Episode 62 - Prayer: The Forgotten Tool for Remembering Who's Really in Charge

Trust is deceptively simple yet profoundly misunderstood. This episode delves into the third principle from Rabbeinu Bakhia's 850-year-old "Gate of Trust" – the concept that trust should be exclusively in God, not in any creation.

We tackle a seeming contradiction: how can we trust only God when daily life requires reliance on others? The answer transforms how we view relationships and outcomes. When we trust someone to help us, we must recognize that God enables their assistance. This shift in perspective – acknowledging God as the ultimate source of all results – liberates us from the illusion of control.

Business professionals understand this paradox intimately. How many times have you exhausted resources trying to close deals, only to face disappointment? Then, when least expected, salvation arrives through a single phone call or opportunity you never pursued. These experiences reveal a profound truth: our responsibility isn't to force outcomes but to show up faithfully. We control only our decisions and efforts, never the results.

Prayer becomes a powerful tool for reinforcing this understanding. Each expression of gratitude reminds us who provides our blessings. Each request affirms who controls outcomes. Beyond formal prayer, the practice of "hitbodedut" – speaking to God in your own words in a quiet space – deepens this relationship further. Taking just five minutes daily for this conversation, free from distractions, can profoundly change your perspective.

Ready to experience the freedom that comes from releasing the burden of controlling outcomes? Join us as we explore the divine wisdom that has guided seekers for centuries and discover how it applies perfectly to modern challenges.

Transcript

Welcome to The Trust Factor

Speaker 0 0:00

Good morning everybody and welcome to the Trust Factor. This is the podcast that guarantees your success when you employ the divine age-old wisdom that I share with you. We are continuing along in our discussion of the book the Gate of Trust with Rabbeinu Bakhia, an 850-year-old document and wisdom that spans even further back than that. We're coming back from Shavuot, an amazing holiday that allowed us some more insight to learn. We learned throughout the night. Hopefully, you guys gained a lot. I certainly did. I want to pick up where we left off and I want to move this ball forward, and what we were talking about was the third principle of complete trust in God, and that was that we shouldn't take any of God's creation as a partner in our trust. In other words, our trust should be completely and exclusively in God. And so we said we live in a world where we rely on humanity, where we interact with other people. We are social creatures. The way of the world that he created is that we should have to rely in some cases and trust in humanity. So how is it that Rabbeinu Bache comes and tells us you can't do that. You have to exclusively put your trust in your creator. And the answer is we said that when you trust that somebody is going to do something for you, when you put your faith in an individual, you're doing it with the knowledge and the forethought that God is the one who is going to enable this individual to come through, that if God is going to allow this person to come through for me, that's the only way it's going to happen. This individual cannot be responsible for outcomes not mine and not their own. God is the only one responsible for outcomes. So what we need to do, my friends, is that when we're relying on individuals, when we're relying on circumstances and we're putting our faith and trust in individuals, know in the back of your mind always that really you're putting your faith in your creator right. That's a very, very important concept. It says over here in the book do not negate enlisting other people in the efforts of obtaining your needs, but know how you should do it. When you get sick God forbid you got to go to a doctor. When you get sued God forbid you got to get a lawyer you got to do the things that you need to do in order to show that you're making an effort, but know full well that the outcome is simply not in your hands. And I want to take that a step further. If you're in business, this is a tough one, my friends. It's a tough, it shouldn't be a tough one, but it is a tough one. And the reason it shouldn't be a tough one is because we've been through this. If you've been in business your whole life, then what I'm about to tell you you can identify with, because this is the core of business.

Speaker 0 2:42

You deal with this on a daily basis, day in and day out, year in and year out. What am I talking about? You expend so much energy and effort and money and time trying to close a deal, trying to gain a new customer, and it doesn't work out, for whatever reason. Every year and every time that you go out on a marketing or a sales campaign, it doesn't work out, for whatever reason. It could be the economy, it could be pricing, it could be all kinds of different things. You make efforts to make sales, to get sales, to get new clients, to close a deal, and all your efforts are coming up empty-handed.

Speaker 0 3:19

And then, suddenly, when you're about to throw in the towel, what do you do? You make one phone call, the phone call that you least expect, or you don't even make the phone call. It comes in unsolicited and what happens? That becomes a major issue client. That's the client that takes you out of the difficulties that you were having. All of a sudden, out of the blue. You were least expecting it. That happens very frequently in business. When you're about to throw in the towel, suddenly the salvation comes from somewhere. That's how it works, my friends.

