Want to give prayer a try but don’t know where to begin?

Posted by Bob Hobbs Jr on November 5, 2007 8:46 PM PST

Recommend this? YES NO

When you pray, ask God for specifically what you need. If you need to learn to be patient, ask God for help. If you need strength, ask God for help. If you need courage, ask God for help. Then, don't be completely surprised when God responds in ways that can be difficult to see. If you pray for patience, look for God to put you in situations where your patience is tested. If you pray for strength, look for God to provide you with opportunities to be practice being strong. If you pray for courage, look for God to provide you with opportunities to be courageous.

So what do I do when my faith is tested or I feel as though my ship is about to sink? I pray. Why?…Why not? Life is tough so why go though it feeling alone? In my opinion, relying on a power greater than you to guide you along the way is the only way to go. No way am I strong enough or capable enough to succeed on my own. I need all the help I can get!

So try it!...What do you have to lose?

Add To:

If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to our newsletter and we'll keep you updated with fresh new content.

1 Comments

Praying is a universal practice, that seems to be used most commonly to ask for what we believe we need to make our lives better. But as Bob says, we are often given situations in which to practice being better people, rather than receiving relief from those trying and stressful times.

These circumstances are opportunities to learn and grow, and are therefore of great value, because we will probably do something different the next time we are faced with a similar problem.

Interestingly, Yogananda prefers the term "demand" rather than "prayer." He explains in his book, Journey to Self-Realization:

"I prefer the word "demand" to "prayer," because the former is devoid of the primitive and medieval conception of a kingly tyrant-God who we, as beggars, have to supplicate and flatter....The best way lies neither in begging for favors or for amnesty from evil results, nor in being resigned and sitting idle, inviting the law of action to take its course....Every begging prayer, no matter how sincere, limits the soul. As (children) of God, we must believe the we HAVE everything (that God) has. This is our birthright....We do not have to beg, but to RECLAIM and DEMAND from (God) that which we, through our human imagination thought to be lost....It is only when the slumbering ego perceives itself not as a body, but as a free soul or (child) of God, residing in and working through the body, that it can rightfully and lawfully demand its divine rights."

"Repeating a (prayer demand)...with deepening attention and devotion spiritualizes the prayer, and changes conscious, believing repetition into superconscious experience...Feel that just behind the screen of your devotional demand God is listening to the silent words of your soul. Feel this! Be ONE with your heart's demand - and be thoroughly convinced the (God) has listened to you. Then go about your duties, seeking not to know whether God will grant your demand. Believe absolutely that your demand has been heard, and that you will know that what is God's is yours also."

I've found that when I remove the "begging" feeling and make the prayer demand in a sincere and loving way, then I am more at peace. I can let go of the fear, or hope, or attachment, just do my very best to change the situation, and let God/the Universal Energy do the rest. Then I am happy with whatever the outcome turns out to be, because I know that I received what my soul NEEDED, rather than what my ego wanted.