This essay continues a sequence. Read the previous one here.
When thou prayest,
enter into thy closet,
and when thou hast shut thy door,
pray to thy Father which is in secret;
and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do:
for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Be not ye therefore like unto them:
for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
— Matt 6:6-8, KJV
Are we seeking to remind, persuade, or align?
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What Is Prayer?
The way the words “pray” and “prayer” are used in the four gospels indicates that we can think of prayer as an attempt to communicate with God The Father.
What are we communicating, and why?
Previous discussions have established that:
- Creation is designed to take care of all creatures, as long as they remain true to their essential nature (ref. “The Nature of God’s Laws“, “Does ‘Take No Thought’ Make Any Sense?“)
- Our essential nature requires us to focus with our spirit (inner voice) on the present moment, overcoming “noise” from the brain (ref. “Fall Down and Worship Me!“, “Does ‘Take No Thought’ Make Any Sense?“);
- Listening to our inner voice tells us the right thing to do in every moment, and the right thing always contains selfless love (ref. “Real Love Is Tough Love“, “Love: A Certified Spiritual Seed“);
- We must then act accordingly, which is true righteousness (ref. “Blessed Are They That Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness“);
- Whatever comes of this is for our own good (ref. “Thinking Without Thinking, Part 2“);
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Why Prayer?
Having come to this realisation, questions along the lines of “So why pray? What exactly are we communicating?” are likely to arise in the minds of many followers of Christ.
This line of thought arises because many of us have come to think of prayer as synonymous with “request”. This is incorrect. A request is just one type of prayer.
Since there are different types of requests, it would be more precise to say that we have come to think of prayer as synonymous with egocentric requests. It has even gone so far that for many people, the idea of religion (including Christianity) cannot be separated from the practice of making demands of the Almighty for material comfort and pleasures.
That this idea is incorrect is evidenced by the attitude of our prime example, Jesus Christ. He made requests in prayer, but never demanded anything of His Father. His prayers were not egocentric or selfish: they were invariably requests to be helped to facilitate the Work of His Father.
Even with crucifixion looming He put His own Will aside and prayed “Thy Will be done“.
So as we become more spiritually mature, as described in previous essays, we shall have less desire to make egocentric requests (i.e. demands) because we will trust that our Father knoweth what things we have need of before we ask Him, and that the loving Laws of Creation (i.e. the Power of the Holy Spirit, ref. “The Unforgiven“) will bring these things to us if we ourselves do not disrupt Creation’s flow through selfish behaviour.
Trust Contains Gratitude…
This level of trust, or faith, brings peace. In this peace that surpasseth all understanding is great joy. And this joy is an expression of gratitude to God.
Thus, a pure form of prayer would communicate joyful gratitude to God.
Such genuine gratitude does not end in feeling: it naturally expresses itself in outward actions.
We shall continue this exploration in the next essay.
Today’s Resolution:
- Let us open ourselves to a new concept of prayer grounded in pure faith.
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