If there’s ever a time when you pray and see nothing happening, don’t be tempted to believe that nothing is happening. Something positive is always happening when you pray.
Having said that, it’s useful to note that there is considerable misunderstanding in the public consciousness about what constitutes prayer that promotes change. In Christian Science, prayer is much more than going to God with a list of desires. It’s an active seeking out of Truth that opens thought wider to spiritual reality that, in turn, serves to dissolve any suffering sense and allow healing to happen.
Conscientious prayer changes thought for the better. That’s what prayer does. It’s a petition to God for help that includes a fervent desire and effort to welcome into consciousness a new and improved outlook on reality that takes thought to a better place. Prayer never leaves us where it found us. It improves us.
For the times when it looks like prayer is not bringing any results, it can be helpful to instruct mortal mind with the truth that your thought is moving in a spiritual direction, it is leaving error behind, it is welcoming in God’s healing power, and thus change for the better is inevitable. Like night leads to dawn, prayer leads to God’s healing Light.
Your prayers make a difference. Keep praying and keep making a difference! Something good is happening.
“Prayer cannot change the Science of being, but it tends to bring us into harmony with it”
Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 2.
Thank U for a prayer for NOW. God knows what is needed, before we even KNOW or ask. Thought directed to God is always the correct direction.
Once again, it is such a blessing to share & care.
Evan & fellow seekers…much gratitude.
I had a beautiful answer to prayer shortly before New Yeas.
I woke up one morning with extreme pain in one hand. My first thought was, where did that come? The immediate reply was, Nowhere? God does not know it, so it cannot be!
As I ptayed, affirming the truth, the pain seemed more intense. I insisted, I refuse to acknowledge that you have any power or validity, quoting Mrs Eddy’s statemenr in Science and Health on p. 113:18-19,”There is no pain in Truth and no truth in pain.” Then I added, “Dear Father-Mother God, iIknow this is true. Please helped me to feel its truth. The pain left and I was able to use my hand freely and painlessly. Praying with all our heart and soul is rewarded. Persistence never leaves us where it finds us!
Happy New Year to all. Thanks Evan, for this reminder.
Thank you.
Prayer is a positive expression of good…so it must help!
Hymn 58 helped me today.”Father we thyloving children lift our hearts in joy today”
A great way to start the New Year. Thanks for help Evan
The Bible verse: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding, Prov 3: 5 was the prayer and thought which woke me up this morning which alerted me that something was happening. Prayer is immediate, answers which seem hidden are revealed, unfolded in thought. Humanly the appearance is that there is too much happening, but the verse from Proverbs calmed the fear, turning me directly to God for answers to be revealed. Prayer is where it’s all happening here.
Healing revealed after waking up and knowing that I am “Trusting in the Lord with all mine heart.”
Sure enough what had been hidden for over a week, was revealed right where it had been covered. The item was a dental appliance, and the dentist had already been notified, making plans to begin next week to replace the missing item. What a hugh smile I had after locating the appliance, which had been unharmed, safe and sound, right where it lay during the time it was missing. The lift after phoning the dentist to cancel all plans to replace this piece carried me on His shoulders, to pray more, the rest of the day, for this Truth which had revealed what had been hidden.
Thank you Evan, your selecting and presenting this topic helped immensely.
This is very helpful and encouraging for times when we pray for global issues, such as devastating fires or peace in the Middle East, and think we don’t see improvement. “Something good is happening.” Thank you, Even.
The story of the Fall of Jericho is so instructive, – what a battle plan, – march round the most impregnable of all the cities six times and on the seventh do it all again and it will fall!! Imagine marching round on the fifth and sixth days, – clearly nothing happening, – but as Evan makes clear, there was!! On the seventh day the final shout brought the walls down to nothing. The story led to some of my favourite two last lines of poetry, -“If there’s a problem that won’t go, We just remember Jericho! (Listen to the poem with music https://youtu.be/w5qow3WNeFI )
THE FALL OF JERICHO
In front of us was Jericho
This was a place we had to go:
Yet there it stood the walls four square
-the finest fortress anywhere.
