New Thought Archives

Chapter 9
PRAYER

Charles Fillmore
Dynamics For Living

IT IS unthinkable that the Creator should cause to exist a creation so inferior to Himself as to remove it beyond the pale of fellowship with Him. In his wise moments man knows that this is not logical or true. It is man’s exalted concepts of God and his disparaging beliefs about himself that have built the mental wall that separates them.

Thus man must understand the nature of God and awaken in himself that divine nature through which to effect his conscious union with Him. God is Spirit. We are the offspring of this Spirit. God is Mind: man is the thinker. God is Life: man is the living. God is Substance: man is form and shape. God is Power: man is powerful. God is Wisdom: man is wise. God is Love: man is loving. God is Truth: man is truthful.

God-Mind is a treasure field of all potentialities within man in which is found the fulfillment of every need one can possibly have. What we need to know above all is that there is this place within our soul where we can consciously meet God and receive a flood of new life into not only our mind but also our body. With a right understanding of man’s relation to his potentialities his soul grows with infinite capacity.

Intimate Spirit

The intimate connecting spirit that unites man and his source is the divine Logos. It is in the highest sense an innate spiritual umbilical cord that connects us with the Holy Mother from whom we can receive a perpetual flow of life. Because of this man instinctively feels and knows from whence his help comes. In the divine Logos is the living impetus that vitalizes the soul of man and enables him to develop his latent powers.

Soul Urge

The highest avenue through which God can express Himself is man. All growth and unfoldment from atom to sun is based upon the law of soul urge. The hungering for God that is felt by man in his soul is really God hungering to express through man. The Spirit of God in man is constantly working, yes, steadily and persistently working, to transmute every natural impulse of mind and soul into a spiritual realization of life. God is always seeking to awaken man’s whole soul to His mighty presence. He is working to satisfy man’s inner craving with living substance and intelligence, thus expanding and rounding his soul and body consciousness, offering him opportunity to express Divine Mind itself more fully and more perfectly.

Desire

Deep desire is essential for spiritual growth. It is the onward impulse of the ever-evolving soul. It builds from within outward and carries its fulfillment with it as a necessary corollary. Man has never had a desire that could not somewhere, in the providence of God, be fulfilled. If this were not true, the universe would be weak at its most vital point.

Sincere desire is a form of prayer. Every impulse or desire of the soul for life, love, light, is a prayer. It is a conscious expression of an upward. trend of nature found everywhere. Earnest, intense desire draws the whole being up out of mortality and its transient joys into the power to appreciate and receive real spiritual blessings.

Prayer without desire in it, prayer without sincerity in it, prayer without soul in it, prayer without Spirit in it is fruitless prayer. So, when you frame your desires in sound words and place them before your indwelling Lord, you are using intelligently the supreme law of God in bringing into manifestation that which He has implanted in you.

Spiritual Character

We find prayer to be many-sided; it is not only asking but receiving, also. We must pray believing that we shall receive. Prayer is both invocation and affirmation. Meditation, concentration, denial, and affirmation in the silence are all forms of what is loosely termed prayer.

Through prayer we develop the highest phase of character. Spiritual character building is from within outward. Spiritual character lives in man. It is what God has engraved on man’s soul, ready for development through man’s spiritual efforts. It is a reserve force of organized victory over human thought.

Man builds spiritual character by consciously functioning in God-Mind where, laying hold of spiritual ideas, he realizes the Truth they contain. He thus weaves them into his soul consciousness and they become a part of his very nature.

Conscious Union

All down the ages man has been making the spiritual effort to realize conscious union with that innermost center where Truth in all its glory abides eternally. Actually, prayer is man’s steady effort to know God. He can make conscious contact with Spirit by turning his attention away from material things and thinking about Spirit. Through prayer he gains an intimate relationship with God.

The ability to merge our mind into the one Mind makes a great man of us. When man awakens even a slight consciousness of the cooperative Spirit, he becomes a co-creator with God. There is a partial conscious unity with Spirit and there is a complete conscious unity with Spirit; however, whenever man wholly merges his mind with the creative Mind he is in the consciousness in which his prayers are fulfilled. He finds that he can adjust any condition that comes into his life.

Everyone should pray. Prayer does not change God! It changes us!

Effective prayer does not agonize. No man who has fused his soul with the soul of God has suffered or agonized. The suffering comes as a result of separation and the effort to return to the consciousness of Omnipresence.

