The power of prayer - why does it work?

[Perceiver]

I've been praying every now and then for some time. And sometimes my wishes have come true. There are some things it can do, and some things it can't. I probably wouldn't get a Ferrari if I prayed for one, but in many instances where I've prayed for more wisdom or personal development around a topic, then I've usually experienced something in the following days/weeks. Maybe the prayer caused it, maybe not.

 

I've read/heard somewhere that prayers actually can work because you tune into the astral element and put energy out there which will attract the things you are looking for. Any thoughts/experiences from you guys? Do you do it - if so, how - and does it work for you and why?

 

 

[Everything]

I've been praying every now and then for some time. And sometimes my wishes have come true. There are some things it can do, and some things it can't. I probably wouldn't get a Ferrari if I prayed for one, but in many instances where I've prayed for more wisdom or personal development around a topic, then I've usually experienced something in the following days/weeks. Maybe the prayer caused it, maybe not.

 

I've read/heard somewhere that prayers actually can work because you tune into the astral element and put energy out there which will attract the things you are looking for. Any thoughts/experiences from you guys? Do you do it - if so, how - and does it work for you and why?

I wonder about this all of the time too.

 

I ask for things but since I know I cannot create I assume whoever created this whole universe knows what is best for me, because they created me and I just trust that whatever comes my way is the best thing for me, not because maybe that is so, but because believing that is so is the only way I can have a peace of mind and I trust that if my emotions want me to believe in the idea that I am cared for then I will believe that I am always cared for and that whatever I want is always coming way wether I know that it is or not. I trust that whatever created me, created my emotions, and that emotions tell me I have to believe in that I am cared for. It is what feels good to me and feels most natural. It jives with my nature. So I choose to believe that. For the sake of my nature.

Edited October 8, 2015 by Everything

[ilumairen]

I don't pray, but I do find that when I wonder about things an answer to whatever question I have generally shows up somewhere. I think there is a certain openness that enables this synchronicity. I believe that perhaps prayer can help one find this openness.

I don't believe that I am cared for in any special way by any special power. Once upon a time I wanted to believe that. But it is against my nature to do so, and the struggle to hold belief was detrimental and painful to me.

At the same time I am willing, even in public places, to take my mother's hand and ask her if she wants to say her words before we eat. They are always words of thanks, and I to am thankful.

[Everything]

I don't pray, but I do find that when I wonder about things an answer to whatever question I have generally shows up somewhere. I think there is a certain openness that enables this synchronicity. I believe that perhaps prayer can help one find this openness.

I don't believe that I am cared for in any special way by any special power. Once upon a time I wanted to believe that. But it is against my nature to do so, and the struggle to hold belief was detrimental and painful to me.

At the same time I am willing, even in public places, to take my mother's hand and ask her if she wants to say her words before we eat. They are always words of thanks, and I to am thankful.

How about instead of calling it a special power, you can call it a common power. Like gravity. Doesn't gravity keep you down and from floating into outer space? See, you are cared for, that is nothing special and it doesn't require you to struggle in order to hold that believe, neither experience pain as a side effect of believing it, as was the case when you or someone else made you dinner. You don't go tell them, hey stop caring for me it is painful for me to believe in you and I'm struggling with it. Edited October 8, 2015 by Everything

[ilumairen]

Hi Everthing,

I liked the topic of the thread. I think for some people prayer creates enough openness to see the answers to what may be troubling them.

 

The rest of it doesn't matter.

[Aetherous]

I'm a big fan of prayer to God. Not everyone is into the idea...it's unpopular in our intellectual and material age to even speak of such things. But it's beneficial to do it! You get to talk directly with the all-knowing all-powerful. There is always some benefit from doing it.

 

People not into such ideas for whatever reason, might view their prayer as being similar to manifestation type stuff. Perhaps it is primarily that...but perhaps we also miss out on cultivation spiritually if only viewed in that way. Many Buddhists, for instance, depend on the development on devotion. How can we be cultivating any sense of humility if we view ourselves as Gods, and assert that there is no higher power than ourselves?

[ilumairen]

I am only one of the ten thousand things, just another straw dog who cannot conceive of some all powerful being even blinking in my direction.

I am glad that you can conceive of this. It seems to be comforting.

[Nikolai1]

For me, prayer, and the fact that prayer works is something that we need to discover in ourselves and for ourselves.  The moment we try and concoct a theory behind the process we run the risk of alienating people.

 

I for one see no difference between the 'God is listening' theory and the 'words uttered with intent create reality' theory, but I don't like to impose this woolly relativism on people who have definite ideas.

 

All I know, myself, is that prayer works!

[Nuralshamal]

On 8.10.2015 at 5:22 PM, Perceiver said:

I've been praying every now and then for some time. And sometimes my wishes have come true. There are some things it can do, and some things it can't. I probably wouldn't get a Ferrari if I prayed for one, but in many instances where I've prayed for more wisdom or personal development around a topic, then I've usually experienced something in the following days/weeks. Maybe the prayer caused it, maybe not.

