Tag Archives: prayer

The Power of Prayer

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In honor of National Prayer Day, which is this week on Thursday in the United States, I am dedicating this blog to the power of prayer.

Recently I have reflected on the role of prayer in the Science of Mind philosophy, the basis of my ordination as a minister. The Science of Mind teaches a particular form of affirmative prayer called Spiritual Mind Treatment, whereby we align with what we are accepting into our lives by clearing from our minds anything unlike what we want, and by aligning our minds with the spiritual qualities and principles that align us with what we are choosing to experience.

Prayer is the central practice in Science of Mind, and the philosophy’s real gift to the world. Those who practice Science of Mind have deep conviction around the efficacy of prayer. In my recent reflections I have come to appreciate just how much we go to prayer in our teaching and how much we are empowered by the practice. In affirmative prayer, we are not hoping for a result, but rather we are knowing a result based on the very nature of the spiritual universe whereby life conforms to what we can establish a mental likeness for in our interior.

This is not to say that we control all the conditions and outcomes of our lives. What it does say is that something happens whenever we realign our thinking, our intentions, and what it is we are willing to welcome into our lives. There is still mystery – in particular there is mystery in the how. What we do know is that prayer shifts us and it shifts our experience.

Excerpt from my blog post of September 15, 2015 (How to Manifest Anything)
The beauty of affirmative prayer is that we learn the power of our words in prayer, and, even more so, the power of our words spoken with conviction and with a deep felt sense. We learn that there is a universal subjectivity that is always receiving our thought stream whether we are consciously praying or not. Who would have thought that Aunt Mabel was so right when she implored us to be mindful of what we say?

It turns out that our words are very powerful; creative, in fact. We are co-creators of our lives with universal spirit. How we look at life and talk about it, and what we believe about ourselves and life is utterly important in determining the overall content of our experiences in life. Those thoughts and beliefs that have strong feelings associated with them are the ones that have the most power to manifest in form in our lives as something that directly corresponds to the thoughts and beliefs.

The discovery that our thoughts, beliefs, and words have power is what led to the development of affirmative prayer. After all, if our words have power, then it behooves us to harness them for something good, rather than just allow our unconscious thought streams to create our experience.

Here’s how to consciously use your thoughts, words, and consciousness with affirmative prayer:

Step 1 (Recognition): Recognize that there is one power and intelligence that moves and creates everything. That one impulse is animated and expressed as love in action.

Step 2 (Unification): Know that you are one with the one power and intelligence. Allow yourself to feel the significance of the truth that infinite power and intelligence reside within you, that the love within you aligns you with divine creative intelligence.

Step 3 (Realization/Declaration): Speak your word affirmatively and in the present tense, accepting and claiming that which you want as an already accomplished fact in your life.

Step 4 (Thanksgiving): Give thanks for the one creative power that is operating in your life. Give thanks for your awareness. Give thanks for the manifestation of what you have declared in step 3.

Step 5 (Release): Release your words of prayer to the universal subjective creative medium that receives the words you have impressed upon it and makes them manifest.

 

Don’t forget to go to our Facebook group page and either post a prayer or speak one of the ones there to add your voice in prayer for our world. It makes a difference!

Prayer without Ceasing

It is interesting how, even as a minister, I can sometimes forget the power of prayer. Of course, I am praying all the time. But then there will be that one nagging situation that I’ll just keep dealing with at the material level, somehow forgetting that prayer would be helpful there too.

The title for this blog comes from the Christian Bible in first Thessalonians: “Pray without ceasing.”

In Tibetan Buddhism, there are prayer wheels with the mantra “Om Mani Padme Hum” inscribed on them so that one can continuously turn the wheel and repeat the prayer, said to be the most important mantra in Buddhism. It is thought to contain the essence of the entire Buddhist teaching. Its literal translation is “Praise to the Jewel in the Lotus,” and it is about purification in all aspects of our being.

In the Bhakti yoga tradition, devotional prayers or mantras are sung in groups, repeating the same lines over and over, sometimes using mala beads to count to the sacred number 108, repeating the prayer that many times.

Jesus, when asked, “How often should I forgive?” responded “up to 70 times 7.”

In so many religious and spiritual traditions, we find the practice of repetition when it comes to prayer. Surely, this is not because God “out there” needs to hear our prayers many times before answering them. Rather, it is because we in human form need to practice aligning our own consciousness with a greater spiritual truth. Often we have deep-seated unconscious beliefs and alignments from past conditioning and these can be transmuted with continuous, or repetition of, prayer.

I liken our subconscious, habitual thought patterns to a floating board in a swimming pool that just keeps returning to the surface once we stop applying conscious attention. Often, awareness of a limiting thought pattern is only the first step. Old thought patterns can be so insidious that we need to continue applying new wisdom until we clearly establish a fresh thought pattern.

This was certainly true for me when I began to learn the spiritual principles of prosperity. At first, I had grasped the principle of God as my unlimited source only intellectually and consciously. I had previously believed in ‘prosperity through struggle’ for so long that, whenever I discontinued my conscious prayer practice around prosperity, I would find my thought patterns contracting back to the belief in struggle.

The invitation today is to remember the value of prayer; not the kind where we beg ‘God out there’ for something, but affirmative prayer, where we open ourselves to accept something greater in our lives.

Where could you apply prayer in your life today? You might take a moment and open to a new possibility. Perhaps you could say to yourself, “I am open to this situation being resolved. I now accept peace and prosperity” (or whatever applies in your situation). Then claim something greater for yourself by declaring it specifically, such as “I now have peace in my relationship” or “I am supported in being successful in my business.”

When we state such affirmations, which can also be included in an affirmative prayer, we begin to open to grace. We align our thoughts with a belief that life is meant to be good for us. In truth, there is really nothing in a spiritual sense that is working against us, and everything that is working for us. Even if we don’t currently believe this, just opening to the possibility is helpful. Try it, and begin to see the power of your words and thoughts to align you with a greater experience in life.

Enjoy the journey.

Next week: A Primer on Affirmative Prayer

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