Article April 6, 1981 Issue

Not "if"—"because!"

JUDITH ANN HARDY

Prayer that begins, "God, if You love me . . ." or "if You're here . . ." may well be built not on conviction but on doubt. And how about, "God, if You're all-powerful, do something!" Not only may be willful, too. I've prayed such prayers myself. But with no results—at least not the results I had asked for. No wonder! Praying from the standpoint of doubt and demand, I was praying astray. "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss," James 4:3. the Bible tells us. When we ask and don't receive, it's not time to give up praying, but time to correct our prayer. And what better place to start than by learning more of God—what He is and how an understanding of Him heals?

"How empty are our conceptions of Deity!" writes Mrs. Eddy in Science and Health. "We admit theoretically that God is good, omnipotent, omnipresent, infinite, and then we try to give information to this infinite Mind." Science and Health, p. 3. Either God, good, is omnipotent, or He's not. Which side are we praying on? We must pray on the side of Love's omnipotence if we are to experience the healing effects of this omnipotence. Prayer doesn't ever change the truth of being (that's already perfect!), but it must bring our thinking into accord with Love's knowing of its own allness in order for us to demonstrate that allness and the unreality of evil.

Christ Jesus' healing prayers left no room for doubt or fear. They were based on his absolute conviction that because God is, man is; because God is good, man—His expression—is wholly good; because God is All, nothing unlike good exists or has power. When his disciples asked Jesus how to pray, he gave them this short prayer we know today as 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. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever." Matt. 6:9-13. Not a single "if" in it! But strong affirmations of God's harmonious nature, His will, His power, and His glory. And petitions full of the expectancy of His kingdom and His goodness.

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