God Help Us
Prayer is petitioning God for some kind of assistance. It’s an appeal to spiritual forces for help, either for ourselves or for others. All acts of prayer imply a belief in the existence of intelligent spirit beings or forces who can hear us, understand us, and help us.
In all prayer, we usually have some idea about who or what we are praying to. Some pray to God (by whatever name they choose), while others pray to a saint or a glorified human who they believe can hear and help them. Praying for divine help is a practice running through all Judeo-Christian traditions as well as Islam, Hinduism, and even Buddhism
In traditional Buddhist schools, prayers are directed to enlightened beings, deities, and saints. Even so, some Western practitioners of Buddhism claim that Buddhist gods and deities aren’t really gods at all, although with some incongruity, they still believe these non-gods have the power to help or harm.
More secular Buddhists maintain they do not pray to, or for, anything and have no expectation that anyone is listening. Sam Littlefair of The Lion’s Roar website (Do Buddhists Pray? 2017) promotes the notion that we are praying to ourselves. In his view, prayer is simply a personal aspiration to be more compassionate and wiser by drawing on the spiritual strength that is within us all.
But the source of this spiritual strength is not entirely clear. Is it naturally inherent in the human psyche? Or is it believed to be a universal essence tapped through mind? Indeed, what does it mean to be spiritual if we don’t believe in spirit?
No doubt, there is a potent spiritual strength within all of us—the very source of all compassion and wisdom. But in the God experience, we have no doubt that the source of this strength is the inner Spirit, the gift of God given to each of us. And when we pray to this Spirit for help, we are immediately filled with spiritual energies that enable us to become more compassionate and wiser.
The Psychology of Prayer
No matter what we believe, the intent of all prayer should be entirely spiritual. We are often tempted to ask for material things or profitable outcomes, but it is more advantageous and realistic to ask for intellectual, emotional, and spiritual help. Prayers for a new Mercedes or to conquer our enemies are not spiritual petitions. Prayers are best viewed as a way to change our mental attitudes. It’s not about getting our way, but instead it’s a technique for learning God’s way.
Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays.
– Soren Kierkegaard
We are motivated to pray because we are aware there is something greater than ourselves, something better to be achieved — and we are conscious of superior ideals and values, ones we would like to attain. In psychological terms, prayer is a mental technique for attaining these elevated ideals and for self-realizing divine concepts and values. It is a sincere attitude of mind that reaches upward (or inward) in an attempt to grasp the most advanced concepts of Deity.
In the highest sense, enlightened prayer is the psychological process of exchanging the human will for the divine will (the spirit way). It’s an exchange of fear for courage, hatred for love, envy for appreciation, and pessimism for optimism. It’s an effort to adjust and identify your personality with the true nature of spiritual reality.
Beliefs About Prayer
Notions about the power and intent of prayer have evolved over the millennia. In the earliest expressions of prayer, people believed they could bargain with God and, with enough pleading and sacrifice, eventually get what they wanted, whether it was more children, more rain, or a good harvest.
But more enlightened individuals, past and present, realize that God is not a merchant of the soul. Any attempt to barter is foolish and naive. God is perfect, replete, infinite, eternal, and changeless. He needs nothing from us, although he wants our love and our commitment to live the Spirit Way.
Likewise, it is useless to attempt to win favor with God or expect to put ourselves above others. As a divine parent, God loves each of us equally, just as the sun shines on all. A wise parent never shows favoritism to any of her children.
One outdated notion is the belief that we need to suffer in order to do penance and remove all sin. Not long ago, this included acts of self-flagellation, a bloody practice that still persists in some cultures. Another was to wear a hair shirt, or cilice, made of coarse animal hair and set next to bare skin so the wearer would suffer constant discomfort. In less severe practices, suffering by penance included such things as fasting, celibacy, and other forms of abstinence (see Is All Life Suffering?).
In many respects, these ideas are deeply embedded in Western culture. Notions of inherent sin, divine punishment, the need to suffer, harboring guilt, or feeling unworthy of success are manifestations of self-abasement that many have come to accept as a normal religious experience. But this is not God’s way. If we truly walk the path of the Divine Spirit, there is no need to feel guilt of any kind.
This is not to say that we should never feel a sense of repentance—a sincere expression of regret. But it is difficult to imagine a loving, merciful, Supreme Parent who would condone the self-injurious behavior of her children, regardless of past mistakes. There is no cruelty, anger, or vengeance in the domain of Spirit. God is love.
Beliefs about prayer have changed little over the millennia. Since the beginning of written history over 5,000 years ago, prayers have been formalized and ritualized. Priests and followers alike were taught to memorize prayers verbatim as well as magic chants, mantras, liturgies, or psalms, believing the constant repetition of standardized prayers would elicit favor from the gods.
Such beliefs stem from irrational notions about the power of the spoken word, a power believed to be embodied in magic spells and incantations. But we have to ask ourselves—is it likely that an eternal, infinite, all-wise, and all-loving God is some type of mischievous gremlin who refuses to do anything until he is satisfied we have uttered a magical formula in precisely the correct way?
