12 forms of prayer - How many more can you find? - Michelle Boccanfuso Nanouche, CSB Christian Science Practitioner & Teacher

8/10/2012

12 forms of prayer - How many more can you find?

I love reading the chapter “Prayer” in Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. True to its title, prayer is described in its many forms, including, but not limited to:

fervent desire - “Desire is prayer”
petition - “We can do more for ourselves by humble fervent petitions”
affirmation - “God is the same ‘yesterday, today and forever’”
gratitude - “Put the finger on the lips and remember our blessings”
expression of patience, meekness, love, good deeds (This count as four)
stuggle to be good - “The habitual struggle to be always good is unceasing prayer”
longing, watching, and striving - “will mould and fashion us anew, until we awake in His likeness.” (That is three)

This adds up to 12 forms of prayer, and that is only looking at the first four pages. There are loads more. You might try reading the chapter to find how many more you can find. Read “Prayer” online.

Nancy

8/10/2012 10:05:21 pm

I loved this quick summary, thank you! It got me to thinking about how this chapter of Prayer also has a giant list of "How NOT to Pray" points too. I went through the chapter a paragraph at a time.

Brace yourself, here's the list...

Stop thinking that there can be any loss if you pray and trust God.
Stop putting off checking your true motives for prayer.
Stop thinking that prayer can change the Science of being.
Stop whining and pleading – this just postpones growth and brings no results.
Stop thinking that the more you drone on with spiritual words (lip service) that somehow this brings more connection to God – in fact, it’s the opposite. It makes us latently think of God as more like a person – “an error which impedes spiritual growth”.
So, stop believing God is a person!
Stop with the vain repetition for “God to be God”.
Stop thinking that you can help God do better work if you remind Him of “His province.”
Stop thinking that His work is not done -- and you can help Him.
Stop thinking He needs to change and fix things.
Stop sleeping and wake up.
Stop sitting around just staring at the blackboard and pick up the spiritual chalk and get going. The answer is there, it is scientifically perfect. Apply Truth’s solutions, don’t look at the mistake. God’s rule is established.
Stop thinking that God does not reflect Himself. He does and it’s you, and you are “altogether lovely”. But, to understand this, it really helps to…
Stop putting off the demands to be devoted completely – in thought, energy and desire.
Stop trying to feed infinite Mind information.
Stop pleading. Be grateful. Be actively expressing gratitude.
Stop with the fake, insincere “thank you God” stuff when you are really ungrateful and immediately “put your finger to your lips” and replace such thoughts with remembering your blessings.
Stop “outward worship” of Jesus and his work. Stop avoiding following the Master in the only way there is – keep his commandments and follow his example.
Stop the seesaw -- “on” and “off” with being good. Make it a habit to always be good.
Stop fake and showy prayers – who cares anyway?
Stop being superstitious.
Stop letting your spiritual growth be hindered, by stopping the worship of matter.
Stop being merely “sorry” for all past mistakes and really do something about it -- examine, listen, be sincere and honest – what is reformation realized? Stop thinking that undestroyed sin might just be okay.
Stop being an ingrate.
Stop fooling yourself that you can use prayer as a cancellation for sin. You can run for a little while, but you can’t hide. Love loves you too much to settle for this useless tactic.
Stop asking for God to more than He already is. Isn’t Love filling all space enough?
Stop using prayer as a “safety valve” for screwing up.
Stop thinking that God is nice -- or mean -- according to how much you do or don’t pray.
Stop with the “dangerous” form of prayer - all the impressive audible words. Talking the talk might seem fine…”But does it produce any lasting benefit?” Check those motives! Stop loving the back-patting, or “encouraging Christian sentiment.” This ranks God’s children. Stop the hypocrisy.
Stop any of these types of prayer: emotional, ecstatic, physical, or “a self-satisfied ventilation of fervent sentiments”.
Stop thinking that we can influence God.
Stop thinking that God hears us with “ears”. He already knows everything, hears all, and is doing all. He always knows our needs and meets our needs. He does the talking, we do the listening.
Stop pretending that a long and wordy treatment or prayer is enough to get the job done. An “honest heart” is enough.
Stop appearances – stop deceiving, fooling yourself or others. If there are cobwebs that need to come down, be willing. Character reformation is key, laying out our hearts. God accepts the sincere “aspiration, humility, gratitude, which our words express.” Live it.
Stop avoiding self-examination. Learn the purpose of the heart.
Stop being defensive if a friend (the friend in yourself or anyone else) points out how you can do better. It’s okay – it’s divine Mind’s way of uncovering dark things so you can see light, be the light that you already are.
Stop shoving off the fact that there’s a cross to be taken up. But, there’s fruit to be had!
Stop practicing unreality “impractical religion” and exchange it for “practical religion” (marginal heading) reality. Recognize human will has no place, material sense has no place. Surrender all material sensation and affection and worship. Love

Michelle Nanouche

8/11/2012 12:04:26 am

Love it, Nancy!

Nancy

8/10/2012 10:11:24 pm

Wow, the list of How NOT to pray was so long, I had to do this in two parts! Sorry. Here's the continuation...

Stop practicing unreality “impractical religion” and exchange it for “practical religion” (marginal heading) reality. Recognize human will has no place, material sense has no place. Surrender all material sensation and affection and worship. Love God with all your heart, with all your sense of things, with all your mind can think about Him. This is the Science of Life, reality. Allow Soul to be your master.
Stop, don’t bother with the long and meaningless prayers and call yourself Christian, if you have no intention of really cleansing your heart and following the Christ.
Stop kidding yourself if you think that you can make real progress or truly reflect the Christ’s nature without: striving. Along with complete lamb-like willingness, obedience, lot’s of patient waiting and maybe some bleeding footsteps.
Stop asking amiss. Divine Love says all sin has gotta go. Sin is not forgiven, it is destroyed. Destroyed sin is no sin. “Truth bestows no pardon upon error, but wipes it out in the most effectual manner.”
Stop “requesting” God’s help, stop faith healing, and stop blind faith. Science or Truth does not act through blind belief to heal.
Stop the notion that the more human understanding you have, the better you will heal. Like Jesus, it is “conscientious protests of Truth – of man’s likeness to God and of man’s unity with Truth and Love”, that bring enlightenment, clarity.
Stop “working” the belief, the human mind, the science, and let the Science, “work” you.
Once again…stop praying to God as though he was a corporeal Person! This does three things: 1. It prevents you from squishing doubts and fears and 2. It prevents you from seeing the amazing “wonders wrought by the infinite” and 3. It makes you think of yourself as a physical person, -- it keeps you stupid, unable to recognize “the world of Truth”, it keeps you “blind to the reality of man’s existence.” Thinking of God as a person keeps you in the world of sensation and “the world of sensation is not cognizant of life in Soul.”
Stop the dualism! Stop serving two masters. Spirit or matter – choose one and choose wisely.
Stop mixing, stop distractions. Get yourself into the closet – the sanctuary of Spirit – and once in, shut the door. Once in, shut the lips and silence materialism -- which is obviously important, because Mrs. Eddy repeats this in consecutive paragraphs. Once in the closet, the only thing left is to be the in the “audience of Truth.” Thus, all error is destroyed.
Stop professing and start practicing. Stop simply believing and gain understanding.
Stop clinging to material things and let them go, which is the only way to achieve “this advanced spiritual understanding.”
Stop hesitating and pausing at merely faith – keep moving, keep going to the highest level of prayer – demonstration.

Michelle Nanouche

8/11/2012 12:09:28 am

So grateful you did the work and shared it with us!

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