new church life: september/october 2016
inward and the inward, which are in the Kingdom of God the Messiah. These
fields cannot be described, but the matter could be illustrated by a comparison.
In general, there are higher and lower heavenly, as well as spiritual, fields.
The lowest realm has been ruined as long as it is allowed for evil spirits to
inhabit it, and this field still rises up even to the rational realm, and disturbs it.
Today, by the mercy of God the Messiah, I was placed in that rational field
in such a way that the reasoning part of me was in harmony with that realm,
which was therefore not disturbed as at other times. Then the spirits in it felt
oppressed, saying that they could not live in it, as a bird in an atmosphere
where there is no air, but [only] ether, or as a fish in air, but wanted to flee
away. This tells me that when the Kingdom of God the Messiah comes, then
evil spirits are necessarily cast out, for they are almost unable to draw breath
in it . . .
When I was praying, especially the Lord’s Prayer, I was received into that
realm, which enabled me to view the more inward content of that prayer.
All those heavenly and spiritual realms look to the Kingdom of God the
Messiah, because they are from God the Messiah, Who is the Kingdom of
God. It follows from all this that there must surely be a general realm, in order
for there to be individual ones, which cannot exist except in community; and
that all individual things relate back to collective ones, which in turn guide the
individual ones – ultimately into the order they themselves are in. Otherwise
individual elements must necessarily be cast out of the community. These are
rules known to Philosophy, and universally valid.
Prayer brings us into the very realms of heaven! Swedenborg writes
further in # 258:
I was raised up into the very inward realm, as often as I prayed our Lord’s Prayer,
though in differing ways. Whenever I was praying our Lord’s Prayer, morning and
evening, almost every time I was raised up, in different ways, into the very inward
realm, and in fact [this raising up,] together with the change, was so perceptible that
nothing could have been more so. . . . Explanations of the more inward contents of
the Prayer were inspired at these times, with a great deal of variety.
Prayer’s Chief Goal: “Deliver Us from Evil”
However, we would be mistaken to think that we should pray chiefly so that we
may have deeper insights and peace of mind. We should pray chiefly to receive
strength to persevere in times of trouble, especially to receive motivation to
resist those evil inclinations in us that bring harm on ourselves and others. As
is written in Apocalypse Explained 803:
When a person begins to think for himself, which is the case after he has grown up,
it must be to him the first and chief thing to refrain from doing evils for the reason
that they are sins against the Word, thus against God, and for the reason that if he
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