Ritualistic observances, such as mechanically repeating the same prayer, do not make our prayers more powerful or appealing. It is very likely God heard us the first time. There is no reason to believe that an all-knowing Creator requires his children to incessantly repeat themselves.
If a man …merely utters the words that come to his lips because he has learned them by heart through constant repetition, I do not call that prayer at all.
– Teresa of Avila
Many of us resort to prayer in times of deep stress or trouble, but it is more helpful to share our lives with God when things are going well. In fact, giving sincere thanks and praying earnestly for spiritual benefits when things are going well, is an effective way to establish and strengthen our channels of spiritual communication. And then, when things do not go so well, we find ourselves much better prepared.
Genuine Prayer
When you chat with God, make it genuine, spontaneous, sincere, and personal. If you approach a good friend for a heart-to-heart talk, do you begin by reciting to them a monologue of drab verses over and over again? It’s more likely you would open your heart to talk about things that really matter to you, about life experiences you long to share and things you would like to achieve.
It’s also unrealistic to think that one prayer fits all. We all come from different times and different cultures, and we all have different life experiences. Each of us has unique needs and varying levels of spiritual comprehension. Our prayers, therefore, will always be unique, spontaneous, and personal.
Prayer is very much an individual matter, but it is more beneficial, productive, and powerful when it is:
- Unselfish – serving others as well as yourself.
- Believing – with unwavering conviction and faith.
- Sincere – being completely honest of heart.
- Intelligent – thoughtful, reasonable, and perceptive.
- Trustful – because God is good, loving, and trustworthy. (144:3.16 )
God and the angels want us to advance spiritually, and they give us all the spiritual tools necessary to achieve that end. We pray for the ability to identify divine values and to achieve spiritual maturity. We pray for spiritual strengths, such as perseverance, courage, tranquility, tolerance, and patience. And we pray for a greater appreciation of faith or spiritual insight. We can even ask for direction in our daily affairs.
But just as important as prayers for yourself, is asking God to help others, whether they are family, friends, or strangers. Praying for others is not only selfless and considerate, it also helps you—it changes you. It is good to pray for those who love you, but if you can do the same for those who despise you, you have made considerable progress.
Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who despitefully use you.
– Jesus of Nazareth
Cultivate unselfish prayer by learning to pray in the plural. The Lord’s Prayer is a good example of this: “give us this day our daily bread.” Try converting all your petitions to include others. Change “God, give me strength” to “God, give us strength.” This is a powerful technique and you will notice the difference.
Realistic Prayer
We can pray for greater wisdom, enhanced concepts of goodness, the appreciation of spiritual beauty, and further revelations of truth. All of this is given to us freely with no conditions attached—we only have to ask for it. But we also need to be realistic with our requests. All growth takes time, and it requires personal effort. We gain little wisdom by trying to bypass the necessary experiences.
If you plan to climb a mountain peak and your five-year-old child asks to go along, do you take her? Or do you prepare her mentally and physically so that when she comes of age, she can climb that peak herself? In God’s wisdom, we may not immediately receive what we ask for, but if it is a spiritual quality, we will receive it in time.
We cannot expect God to give us everything we want and then, if we don’t get it right away, stomp our feet and cry out that we don’t believe in him anymore. Genuine prayer is mature and sincere. It is spiritual in its intent and it is reasonable. Accordingly, the answers to our prayers appear in the context of spiritual realities and divine values.
It’s easy to get discouraged because we think nothing is happening. But our prayers will change us in meaningful and lasting ways over time, especially if we have faith and confidence in the promises of God. Prayers never fail to expand our capacity for receiving spiritual wisdom and spiritual energies. Be persistent but reasonable, and always have faith in the good wisdom of God.
Pray as though everything depended on God.
– Augustine of Hippo
Work as though everything depended on you.
Prayer is not an excuse for inaction, nor is it a means of avoiding the challenges and difficulties of life. It’s not an attempt to exempt ourselves from our responsibilities, duties, or the need to be industrious. But it is a means of dealing with all challenges in positive and effective ways. Prayer provides the mental and spiritual stamina we need to deal with contingencies, as well as the wisdom and insight required to achieve the best solutions (see Divine Problem Solving).
Benefits of Prayer
Genuine prayer is a potent, spiritual stimulus and an effective technique for spiritual enrichment. It improves our sense of cosmic consciousness, modifies our attitudes, and lifts our souls to greater heights of spiritual awareness.
God answers our prayers with love, giving us an increased revelation of truth, an enhanced appreciation of beauty, and an augmented concept of goodness. In this way, prayer leads us upward and onward to superhuman and progressive spiritual values.
The ideal prayer is a form of spiritual communion which leads to intelligent worship. 144:2.2
– The Urantia Book
By maintaining sincere, unbroken communion with God through sincere contemplation, prayer, and worship, we widen the spiritual channels along which the divine gifts of love, grace, and new life can flow into our hearts, minds, and souls.
