Article June 15, 1957 Issue

WHAT MEASURE OF PRAYER?

HERBERT L. FRANK

How much shall we pray, and when is any given prayer sufficient to bring about the desired results? These and similar questions are sometimes asked by those in need of healing or spiritual regeneration. Such inquiries suggest the conclusion that prayer is a means of influencing God in our favor— an error which confuses the issue. God does not need the advice or direction of a human being in order to be what He is—perfect Mind, Spirit, Soul; but men need to understand the divine nature in order to demonstrate more of it in their lives. The purpose of prayer in Christian Science is not to influence God, but to reveal to human consciousness the truth of His divine nature and the consequent falsity of all error, sin, disease, and death.

Prayer is scientific thinking, which includes knowing the absolute truth of God and man. It is important to human well-being that the spiritual facts of existence be recognized and maintained by the individual. The truth, for example, that God is divine, that He is perfect Spirit, creating and maintaining His perfect creation, man, is needed to replace the false claims of matter and material sense, which misrepresent man as a sick, sinful, and dying mortal.

Believing the truth is an important element in prayer. Scientific thinking, however, rises above belief and includes the conviction that God and His creation are real and that error is unreal. Words may be utilized to convey this thought to the individual; but words alone cannot successfully be substituted for the actual knowing of underlying reality. There can be no superficial affirmation of the truth or denial of error in successful prayer. To succeed, prayer must be meaningful to both the practitioner and the patient.

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