© 1983 Jeff Wattles, George Ninteman
© 1983 The Urantia Book Fellowship (formerly Urantia Brotherhood)
Prayer is the most important way to discover the will of God; but finding the Father’s will is not only a matter of listening, of inner openness. What else is involved? seeking the will of God falls under the “laws of prevailing petitions” set forth in The URANTIA Book. The second of these conditions asserts, “You must have honestly exhausted the human capacity for human adjustment. You must have been industrious.” (UB 91:9.3)
What does it mean to be industrious in making human adjustments? If I am engaged in seeking the Father’s will, I must do my best with all relevant human channels of enlightenment before I can expect revelation from within to augment my efforts. Reason helps us discern what we ought to do; one of the three realities to which our mind intrinsically responds is: “Duty-the reality domain of morals in the philosophic realm, the arena of reason, the recognition of relative right and wrong. This is the judicial form of the cosmic discrimination.” (UB 16:6.7)
So one essential phase of a responsible prayer process is the use of reason, which includes drawing practical deductions from facts, gaining group wisdom, and critically examining the thoughts that come from our times of prayer.
— Jeffrey Wattles
Concord, California
At least Jesus thought so. “Father, I want those you have given me to be where I am.” I agree with Jesus… and I also want those whom the Father has given me to be where I am. Persons are gifts which the Father sends to me wrapped. Some are wrapped very beautifully. They are very attractive when I first see them. Some come in very ordinary wrapping paper. Others have been mishandled in the mail, Once in a while there is a “Special Delivery,” Some persons are gifts which come loosely wrapped, others very tightly. But the wrapping is not the gift. It is easy to make this mistake; it’s amusing when babies do it. Sometimes the gift is easy to open up. Sometimes I need others to help. Is it because they are afraid? Does it hurt? Maybe they have been opened up before and thrown away. Could it be that the gift is not for me? I am a person. Therefore l am a gift, too. A gift for myself because first of all the Father gave myself to me. Have I ever really looked inside the wrappings? Am I afraid to? Perhaps I’ve never accepted the gift that I am. Could it be that there is something else inside the wrappings than what I think there is. Maybe I’ve never seen the wonderful gift that I am? Could the Father’s gifts be anything but beautiful? I love the gifts which those who love me give me, why not this gift from the Father? And I am a gift to other persons. Am I willing to be given by the Father to others?
—Fr. George Ninteman, OP
(Reprinted from “Familia”, the Ascension Parish, Chicago, family monthly.)
“Reason, wisdom, and faith are man’s highest human attainments. Reason introduces man to the world of facts, to things; wisdom introduces him to a world of truth, to relationships; faith initiates him into a world of divinity, spiritual experience.”
“Faith most willingly carries reason along as far as reason can go and then goes on with wisdom to the full philosophic limit; and then it dares to launch out upon the limitless and never-ending universe journey in the sole company of TRUTH.” (UB 103:9.6-7)