Pray for Others
January 24th, 2012
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by admin · Filed Under: Faith · Guidance · Inspiration · Prayer · Spiritual Health · healing
In praying for oneself or another, first there is the awareness of a need. Not a sense of lack that implies a limitation, but the concern of a need and the concern of its fulfillment. The concern you may have over someone you love or about conditions in general is a step in the direction of demonstration, but we cannot stop with concern alone or else we settle into the dead-end street of worry and despair.
If you are concerned about another, nothing can be accomplished in prayer until we overcome this concern. Whatever or whoever you are praying for, remember this first step. Lay aside your concern and dwell in the consciousness of your Oneness. It is your attunement with power. Then you are ready to pray.
The next logical step is faith in and awareness of the principle. First the concern, or the awareness of the need, then the healing of the concern, or the awareness of God’s all-sufficiency in all things. The thing for us to do is to realize the Truth of the promise, “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me.” (Ps. 138:8)
By nature the average person is concerned about the health or the welfare of those about him or her. The most helpful step that we can take, in the interest of that with which we are concerned, is the step in faith from the thought of concern to the dynamic idea of Truth.
You can pray about the situation and pray for the welfare of the one who concerns you, but your prayer must be based on right thinking and right seeing. To hold the problem in negative thought or to see it in anxious concern is, as Paul would say, seeing “in a mirror dimly.”
The most helpful thing you can do for another, regardless of his or her need, is to think positive thoughts about the person. Positive thinking might actually be a synonym for prayer. You may define prayer in many ways but essentially it is the act of changing our thought from the limited to the limitless. “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind,” we have been told in Romans 12:2 and this must be the starting point of all effective prayer.
Certainly, almost unbelievable, wonderful demonstrations of health and guidance and success through prayer can be observed all the time. However, we must clearly understand that prayer is not begging God to do something for someone or something that concerns us. When you pray about something, if there is any action as a result of prayer, you help in the action. But God can do no more for you than God can do through you. You are a channel for the expression of His wisdom, love, substance and power.
Often we are urged, “Let go and let God.” This means to let go of your tense, anxious concern over a situation and let God express His omnipresence through your positive awareness. True prayer is the stirring up within you a sense of God-power and turning the full force of this power, like a powerful searchlight, on that which may concern you.
When you desire to help someone else, the starting point of that help must be within yourself. You may say, “But it’s my husband (or wife, or friend, etc.) who needs help.” Yes, but it is you who are concerned and, as long as you feel anxious concern, you are giving life and substance to that about which you are concerned.
Your thought of fear, your image of some terrible possibility, or your gnawing anxiety is really a very powerful and continuing prayer in reverse. No matter how great may be your desire to help or bless someone or some condition, your negative concern may effectively completely negate your successful wish and prayer for healing.
No matter what you may be concerned about in the life or experience of another, if you really want to help, you must change your thought from fear to faith; you must correct your faulty vision in which you are focusing your attention on that which is disturbing. You must heal your thought of concern.
When you feel a release, a sense of freedom from fear and concern, then the work within you is done. At that point, in the consciousness and with a positive declaration of Truth, speak the word of healing, harmony and peace, and know that “it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (Is. 55:11) It is in this way that you fulfill the assurance which is “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me.”
Remember, God is Blessing You, Right Now!
Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham
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Rev. Alan A. Rowbotham, a Unity minister for over forty years, invites you to enjoy more articles and/or subscribe to his free inspirational newsletter, “Spiritual Solutions,” at www.spiritualsolutionsblog.com
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