 

I've read/heard somewhere that prayers actually can work because you tune into the astral element and put energy out there which will attract the things you are looking for. Any thoughts/experiences from you guys? Do you do it - if so, how - and does it work for you and why?

 

 

Hey @Perceiver, thanks for sharing, great topic.

Yes, I will gladly share my own experiences as well as why I think it works.

Some Early Experiences
First experience 4-10 years old
When I was a kid, whenever I was in the state between awake and dream (passing through this intermediary stage while falling asleep), I would have visions and hear sounds in my right ear.

I just thought this was normal.

However, when I was about 10 years old I started to get scared of it. So I asked my dad about it. He said that I should pray to God about it.

After that, it completely stopped and I could sleep soundly.

Second experience, 13 years old
My dad took me to see his guru in a village in India since I was just 4 years old. He was a huge influence on me, my dad and our life, my dad went on a yearly retreat under his guidance for almost 20 years until he passed. I was about 12 years old when the guru passed on, and we were obviously all pretty sad for a while. In that period I wore some of the gifts the guru had given me last I saw him alive, it was a simple kind of mala-like necklace, I always wore it, day and night, I would never take it off.

When me and my dad was on a summer camp when I was about 13, I was still wearing it day and night. However, one night I went to a local football field and did some gymnastics, sommersaults, wind mills etc, just having fun as a kid.

When I got back home, to my great horror I realized my necklace was missing!

I quickly figured it must've fallen off during my gymnastics.

I felt so sad, and in that moment I prayed "God, if you're real, please help me find this necklace, it was a gift from the guru who's now passed, I will never see him again, this is the last memory of what he gave me, the last time I saw him before he passed. If you let me find it, I will forever worship you".

I went back to the football field, it was pitch black by now, the grass was high, and the mala/necklace was black and quite thin. When I was there I realized there is no way I will be able to find it, it's too big an area, it's pitch black, the necklace is too small, even in broad daylight with 10-20 people going over the field, probably it would not be possible to find it.

Lo and behold, as I prayed again, I started having visions. In the black behind my eyes I saw a blue arrow. It pointed left, then I went left for some time. Then I closed my eyes, it pointed straight ahead, I went ahead. I continued like that for maybe 5-10 minutes, and lo and behold, I closed my eyes and saw it pointing downwards - I opened my eyes, kneeled down, AND THERE IT WAS!

I cried with happiness, put it back on, and went back home again.

God is real!

Proposed Explanation For Mechanics Of Prayer
When I was 18 years old, just before being drafted to serve in the armed forces, I read a small booklet by a Danish mystic called Martinus. It was called "the power of prayer".

In it he explained the exact divine mechanism of prayer. I was blown away. It all made perfect sense! Since that day, I started praying daily, many times per day, 'round the clock. When going out of the house, before eating, before transport, before school, before meeting friends, at all times I was in direct prayerful contact with Almighty God.

Then I went into the army where life was obviously very tough. No sleep, no food, physical exhaustion, grueling conditions etc. I was spinning my internal prayerwheel 24/7.

This was where I really experienced first hand, that the science of prayer is real. It's predictable, it's logical, it's precise, it never fails.

Prayer is the easiest and simplest thing to do, yet it's the most powerful thing we can do.

Science Of Prayer
According to Danish Martinus there are 4 levels of prayer we ascend through the more we pray. It's a muscle we develop.

Level 1: The wishlist
This is when people first start praying: please dear God, give me a ferrari, 10 million dollars (tax free please), a supermodel wife and a harem of 36 beautiful sexual goddesses of all races, colors and exciting body types, and never let me work another day in my life or have any kind of difficulty ever again. Amen!

Unfortunately, this prayer goes against most rules (rules I will explain down below). Hence it's seldomly fulfilled. This makes people stop and disbelieve in the power of prayer.

Level 2: energy to overcome my self-created karma
This where you ask for the strength, power, energy and positive mindset to go through whichever challenge you're currently facing. This is actually the intended use of prayer: psychic comfort.

Imagine holding open a tap, the water comes gushing out. While holding the tap open, we simultaneously pray: Dear Lord, let not even a single drop of water flow out!

That's what we usually do, when we ask God to relieve of us our suffering. We ourselves comitted thoughts, words and deeds, sent a certain energy out into the universe. However, when the consequences return, we try to rid ourselves of it through prayer. Sorry, no can do.

If you open the tap, water's coming out. If you hit others, you will be hit.

No matter if you're a sinner or a saint, if you jump from a tall building, you're going to fall down.

So prayer cannot safe you from yourself. However, it can give you the strength to take your karma like a man.

