A Beach Retreat: What Prayer Was to Jesus

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By Share Beasley, associate trustee, Florida, United States

Prayer is the most potent spiritual-growth stimulus.

If “of all human knowledge, that which is of greatest value is to know the religious life of Jesus and how he lived it,” then surely the study of, and reflection upon, what prayer was to Jesus is highly important to all students of The Urantia Book. You might ponder, as we did, the contents of Paper 196 for inspiration and insights concerning Jesus’ prayer life.

More than a dozen participants chose one of the following elements of Jesus’ prayer life as the focus to make a short presentation: “a sincere expression of spiritual attitude, a recital of personal devotion, an expression of thanksgiving, an avoidance of emotional tension, an exaltation of intellection, an enrichment of thought, an invigoration of higher inclinations, a declaration of faith, a transcendental surrender of will, a sublime assertion of confidence, a confession of supreme devotion, a technique for the adjustment of difficulties, and the mighty mobilization of the combined soul powers to withstand all human tendencies toward selfishness, evil, and sin .” (2088.5) 196:0.10

We learned from each person and every presentation, which was followed by lively and enlightening discussion.

After immersing ourselves for two days in the study of Jesus’ prayer life, we recognized in a personal and private way that “the secret of Jesus’ unparalleled religious life was his consciousness of the presence of God; and he attained it by intelligent prayer and sincere worship.” (2088.5) 196:0.10

The doing of the will of God is nothing more or less than an exhibition of creature willingness to share the inner life with God. (1221.2) 111:5.1

God consciousness is ours for the taking; it is like water at the faucet, waiting there to be turned on.

An added joy to intimate gatherings, such as our beach retreat, is an expanded love-list. As siblings who have created meaningful memories together, we now look forward to our next beach retreat.

A special thank you to our gracious hosts-on-the-coast and our musical worship directors!

Top: Kirt, Lara, Dan, Share, Scott, Shirley, Ernie
Middle: Bill, Susan
Bottom: Dawn, Isabelle, Joan, Joycee, Polly, Bernie, Sheryl