Why Prayer Has Power

[Guest guest]

Why Prayer Has Power

 

Adapted from Peace to All Beings, by Judy Carman (Lantern Books, 2003).

Most men (sic) consider the course of events as natural and inevitable. They little know what radical changes are possible through prayer.--Paramahansa Yogananda

SIMPLE SOLUTION: Prayer or positive thought is an essential ingredient in all our efforts for a better world, and for our own inner peace. Find out why positive thought and prayer are so powerful as agents of deep and lasting change. Whether our focus is legislation, vigils, demonstrations, education, rescue work, or other service, positive thought adds energy, faith, momentum, and fire to the work. But this is not its only function. A far more important purpose of positive thought is that it deals directly with the deep and ultimate cause of the world's ills. That cause is the fear that drives humanity's greed and lust for power. Prayer, positive thought, and spiritual vision take direct aim at that fear. They have the power, scientifically applied and couple with action, to change the world. Out thoughts are not confined or limited to our physical brains. When we pray, our prayers do not rattle around inside our heads. They operate outside the boundaries of space, time, and our bodies. They become part of the infinite Love that is present for all. The new paradigm with regard to prayer and thought is, as Wayne Dyer named his book, "You'll see it when you believe it." Spiritual teachers have known this for centuries. Now their wisdom is becoming our wisdom. First we know it and believe it. Then it manifests and we see it. Gandhi's belief in the power of prayer was absolutely granite-solid. He called prayer an act more real than acts of eating or dinking. "It is no exaggeration to say that they (prayer, worship, and supplication) alone are real, all else is unreal." Without prayer, said Gandhi, "there is no inward peace." Paramahansa Yogananda, a twentieth-century spiritual teacher, likens our minds to radios. When we free our minds from distractions, which he says are like static to a radio, we can send out powerful thoughts and waves of love. Imagine the impact millions of us would have if we tuned our radios to God energy and sent clear images and prayers of beauty, serenity and love to all the animals and people of the earth. As fears dissipate and tensions subside, love comes rushing in. When authentic love rushes in, a sense of connectedness to all life comes trailing in behind it like long tail feathers. It may be tenuous at first, but if we keep sending and the collective unconscious keeps receiving, we will be astounded at the results.