Accept the urge to begin the practice of prayer. Through it make contact with the Source of your being. In prayer you are able to recognize the Source. As you practice prayer your innate Spirit showers its life energies into your conscious mind and a great soul expansion follows.

In your prayers you must meet God face to face and realize that you are getting that inner assurance which is the real answer. Your most effective prayers are those in which you rise above all consciousness of time and space. In this state of mind you automatically contact the Spirit of God. When you elevate your consciousness to Spirit, the God presence becomes meaningful to you. The God presence is an abiding flame, a flame of life, of life everlasting in every cell and fiber of being making you more alive, cleansing and purifying until you become every whit perfect. During high realizations of Truth you are conscious of this abiding flame that works in and through you.

In this state of at-one-ment you truly become aware of sublimity and power. The God presence establishes you in spiritual ideas which are needed factors in the unfoldment of the whole man.

Interest

In prayer what should be our attitude, our interest, as we approach the divine presence? If we knew that right now we were about to be ushered into the presence of Jesus, to what extent would our spiritual expectancy be aroused? No doubt we should be thrilled through and through at the mere thought. Let us feel this same intense interest, this same concern, as we approach the divine presence within ourself. It will add much to the readiness with which we receive Truth.

Asking

Understanding shows that prayer is more than asking God for help in this physical world. Actually, we have become a human race of praying beggars. Prayer is not supplication or begging. It is more than supplication. Supplication is impotent. Do not supplicate or beg God to give you what you need. Prayer is a simple asking for that which we know is waiting for us at the hands of our Father and an affirmation of its existence.

When Jesus advised asking for what we want, He was instructing us to be persistent in our demands. People ignorant of the relation in which man stands to God wonder why we should ask and even importune a Father who has provided all things for us. This is explained when we perceive that God is a great mind reservoir that has to be tapped by man’s mind and poured into visibility through his thought and word. If the mind of man is clogged with doubt, lethargy, or fear, he must open the way by persistent knocking and asking. Acquire in prayer a facility in asking equal to the mathematician’s expertness in handling numbers and you will get responses in proportion.

Undoubtedly the one thing that stands out prominently in the teaching of Jesus is the necessity of prayer. He prayed on the slightest pretext, or in some such manner invoked the presence of God. He prayed over situations that most men would deal with without the intervention of God. If He were verily God incarnate, the skeptic often asks, why did He so often appeal to an apparently higher God? To answer this doubt intelligently and truly one must understand the constitution of man.

There are always two men in each individual. The man without is the picture that the man within paints with his mind. This mind is the open door to the unlimited principle of Being. When Jesus prayed He was setting into action the various powers of His individuality in order to bring about certain results. Within His identity was of God; without He was human personality.

Prayer with a Purpose

When we pray, let us pray with a purpose. Purpose gives life a real meaning. Purpose gives joy and zest to living. When our eye is on the goal we are not so easily perturbed. Purpose awakens new trains of thought. Purpose directs these trains of thought into new fields of achievement. To succeed we must have some great purpose in mind, some goal toward which we are to work. Above all, we must always purpose in our heart to achieve spiritually. As we study the one great Presence and Power, we come to know that there is no chapter in our life that is such a failure but has back of it a grand purpose, which purpose must eventually somewhere, somehow work itself out in a most ennobling manner.

Communion with God

Prayer is communion between God and man. This communion takes place in the innermost part of man’s being. It is the only way to cleanse and perfect the consciousness.

Prayer is the most highly accelerated mind action known. It steps up mental action until man’s consciousness synchronizes with the Christ Mind. It is the language of spirituality. When developed, prayer makes man master in the realm of creative ideas.

As in all matters where we seek divine help we are free to use any words we choose or no words at all. However, to a person in the understanding of Truth, prayer should be an affirmation of that which is in Being. What is the necessity of the prayer of affirmation if Being already is? In order that the creative law of the Word may be fulfilled. What you earnestly desire and persistently affirm will be yours.

The Silence

The highest form of prayer we know is quietly entering the inner chamber within the soul, shutting the door to the external thoughts of daily life, and seeking conscious union with God. Prayer is man’s steady effort to know God. Through prayer we gain an intimate relationship with God. The purpose of the silence is to still the activity of the personal thought so that the still small voice of God may be heard. For in the silence Spirit speaks Truth to us and just that Truth of which we stand in need.

When entering the silence, close the eyes and ears to the without. Go to God within and hold the mind steadily on the word until that word illumines the whole inner consciousness.

