Excerpt
Excerpt
The 7 Great Prayers: For a Lifetime of Hope and Blessings
Why We Wrote This Book
Tracey and I wrote this book to help you get closer to God and tap into God’s power through the use of the 7 Great Prayers and the accompanying affirmative prayers.
An affirmative prayer is a request to God expressed in a personal and positive way and in the present tense. It is said as though God has already granted your request. Praying affirmatively is a powerful way to pray. Here are a couple of examples of affirmative prayers: Thank you God for blessing me with health, wealth, and happiness.
God, you are with me right now. You give me comfort and strength.
When you use the 7 Great Prayers and the affirmative prayers along with the provided prayer techniques, it will be easy for you to tap into the power of God. God is always with you --- always. The secret to living a hopeful and blessed life is to connect with God and tap into God’s almighty power. This book will show you how. When you connect with God, you will gain comfort and strength and achieve success in all areas of your life. When praying and being with God, it’s imperative that you always think and pray positively.
Many researchers who study the lives of men and women who have achieved success or overcome serious life challenges --- such as the loss of a job, financial hardship, or a life-threatening health issue --- will tell you that these amazing people have transcended their difficulties through the power of positive thinking and affirmative prayer.
Think Positively and Be Blessed
In the book THINK AND GROW RICH, Napoleon Hill studied the lives of Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, and Thomas Edison. Each of these successful people shared a common trait: No matter how great the challenge or horrifying the obstacle they faced, each connected to their Higher Power (God). They thought and acted positively. You can think and act positively too!
We all know people who seem to think and act positively naturally, as though they were born with this ability. But they weren’t born this way. Most likely they lived in households and environments where the people around them thought positively; living under those conditions, they naturally learned to do the same. When faced with a challenge or problem, they think and pray positively, and their prayers are answered.
The rest of us --- myself included --- need to work hard to think and act positively. This book, and the 7 Great Prayers included within it, will help you think and act positively, which will attract more of God’s blessings into your life.
Your mind is like a magnet --- it attracts into your life whatever you think about most. Think, act, and feel negatively, and you’ll attract negative people and events into your life.
One of the gifts that God gave all of us is choice: the choice to do good or to do evil; the choice to think and act positively or to live negatively.
One of the chief objectives of this book is to make thinking and praying positively into a lifetime habit. A positive mental attitude can be developed and maintained by following the prayer processes revealed in this book. You can literally attract blessings into your life each and every day through prayer, affirmations, and positive thinking.
Turn Off the Bad News and Turn On the Good
Regrettably, we are exposed to negative thinking every day, and it seems as if it’s escalating all the time. For many people, negative thinking begins the second the alarm goes off and the clock radio starts spouting the morning news updates: a tragic nighttime fire, a morning traffic accident, bad financial news --- within minutes your mind is filled with negative thinking.
Next you are subjected to the complaints of family members, friends, and coworkers. All the negative thoughts expressed in your presence have a profound effect on you. They hurt your self-esteem, promote negative thinking, and hinder your future and your ability to overcome life’s challenges.
The only way to overcome life’s inevitable challenges is to think and act positively. Tracey and I have found that the easiest and most effective way to switch from negative to positive thinking is to use the 7 Great Prayers and the affirmative prayers that accompany them.
In Robert Collier’s book THE SECRET OF THE AGES, he tells us that the secret of the ages is that you become what you think about most. So turn off the TV. Turn off the radio. Put aside the newspaper. Limit the negative thinking you expose yourself to. Instead, start thinking and praying positively.
The Secret: The 7 Great Prayers
Using the 7 Great Prayers and the affirmation prayers in this book, you can create your own personal prayer program. Need greater financial stability or security? Love? Health? Friends? Purpose? Healing? Connect with God through the 7 Great Prayers to find your path to all these things and more.
The truly successful person who attracts blessings into his or her life thinks and acts positively. Positive attracts positive. Negative attracts negative. The second you start thinking negatively, you need to make a conscious choice to hop off the negative train and hop onto the positive train.
And the fastest way to change your life --- to change what you are becoming --- is to tap into the power of God. God is good. God is great. There is no negative when it comes to God.
It’s all good.
Who Is God?
This book and the 7 Great Prayers are not a religious philosophy. Much of what makes the 7 Great Prayers so great is that these powerful prayers inspire all people and all faiths, so simply adapt them to your faith and beliefs. The first edition of this book was shipped to every race and creed on earth. We received orders from Catholics in Boston, Hindus in India, Christians in Korea, Australia, and Africa, Muslims in Pakistan, Jews in Israel, and agnostics in Iceland --- all these people, from 163 countries, used THE 7 GREAT PRAYERS to connect with the God of their understanding.
