Article January 4, 1941 Issue

Sincere Prayer

OLIVER BOWLES

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE makes it plain that, if we seek it understandingly and sincerely, all good is available. In the simple yet profound exposition on prayer in the first chapter in her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy shows the futility of vain repetition. The prayer of affirmation is the recognition that God is all-powerful, that He is a present help, that His arm is outstretched to save, to heal and uplift, and that the solution of every problem already exists in reality.

Our Master, Christ Jesus, at the tomb of Lazarus, even before the so-called miracle was performed, prayed with assurance, "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me." The sublime conviction that his prayer was heard enabled him to overcome death and to restore Lazarus.

The prayer of confident affirmation leads to exalted spiritual realization. All true entreaty is acceptable to God, as in the cry of the publican in Jesus' parable, "God be merciful to me a sinner." Is it not clear, however, that the publican's prayer was the expression of a conscientious, earnest, humble desire to forsake sin? And herein is a criterion of true prayer: Is it sincere? Does it voice a resolute desire to attain the high level that the words express?

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