Think what the mighty vitalizing energy of God releases. Penetrate deep into God consciousness within yourself and hold your prayer word steadily until you attain spiritual realization and the logic of your own mind is satisfied.

To realize an idea in the silence is to clothe it with life, substance, and intelligence. To realize a prayer is to actualize it. To realize it is to clothe it with soul, to know there is fulfillment.

The word of prayer has in it a living seed that is bound to impregnate the soil of the mind and cause it to bring forth fruit after its kind.

Intellectual and Spiritual Silence

It is man’s concept of God that makes prayer intellectual or spiritual. There is a vast difference between mere intellectual silence and that constructive silence which always gives the victory within the soul. The intellectual silence, which is limited in power, is the silence where one’s whole attention is fixed on the intellect. The intellect has thought its power supreme. While it is a wonderful faculty, it is in truth the tool of Spirit. As such it needs discipline if it is to be able to perform its perfect work. The intellect is always busy, jumping from one thing to another. Much of the time it dwells on the daily routine of the workaday world or on conditions in the world at large. The first step in scientific silence is simply to still these outer intellectual thoughts so that the consciousness may become subservient to the Spirit within.

The operation of prayer saves the soul from all past and future mistakes. In prayer we are led not to doubt, distrust, or hate man but to love him with all our mind, soul, and strength. Instead of fighting life and struggling to compete with millions of others in the same foolish war, we cooperate. Instead of wasting energy in tearing down, we conserve in building up. Prayer shows humanity how to love life, how to love the Author of life, and how to love life’s activities. In this state of consciousness man automatically drops the burdens of the intellect and enters into the freedom of real living. Man must have the spiritual ability to discern life’s perfect pattern if he is to fulfill the requirements of scientific prayer.

By quieting the mental man, by passing through the discipline of intellectual silence, man arrives at the very threshold of God’s workshop, the threshold of Being. As he passes into the inner chamber he finds he is entering the holy of holies, where noiselessly, silently, a mighty work is always going on. God works in the stillness. As man comes into the presence of God with his prayer in the form of an affirmation of Truth, holding the prayer steadily in mind and consciously unifying his mind with the mind of God, he is aware only of the soundlessness of God’s Word as it weaves itself in and out through the whole soul and body consciousness, illumining, redeeming, and restoring him according to his faith and trust, according to his strength and power to receive.

Meditation

Persistent meditation on the Truth contained in the Word of God opens the mind to a greater inflow of Spirit. When we let our meditations fall on the knowing part of ourself, we go into a higher mental state or an exalted condition of mind, wherein we receive a higher and clearer conception of things spiritual. Every student of Truth builds the Christ body as he constantly abides in the Christ mind through daily meditation upon words of Truth. Then all words become quickening life and nourishing substance in both mind and body.

Attention and Concentration

In prayer attention is the concentration of the mind upon a statement of Truth. Man can take a word of Truth and through “one-pointed” mind concentration unite his consciousness with the Mind of God. He can hold a realizing prayer until the truth it contains is engrafted into the very soul. Through the engrafted word, he becomes a strong, positive spiritual character.

Attention is focalizing the I AM or inner entity upon a word of prayer, until the inner meaning is realized and the soul is aware of a definite spiritual uplift. As a lens focalizes the sun’s rays at a given point–and we know how intense that point of light may become–concentration focalizes the mind on a single idea until it becomes manifest and objective.

In concentration the Holy Spirit works through the divine mother substance to bring forth the fruits of Divine Mind. The Holy Spirit is the teacher. The teacher and the student use the same principles, but the teacher arouses and inspires the student to greater achievement. The Holy Spirit urges us to great spiritual effort.

When we direct the mental powers upon a definite idea, faith plays its part. It is involved in concentration. As we give attention to the idea through one-pointed mind concentration, we break into a realm of finer mind activity.

Realization

In spiritual silence man’s realization is established in his heart and he has the assurance that his prayer is answered and that the law of demonstration brings forth the fruit. The realization is written not only in the soul but in the intellect. The intellect always perceives what has taken place within and has power to retain its perception and to express itself accordingly. Thus the intellect serves Spirit, and as it unfolds it becomes more and more like Spirit. It becomes in deed and in truth the instrument of God.

Realization is the deep inner conviction and assurance of the fulfillment of an ideal. It means at-one-ment, completion, perfection, wholeness, repose, resting in God. It is the dawning of Truth in the consciousness. When realization takes place, one abides in the light of God-Mind. It is the inner conviction that prayer has been answered, although there is as yet no outer manifestation.