With this new connection with God, they are on the path to living a hopeful and blessed life. All faiths --- and most people on this planet --- believe in God, a Higher Power, a supreme intelligence, something greater and more powerful than us. If you believe in God --- if you believe in the power of prayer --- the 7 Great Prayers and this book are for you.
The Power of Prayers and Affirmations
So, how do you tap into the power of God? You do it through prayer. If you want more power in any area of your life, pray more often. Pray every day and throughout the day. And when you pray include short, positive affirmation prayers.
The simple definition of prayer is a sincere request to God in words or thought. The key word in this definition is sincere. Mindlessly reciting a lengthy prayer from memory is not effective when compared to a simple, focused prayer expressed earnestly and with love.
The simple definition of an affirmation is a statement asserting that something is true and exists. Affirmations tend to use the word I and are focused on the individual who is saying the affirmation. Affirmations can call out to God or request God’s help in making the thing you are asserting become true.
For example, here’s a powerful affirmation that we’d say to start the morning when our kids were young. We would hold hands and shout: I feel happy, healthy, and terrific!
We suggest that you and your loved ones start your day with this affirmation and repeat it as many times as you want.
When saying your prayers and affirmations, it’s important that you use emotion and enthusiasm. Be enthusiastic --- tap into God within.
Even if you don’t feel happy, healthy, and terrific, fake it. Fake it until you make it. Try it. Right now if possible. It’s virtually impossible not to start feeling happier, healthier, and more terrific after saying the preceding affirmation out loud with a smile on your face.
How to Accomplish Your Goals
To accomplish any goal --- greater happiness, better health, more wealth, or a closer relationship with God --- you need to develop the proper mindset. We want to help you get that proper mindset and keep it with you all day long.
It is a well-established fact that repetition of thought in the form of daily prayers and affirmations will dramatically increase your ability to achieve your goals and attract into your life the blessings you desire.
Do you like yourself? Do you have good self-esteem? Are you confident? If not, it’s going to be difficult for you to achieve your goals. Liking yourself, believing in yourself, and feeling good about your life will be critical to your success in all areas of your life. You will need confidence. You will need to believe in yourself and your ability to overcome and succeed. The good news is, you can do it, and it’s all easier when you ask and accept God’s help.
Taking action is critical --- prayers without actions are not prayers but just wishes. The 7 Great Prayers, combined with the affirmations in this book, will give you the confidence and belief in yourself that you will need to take the actions necessary to make your dreams come true so that you can live the blessed life that you, as a child of God, were born to live.
The 7 Steps for a Lifetime of Hope and Blessings
What blessings do you want? Do you want to be healthier? Do you want the blessing of love? Purpose in life? Companionship? A job? Do you want the blessing of healing, be it physical, mental, or financial?
There are seven steps to attaining a closer relationship with God, a relationship in which you can simply and easily tap into God’s power to live a hopeful and blessed life. These steps are outlined in this chapter.
Step One
Set a goal. Have a clear picture of what blessings you want.
Remember, you become what you think and pray about most. Your mind works best when it has goals. For example, we should all want to be happy, healthy, and in love, to enjoy work and life, and to be wealthy in the broadest sense.
You should strive for balance in your goals. If you spend all your time working and neglect your health, family, or loved ones, your life is not balanced. The wonderful part of putting balance into your life is that the more balanced you become overall, the easier it is to achieve the particular blessing you currently lack.
Step Two
Tap into your unique God-given gifts.
Take a moment and reflect on what are commonly referred to as your God-given gifts. Each person’s God-given gifts are different from those of another. What are yours? Write them down --- right now --- on a separate piece of paper, in the back of this book, in your 7 Great Prayers spiral notebook, or in the space provided here.
Thinking about and discovering your God-given gifts will help you find your life’s purpose. The more you use your unique God-given gifts, the more you’ll enjoy your life. You’ll also find it easier to attract into your life the blessings you desire. God-given gifts can include an inherent love for the outdoors, the ability to get along with people, or a skill of any sort, such as cooking, carpentry, writing, or caring for others.
MY GOD-GIVEN GIFTS
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Step Three
Live in a state of gratitude. Always look for the good in life.
Perhaps you’ve lost your job, but you have a loving family and good health. Give God thanks for what you do have, and give God thanks in advance for the gainful employment that will soon come.
Do not focus on what you lack; instead, focus on all that you have. In time, God will supply what is lacking. The more you live in a state of gratitude and give thanks, the more you’ll soon possess to be thankful for.
Step Four
Decide to live in the now. Know that God is now.
Don’t look to the past, nor the future. Be with God right now --- here, in this time and place. Regrets for the past and worrying about the future will get you nowhere. Tracey and I have been there, and it just doesn’t work. It has been said by many before, but it’s worth saying again: You can’t change the past. We encourage you to
learn from the past, but otherwise it’s time to move on. Now, as far as the future goes, do as the once popular song said: “Don’t worry, be happy.” Worrying gets you nothing --- in fact, it has a paralyzing effect. Tracey and I have been there when we were losing our home. Worrying got us nowhere. What did? Action.
