The Purpose of Prayer

From a very early age, most of us have been encouraged in school and, in some cases also at home, to pray. This has traditionally had a religious origin and many people continue the practice into adulthood. But there are those who have perhaps lapsed as church-going members of their religion, as well as those whose upbringing did not include regular church attendance, who still pray. This article is for everyone, whether you pray or not.

As children, we were told that we must pray for forgiveness for our ‘sins’, for those who we feel have done us some wrong, for the return to good health of the sick, for our food, and many more issues in our lives.

The definition of ‘prayer’

In the dictionary, the definition of prayer uses words like ‘desires’, ‘ask earnestly’, ‘supplication’, ‘beg’ and ‘entreat’. A prayer is primarily a request for something. At the same time, we are encouraged to give our thanks for what we already have. But the requests are usually made many times if we really want something, with perhaps a little less emphasis on gratitude. So this has been the traditional way of praying to the spiritual force that we believe to be more powerful than ourselves and to which we give many names. For the purposes of this article, this power will be called the Source.

Wishes and desires

Those of us who are parents are aware of how our children keep nagging us when they want something badly – they keep asking and asking until they finally get what they want or we get very annoyed and tell them that, unless they stop asking, they will never get the object of their desire.

This is how it must be for the Source when we keep asking for the same things over and over again, and when we wait, sometimes patiently but sometimes not, for these things to manifest in our lives. If our desires are not for our highest good, this great loving force is unlikely to fulfil our wishes; we cannot know what is ultimately in our best interests because we cannot see into the future. So we may be begging for something that is never going to appear in our lives.

How often have we wished for something to happen and it has all worked out completely differently for us – and in a much better way that has led us on to better circumstances in our lives, even though it meant that we had to experience some hardships along the way? Ultimately, the alternative to what we desired was, in fact, in our best interests. We never have the complete picture of our life circumstances because we are right in the middle of living our lives.

A different way of praying

Perhaps we should never ask for anything in our lives and perhaps we should give up praying in the formal sense. How much better it might be if we were to confide in the Source as a mentor rather than as a sort of ‘spiritual genie’ who brings us what we desire if we pray in the correct way. Having an ongoing mentoring relationship with the Source means that we can talk about what it would be nice to have in our lives and the reasons for that, but accepting that this may not be the best course for us. In this way, we have an opportunity to crystallise our thoughts and ideas by ‘discussion’ and we allow the Source into our lives so that what is right for us may be facilitated.

Of course, whether you pray to or you have a mentoring relationship with the Source, the essential element is always to take action towards obtaining our desires. The old saying, ‘The Lord helps those who help themselves’ is very appropriate here. While we take action, the Source can nudge us in the right direction if we listen to our intuition – which is effectively the Source giving us feedback.

When healers ask for the healing energies to be channelled through them, they simply ask for whatever healing is for the patient’s highest good. There is no judgement as to what this should be because we have no idea what is needed; in most cases we have never met the patient before.

Gratitude

If we viewed the primary purpose of prayer as that of gratitude for everything that is brought into our lives – good and not so good – perhaps our relationship with the Source would give us much greater satisfaction. Everything that happens in our lives is there to help us learn the same unconditional love that the Source demonstrates. It would also give us the opportunity of using the gift that we, as human souls, are privileged above all other creatures to have – free will. Free will, used intuitively, is a wonderful way to manifest much to be grateful for.

People often ask why terrible things are allowed to happen in the world and many of these claim to have no faith in a force greater than ourselves for that reason. Because we have free will, we create the terrible situations that arise within our relationships – between souls and with the environment. There is no evil as a separate entity; it is within us and created by us. The Source does not punish us for our destructive thoughts and actions. We are here to experiment and learn – the Source simply gives us unconditional love so that we can learn from this wonderful example, which is another reason for gratitude.

Prayer used primarily to express gratitude and in a secondary sense to establish a mentoring relationship with the Source can be very liberating – if we choose to allow it!

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