'To Bless All Mankind' February 20, 2017 Issue

Prayer that is dependable

Michelle Boccanfuso Nanouche

Adapted from an article published in The Christian Science Monitor, November 1, 2016.

Why does “#prayfor” have such staying power? This begs the further question of what prayer is, and whether it can truly lead to help and healing. Many people around the world, including me, have found that indeed it can.

The Bible teaches that God is the stable and dependable divine Principle “with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17, English Standard Version), and that God is good. This indicates that human events don’t influence or change divine good. Rather, praying to better understand what is spiritually and eternally true of God, and of us all as God’s own image, naturally brings increased harmony and healing into our experience.

Perhaps this explains to some degree why the Lord’s Prayer (see Matthew 6:9–13) resonates for so many when challenges arise. The unifying message of Christ Jesus’ prayer shows that when we turn from seeing evil as a controlling power, and lift our point of view to God, we have a profoundly different starting point for looking at ourselves and our world.

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