We looked up at the awesome sight:
What chance was there against this might?
But Joshua he loudly cried:
“ Fear not, for God is on our side!
What we must do is kneel and pray;
God will then make clear the way.”
The message came, both clear and stark,
We had to march behind our Ark!
And seven priests must go before,
A-blowing trumpets. Nothing more!
So round the walls we went next day.
Just the once. We did obey.
The fortress stood as we marched round,
But our hearts blazed with this pure sound.
And as we circled hour on hour
We felt the touch of latent power.
Each step we took on earthen sod
Was made in prayer to mighty God.
Each step, left, right, we thanked the Lord,
We knew He’d given us His Word!
Encompassed by this holy thought
Our actions were divinely wrought.
Each step we took divinely trod,
From early morn we prayed to God.
Expectant in His holy name,
Each day, six days, we did the same.
The seventh day our hope was high,
Despite the fortress large ‘gainst sky.
Seven times we marched around,
The seven trumpets loud with sound;
And at the seventh, with no doubt,
Our people shouted a great shout.
The confidence was like a roar:
The walls fell flat! They were no more!
That Jericho once proud and tall
Defeated by the prayers of all.
We looked amazed at what we saw,-
The stones stretched flat upon the floor.
For we had won, yet not been harmed;
We’d had no cause to be alarmed!
The power of God once more revealed.
Our victory was always sealed.
And all those there that seventh day
Still feel His power when they pray:
There is no problem that won’t go.
We just remember Jericho.
May I also share a testimony that links with all this https://journal.christianscience.com/shared/view/c2yyf74erq?s=e
Thank you Ken for your poem and article. I enjoyed both. They augment Evans blog perfectly. Just the encouragement I needed today. (=
Thank you so much, Ken – the poem and the article are so spiritually inspiring and helpful to ponder. So many thanks to Evan and all who contribute to these Daily Lifts.
Thank you for this much needed encouragement In the atmosphere of Love Divine I live and move and breathe . Matter knows nothing about it.
I had a beautiful answer to prayer shortly before New Years.
I woke up one morning with extreme pain in one hand. My first thought was, where did that come? The immediate reply was, Nowhere? God does not know it, so it cannot be!
As I prayed, affirming the truth, the pain seemed more intense.. I insisted, I refuse to acknowledge that you have any power or validity, quoting Mrs Eddy’s statemenr in Science and Health on p. 113:18-19,”There is no pain in Truth and no truth in pain.” Then I added, “Dear Father-Mother God, I know that is true. Please help me to feel its truth. The pain left and I was able to use my hand freely and painlessly. Praying with all our heart and soul is rewarded. Persistence never leaves us where it finds us!
Happy New Year to all. Thanks Evan, for this reminder. Nice poem, Ken!
Prov,3 is a God send. thank you for this. I have been discouraged lately at healing. But I know it is constant prayer that opens my thought and keeps me going.
Thank you Evan. I’ve found prayer is sometimes like planting a seed in the garden. At first it may not look like much is happening, but roots are growing out of sight and envitably we see visible results as long as we keep “watering” the seed of truth.
Thank you Evan and thank you Brian for that great analogy
what a wonderful SV today, I love the idea of instructing mortal mind that my thought is moving in a spiritual direction and I am not listening to “the mortal mind”, so it’s the last I want to hear from you!
Much needed, this, so thank you .
How much time would be best to spend on prayer each day? And is confirming the Truth end denying error enough? And them wait on the influx of Love?
Thank you very much dear Evan, for today`s SpiritView, which is so comforting and freeing us in so far, that you assure us that our prayers do make a difference. That is so helpful to know, specially when you watch today`s worrying news on TV, what happened in Iran. The only way to keep calm in face of this is, to pray for our and the worlds peace.
Evan, thank you again for your very helpful thoughts on praying!
