Prayers create sanctuaries, sacred cathedrals of love and hope we can inhabit to embrace our safety, our natural grace, and know ourselves. We pray, not so much to inform God of our needs, but to open ourselves to accept what has already been given to us by a Loving Universe. Prayers are the simple means we have devised to remind ourselves of our inviolate connections with the Universe; and its infinite love for us, its worthy offspring. Repeated prayers clothe us with an aura of Light so fine; it attracts angels and other beings of goodwill to come to our aid. We are told, in every sacred writing extant on the planet, to pray without ceasing. This injunction is a coded message, planted in our reflective literature, to call us to commune with the sacredness within ourselves. We need to pray, and this need is universal in its scope. All creatures need to approach their Creator and remain within the love of that contact until they completely remember the precepts of communion.
Prayers are grand holy edifices where the truth of Being may be reached at a moment’s notice and the benefits of peace, joy and an abiding hope garnered that can be taken to the marketplaces of the world. After praying there is renewed hope, as contact is made with the living God within; who is ever available to solve any quandary humans may plot for themselves. Prayer, to be true, must lead from communication to communion; then into the union which speaks aloud our Oneness with the truth of our beings.
The entire Universe expresses as vibrations. The manner in which we experience our lives is a result to the vibratory octave we attain and maintain. Matter, it is taught in esoteric circles, is the densest vibration known. These same schools teach methods and practices to change the dense vibrations of an earth bound existence into a finer, more exalted vibration, which will allow us to experience happier, healthier, more balanced lives. The reason we are alive is to be happy. We’ve sought, through the acquisition of things, to achieve happiness; our seeking has brought quite a bit of misery to our experience. So much so, most of us believe we are obliged to experience some misfortune during our span of years on this planet. It has been my experience this is not a law; it is merely the manner in which our respected elders taught us to experience life.
There is a higher way. Deep within our beings, we know that circumstances are mutable; and we can change our circumstance. Often, we do not know how to transmute the misery and unhappiness we encounter into the more sublime and more pleasurable states we prefer. The act of prayer does this for us; it offers the change of vision which activates the shift within the one who prays. Prayer lifts the vibration whenever it is done. Therefore, whatever had precipitated the need to pray looks different once one had prayed. No matter how ineffective prayer may appear, the act of praying changes a dense vibration into a finer, more exalted one than existed before the prayer began.
It is well known, among those accustomed to praying, that groups invoke more power than an individual praying alone. Many religions and spiritual groups have prayer meeting, circles and services devoted to prayer. At these gatherings people are often asked to pray aloud. If you are not accustomed to praying, reading prayers aloud will gently lead you to regular praying. Regular praying brings to life the steady demeanor, caused by having the Spirit of Peace as a constant companion. Challenges are handled with poise and equilibrium. This is a state much to be desired. In his essay entitled the Wonder Child, Emmet Fox said; “Miracles will always happen, if you believe them to be possible and are willing to recognize the power of God, and call upon it.” Miracles happen when we pray.
What we want most is to be masters of our lives, especially our emotional lives, so that we can maintain the equilibrium known as harmony. Prayer enables us to sit within the center of our beings; look out on the world and know all is in Divine Order. In order for prayers to be effective in establishing harmony within the life of an individual, such an individual must believe God exist, and is available to hear and answer prayers. Often, we do believe God exist, but perceive the Being we call God to be separate from ourselves; unavailable to small beings squabbling on the surface of an insignificant planet. The truth is God is omnipresent. Being omnipresent, God is in everything and everyone, making God instantly and constantly available.
Humans have prayed for as long as there have been humans on planet earth. More often than not, those prayers were directed to a God, who if not far away, was definitely separate and apart from those offering the prayers. There is another view – God has so craftily hidden Itself within the folds of the flesh we wear; God is indistinguishable from who we are. This is the God to whom our prayers are offered. These prayers are intended to aid and abet an exploration into the Center of Holiness within everyone.
The “Affirmative Prayer” is one manner of praying. The beginning of an affirmative prayer is a statement acknowledging God; then the expected results affirmed in the present tense; followed by thanksgiving to the Source of all good things. This form of praying affirms the truth, that everything we could possible need has already been provided. This provision stands, awaiting our awareness to become wide enough for us to receive what we desire. This method of praying offers a different view of communion with God than that of the established religions. That is to say, they are not petitionary in nature. In this form of praying God is addressed as Mother, Father or simply by the generic name of God. The Holy Spirit (otherwise known to the ancients as The Breath of God) may be invoked by that name.
Perhaps, because of how we were socialized, it may seem appropriate to address the Creator of the Universe in ancient language. If not with the actual Sanskrit or Aramaic words, then, for prayer to be true, they must at the very least employ Shakespearean English. God updates itself very moment. Thus the working premise of the affirmative prayer is the God to whom we pray understands our modern language and has a fluent command of the latest slang. Thus the language of prayer can be as intimate as a conversation with a loved one.
We are beings of infinite love, wisdom, power and grace, capable of being divine in every aspect of our interactions with one another. As we journey together through our prayers, may the light of the Living God bathe us in its eternal radiance and beauty, as we continue to know ourselves as the holy children of the God of Love.