The power of manifestation plays a big role in the Law of Attraction. It's basically about putting the energy of intention combined with focusing the mind by maintaining your attention on your goal.
What you intend is the destination, whereas attention is the journey and course corrections that get you there. Intention and attention are outward directed mind-based energies from yourself to manifest something that you deem is important (health, finances, relationships, work, new car etc.)
Intention and attention are also used in prayer requests but interestingly prayer doesn't require our intention or attention to work: Romans 8:26 "For we do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs that cannot be put into words."
Prayer is also different in that it is not an energy directed outward towards an end goal, but it is a request directed upward towards the person of God.
While there are different types of prayer (i.e. prayer of thanksgiving, prayer of praise, prayer of petition), the closest prayer to manifestation is the prayer of petition asking God for help, healing, or for a particular thing.
Prayers of petition are not an energy of the mind directed towards a personal goal but are rather an energy of the soul directed towards a need in oneself or a need in others.
A Christian trusts that God ultimately has the best for us in mind whether His answer to our prayer of petition is "yes" or "yes but wait the time isn't right yet" or "yes but it won't be exactly as you are asking" or "no, that will harm you now or later" or "no, I have something better in mind for you" ... Mt 7:9-11 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"
While manifestation keeps a focus on the intention, looking for the various ways the goal is manifesting, prayer submits to God's will for the outcome recalling Isaiah 55:8-9 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
There has been research on both intention and on prayer (web links for you to start your own exploration in this area are below). Because of the many variables, the complex nature of God, the intricate human mind, and even whether some of those who participated in the Intention experiment were actually praying their intentions makes this a convoluted scientific topic to study.
lynnemctaggart...
www.ncbi.nlm.n...
I hope this helps a little to explore what I see are the differences between manifestation (a self-directed outward energy with focused goal-directed personal action) and prayer (a God-directed upward energy with trusting submission to the outcome). Both may start out looking the same ... a hope for healing or help with money and both require faith but that faith is different in each one ... manifestation is faith in yourself and the Universe, while prayer is faith in God's goodness and Divine providence.
And finally, manifestation has a temporal world view of goodness whereas prayer has an eternal view of goodness (i.e. something may be good for our comfort on earth but could cause selfishness and jeopardize our eternal salvation i.e. the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 ... vs. 25 "‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony." That bible story also shows the effect of earthly injustice ... where someone had temporal riches and comfort but ignored the needs of the poor right outside their door and the result of that in eternal justice.
Also, Lazarus may have been praying to God for help and God desired to answer Lazarus's prayer through the rich man but the selfish free will of the rich man prevented God's goodness from coming into the world.
God sometimes works supernatural miracles to answer prayers but ordinarily He works through us, with spiritual promptings, to answer the prayers of others (i.e. starting with our family, neighbors, and community) through our works of kindness and charity (Mt. 6:19-20) (Mt. 25:31-46) ... and this becomes our treasure in heaven: Mt.25:34-36 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
8 сен 2024