Just like Jesus could forgive his executioners, like Muhammad could endure 3 years of ridicule in Mecca, like Moses could endure freeing and later leading the quite troublesome Israelites through the desert, like Rama could take 14 years of exile in the forest, this is the true power of prayer and its best use: go through any conceivable scenario with completely equanimity and mental balance.

Level 3: praying for the best solution for the greater good, even at personal cost
e.g. ménage à trois where your wife is now in love with another man; it might be that in the eyes of God, this is actually what's best for the universe. This new man and your wife will truly be happier together and be a greater blessing to the world. This is obviously very painful. However, if you pray over an impossible situation for the best possible solution, even if it's to your personal detriment, quickly you will be inspired exactly how to proceed.

Level 4: direct back and forth communication with God
This is the highest level and comes naturally to all with practice.

Whenever you pray to God, God answers you back. 

When you reach this level, you'll be at the same level as all the prophets and avataras. No matter what the universe throws at you, you can never be rocked. You have the power to accept it as your self-created destiny, and through prayer you get the strength to go through it with perfect equanimity, inner comfort and ease.

The 3 rules determining whether a prayer can be fulfilled is:
1) God's plan for the universe,
2) Your personal life plan,
3) Your self-created karma.

If your prayer is in accord with these 3 rules, IT... WILL... ALWAYS... BE... FULFILLED! No exceptions. 

This means complete, sure fire 100% prayer fulfillment guarantee. And yes, this is the most powerful tool we've all been freely given by Almighty God.

How to know God's plan for the universe?

This will take a little study of Martinus' thoughts about the universe, but said shortly we are eternal, uncreated, immortal beings, forever evolving through karma and reincarnation.

In our current cycle we go through:
1) mineral kingdom,
2) plant kingdom,
3) animal kingdom,
4) True Human kingdom,
5) Wisdom Kingdom,
6) Divine World,
7) Kingdom of Ecstasy

Then we start over again in a higher cycle.

We're currently 50/50 animal and human.

So current point for us is to rid ourselves of our animal, selfish nature, where we hurt others for our own gain, and instead cultivate our human nature of tolerance, love, forgiveness and intellectuality.

How we do that is through karma: the more we suffer, the more compassion we develop for others.

You do bad, it returns, you suffer, your learn your lesson.

There is no shortcut - to proceed to true human being we need to develop our love and intelligence to the next level.

Love and compassion is through suffering, intelligence is in competition for the daily bread.

Once these are balanced, you start to level up.

So if your're in any way, shape or form praying for something that will cause pain to yourself or others, it can never be fulfilled. Similarly, if you're praying to make your karma go away, it will never work, as the karma is the only way you develop compassion. As spiritual development (includiong love and compassion) is the whole point of existence, obviously you can't override God's universal laws with it.

Anything that's considered good for you and all living beings will be heard, anything that's bad will be ignored.

You can see a symbol explaning prayers of different levels and how they're fullfilled or not fulfilled here:
https://www.martinus.dk/en/online-library/symbols/index.php?symbol=21

You can read the full explanation here:
https://www.martinus.dk/en/online-library/ttt/index.php?mode=opslag&bog=62&stk=21&pkt=6

If you're generally interested in spiritual development, meaning of life, judgement day, karma and reincarnation, sex, pretty much the TRUTH about life (including meditation and spiritual practice, health, sickness and healing), here's all his symbols:
https://www.martinus.dk/en/online-library/symbols/

God bless you!

[Pxan02]

To add to the excellent reply by Nuralshamal,
often things don't work for very simple and straightforward reasons.
Prayer it's very mechanical: you give energy, you get bleesings. Sometimes you need to put candles and materia. Sometimes you just need more time. Sometimes you need some link to the target.
There is an excellent book about this called "The Elements of Spellcrafting: 21 Keys to Successful Sorcery". Don't get scared by the word sorcery, it's intended very differently from common usage. The stuff there relates a lot to prayer!

[Paradoxal]

I look at prayer as nothing more than an incantation in most peoples' hands. This is because most folk do not have the qualities required to establish a dialog, and thus are effectively screaming into the void.

 

That said, I acknowledge that it is possible to hold dialogs with multiple gods (yes, I am saying that y'all's Yvwh ain't "the only true god"), and do so regularly myself. I've never tried to use it to get things I wanted, but I do ask for advice or about their individual intentions. 

[Apotheose]

I recall that basically all my childhood prays used to materialize, because I used to pray with conviction and trust that they would turn real — just as the Bible advocates.

 

I see it all as a manifestation of the inevitable and natural karmic apparatus of Life.

 

Why does praying work? Well… because you asked for it. This is just cause and effect — added to a few other things that don’t matter that much as people think.

 

If you don't ask for things and just leave your future in the hands of the random influence of entropy, be sure that your future will be governed by statistics.

Edited May 18 by Apotheose