I had prayed about a severe rash on one of my hands. It was beginning to inhibit my daily activities and take all my attention. I prayed consistently and trustingly, yet my hand wasn’t getting any better. It appeared that my prayers weren’t working. While I knew that I wasn’t at fault for having this problem—as a child of God I was innocent—I began to wonder if there was some way that I could raise the standard of my prayer.

The Bible gives an example of Jesus pointing out the need to do this in the account that begins with him walking across a stormy sea to the ship where his disciples are struggling with fear. At Jesus’ invitation, Peter leaves the ship and starts to walk toward Jesus on the water. But, intimidated by the strong wind, Peter becomes frightened and, beginning to sink, cries out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reaches out and catches him, saying, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:30, 31, New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition). The encouragement to overcome doubt with greater faith in God is a call to raise the standard of our prayer. 

Prayer in Christian Science is not formulaic, yet there are elements that prayer or treatment typically includes. For example, the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, tells us we should always begin our metaphysical treatment by allaying the patient’s fear. We also learn the importance of addressing belief in a power or mind opposed to God—any false beliefs that would mesmerically pull us away from God and therefore need to be removed from thought.