Prayer is the Most Powerful Form- Daily Meditation 9.20.23

Today’s quotation:

Prayer is the most powerful form of energy one can generate. The influence of prayer on the human mind and body is as demonstrable as that of the secreting glands.  Prayer is a force as real as terrestrial gravity.  It supplies us with a flow of sustaining power in our daily lives.-Alexis Carrel

Today’s Meditation:

I fully believe in the strength of prayer, though I don’t believe that the positive results of worship are limited to the members of any particular faith or creed.  The power of prayer comes from our desire to change things, to make things better, to persevere through problems, and to make our way through life, growing wiser, kinder, and more compassionate as we go.  The decision to pray is a decision to make ourselves better people and to put into motion the thoughts and emotions that will help us to become such.

When I pray, I grow in clarity, and I feel stronger as a result of having prayed.  Prayer helps me to sort through things and see what is essential.  When I was younger, I thought prayer was about asking for something and waiting until it miraculously appeared.  They didn’t seem very often, though, and since then, I’ve learned that prayer is more about sorting through the trash and realizing what’s best in a given situation rather than simply asking for what I want.

Prayer is strong.  When I pray for someone else’s benefit, I’m setting into motion my powers to aid, and I truly believe that others know we’re praying for them whether we tell them so or not–and the fact that someone else is praying for us shows us that someone else cares, which is a huge help in itself.  Prayer isn’t about making others what we think they should be–it’s asking for the best for the other person, and when we do that, we’re creating power.  Of course, prayer doesn’t always come true, but that means that the other person isn’t ready to change or that what we’re asking for is too specific and isn’t really for the best (no matter how much we may believe the contrary).

I’m guilty of not praying enough.  I want to be a person who prays for others, mainly to keep them in mind and to use some of the energy I have to focus on them and the possible positive outcomes in their lives.  That said, though, I also know that prayer isn’t necessarily getting down on our knees and praying to God to do something–a positive thought or three while we’re taking a walk, focused on the good in others, is just as much a prayer as anything else.

Questions to consider:

Why is it so easy to forget to pray for others?  For ourselves?

How do we believe prayer is about asking for certain things to happen?

What kinds of power do you see coming from prayer?

For further thought:

Prayer isn’t strictly a mental activity any more than it’s strictly an emotional activity.  It’s an experience of the whole being.-Sue Monk Kidd
When the Heart Waits

If you missed our last Daily Meditation, it is here.