The supreme realization is unity with God-Mind.

Constructive thought force is a great and mighty power. When it is realized in the silence it becomes the one and only power in all the earth. The understanding of this makes one an adept in the domain of scientific prayer.

Prayer and Faith

It is necessary to pray believing that we have received because God is all that we desire. The good always exists in Divine Mind as ideas. We bring it into manifestation through the prayer of faith, affirmation, praise, and acknowledgment.

Within the deep stillness of the soul, listen first to the innate voice of faith. Man builds up an enduring state of faith by repeated realizations of Truth. The illumination thus gained comes forth in man as spiritual understanding expressed in sound words. Faith draws upon substance. Dynamic, creative, transforming power is roused to spiritual action when man affirms his unity with Almightiness and his undaunted faith in its power.

Man must not only be submissive and obedient to the divine law, but he must also realize that he is the offspring of the Ruler of the universe. When asking the Father for that which belongs to the Son under the divine law, man should assume the power and dignity of the Prince of Peace. He should not crawl and cringe before an imaginary king on a throne. Instead he should feel that he is the image of an invisible Being who has created him to represent His mightiness as well as His lovingkindness.

The prayer of faith is not supplication, a begging God to give things to man. Prayer at its highest is the entry through faith into a realm of mind forces that when rightly contacted change the character of every cell in brain and body.

Faith, the conviction of a higher providing Source, is based upon spiritual logic or innate reason and on the certainty that an all-wise and all-powerful Creator’s plan includes necessary provision for His offspring. When man emerges from the limitations of human consciousness and feels within him the stirring of Spirit, he finds that it is supremely logical and true that Spirit has provided for his supply and support.

When we have achieved spiritual realization of our prayer and our innermost soul is satisfied, we have the assurance that the thing is accomplished in Spirit and must become manifest. We may continue in our realization of faith until the whole consciousness responds and the instantaneous demonstration takes place. Prayer is impotent and unfruitful when the one who prays is without the firm belief that his prayers are answered. When man turns wholeheartedly to God, the prayer of faith brings forth abundantly. Since the prayer of faith is the activity of divine love, let us pray without ceasing, knowing that God hears and grants our petitions.

Faith is the fire of Spirit. Faith opens the door into an inner consciousness, where we hold the word steadily in mind until the spiritual substance responds to our word. Earnest, steady, and continued attention along this line is bound to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit in abundant measure. A steady, unwavering devotion of heart to the Spirit develops in us supermind qualities.

Prayer and Praise

Praise is the quality of mind that eulogizes the good. It is one of the avenues through which spirituality expresses. The purpose of praise is to awaken in ourself a higher realization of the omnipresence and power of God. Prayer and praise change man, not God. The mental attitude that praise sets up stimulates, quickens, whirls into action, and finally establishes in character the ideals of which it is the vehicle. Through an inherent law of mind action we increase whatever we praise. Make practical application of the law of praise by giving thanks always for all things.

Prayer and Joy

No man yet knows all of life’s joys, nor will he until he has come into the full understanding of spiritual communion with God. No man knows the fullness of life, nor its joys, until he has prayed in meekness and thanksgiving and has received the sweet, pure realizations of Spirit.

True and lasting joy arises from within. The nature of the deep inner life is revealed only to those who spiritually penetrate into its source.

If you would feed the soul on the joys of Spirit, you must realize them and give thanks in prayer for the more abundant life. Then you find that a great subconscious well of living water will begin to bubble up in your soul. You will come to know that hitherto you have been living in the shallows of life instead of in its mighty depths. You will be blessed with a knowledge of the unity of all things, and a great peace and harmony will well up within.

It is impossible to found a lasting stronghold within on anything less than the understanding that God is a God of joy. It is through our realization of this truth that we drink heartily of the wine of life. Often even during serene, yes, sober moments, the inner man is athrill with some newborn, joyful anticipation. In prayer every high realization that comes to us is to strengthen us for greater achievements.

Conditions for True Prayer

These are the seven necessary conditions for true prayer: 1. God should be recognized as Father. 2. Oneness with God should be acknowledged. 3. Prayer must be made within, in “the secret place.” 4. The door must be closed on all thoughts and interests of the outer world. 5. The one who prays must believe that he has received. 6. The kingdom of God must be desired above all things, and sought first. 7. The mind must let go of every unforgiving thought.

Chapter 10

* * * * *

Dynamics For Living by Charles Fillmore
Table of Contents