Studies show that more than 90 percent of what people worry about never happens. Think about it. What have you worried about that never happened? Knowing the history of your particular religion is important, but don’t become so caught up with the historical aspects of your faith that you miss the fact that God is with you right here, right now!
Tracey and I have read the Old and New Testaments, and they’ve been a great source of inspiration. But to be frank, memorizing and then quoting chapter and verse, has never been a strength for either of us. Because memorization is difficult for us, it depersonalizes our relationship with God and puts God in the past. If you want to tap into the power of God, which is the purpose of this book and the 7 Great Prayers, you must recognize that God is now!
As with the past, the same holds true for the future. Stop thinking about it. Do what’s right for now. Living every day in a way that strengthens your connection with God and honors God is the best way to prepare yourself for a better tomorrow.
The best role models for tapping into the power of God now are prophets and other spiritual people, be they Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, Mother Theresa, or others. They tapped into the power of God in the moment --- in the now!
Grasp this one step. Know that God is always with you --- ready to be your friend, ready to listen, ready to help --- and you’ll be well on your way to the hopeful and blessed life you desire. the 7 great prayers
Step Five
Ask with faith. Know that God will answer your prayers... in God’s time.
It’s okay to ask God for help. God is on your side. Or, as Abraham Lincoln said, you are on God’s side. If you want something good and proper, so does God. Ask with faith. Believe with all your heart, mind, and soul that your prayers will be answered. However, realize that you may think you know what you want, but something better may be in store for you. Be open to and aware of the multiple ways that God may answer your prayers.
Give God time to bless you. The blessings will come. Just as an apple tree does not sprout up overnight to give apples the next day, so it is with you and your prayer requests.
Give your prayers sunshine (focus on them) and water (give thanks for what you have already received from God), and in God’s time your prayers will come to fruition and you will receive your blessings.
Step Six
Be on the alert. Keep your eyes and ears open. Be receptive and watch for signs from God.
There’s an expression that “there’s no such thing as a coincidence,” and there isn’t. What you might think is a coincidence is God at work.
If you have a hunch and a good feeling, have faith that it’s God talking with you, and make certain you take action on your hunch. It will lead you toward the blessings you desire.
How do you stay alert? How do you keep your eyes and ears open? You have to maintain a constant dialogue with God, and an easy way to do this is to talk with God using the 7 Great Prayers.
Step Seven
Bless others. Give and you will receive.
So much of living an abundant and blessed life has to do with attitude and your “vibration.” This is where the expression “I’m getting bad vibes,” comes from. You are a vibrational being.
More often than not, you’ll hear someone say that they are getting bad vibes more than good vibes. This is because we are hardwired to recognize danger. This instinct goes back thousands of years --- it used to keep man away from danger, such as a hungry predator. Now these predators have been replaced by people who may be looking out for their best interests, not yours. The point is, if you get a bad feeling, it’s God’s way of warning you. Take heed and avoid the danger. The same goes with goose bumps. Have you ever had a thought or been in a situation where you got goose bumps, that rough, prickly sensation on your skin? If so, it’s God again, talking with you, telling you that all is okay, all is good.
You’ll learn more about vibrations and God as you read, but for now, know that you are a vibrational being. You have a soul and are connected with God. Since we all have souls and are connected with God, it makes great sense to bless others and help others. This gets energy and God working for you. Give and you will receive. Give bad, and you’ll get bad. Give good, and you’ll get good. This is one of God’s natural laws: Give and you shall receive.
To attract positive things in your life, you must think and act positively. In addition to living in a state of gratitude all the time, you will want to bless others. You bless others by your thoughts and actions. Do this all day. When you see people, family, friends, coworkers, and strangers, silently and quickly say to yourself, “God bless that person.” I must do this a hundred times a day. It takes seconds to say this prayer, and the positive returns I receive are overwhelming.
Feel free to say this quick blessing prayer out loud if it’s appropriate. Think, talk, and be active in your blessings and you will attract blessings in your life. It really is that simple!
The Last Step
Now that you know how to attract God’s blessings, the simplest and most powerful way to change your life is to say the 7 Great Prayers every day, throughout each day. You can say the entire 7 Great Prayers in just a few minutes, so there’s no reason why you can’t say them at least ten times a day.
You don’t have to say them in sequence, nor do you have to say them all at the same time. Just pray them whenever it makes the most sense --- and as with thousands of corn kernels planted in the field, soon you’ll be harvesting happiness, health, and wealth
The Power of the 7 Great Prayers
The upcoming chapters will focus on the 7 Great Prayers themselves. Each prayer is accompanied by explanations of why the prayer will help you achieve a closer relationship with God and tap into God’s power to reach any goal you desire.