Speaker 0 3:50

Now, when you go into a deal, when you go in to meet with a client, do you actually close the client or do you show up and give your effort? That has to be the question that you ask yourself. And what happens over time is you come to the realization that you're just showing up, that it's got nothing to do with how much effort you put into closing a client. It has nothing to do with how much money you throw at closing a client. You wine and dine them. You do all the things that everybody tells you you need to do. You may even lower yourself to the point where you bribe an individual. I've seen that many times. Thank God I've been able to stay away from that. But there are many people who explain it away as making an effort, because that seems to be the standard in making money today that you can bribe anybody and get money.

The Power of Prayer

Speaker 0 4:42

What's the message you're sending when you decide that you're going to give somebody an envelope full of money, full of cash, in order for them to give you a business, to become your client. What's the message? It's loud and clear. It couldn't be any clearer that I think that I'm in control, that I can persuade somebody to do something, even if God doesn't want that to happen, that somehow God needs me to bribe people, to take my hard-earned money and to give it to somebody who I think is going to make or break my business. The message is loud and clear I lack faith.

Speaker 0 5:20

I think God doesn't run the world, that I can control outcomes and we've said many times we do not control outcomes. The only thing we control in every aspect of our lives is the decision to show up and do what we're supposed to do or not. That's it. We do not control outcomes. We control our efforts and that's all. So how is it that we come to remind ourselves, how is it that we work on ourselves and we grow our ability to remember and remind ourselves that it's only God, that God's the one who's going to decide, and not us and not our efforts. They do not turn out results. The only one that turns out results is him. How do we ingrain that into our psyche so that we understand that that is the only truth?

Speaker 0 6:07

And Rabbeinu Bache, over here, says that prayer is a very important way to do that. A lot of people have a really hard time praying for many different reasons, but prayer is a very, very powerful tool for multiple reasons. Number one it reminds you that there is a boss. It reminds you that there is a power that runs this world and that he is in control. Why? Because when you're praying to him, what are you doing? Number one you're saying thank you. What are you saying thank you for? You're saying thank you for all the amazing things that he's provided you. You're reminding yourself who is your provider. Every time you say thank you, every time you're grateful to him, you're reminding yourself that he exists and that he is the source of everything that you have. That's a very powerful deal. What else are you doing in your prayer? You're asking give me health, give me wealth, give me a mate, give me all these different things that I need. Marry my children, whatever it may be. What are you doing, you're cementing in your mind who the boss is. Again, you're cementing in your mind who is responsible for these outcomes. Prayer, my friends, is a very, very powerful tool.

Speaker 0 7:14

Now, if you're not used to praying, or even if you do pray, there's something called hit bodhidut. Hit bodhidut can loosely be translated as a form of meditation, but what hit bodhidut is in my mind is it's talking to God in your own words, going out into a quiet area, into a quiet field, into a quiet room, wherever it may be, disconnecting from the craziness that's around you, not picking up a sitter, not reading from a book, using your own words and talking to your creator and saying all the things that you want to say, which could include thanking him for all the amazing things that he does for you and that he's done for you in the past and that he's going to continue to do for you. So giving thanks and asking him for the things that you need, but with your own words, with your own heart. Words that come from the heart penetrate the heart.

Speaker 0 8:04

My friends, that's a very important exercise and it's a very powerful tool to be able to remind yourself who the boss is and to remind the boss, even though he doesn't need reminding that you're there and that you want a relationship with him and that you want to come closer to him and that you recognize that he is the source of everything.

Hit Bodhidut: Personal Conversations with God

Speaker 0 8:22

And we've said in the past, one of the best ways for you to continue to get the good that you're getting in this world is by being appreciative of what you've already received.

Speaker 0 8:31

So when you sit and you talk to God and you say thank you, thank you for my health, thank you for waking me up today, thank you for giving me a job, thank you for putting money in my bank, thank you for giving me opportunities, thank you for giving me children, thank you for all the wonderful things, for the eyesight, for the taste, for the smell, for all the senses that you give me, for everything that works, for pumping my heart the list doesn't end.

Speaker 0 8:59

When you do that, you become resensitized to the things that he's given you and, again we've said, you fall in love with the creation, which means you fall in love with your creator. Prayer, my friends, is a very, very effective way to build your relationship with your creator. If you're doing it, keep doing it, use your words. Sometimes it doesn't have to be structured prayer three times a day. Use your words in the middle of the day. Close the door, turn off the music, turn off your computer. Detach from technology and have a five-minute conversation with your creator. It will change your outlook on life. My friends, have a spectacular day and we will pick up tomorrow.