Good Seed And Bad Seed

Things aren't right here on planet Earth. We all know this. Sickness, poverty, injustice, and oppression are not God's intention or design. Many of our prayers will be devoted to fixing what is wrong in our bodies, our finances, our relationships, our world. The children of God continue to pray, even though many wrongs have not yet been corrected. Does it do any good? Does all this praying have any traction with God?

 “Let them be as flowers, always watered, fed, guarded, admired, but harnessed to a pot of dirt.” 

This parable can also be applied to society today. There are definitely people out there who are “seeds” scattered on either the path, rocky ground, among the thorn bushes or on good soil. But we have the ability to change that! If

Prayer is an essential to any kind of religious faith. Over the years and years of believing in a higher power,

For Christians this can be a very important technique and can help to bring gratitude to one's life. "There are 2 types of prayers, praise/adoration and gratitude/thanksgiving. Gratitude has been linked with a host of positive psychological variable, including life satisfaction, vitality, subjective happiness, optimism, hope, and the belief that life is comprehensible and meaningful (Schneller & Swenson, 2013)". It is safe to say that you cannot just pray when you need something and expect a positive outcome in the long run. Your relationship with God is something that should grow over time just like any other

The Spindrift organization spent a decade performing laboratory experiments trying to determine which prayer strategy was most effective: directed prayer for a specific outcome, or non-directed prayer, having no specific outcome. Directed prayer participants tried to “direct” the process of prayer with having an outcome in mind. For example one may wish to rid a person of cancer, or recovering from a heart disease. Non-directed prayer, on the other hand, approach prayer with a more open-ended mind-set, in which no specific outcome was held in mind. Dossey considered that the Spindrift research experiments has given us much evidence to demonstrate that non-directed prayer works better than directing prayer for a specific outcome. The Spindrift researchers tried to grow mould on the surface of agar plates used routinely by bacteriologists. After stressing but not killing a patch of mould, directed prayer was used to encourage growth on one side of the plate while non-directed prayer was used on the other side of the divided glass surface. Directed prayer produced no results. Non-directed prayer produced multiplication of the mould into concentric growth rings. These and other experiments conducted by Spindrift give indications for the best prayer method to use in situations when we don 't know what should happen. When non-directed prayer is answered, the outcome is always in the direction

(Pause) Prayer is what we do to win battles against the forces of evil.., to ward off satan's schemes. You gotta get on your knees. To win the battle.

The world itself is full of people and the secrets hidden within. A prime example of this are from books like The Bad Seed by William March and We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. These two novels both contain characters with many secrets, many dark secrets that cause them to hide and live away from society. In a sense, these characters live in “secret worlds”. Starting off with The Bad Seed, Rhoda, the main character who is responsible for violent crimes and her mother Christine who is the “guardian angel” that’s responsible for keeping Rhoda out of trouble. Just like Rhoda, the character Merricat from We Have Always Lived in the Castle is the one causing the trouble and her sister Constance is the protector. The dark

When I think of planting seeds, I am often reminded of the story of the boy on a beach. An old man watched the boy from a distance, as he bent down and picked up starfish stranded on the beach. One-by-one, he tossed each starfish back into the open arms of the sea. The old man, jaded by the world, approached the boy and asked why he would even bother. It didn’t matter! It was impossible save them

As Christians, we are told that “You can get anything—anything you ask for in prayer—if you believe” (Matthew 21:22 LB). Shouldn’t we encourage our

(Soren Kierkegaard) Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known of God. (Philippians 4:6 ESV) And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (Matthew 6:5-8

I says to myself, if a body can get anything they pray for, why don't

“Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted for too long a series of generations in the same worn-out soil. My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth.” (23)-Nameless narrator’s narration

Having been a Christian for many years I thought that I had a fair knowledge of what it meant to pray. I was amazed and humbled by the idea that through Jesus’ restorative act on the cross I am able to come into God’s presence - and not only come but be welcomed and even longed for. I believed that prayer is a powerful tool to petition God , a vehicle to praise Him , and an instrument to increase our intimacy with Him . I understood that people pray in a variety of ways, based on the teaching they have received, their experience, and even their personality. Most commonly, I engaged in prayer as a conversation with God.

This quote describes the deeper, spiritual approach to nature. This deeper approach allows us to be more open and sensitive to ourselves and nonhuman life.