Prayer

The value of prayer is significant. It is prayer that puts us on the pathway to self realization. It enables us to give up the pseudo-control of our lives, control which we never had in the first place, to a higher unseen power. In this simple act we become connected to higher power and are able to tap into this infinite power.

It is presumed that higher power, the divine source, knows what our needs are before we ask them to be satisfied, therefore, the most valuable prayers are those that open us up to receiving the blessings that are already established for us to receive. In other words, when we surrender control of our lives and when we accept the higher will, we receive the greater blessings, This is what prayer is designed to do, to open us up to receiving the divine will. St. Francis of Assisi put in very beautiful words:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
And it is in dying that we are
Born to eternal life.

When I was learning to meditate, it was a prayer that opened the gates up for me to begin to discover the true value of meditation. That prayer was a simple one. It became my personal spiritual affirmation: "Thy will Oh Lord, not mine be done" This is what opens us up to receiving the greater good. There is a divine will at work in your life, an unseen power. When you open yourself up to it and let it guide you, your life becomes a powerful tool for your personal evolution and for the evolution of the human race.