Category Archives: Prayer
Power of Prayer
By Mohamed Malik
Power of Prayer
Dale Salwak, Editor
ISBN 1-56731-445-7
Excerpts from this book about prayer:
(1) Introduction by Neale Donald Walsch;
“Your Life is a Prayer’. Prayer is the most important part of the human experience. It is the most important part of our daily activities. The reason it is the most important part of our experience is because it is the process by which we create our lives. It should be understood by anyone examining the subject of prayer that everything we think, see, or do is a prayer. Life is a prayer in the sense that it is a continuous request to the universe and its God to present us with what we choose and desire.”
“(Oftentimes) we pray for one thing and we go out and think or do another. So 95 percent of the time we send prayers that affirm our insufficiency that we don’t have enough and 5 percent of the time we ask God to bring us something. This is the single most misunderstood aspect of prayer in our human experience. The truth is that the universe is a giant Xerox, sending us, all the time, the answer to our prayers. Only for those who understand the great gift that God has given us—the gift of our ability to create what we want—does this prayer seem inviting.”
“When we become consciously aware of this, and when we accept this truth with joy, our entire lives change—sometimes virtually overnight and other times more slowly and subtly. The most extraordinary prayer I have ever heard is one sentence I find myself saying continually throughout my life: ”Thank you God for helping me to understand that this problem has already been solved for me.”
The book is divided into 5 sections:
One: The Essence of Prayer
On Prayer—Mother Theresa
Is Anyone Listening?—Alan Mermann
Ladders to God—Marianne Williamson
God is Prayer—Maurice Friedman
The Kingdom of Heaven Lies Within—Albert Low
Two: The Gift of Prayer
The Paradox of Prayer—Henri J.M.Nouwen
Say Yes to God’s Gift of Prayer—Dale Evans Rogers
The Glass Case—Francis Bachelder
What Should I Do with My Light—Drew Leder
God’s Continuing Gift—Shuma Chakravarty
Three: Connecting with God
The Origins of Prayer in Children—Mark Banschick
Prayer and Life—Samuel Miller
Guaranteed to Succeed—Charles Spurgeon
Prayer Starts with God—Lloyd John Ogilvie
An Answered Prayer—Anthony Stern, M.D.
Fleeing or Following Jesus to the Cross—Leo O’Donovan, S.J.
Four: A Path to Understanding
A lesson in Prayer—Sue Bender
Praying for Power—Stella Terrill Mann
Authentic Prayer—Avery Dulles, S.J.
The Power of Prayer—Brooke Medicine Eagle
Prayer in Zen—Lou Nordstrom
The Common Ground of Healing—Paul Fleischman, M.D.
Five: “Lord, Teach Us to Pray”
Effective Prayer—Billy Graham
Picture Prayer—Jeffrey Burton Russell
Pray Without Ceasing—Jimmy Carter
Praying the Scriptures—Dallas Willard
Praying for Real: Hasidic Teachings—Yitzhak Buxbaum
The Family and Prayer—Hazen Werner
In the back of the book, each contributor is highlighted with a short biography.
Other books by Dale Salwak are The Wonders of Solitude, The Words of Christ, and The Wisdom of Judaism.
An excerpt from Lloyd John Ogilvie:
“Simply stated, the truth is this: prayer starts with God. It is His idea. Our desire to pray is the result of God’s greater desire to talk with us. He has something to say when we feel the urge to pray. He is the initiator. Out keen desire to begin and end the day with prolonged prayer is His gift. When we feel a need to pray for challenges or opportunities throughout the day, it is because He has wisdom and insight He wants to impart. When we face crises and suddenly feel the urge to pray for strength, that feeling is a response to the Lord’s invasion of our minds, which triggers the thought of needing help that is then congealed into our desire to pray. He, not us, is the author of our longing for His help.”
About Prayer
rduta
‘If the world stands bewildered and confused in the face of its trouble, it is partly because we Westerners have made a God of activity; we have yet to learn how to be, as we have already learnt how to do.” Paul Brunton
I had always heard that you can’t take it with you. But at the age of 40, I decided that I could take it with me. The material things I have will be left on this earth at my passing. But the thing I can take with me–my soul–I can practice every day.
Some of the spiritual practices that I use are prayer, creative visualization, guided imagery, contemplation of passages, meditation, and affirmations.
I believe that generally prayer is talking to God and meditation is listening to God.
1) The prayer I’ve used daily or used a part of it depending on what the situation has been “The Serenity Prayer”.
“God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.”
Used by Alcoholics Anonymous and written by Reinhold Niebuhr
2) “Pray Without Ceasing” by Thomas Merton helped me 30 years ago to know that I can pray anywhere and anytime and it all helps me to be more surrendered and to be in a peaceful place.
“When I am liberated by silence,
when I am no longer involved
in the measurement of life, but in the living of it,
I can discover a form of prayer in which
there is effectively no distraction.
My whole life becomes a prayer.
My whole silence is full of prayer.
The world of silence in which I am immersed
contributes to my prayer.”
3) “Change My Heart” by St. Francis of Assisi:
“Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”
4) “Letting Go” by Acaan Chan
“Do everything with a mind that lets go.
Do not expect any praise or reward.
If you let go a little, you will have a little peace.
If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace.
If you let go completely, you will know complete peace and freedom.
Your struggles with the world
will have come to an end.”
5) John Wesley’s “Covenant Prayer”:
“I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; Put me to doing; put me to suffering; Let me be employed for you or laid aside for you, Exalted for you, or brought low for you; Let me be full, let me be empty; Let me have all things, let me have nothing; I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, You are mine and I am yours. So be it.
And the covenant made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.”
Two short prayers:
6) Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me!
Prayer of Jesus – 4th century ±
7) Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief.
Bible – Mark 9:24
Finally, the prayer I use when all else fails is also by Thomas Merton:
8) “MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”
Prayer is Two-Way Communication
Wonderlane
When I have trouble “hearing” God’s direction, a prayer of Thomas Merton (one of my pilgrims) always helps:
“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”
Although I’ve read several books about praying techniques, I rarely have found a book as good as How to Pray for Healing. Some of the chapters include helping people stuck in difficult situations, how to get more power in prayer, how to get practice, and what to do when you’re healed. The book is available here from the author, Mark Dahle.
Some of the Dahle’s suggestions are: (1) pray at every opportunity, (2) ask for permission to touch people’s heads or shoulders ( I prefer to rub the upper middle back as this is a place where tension may be), (3) focus on God before you begin, (4) be open to intuitions from God, (5) watch for visual cues, (6) speak directly to the condition and tell it what to do, (7) have confidence even if nothing seems to happen, and (8) practice the steps that feel uncomfortable—you’ll improve.
A study guide for Christian prayer that was written to supplement Prayer for Dummies is here. This study guide is a 29 page Free PDF. It includes definition of prayer, the relationship, 24/7 prayer, dissecting your prayers, prayer techniques, roadblocks, praying with others, bookends to prayer, lost prayers, hearing God, healing prayer, and praying in tongues.
Amazon has a book description here for Prayer Power: A Program to Unlock Your Spiritual Strength.
Paths to Prayer: Finding Your Way to the Presence of God.
Prayer-10th Anniversary Edition: Finding the Heart’s True Home.
When God Doesn’t Answer Your Prayer: Insights to Keep You Praying with Greater Faith and Deeper Hope.
