It has been said that worry is a prayer for what you don’t want.
For instance, if one spends all their time worrying about how to pay the bills, their mental energy and time is consumed with fear of lack, not enough, and coming up short. Their mind becomes a playground for the very situation they want to avoid.
The better way is to silence the worry with a growing understanding of God’s infinite resources at hand to meet every human need. As thought is imbued with spiritual reality, what it sees spiritually, manifests humanly. Improvement occurs.
So, rather than spending mental energy and time allowing what you don’t want, pray for what you want! Focus on praying for a better understanding of God, for enlightened points of view and healing inspiration. Seek the truth that heals and leave worry behind.
Today my prayer will be focused on asking for a fuller understanding of God. I’ll be listening for all Her magnificent attributes, guidance, comfort. I will seek to feel the omnipresence of harmony, health, healing. Then I must and will be willing to live the abundant gifts that our Father-Mother has given.
Thank you Nancy for this inspiration. Your words are a beautiful prayer I will be praying all day (and for many days to come.)
Thank you Evan for this important reminder!
Enjoy and thrive in the blessings throughout your day, Everyone! I so appreciate every commenter.
Just beautiful, Nancy! Thank you. And thanks to Evan for his overflowing inspiration shared with us.
Well said Nancy, a good prayer to pray! I appreciate you too Evan for your thoughts supportive to those already familiar with Christian Science and their very shareability for some of my friends new to this way of thinking and praying.
Huge point!! thank you.
Thanks Evan today I will focus prayer on optimum health and wellbeing.
Thank you very much Evan for this uplifting encouragement! Need.it, and my desire and prayer is for a day of healing and progress and inspiration and Love♡
“And o’er earth’s troubled, angry sea”
WILFRED NEVILLE DOBSON
From the October 16, 1943 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel
Again I do not know how to attach, but it is a
perfect article for today.
Hello M. Here is the link to the article you recommended.
https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/1s14mmgrsgk?s=e
M & Karen. Dobson’s article is reassuring and powerful. I very much stand in appreciation for receiving this article. Studying the Bible and Science and Health below in those tossing conditions took quite a seaman. That ability alone was a huge demonstration. The seagulls were above it all, the mariner took to the heights of Mind and escaped the angry sea.
Thank you both very much…
Thank you… a wonderful article!
Yes Karen, thanks a lot for the simple and metaphysically understandable article. Such wonderful and pure demonstration of God’s allpower and everpresence! ♡
Thank you Karen, fits perfectly with the “announcement” that my teeth are going to fall out if ‘implants’ aren’t immediately installed. How laughable, knowing how to still a storm and oil a tanker at sea. Wonderful serendipity! ,
Will immediately apply what Truth is telling me about stability, even midst a stormy sea, While teeth aren’t like a stormy sea, the picture painted for me yesterday IS!
with deep gratitude for treatment immediately,
What a wonderful article. Simple and easy to understand. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, M, for the recommended article. Today I’ll follow the lead of God’s seagulls. During the storms of our lives (like Covid, the animosity between govt partys, systemic racism) I needn’t beat my wings against them, ie. getting upset and worried. Rather, I will glide with the Christ and the oil of gladness and gratitude, knowing that health, good-will and unconditional love will prevail. Yay God!!
Excellent way.to start today. Thanks ever so much for kicking error out of thought, where Intelligence and the power of only Good has dominion.
Have a most wonderful day reversing worry and creating a flow of answered prayers.
An answered prayer of righteousness is an answered prayer for all of us. Your blessing is for everyone. “What blesses one, blesses all”. Thank you all for your answered prayers.
I’m going to prayer for. ‘Pyramid giving ‘ . ( as opposed to pyramid selling! )
So, it starts with God , who’s here for everyone even if some are not aware of it yet.
Divine Science then filters down through the loving sharing of Truth from the Prophets and Jesus .
Then the enlightened thinkers like Mrs Eddy , Practitioners and teachers.
Now I am the bottom of the pyramid but there are so many like me with the ability to use all the aforementioned spiritual teaching.
So, I prayer for that better understanding of God for myself and everyone knowing that a trickle of Prayer , kindness and Love must become a universal flood❣️
The thought, “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity” comes to mind.
