In the words of A Course in Miracles, “Prayer is the medium of miracles. It is a means of communication of the created with the Creator.”
Prayer is a conscious request that our thoughts be shifted by a power greater than our own. This shift from ego thinking to spirit thinking is the miracle.
A serious prayer life is a mental orientation—an attunement to God throughout the day. Prayer directs the mind to hear the voice for God over the voice of the ego, to notice the illumined thoughts and ideas that emerge naturally from the deeper regions of our consciousness.
With prayer, we’re asking what we can learn, what insight God would have us receive, what wisdom He would place within us. The universe is like a house wired for electricity, but too often we’re like unplugged lamps. Prayer is the way we plug in to the divine, aligning our thinking with the love that infuses all things.
The universe is like a house wired for electricity, but too often we’re like unplugged lamps. Prayer is the way we plug in to the divine, aligning our thinking with the love that infuses all things.
Prayer expands our consciousness, thus expanding the set of possibilities that we experience. As we saw in an earlier chapter, when our attitude is negative, few opportunities arise. This is not because opportunities don’t exist, but because our negative attitude and energy blind us to them. You might be sitting at lunch one day next to a woman who could provide you with a wonderful work opportunity, but because you’re going on and on about how rough things are and how tough it’s been for you, it doesn’t occur to her to engage you in a conversation about professionally moving forward with her. For one thing, you’ve showed her how effective you are—or aren’t—at handling problems in your life. Your energy deflected whatever miracle might have occurred.
If you had awakened that day affirming, “This is the day that the Lord has made”—a day of infinite possibilities because God is a God of infinite possibility, a day when the universe is reaching out its arms to provide you with every opportunity for joy—you would have been wired differently at lunch. That woman would have been blown away.
Your energy, your attitude, your positivity, your words, your ability to listen to others and truly dwell in the present—all those things make you a person others want to be with, want to work with, want to share ideas with. That energy is the spiritual basis of wealth creation.
I once knew an actress who was looking for work. She was constantly invited to parties, yet consistently turned down the invitations, saying, “You don’t get work by going to parties.” Boy, how wrong she was! You never know whom you’re going to meet where, or what form an opportunity is going to take. The miracle-worker doesn’t just show up for auditions; the miracle-worker shows up for life. And life reciprocates.
PRAYER RIGHTS THE universe around you because it rights your mind:
Dear God,
I surrender to You my work and my desire for work.
I surrender to You my fear, I surrender to You my money, and I surrender to You my debts.
I surrender to You my sense of failure and I surrender to You my shame.
I surrender to You my dreams and my visions and my hopes.
Amen.
That which we place in the hands of God is turned into right-minded thinking. The altar to God is within our mind, and that which is placed on the altar is then altered.
There is no magic formula for how to pray; no one is monitoring whether or not you “get it right.” Simply pray from your heart, with sentiments such as “Dear God, lift all these things into Your hands.” Asking that something be “lifted up to divine right order” means asking that it be lifted to the highest thought forms possible. A lower thought form is something like, “I’m a failure; I’m no good; I’ll never succeed.” A higher thought form is more like, “I’m a child of God. I know that I have made mistakes, but I atone for my errors. I’m willing in all ways to be the person God would have me be. I’m willing to be shown where I need to improve, and I know that God has a plan for me. I place myself in service to humanity, and I ask God to use me to help heal the world.”
When we meditate and pray, we align our mind with God’s power. Our nervous system takes on a mantle of peace; our anxious thoughts are replaced by peaceful ones. Our dull thinking becomes radiant and brilliant. And this corrective does not apply just to money or employment; it applies to everything.
Every single moment, every single holy instant, the universe is ready to begin again. The only time that God’s time intersects with linear time is in the present moment; miracles happen not in the past or future, but now. Every single moment, God is pouring forth His love for you, with endless opportunities for renewal and rebirth. Every single moment, God is saying, “Here is the glory of the universe. Do you want it? Show up for it, because it’s yours.”
So we say unto all eternity, moment after moment after moment:
Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
God, who dwells in the realm of Truth, may your Word be all-powerful in my mind.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
May the world I live in here on earth reflect the reality of love. May I think Your thoughts, and make manifest Your thoughts.
Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Today, may I receive what I need. May my way be unblocked, as I unblock my heart to others.
And leave us not in temptation, but deliver us from evil; for Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
And when I’m tempted into fear, may I be guided back to loving thought: that love might be my experience, and love might be my power, and love might be my happiness and peace, in every single moment of my day.
Amen.
And so it is.