Tips for 2-Way Prayer (Part I)

Initial Preparation

Quick Intro

This section assumes that you are attempting to pray to God and receive an answer (yes, a form of "channeling" --- the most important form). Why these pages? Because I know from personal experience that errors made when channeling open people to deceivers --- less-than-holy spirits disguised as angels: wolves in sheeps' clothing. Sometimes, it can lead to contacting obviously hostile spirits! Beware! Learn how to control yourself to reduce the risk --- but remember, ultimately the responsibility is yours to filter what you receive, to choose to act on some material but not on others.

As a pre-requisite, you should read over Ben H. Swett's pages, A Small Explanation and Prayer as a Form of 2-Way Communication. This document assumes you are following those steps. If you think channeling is all fun and games, you should not be doing this; read over the rest of this site before you go any further. Deceivers are out there, and it is almost guaranteed you'll come into contact with them. Especially if you think there's no danger.

But if you are seeking the Kingdom of God, the path of caring, a communion with spirits who truly love God and who selflessly and joyfully choose to work for the sake of others, over and over again --- then you may well want to consider carefully the following ideas and suggestions. Accept what seems right to you.

Initial Preparation for 2-Way Prayer

In Ben's checklist of steps, this would be step number 0.5.

Make sure you are determined to pray to God or Jesus, and only God or Jesus. Choose only the very highest Good that you know. Determine that you will not listen to any messages originating at a lower source, no matter how well-intentioned or how much you'd like to hear the proposed answer to your prayer. And make sure your idea of God is not one that is more human than divine --- a petty, backstabbing, bad-mouthing, or hateful "God" is most definitely not the grand, eternal, loving, merciful, impartial God. If you simply can't conceptualize a Good God, pray to your highest mental concept of compassion, wisdom and mercy -- and aim even higher, if you can!
Consider your inner state: Your deep-seated conception of the universe, and what your intentions and goals are for yourself --- along with your inner motivations --- will be the factors that determine whom you attract, whom you can hear, and whom you will choose to listen to or ignore.
God should be your objective. Always make sure that, somewhere in your mind, your objective is to love God more and more (as the foundation for whatever your prayer is). (I had been having a tough week, when Ben reminded me that my job was not just to love God, but to seek to love God more. This somehow made the task seem less like a repetitive menial task, than an ever-changing challenge!) Again, if you can't yet conceive of a Good God, the next best thing is to have, as your preparatory objective, increased love, wisdom, understanding, compassion, and humility! (But keep aiming higher, for God, who is greater than those things combined.)
Have faith ... believe that God is answering your prayer, though not necessarily in a way you personally might expect or want.
Stop trying to figure "it" out, even if for just a little while. Meaning, stop trying to think and analyze everything through during your prayer and a short time afterward. Let go the problem as much as possible, unless this is an emergency prayer (e.g., life or death). (If an emergency prayer, focus on the issue, your love, and your faith!) And also:
Relax. Aikido techniques of finding one's center, lowering the center of mass, and floating, help to relax one. Tension brings the body in conflict with the mind. Really. Moreover, tension is a symptom of worse problems, like fear.
Be mentally prepared to reject less than holy replies. Affirm to yourself: no matter how much you want a particular answer, if it fails discernment and seems unholy, you will reject it. (Come to think of it, wanting a particular answer is often a block to prayer -- let go worry and let go expectation!)
Don't cling to expectations... especially, don't expect psychic sensations or visions (try not to want them either!). Ask for a miracle if you need one, but don't start "putting God to the test" so to speak (I also imagine miracles lead to one becoming more concerned about having impressive results than in focusing on loving God and others).
Physical Moderation. One group of spirits (Imperator, via S. Moses) advocated moderation in food and drink. This seems logical. Someone sleepy from over-eating, someone sotzed, someone starving or thirsty (unless fasting for spiritual reasons) would find it hard to center and elevate.
2-Way Prayer Moderation. The same spirits advised against doing channeling too frequently, and also against seeking physical proofs. Good advice, in any case. (OTOH, one-way prayer, talking to God, is a good thing to do "Pray without ceasing.")
Quiet environs help. Lack of EM interference. George Anderson's spirits (as well as S. Moses' group) speak of having problems communicating in thunder storms. TV sets probably don't help, either. That said, if you need to pray, do it.
Clean enivrons help. If possible, get away from dark and nasty areas. Of course, one must be able to pray in any situation, but if one is too influenced by a place, leaving would help. Practice becoming able to elevate your spirit anywhere, any time --- but don't push it if you don't have to!
Peaceful environs help. If possible, step away for a moment from physical friends and others who might interrupt, unless you are doing group prayer.
Check your own motivations again.
- If there are hints of selfishness, openly acknowledge them but continue anyway if you deem it wise. Also, there is a difference between selfish-ness that is unnecessary (wanting a sports car for the sake of showing off), and self-ishness that is useful (an earnest desire to become less selfish, for example). It helps to focus on the fruit of the Holy Spirit; keep those in mind as your personal long-term goals (joy, love, peace, faith, self-discipline, etc).
- Motivated by fear because you're under attack? Remember you are stronger than you think, and even some of the worst things that might happen to you are "recoverable." Remember God's power and love. Remember that you can rise above fear, though it might take a lot of effort.
- Motivated by fear for someone else's well being? Try to view the situation as God might view it; care about the other, but not with a clinging fear. Extend impartial good will --- not a "Oh-my-gosh-my-poor-(parent/brother/etc)-whatever-can-I-do?-fret-fret" feeling. If you can't overcome your personal attachment to the problem, then it might be better to just do 1-way prayer to God, and not listen to any replies! Remember, some studies have shown that just praying "Thy will be done" to God can have remarkable positive effects on hospital patients. This is without channeling and hands-on-healing and all that other stuff!
Ask for God's blessing on what you are about to do.

(Lastly: if you are too confused and unhappy to elevate, don't open yourself up to channeled messages. Do one-way prayer (normal prayer) instead, and stay closed. You might get a response anyway, which you should test to determine if it is of God. God has a way of answering prayers of any heart-felt variety, though not necessarily where, when, how we expect!)

OK, assuming you are ready to proceed, here follow the crucial steps: As outlined in Ben H. Swett's material (refer to those documents): Stop and seek calm and peace. Open the heart. Elevate the spirit and seek reverent joy -- the loving, wondrous appreciation of God....

Suggestions for How to Elevate

This step (elevation) is absolutely and positively crucial! Never, in 2-way prayer, attempt to channel without doing this --- not elevating one's spirit is like seeking to communicate with non-holy spirits (which is useful in the rescue of lost spirits, but one does not seek wisdom from a lost spirit!). Read Ben's material for some good references to cultivating a sense of awe and love of God. Also, check out the Self-Help guide's elevation section.

Next step ... measurement of your elevation (Part II)

I include this step as a necessary step for those new to elevation of spirit. In Ben's list of steps, it would fall in as step 3.5 and 4.5. It is a way of measuring just where on the spectrum of the spiritual world you are currently in --- and which section you'll thus be tuning in to. If you are not as elevated as you think you are, you may well be tuning into a spectrum of well-meaning but foolish deceivers, or worse. If you feel considerably elevated, odds are better that you'll be tuning into God's broadcasting frequencies.