Power of Prayer: Universal Reach of Heartfelt Prayer  

By Janina Gomes  

Power of Prayer: Universal Reach of Heartfelt Prayer  

It is so easy to commune with God. That's because God is closer to us than the air we breathe.

But we tie ourselves in knots while praying because we are unable to free ourselves from our own 'sophistication'.

H A Williams, an Anglican pastor, discovered he had to 'earn' his passage by turning the short and easy path to God into an obstacle race, a puzzle, devising schemes whereby he could make the grade spiritually, when in fact there is no grade.

Wherever he was and whatever he was doing, Williams found it sufficient to simply turn to God and say: "Hello, it's me". In other words, he was saying: "Lord Jesus, that I may receive my sight". Our sight is an aid to help us recognise God's presence within us.

But like a wise parent, God will not give us everything at once because that would literally destroy us. God may instead make us wear a pair of dark glasses. When God looks a bit grey or is hardly visible, it does not mean that God is not there, but that we are in danger of seeing more than we can stand.

In praying, Williams also discovered that often his mind was besieged by irrelevant thoughts. He knew that even while he was reminding himself to collect a suit from the cleaners, at a deeper level, he was in active communion with God.

In praying you cannot dissemble. God cannot be taken in. The only person who is taken in is yourself. Sometimes the selfish nature of our prayer might be driven underground and appear to be something noble and good. In praying we should bare ourselves as we are. That requires awareness on our part. Awareness of who we are and where we stand before God.

Real prayer also requires us to use our imagination. When we pray for others, we need to know what they hide behind their exterior. Sometimes, journalists, writers, novelists and poets can bring home to us the dreams, struggles, joys, sufferings, conflicts, victories and the inner reality of very ordinary people. They can open our eyes to another world and help us to imaginatively enter the inner world of these people. Then we can more effectively pray for others.

And we need to pray for each other. That is because we are not isolated individuals floating in an impersonal universe. We are all inter-related. We are connected to every living being in this universe, both visible and invisible. There is a continuity to life and real prayer recognises this continuity.

Williams discovered another important aspect of prayer - that of intercession. That intercession for others makes us realise that we are in active communion with the people we love and those who have impinged upon us in some way or the other.

Through intercession we become close to those who may be hundreds of miles away; we realise we are in living and active communion with all people living and departed.

Prayer is not escapism. It is not running away from reality, from the ugly and the evil. Prayer is an acceptance of the reality of evil, suffering and death, but seen in the perspective of a greater reality and that is God's love. Sometimes prayer also means grappling with darkness. We may not have warm cosy feelings all the time. But if we persist, we will attain to that precious pearl.

Prayer is really very simple. We need not be a learned scholar in order to be able to pray. All we need to do is to bare ourselves and say to God as Williams suggested: "Hello, it's me!"

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More from same author see: Janina Gomes  

See also: Power of Prayer, Faith and Belief, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)