As you read each chapter, I encourage you to use the 21-Day Prayer Journal in Part Four and create customized affirmative prayers. The 7 Great Prayers take on even greater power when you take each prayer and compose individual prayers specific to your needs.
An Example: Getting a New Job The Fourth Great Prayer is “God, bless me.” Now use this foundation prayer to make your own customized Great Prayer, for example: God, bless me with a new job that I love. God, bless me with a positive attitude to take the right action to look for a job.
The Second Great Prayer is “Thank you God.” Now use this foundation prayer to create a Great Prayer that is specific to getting this new job, such as Thank you God for attracting the right thoughts and people into my life that got me this new job. Thank you God for giving me the motivation to succeed.
Note that this prayer says “this new job.” A useful prayer technique is to pray, think, and talk as though whatever blessing you desire has already been received. In addition to making your own customized Great Prayers, create your own customized affirmations: Day by day, in every way, I am getting closer and closer to finding a new job. I love my new job. It gives me great happiness. I take all the appropriate steps to gain employment as soon as possible. I am so happy and grateful now that I have found the perfect job for me.
These examples relate to finding a new job. You’ll soon learn how to use the 7 Great Prayers and prayer techniques as the foundation for achieving whatever goal you desire: wealth, health, better relationships with family, friends, and God.
For a prayer to be truly effective, you must believe in it, and it should have a profound emotional effect on you. Remember: “All things are possible to those who believe them.”
You must believe in the power of your prayer and that your desired outcome is truly possible. This is very important; otherwise your prayers will not work. Believe in yourself. Believe in God.
What You Want Has to Be Believable
Your mind is extremely powerful and programmable. To attain as much success as possible using this program, it’s important that your mind believes that what you’re praying for is attainable. It’s all right to have lofty goals though --- the higher the better.
Still, just like getting to the top of a tall building when you take the stairs, it’s important that you go one step at a time. You can’t imagine yourself going up ten flights of stairs in one giant step, but you can imagine going up all ten flights if you were to take one step at a time.
When using the 7 Great Prayers, believe that they will work. Believe in yourself. Believe in God. Believe that you can tap into God’s power. Then work your way toward your goal, gradually and persistently.
The Power of Emotion
It’s critical that you fully “emotionalize” your prayers. You need to feel your prayers, as well as read and speak them. Yes, speak. Whenever possible, say your prayers out loud. Read your prayers. Speak your prayers. Write your prayers. The more senses you get involved with your prayers, the better!
Tap into Your Subconscious Mind
Your mind has two parts; the conscious and the subconscious. The subconscious mind is the part that operates beneath your conscious mind.
For example, while taking a long car trip, have you ever driven lost in thought, and don’t even remember the act of turning the steering wheel and pressing on the gas and brake pedals? How did you drive that long distance without consciously thinking about it? It was your subconscious mind at work. The same part of your mind helps your nervous system breathe, blink your eyes, and digest your food. Your subconscious mind is powerful!
Your subconscious mind is closely connected with God. You want to do whatever you can to keep your subconscious mind in a positive state.
One of the unique features of your subconscious mind is that it believes whatever you tell it, whether or not what you are telling it is true or false. So you want to be careful to make sure that you think, talk, and act positively so you can harness the extraordinary power of your subconscious mind.
You’ll notice that most of the prayers in this book are composed in the present tense. When your prayers are stated in the present tense, your subconscious mind will believe that you already are what you are praying to be. Since your subconscious mind already believes what you are praying for, it will assist you in actualizing your goals with the help of God.
Tap into the Power of “I Am”
You will also see and hear that many of the affirmation prayers in this book contain the words I am. These are two of the most powerful words in your vocabulary, especially when used in praying.
Again, you are what you believe. Therefore, when you pray with the words I am, you will soon be what you believe --- whether it is healthier, wealthier, happier, or closer to God. For example, your affirmation prayers might say: I am happy, healthy, and wealthy. I am closer to God. I am a success.
And to repeat, always pray in the positive sense. Don’t pray negatively. For example, you don’t want to say, “God, help me not to eat sweets today.” Instead, you want to pray: God, thank you for keeping me free from sweets today. You won’t want to say: “God, help me not to get angry.” Instead, you want to pray: God, thank you for keeping me happy and positive.
Now that you are getting a better understanding of the 7 Great Prayers and how to use them, let’s turn the page to the next chapter and learn about tapping into the power of writing your prayers.
Excerpted from THE 7 GREAT PRAYERS: For a Lifetime of Hope and Blessings © Copyright 2011 by Paul McManus and Tracey McManus. Reprinted with permission by Vanguard Press. All rights reserved.
