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Silence, Simplicity, Sequence
Silence ...
Simplicity ...
Sequence ...
the Foundational Uniqueness of CFO
Thoughts to Deepen Your Prayer Life
from the writings of Glenn Clark,
founder of CFO
Silence ...
Not only is quietness and silence first in time and in value, it actually surrounds, covers, fills all the rest. Quietness, if properly done, is ALL. A seed if it lets itself fall into the ground and is properly still does not have to do anything else ... all is done ... The same with us. If we are properly still, God does all the rest. The Lord’s Prayer, p. 38
The most formidable enemy of the spiritual life, and the last to be conquered, is self-deception; and if there is a better cure for self-deception than silence, it has yet to be discovered.
quoting E.Herman in Two or Three Gathered Together, p. 127
...the softer and more still the prayer is, the more powerful are the results. This puts a great premium upon the art of silence ... Pause and listen to the sound of gentle stillness that fills the room and fills your soul. Whisper to the Lord, “Hold me in perfect alignment, Father, to Your heavenly will, and carry me deeply into the blessed rhythm of Your heavenly love.” In answer you will hear His voice coming down the ages: “Be still and know that I am God.”
God’s Reach, p.70
This period of silence is a training in relaxation, in effortless motion, in selflessness, in complete self-effacement...an exposing of self completely to the sunshine of God.
Two or Three Gathered Together, p. 128
Simplicity ...
Not until I had traveled far, not until I had dreamed much, was I big enough and simple enough – to know that truth which every child knows whenever he plays the simplest games of childhood ...
The most powerful, irresistible motion there is, as well as the most effortless, is the motion of falling. Whoever can, when confronted with a crisis, let himself fall the most effortlessly is the one who knows best the secret of life. The Thought Farthest Out, p. 19
The most difficult law to obey in the kindergarten of prayer is this law of trusting relinquishment. To give a desire or a dream or your loved one or yourself WHOLLY into God’s care means not only that you trust God, but that you trust His Power. Then, letting God use time in His way, and every avenue and agency which He chooses, you wait calmly while he brings down answers to your prayers into the realm of tangible realities. Windows of Heaven, p. 42
When praying alone, let go and let God.
When praying with a group, agree together in letting go and letting each other let God.
When praying in Christ’s name, whether alone or in a group, let go and let Christ let God.
Finally ... let God do the letting ... Living Prayer, pp. 8-9
Sequence (order)...
God in his great love and kindness knows that theInfinite Here and the Everlasting Now are too big for you to see all at once and therefore he is unfolding them to you in a perfect sequence and a perfect* order that has been arranged for you in heaven. All you need do is trust to that order and sequence, trust all thingsto unfold according to God’s perfect plan – and
STAND STILL. God’s Reach, p. 193
We know, O Father, that ... You are the only Designer
And plans must grow as flowers and trees, from the seed and the acorn.
They must have roots, ramifications, and interweavings.
As beautiful as tapestries, as permanent as the eternal stars.
Keep our eye single, our vision as clear as light,
That the radiance of Thy infinite Love may shine always on the paths before us.
Revealing all the beauties and wonders;
And that we may see ourselves as we are – your children, made in Your image and likeness,
The perfect* expression of Your perfect direction,
Each moment conscious of your perfect ideas in perfect succession.
As You keep the stars in their courses so will You guide our steps in sequence, without interference of any kind.
When we keep our trust in You;
When we acknowledge You in all our ways
You will direct our paths. For You are the God of Love,
Giver of every good and perfect gift, and there is none beside You.
You are omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent,
In all, through all, and over all. You are Our God. Soul’s Sincere Desire, p. 112
* (whole or complete)
... In God Who is Love
When you are content with the motionless motion of resting in the Love of God in the Here and Now you are experiencing Heaven. God’s Reach, p. 134
Where there is God, there is Love.
Where there is Love, there is Joy.
Where there is Joy, there is Power.
Where there is Power, God is glorified.
Where God is glorified, there is Love. The Soul’s Sincere Desire, p. 68
Wherever you can find selfless love in a human heart, you have found a door opening toward reality – toward God. Fishers of Men, p. 62
Jesus said God is not a definition, God is Love. And Love is not a word to be professed, but a word to be lived. Therefore the central purpose of our Movement is to spread the contagion of living the life of Love. Two or Three Gathered Together, p.21
Out of the union of Creative Love and Creative Faith is born Creative Peace, the greatest miracle producing power known to man. For Peace – not the peace “that the world giveth,” but the Peace “that passeth all understanding” – clears the channel and makes the way straight for the Power of God to manifest in its completest form. How to Find Health through Prayer, p. 85
... Yields
If we trust all to God and stay our mind wholly on him, ...Then the world becomes one vast home where all are our brothers and sisters. And so we give ourselves unresistingly to the schedule of the master planner and stand still in the midst of a great stillness.
Collaborating with Eternity, p. 14
The strange paradoxical thing about this surrender and this stillness was that out of the surrender came power; out of the stillness came activity. The stiller I got, the more active I became, an activity that was amazingly free from all self-conscious effort. Never did I move so rapidly as I did then, never did I speak so fluently, write so easily, meet people so effectively, do so much, accomplish so much. And yet I seemingly did nothing. I merely stood still in the midst of a great stillness. God’s Reach, pp. 190-191
Glenn Clark also started the Camps Farthest Out: “which are dedicated to the purpose of discovering the wholeness of that abundant life which Christ promised, that life which is our rightful heritage whenever we dedicate our body ,mind and soul completely to God through play, work and worship.” –G.Clark
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