The Divine Mind of “enlightened thinkers” is like a circle of connectability where that kindness and Love you mentioned, Barbara, will become a universal flood. I love that. I glean a lot from your shares and I think we all are striving to learn more and more of this spiritual Truth. Being here sure helps me and I thank you all.
Karen ❤️
I borrowed a couple pamphlets last evening
at church, this was in one of them.
Read this article this morning. Then SpiritView.
It was, “Him again”
“Him again” was in an article years ago.
That’s what my late practitioner used to say when good things happened!
Karen ❤️
I borrowed a couple pamphlets last evening
at church, this was in one of them.
Read this article this morning. Then SpiritView.
It was, “Him again”
“Him again” was in an article years ago.
Where can I find this article please?
thank you for this reminder; an important reminder as to where we put our thought. Thank you to those who supply the links to these wonderful articles that people mention.
All so very helpful. Thank you for the article link, and thank you Evan for once again alerting me to watch my thought. How important to focus on God and nothing else.
Thanks Evan, I love the title “Pray for what you want” is Divine Principle calls to us to receive God’s Love “unconditionally” (trust Him without doubt) into our hearts and be blessed and satisfied. It is a simple statement of Fact that God’s Love is impartial and confirms the the manifestation of the prefect Law; Divine Love always has met and always will meet EVERY human needs, regardless whether we understand how God’s goodwill is done.
Today, I had the experienced the simplicity of this calling and in simple childlike trust, I found myself uttering in human language to ask for what I want, I realised this pure perfection of Divine Love is supreme and truly met my needs unconditionally that gave me a clear sense of at-one-ment. Our love, joy, peace and happiness Is God’s priority for us all.
Delightful, how you applied this to what met your needs “unconditionally” and your immediate experience was the clear sense of “at-one-ment.” Your post struck a chord with me, and I am seeing that I can only experience love, joy, peace and happiness BECAUSE that is GOD’S priority for us all, including me.
This flawed diagnosis that my teeth are loose and will fall out without a procedure of installing implants is plainly FALSE. I can calm the storm, still the waves, load up the ship with new oil to proceed on, complete and whole, the way God made me “in the beginning.” The divine influence guidance is to GROW.
Thank you, M, for sharing the October 1943 Sentinel article. Such testimonies assure us of God’s eve-present care.
‘Prayer -with Traction’:
https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/1x29gbnmygs?s=e
This is such a good editorial by Phinney. I have che rished the message and read a number of times over the years.
Pam
At first, after reading the title I thought, “oh-oh this sounds like outlining”, but after I read your view I realized one’s wants must be properly thought of, not materially based. The referenced Sentinel article brought home something my husband says often to me, “There is no need…, to struggle…”. I had just read something about not seeing what is right in front of our faces. Now I see.
Love what sounded like a bit of “window washing” going on, to see clearly that we needn’t “struggle” TY for sharing seeing what is right in front of our faces today.
Another SpiritView idea meeting/addressing the need. The other day, I had a mini revelation while listening to my local Wednesday night service. For the past three years, I have been wrestling with what my head thinks is right vs. what my heart loves. This post has clarified more what I truly have to do-‘Pray for what [my heart] wants’. I have unlimited gratitude for God for this!
Thank you Evan and all! I had an experience recently that shows how defeating worry heals!
My wife and I have two feline companions. I love our cats, but my wife LIVES for cats. So when she came up to me one day with our cat Caroline in her arms showing me an ugly/bloody skin condition on Caroline’s stomach I could feel my wife’s deep concern and see the worry on my wife’s face. My wife doesn’t practice Christian Science but she has seen the healing effect of C.S. and is receptive to it, especially for our cats. However, even though my wife continues to see a doctor for an annual checkups, almost exactly a year ago my wife asked me for help with very painful back spasms when she was unable to sleep one evening and almost immediately after I began praying she was able to go to sleep and was fine the next day, even though she had complained about the spasms for days.
