“I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations” (Ge 17:5b).
One thing that struck me is how God puts this promise in the past tense, as though it has already been completed. God doesn’t say, “I will make you…” but rather “I have made you…” God speaks and it is already accomplished. God’s intention is the same as God’s completed action.
I’ve previously referred to Steve Pavlina’s intention-manifestation model. He says that it is our committed intention for something that results in its manifestion.
The universe itself works on the same principle. Think of it as the superconscious mind. When you’ve made a clear, committed decision, it will open the universal floodgates, bringing you all the resources you need, sometimes in seemingly mysterious or impossible ways.
Whenever you want to set a new goal for yourself, start by setting it. Take the time to become clear about what you want, but then just declare it.
Say to the universe, “Here is the goal. Make it so.”
Do not ask the universe for what you want. Declare it. Don’t ask. This is very similar to prayer, but you are not praying FOR what you want. You are praying WHAT you want. You are simply saying, “Here it is. Make it so.” It is like planting a seed in the ground. You do not say to the ground, “Here is the seed. Please, can you make it grow?” You simply plant the seed, and it will grow as a natural consequence of your planting and tending to it. It is the same with your intentions. Simply plant them. There’s no need to beg.
Pavlina has his own language for this process and talks about it as a natural law. I believe that it is one way to describe how we co-create with God. In another blog post, Pavlina suggests an appropriate wording for intentions (partly drawn from Marc Allen):
In an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way, in its own perfect time, for the highest good of all, I intend …. to come into my life.
I like Pavlina’s distinction between praying FOR what we want and praying WHAT we want. The latter demonstrates our assurance that our prayer will be answered, with the above conditions.
I find this to be a powerful idea. The New Testament often refers to us as children and God as Father. This image worked well in a patriarchal age, but it works less well as a contemporary image of God, particularly for women. I’m not against the father image per se, but it’s just an image and as such it can only reflect certain aspects of God.
What’s more important for me to know is that I’m made in God’s image and I’m invited to be a co-creator with God — in my own life and in the world around me. I need to see myself as a mature adult in order to do that, not as a little child. Perhaps it’s because I’m old enough to have been influenced by a society that often saw women as being more like children than like men. At any rate, if I’m to grow into my co-creator role, it must be as a fully mature adult, one who prays WITH God in the act of creation. And Genesis 17 reminds us again how God creates: I speak and it IS done.
How often do I limit God’s grace in my life by not doing this? All my doubts, fears, anxieties about my current life situation keep me from manifesting that which I desire. In fact, I don’t even know if I’ve formulated clear intentions for what I want and need in my life. I need to think about this today.