What a pure image of a sweet child of God above picture presents. 🙂
Thank you Evan for this encouraging blog. It was helpful to be reminded that good is going on when we pray even if we can’t cognize it with our material senses. As we persevere the good, the healing, will become evident. “Progress is the law of God.” (Science and Health p. 233:6)
Thanks for this. These are comments that can and should be used when articles appear in papers or on the news complaining when people say “our thoughts and prayers are with them” after tragedies occur. The complainers say “something” needs to be done beyond prayer. I’ve often tried to explain that prayer, if done right, leads us to the “somethings” that can be done. Prayer opens our minds to possibilities. It moves us to a place that allows us to think through things spiritually, reaching for spiritual ideas that give us the human answers.
Thank you for this post Evan. It addresses an important issue that promotes the reluctance to pray. I saw in your comments another aspect of prayer which is preventative prayer. The example of my husband has been an inspiration to me. He was a firefighter for the Federal Government. Then he was promoted to fire inspector. This meant he had to make the rounds each month inspecting each building he was assigned to on a large military base to ensure that it was free of fire hazards. As a firefighter he saw the immediate result of being prepared to fight a fire and successfully extinguishing it. But he never witnessed the fires that never started because of his work as an inspector. It took more integrity and diligence on his part to work preventing fires because the evidence of his work was not as noticeable. But he was conscientious and faithful knowing that his work was effective in keeping others safe.
Prayer is like that. To remain faithful, knowing that every thought that comes to us is the Word of God and does bear fruit even if we don’t see it right away, is true integrity. We too may never see how our prayers lead to protection and well-being for ourselves and others but we can know that they do through spiritual sense.
Hymn 115 from the Christian Science Hymnal puts it this way:
“Holy Father, Thou hast taught us,we should live to Thee alone.
Year by year, Thy hand hath brought us on through dangers oft unknown.”
To paraphrase Mary Baker Eddy, “Prayer…[is] God’s gracious means ” for delivering us from dangers we never see or know. For this we can say, “Thank you Father.” And thank you Evan for encouraging us all to press on.
Thank you Karen. I loved the fire inspector analogy!
I love this encouraging Spiritview today! I think it strikes at the heart of why people don’t turn to God more regularly for healing. Christian Science teaches us that our prayers are making a difference and that healing is at hand! I loved the Jericho poem as it relates to persistence and consistency in declaring the Truth until we see results! It can seem so disheartening not to see material progress right away! When praying, I’ve been told to watch thought not the body! That is where the healing takes place. I awoke today with a head ache and began denying its reality and affirming my harmony as God’s reflection. The thought came” there is no pain in Truth and no Truth in pain.”which is a quote from Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy. Even though the pain seemed to be persisting I mentally declared it was a lie and actually non- existent.God didn’t know it and I couldn’t know it. The pain persisted. I declared that I lived in Spirit – not matter. Another thought came to me to stay my thought on God’s allness. I did this as best I could. I thought about the definition of God as given in the textbook. Which states God is all- knowing , all- acting , all- wise, all- loving and eternal. I declared this to be the Truth. The pain persisted. I decided to get up and read the CS bible lesson. But somewhere between taking my dog out- checking my e- mails and reading this Spiritview, I realized the headache was completely gone. The work was done and when I dropped it to attend to other things it dissolved. This is how healing has happened for me many times. After Praying as taught in Christian Science and dropping the problem I’ve found i’ve been free of colds, a burn ,and flu symptoms So grateful for this small demonstration today! Thank you Evan and all the wisdom expressed on this site! I know it contributed to my healing today!
Dear SpiritView Friends, I stand so in awe before today’s and yesterday’s comments containing wonderful and helpful testimonies on healing and that lovely and great poem about Jericho and the article in the Sentinel about Jericho with the testimony, to which Ken Cooper gave us the link.
Thank you very much, Ken; and I also listened to your so inspiring Jericho poem. You have such a wonderfully calm and nice voice.
Thank you very much, Evan for this so lively, inspiring and blessing SpiritView blog, through which you are teaching us so understandable the real spiritual perspective of Christian Science! And thank God for Christian Science!
Thank you everyone!