Prayer 101

So what makes prayer practical?  How does prayer work?  What is prayer, anyway?

These are deep questions that will take in-depth study, but let's see if we can provide a few ideas to start in the right direction.

It is all too frequently thought that the purpose of prayer is to ask God to do something.  However, God is all-knowing!  Our Divine Parent already knows our needs before we ask.  It would be rather presumptuous on our part to tell God something that He already knows.

Rather, prayer is best expressed by listening to God.  Jesus recommend to his followers that they enter into their closet to pray:

"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."  --Matthew 6:6

In her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy expounds on Jesus' statement:

"In order to pray aright, we must enter into the closet and shut the door. We must close the lips and silence the material senses." --p.14

The closet represents a quiet sanctuary where one can be silent and listen to God's message to us.  Prayer brings us closer to God.  It makes us aware of our true, spiritual, identities as sons and daughters of God, and helps us realize our inseparable connection with God, Good.  And as we grow in our understanding of this realization--that God is an infinite source of good, that we cannot be separated from God--we will see this good manifested in our daily lives.

2000 years ago, Christ Jesus demonstrated the power of prayer to restore lives, heal the infirm, supply food in the wilderness, and even overcome death.  Not in one or two instances, but time and again during the course of his ministry on earth.  Jesus' life certainly shows us the practicality of prayer.

Once again, this is just the beginning.  For further study, we recommend reading Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy.  The first chapter is entitled "Prayer", so you can see why this book is a good place to start digging deeper. Not only does this book explain prayer, it unlocks the spiritual truths in the Bible, including man's place in the universe and his relation to God.  Science and Health is available at most bookstores and libraries, at any Christian Science Reading Room, or you may read or purchase it online at spirituality.com.