But back to Caroline… I started praying to know that God created the right idea of “cat” and that Caroline is a reflection of that perfect idea and that perfect idea does not include “disorder” or “irritation” and therefore those beliefs could not be manifested in Caroline’s experience. I prayed to see the harmony of God’s idea of “cat” expressed in Caroline for a couple weeks, but my wife kept complaining about the skin condition because there was no improvement. My wife eventually asked me if she should take the cat to the veterinarian. I responded that she should do what she felt was right. So my wife continued to try to decide what to do and I kept praying. Shortly thereafter the following citation came to thought.
If the case is that of a young child or an infant, it needs to be met mainly through the parent’s thought, silently or audibly on the aforesaid basis of Christian Science.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 412:28–31)
It occurred to me that this sentence was meaningful to our situation with Caroline because Caroline was like my wife’s “child”. I’ve read this sentence from S&H many times and never really understood what it meant. What does “meet a problem through the parent’s thought” mean, I wondered? Then it occurred to me that it means we should deal with the belief the parent is entertaining instead of focusing on the problem the “child” is manifesting, even if the belief the parent is entertaining seems to be unrelated to the problem the child is manifesting. For example, if a child is experiencing measles and the parent is worried about what friends will think if the child isn’t taken to a doctor, then you wouldn’t treat “measles” you’d treat the parent’s “fear of what others will think if you rely on C.S.” In my case it meant switching my focus to dealing with my wife’s “worry” about whether to take the cat to the vet and “worry” about Caroline being in pain instead of knowing the truth about what was appearing as a problem with Caroline. This thought came to me late one evening so I prayed to know that my wife reflects the one Mind, God, and that Mind is free of worry and only knows harmony.
Shortly thereafter during a discussion of Caroline’s situation with my wife she pointed out that if she took Caroline to the vet they would probably put one of those cones around her neck to prevent her from licking or biting the skin on her stomach. I pointed out how uncomfortable that would probably make Caroline and my wife agreed that would not be a good solution. That discussion seemed to eliminate the worry over the vet option. Then we spoke more and I made other points about Caroline not appearing to be in pain to relieve my wife’s worry over the situation and told her I would continue praying about it and she agreed that a “prayer solution” would be the “best solution”.
Well I’m happy to report that yesterday my wife thanked me for healing Caroline. I never checked to see if the condition was healed but my wife did and reported that the Caroline’s stomach skin is now normal.
Thank You, the idea or child of God is always innocent and the error must depart from the observation and the observer . Nothing adverse is affecting God OR His idea, only good is going on as normal.
This is wonderful Brian. For that healing thought is available for any belief or complaint. Severity doesn’t come into it , plus our pets represent companionship , loyalty and love. So, they are equally the manifestation of all these attributes ! You proved this to be so and every demonstration is revealing our path forward. Thank you for sharing..beautiful ❣️
Another healing SV! Thank you EVAN, and all who contributed.
“ Heaven…here on earth?” By Evan in the CS Sentinel (Oct. 19)
A must read, everybody. Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude!!!
‘Heaven…here on earth’, Evan Mehlenbacher:
https://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/1co8698rtds?s=e
That article from 1943 really struck home to me. I especially liked: “When we know, we reflect, and when we reflect, we suddenly find that there is nothing to heal and never was, for nothing has ever happened to the real creation.”
Thanks so much to everyone for sharing your thoughts and experiences, and the links to helpful articles
Thanks so much, Angie, for “Prayer – with traction” by Allison W. Phinney, Jr. What stood out to me was: “When understanding changes the standpoints of life and intelligence from a material to a spiritual basis, we shall gain the reality of Life, the control of Soul over sense, and we shall perceive Christianity, or Truth, in its divine Principle.”
You are so right Evan! For years I worried about the possibility of losing my house as id worked very hard to keep paying it off as a single parent and my work wasn’t always steady or predictable…but I never prayed by being grateful for my house..but prayed anxiously not to lose it! This was my focus..LOSS!! Well, you guessed it, TWICE I lost a house! I have two other CS friends who did the same thing as I did..always worried they would lose the house..and we di all lose them…eventually, after much discussion, we all realised that our focus was on the loss not the gain..not the gratitude ..not the acknowledgement that God was providing constantly for us.
So pray for what you WANT..YES !!!..” Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring THESE into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 261:4)
Angie, a special thanks to you for providing the link to terrific CS Sentinel articles for our fellow readers of EVAN’s column…
Bless you & all!