educated is the result of exposure and effort. Understanding, beyond the capacity of your natural cognitive ability, is a matter of work and effort. Since I know you to be one who is dutiful, energetic and highly motivated, I am positive that you will have a major part in answering your own desire. In addition to your effort, be willing to listen to the voice of wisdom which comes to you from your teachers, from yourIndwelling Spirit, from your comrades, your brothers and sisters, and also remember that out of the mouth of babes has come many a wise word.

By the way, we wish to commend you and Mike in your efforts to expand the understanding of your children. We have already commented on this, but know that if you need further encouragement, we support your efforts.

Lori: Thank you, Aaron.

Aaron: Marty, my TR apologizes for he has a way of getting in the way. Do you wish to speak your thoughts?

Marty: I think they have been covered by several others in bits and pieces. I am still very much struggling to listen to my Thought Adjuster in order to better know the will of God and to know, as the Serenity Prayer says, whether it is my will or God's will. I am still back, struggling with that piece of it. Sometimes I get after myself, but that doesn't help anything. You just have to work on it. That would be my heart's desire, to better listen to my Thought Adjuster and the teachers and know God's will; at least have a more confident opinion that I was doing God's will a lot of times, instead of my own selfish will more than I would like.

Aaron: Thank you. The quest to bring yourself into alignment with the will of God is the highest goal that a mortal can strive for! Your struggles are noted. I would say this to you: You cannot accurately estimate your progress. You can only know the sincerity of your own heart. Keep your sincerity intact and don't worry about progress. If you sincerely desire to do God's will, it shall be revealed to you...maybe not with trumpets and loud announcements, but with that feeling that you have within, that peaceful feeling, that joyful feeling. These are the indicators of that harmony, that personality balance.

In conclusion to all of you I would simply say, remember what you discussed earlier. When you are not peaceful and not joyful, ask yourself, "Has my ego gotten half way up the steps leading to the throne? Or has it actually ascended and sat there?" Well, if so, your ego is your servant. You decide and put it back among the servants around your personality will center.

Closing

My friends, this has been a most delightful evening. I appreciate your 100% cooperation and participation. I hope that you have all learned something more about yourself in the process. With that, let us all stand. Daniel will close our meeting.

Daniel(Bill): My friends, let us be in prayer.

Michael, our older Brother and Creator/Father, we are Your children. We are brothers and sisters connected to each other with more than just hand holding, but with hearts that are of the same nature, the nature of God, Himself. I thank you for these students, these little ones who are willing to have us instruct them and guide them. I look forward to the time when we will be morontia companions. Give them all a real lift in their innards, in their souls. As they move through the days of this week may they experience the joy of a balanced and centered personality. So that we may be your sons and daughters in truth, we ask these things. Amen.