A question on prayer

I was recently asked: "How can I separate matter from spirit when I pray?"  My response for today would be -

If you are asking how to lose sight of the problem in order to see the spiritual reality - health and harmony - when you pray, you can ask yourself: What is the subject of my prayer? Is it to know God better as Life, Truth and Love? Or, am I simply trying to escape a problem?

How often do we say, 'God, I have this situation here..." And then off we go into a torrent of questioning and pleading with God that is centered on the problem. Healing prayer - or perhaps I should say the prayer that results in better health - involves a spiritual understanding of God, an inspired look at God, that sheds spiritual light on any situation. It isn't that God comes to our problems, or even needs to know our problems, in order to heal them. The sun doesn't "know" the need of the plant in order to meet it. The sun shines and as plants are exposed to the light - turn towards the light - their needs are met. God is always the subject of healing prayer...                                       

---

To concentrate on a problem while praying tends to keep fear front and center. Fear creates a sense of separation from God's goodness and makes problems seem substantial, powerful and real. But an understanding of God has the power to completely transform human experience.

When a problem, or what you are seeing, distracts you - if you are dealing with a chronic illness or a longstanding character fault, for example - you may have the impression that matter is in control of your life or body, and that the need is to cut the problem out of your life. It is essential to know that matter, with all its vulnerabilities and limitations is never mixed up with or linked to Spirit, God - who is our only real substance. Prayer can't really "separate" matter from spirit. A prayer based on an understanding of God, or divine Love, as the substance of real life, sheds light on any situation.  And spiritual light can only reveal what is true and permanent about God and Her creation - that matter doesn't confine, control, or even touch what is real and permanent in us, and that health and harmony are the normal conditions for man.

Your prayer can deny matter, fear, or limitation as having any influence or power or presence in your life. This doesn't involve closing your eyes to what is real, but rather opening them to what is spiritual and solid and unchanging. It is a reality shift that produces the necessary physical, mental, emotional and moral changes.

Devote all your attention and interest to seeing what God, universal Good, is and says and does. This higher view of what constitutes God will show you more of what is real and solid in you. You won't be distracted by the foibles or failures involved in a material sense of things.

You will discover Spirit, and yourself as spiritual. Herein lies the healing.

The links in the post all lead to a deeper exploration of the concepts under discussion. You may also like to read a transcript of my chat on spirituality.com entitled "Why believe in God?" that takes the discussion even further and answers several pertinent questions relating to healing prayer.

You may also wish to go to:

• WEBSITE HOME PAGE
• TOP OF MOST RECENT BLOG POSTING
• FIND THE LINKS TO MY OTHER PUBLISHED CONTENT
  
• LIRE CE BLOG EN FRANCAIS