Unceasing Prayer

By Duncan Sinclair from the October 1923 issue of The Christian Science Journal

Prayer is the means whereby men commune with God and receive His answer. It is instinctive with men to pray. Feeling their own insufficiency and weakness in the face of life's difficulties, and the need of divine guidance, they turn to Him whom they acknowledge to be their creator, desiring Him to help them and to bless them. Everywhere men pray. They have at all times prayed, even when their gods were idols, because prayer is the cry of human helplessness. Inadequate, immature, weak as it is when God is unknown or but feebly defined, still its effect is always salutary on him who prays; and it always tends to reduce the sum total of materiality.

If one studies the Bible, it becomes clear that men have prayed more consistently and most efficaciously as their understanding of and faith in God have increased. "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord," and "Noah walked with God," and he and his household were saved when "every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground." Throughout his life faithful Abraham communed with God, ultimately receiving the promise, "I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore." Jacob's experience at Peniel, when "there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day," was the result of his desire, his prayer for God's help to enable him to meet Esau, whom he feared. The outcome of the mental struggle was Jacob's victory over fear. Thereafter, he was called Israel, "for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." Purified and exalted, he met Esau in love. Similarly, "the Lord was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy," finally making him ruler of Egypt. It was Moses' constant communion with God, likewise, that enabled him to deliver the children of Israel from the slavery of Egypt, and to give to the world the Ten Commandments, without obedience to which in some degree mankind would cease to exist. Without prayer there would have been neither prophet nor prophecy, neither miracle of healing nor the saving of nation or individual, during the long period preceding the appearing of the Messiah.

Prayer was the very breath of life to Christ Jesus. It revealed divine Truth to him; it sustained him in his duties; it enabled him to heal sickness and sin of all kinds; it gave him power over every form of matter and over every material phenomenon. It was through unceasing prayer that he was enabled to raise the dead, and ultimately to destroy the belief in "the last enemy" in his own case. Jesus' power was all derived from prayer. He acknowledged the fact, and instructed others how to pray, teaching them what is known as the Lord's Prayer,—the prayer which, spiritually interpreted, covers every human need. It will be remembered that after the disciples had failed to heal a lunatic boy, brought to them by his father, they, the disciples, asked the Master the reason for their failure. He replied, "This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." Greater self-abnegation was required; thought must become more spiritual, less material,—then their prayer would meet the case.

The lessons of Jesus remained with the apostles. Everyone of them knew the value of prayer. Without it they would have been helpless in following in the footsteps of their great Teacher, James in his epistle writes with assurance that "the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up;" and, also, that "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." And Paul, writing from Athens to the church of the Thessalonians, advises them to "pray without ceasing." "Pray is the Christian's vital breath." He who does not pray is Christian only in name.

The Christian Scientist is endeavoring to pray without ceasing. In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 12) Mrs. Eddy writes, "In divine Science, where prayers are mental, all may avail themselves of God as 'a very present help in trouble.'" Then she gives the reason for God's helpfulness: "Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals. It is the open fount which cries, 'Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.'" Thus, everyone may pray. And everyone should pray. To begin with, prayer may be but humble desire, humbly expressed. It will have its reward, none the less. Let the supplicant continue to study divine Science, obtaining an ever increasing knowledge of God as Love, and Life, and Truth, as the divine Principle, good, and his prayers will gradually become more and more the affirmations of truth. He will soon come to understand the meaning of Mrs. Eddy's words (Science and Health, p. 2): "Prayer cannot change the Science of being, but it tends to bring us into harmony with it. Goodness attains the demonstration of Truth."

One of the most wonderful truths Christian Science reveals is the unchangeable nature of God, as Love. God is Love; and His entire creation is the reflection of Love; therefore, it is lovable and lovely. If mankind realized these spiritual truths with sufficient clearness, it would cease from sorrow, from sin, from all suffering. What can hasten the bringing of this about? Prayer, and prayer alone. Listen to our revered Leader's words in "No and Yes" (p. 39): "True prayer is not asking God for love; it is learning to love, and to include all mankind in one affection. Prayer is the utilization of the love wherewith He loves us." Think of it! Prayer is actually "the utilization of the love wherewith He loves us"! Hence, prayer can never harm another: reflected Love always blesses, always heals. Should not the very foundation of our prayers, then, be the understanding of God as Love? Whether they be those of humble desire or of more advanced spiritual understanding, they will then be a vitalizing agency; for Love is Life. To understand divine Truth is prayer. To live in accordance with the Life that is divine is prayer. To love by reflecting divine Love is prayer. The Christian Scientist whose prayer is the fervent desire to reflect God cannot possibly fail to receive God's blessing upon himself and upon his work, humbly and scientifically done, for others.

END.

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