The healing joy of prayer
Prayer as Christ Jesus taught it is a way we can know and feel the presence and power of God right here.
One of my favorite things to do is pray. For me, to pray is to glorify God, to follow the example of the psalms and “magnify the Lord” (Psalms 34:3). This phrase actually makes me laugh, just for the joy of it, because I like to think about using a magnifying glass to magnify God—to really highlight His nature. I’m genuinely curious about and sincerely interested in what God is like, and prayer is a way of helping me to express the joy of exploring the nature of God and His creation.
One thing I love about Christian Science is that it is not just a religion or specific Christian denomination; it is the universal law of God—the utterly reliable law and healing system that Christ Jesus demonstrated. Nearly nineteen hundred years later, Mary Baker Eddy discovered this timeless divine law and that it was not just a “phenomenal exhibition” tied to Jesus’ time (see Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 150). And the fact that Christian Science is a law—you could even say it is the law—does not equate to it being dry, boring, or task-oriented. God is Love, says the Bible, so Christian Science is literally the law of Love. How could praying not bring joy?
I’ve noticed that praying doesn’t feel joyous when I am trying to use prayer to accomplish something.
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