Prayer

Prayer is an integral part of all religions, including Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and traditional religions all over the world. Praying is a universal practice which goes back to the origins of humankind and the dawn of time. A majority of the world’s inhabitants pray everyday, both in civilized and uncivilized societies. Praying is a universal practice which goes back to the origins of humankind and the dawn of time. Prayer is the supreme expression of faith and hope in the Almighty; it is a private and loving communication between an individual human being and God. It is an active effort to communicate with God either to offer praise, to make a request, to seek guidance, or simply to express one's thoughts and emotions. People who pray must invoke God in their hearts. Effective prayer consists of putting all of one’s effort in every word used because the secret of the power of prayer resides in the ability to articulate each word with deep emotion, conviction, and full concentration. Righteousness has the power to attract additional divine influx into your body and into the world, establish the royalty of God’s kingdom on earth, and rebuild the divine sanctuary in every human heart. You should endeavor to pray until the thought of God has so much spirit in it that you don’t have any other thought other than that of the Lord; until the mind is so full of God that there is no room for thinking about anything else in creation but awesomeness of God. When practiced with sincerity, devotion, and conviction, prayer can lead to always express Divine Love and Divine Power in the world. What did Jesus Christ teach us about prayer? “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men, I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep babbling like pagans, because they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6: 5-8). Here, Jesus stresses that prayer is a private communication with God. The true essence of prayer is not to gain public approval but to communicate intimately with God. Although there is a place for public prayer, you should focus on God when praying because He is your real audience. Jesus prayed both privately and publicly. When praying, you should make sure that you surely mean what you are saying. Jesus encouraged honest and persistent prayer offered with a sincere heart. He condemns self-righteous hypocritical prayer offered in public for others to notice, as well as shallow repetition of words that are not heartfelt. The bottom line is that you must focus all attention on God while praying and express your faith and trust in Him, thank Him for all the blessings you have received, praise Him for His steadfast love and mighty power, worship and adore Him, and last but not the least, make sincere requests for your needs and the need of others.