Editorial May 25, 1974 Issue

The Why of Prayer

Carl J. Welz

When we pray, what we do has effect if the why is right. And the why depends on the for whom. Are we praying for this mortal self and its wants, or are we praying for God?

Not that God needs anyone to pray for Him, but we need to pray as His representatives, expressing Him, working for Him. When we do this, we forget the mortal self we think we are, and we lose ourselves in the desire to represent God as He is. This desire is effective prayer.

The plea What should I do that I may be healed? should be replaced by, What is God doing? When we see what He is doing and find ourselves a part of it, our prayer becomes unselfed. Is this not the spirit of the Lord's Prayer? "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." ^{Matt. 6:9,10;} These words of Christ Jesus' turn our thought away from our own wants to God and His idea. And this turning is the key to healing.