Teachings of Jesus - SOM

A Formula for Effective Prayer (Matt. 21:21-22)

THE THINGS WE NEED, WE ARE TO ASK FOR -  and WE ARE TO BELIEVE THAT WE RECEIVE THEM!  This plumbs the very depths of the metaphysical and psychological law of our being, and explains the possibility of an answer to our prayers.
     When we pray we are to believe that we have. We are surrounded by a universal law which is creative. It moves from the thought to the thing. Unless there is first an image, it cannot move, for there would be nothing for it to move toward. Prayer, which is a mental act, must accept its own answer as an image in mind, before the divine energies can play upon it and make it productive.
     As we plant a seed before we can reap a harvest, so we must believe before our prayers can be answered. Prayer should reach a point of acceptance, an unqualified and undisputed place of agreement. Let us take the mental images of our desires to the bosom of the Creative Life, and here make them known by impressing them upon It with positive belief. If we do this, our prayers will be answered.
     But let us remember that true prayer is always universal. There can be no good to us alone, only as that good is fro all. This does not mean that we are to refrain from asking what we desire, but that we should wish only for that which is good. For instance, it is good to have a home; it is right to ask for one, but it would not be right to ask for one belonging to another.
     If we wish to pray for a home, we should take the idea of a house with us into the silence and meditate upon its actual being. We should believe that we have and own a home, but we should leave the idea to fulfill itself, without any definite choosing of how, where, why, or when. In this way, we pray aright and when we so pray, we pray effectively.
     God wills us to have everything. As we express life, we fulfill God’s law of abundance, but we do this only as we realize that there is good enough to go around – only as we know that all of God’s gifts are given as freely and fully as the air and the  sunshine ….alike to all.
Science of Mind