“When you pray give yourselves! This only I wish to call out to you, and in the word itself you have the explanation. Give yourselves to the Lord in your prayer, give yourselves entirely to Him and without reserve! Prayer must be the unfolding of your spirit at the feet of God in veneration, praise and gratitude for everything He grants you out of His great Love1.
HOW TO PRAY: 1. Introduction
All forms of prayer demand a personal commitment; and although we may share the moments of prayer with others, the actual act must remain a personal one. Even when we intercede for others, the outcome to a great extent depends on the purity of our personal intuitive volition with regards to the individual we are praying for and of course also on that person’s intuitive perception. In discussing how to pray therefore, we must always bear in mind that this is a purely personal approach to God irrespective of the circumstances.
To make a habit of formal group praying in gatherings that are not intended for an approach to the God, such as meetings for business, work or leisure are often not genuine. Such prayers as indicated earlier are intended for self or group glorification or at best to give the individuals a sense of having fulfilled all obligations. They are part of the hypocritical form of prayer that Christ condemned. If prayer is not thoroughly inwardly experienced, through and through, it has no value and therefore will have no effect2. Whenever or wherever we pray, we must recognise that we are presenting ourselves before the steps of the throne of the Highest and must comport ourselves accordingly.
The Lord Jesus teaches us how and how not to pray. “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth; they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to you Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like the pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them for your Father knows what you need before you ask him”3.
This important teaching may be summarised as condemning hypocritical prayer and the use of too many words, as well as emphasising that prayer is an inner intuitive process and that the Father already has foreknowledge of our needs. The Son of God, Jesus, here strongly criticises public exhibition of piety but this is not an indication that prayer is something that should be hidden. When we have to pray in public it must be free of hypocrisy. It should not be because we are required to do so, it is the done thing or that it is trending as this generation will regard it.
A misunderstanding of this injunction to personal intuitive praying has resulted in some serious individuals becoming oversensitive to the point of feeling ashamed to show that they pray. But they err; for prayer is the most beautiful activity the human spirit can indulge in. Even Christ Himself in spite of His Divine origin prayed publicly many times. There is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of in declaring your dependency on the only source of Life, for we are all dependent on Him, whether we openly acknowledge it or not. On the other hand, there is everything to be proud of in acknowledging and proclaiming the Lord God. But it must be done in sincerity, with deep intuitive awareness of the Majesty we are approaching. To approach God in prayer, whether in public or in private requires the same inner spiritual movement, the same reverence.
The Lord, Jesus also tells us here that prayer should not consist of many words. Our Father already knows what we need and in expressing and bringing this need to Him in prayer, we are only declaring our dependency and love for Him. It is therefore the sincerity and love with which we approach Him, the purity and depth of the intuitive perception, which determines the ascent of the prayer and guarantees an answer rather than the mode or verbosity of our prayer. We do not need to convince the Father that we deserve His Love and Mercy for He has already given us these as an act of grace without our deserving them.
The importance and the continuing relevance of this teaching of the Lord is seen in the fact that even today Christians tend to babble a lot in prayer. Some people go on for hours in noisy acclamations they regard as praise, and sometimes even go into frenzies of ecstasy that is often attributable to crowd hysteria rather than an inner consciousness of the Lord. This is only different in degree from the practice of pagans who believe that their many words convince their deity, and who not only have to flatter but sometimes even threaten their so-called gods. These pagan frenzies of ecstasy that invariably lead to orgies are today duplicated, not only in rave parties but unfortunately also in gatherings that claim to worship the Lord.
Prayer should be an overflow of our deeply perceived needs, an overflow of the perceptive state of our spirits, straight from our innermost being without our having to think about it. Even in a very public place, even in the midst of all contrary obstacles, we can always withdraw into our inner sanctuary and speak directly to our Father.
We worship God through the activities of our spirits, that is when we spiritualise all that we do, and so prayer is synonymous with worship when it arises as spiritual movement. The spirit bears within it only noble and pure qualities, which we are to express in all our activities. Our thoughts and words should be an anthem of praise to His glory. Our work must form a prayer of gratitude to God for His Goodness and Love showered upon us, and this can only be achieved when we know and obey His Will at all times. In the Wisdom of the Creator everything man will ever need had been provided in Creation, and we only need to obey His Will in order to receive. The fundamental condition for genuine prayer is the knowledge of the working of Creation which bear the Will of God through its laws.
The most beautiful prayer lies in those activities that engender love and kind consideration for others. We are connected to the Light through such activities that are good and pure, which rise upward to the Luminous heights; and reciprocally this attracts all that we need, rendering all petitions unnecessary. Hence it is only in a constant volition for the good and in purity of our thoughts that real prayer lies. Our lives will then become a thanksgiving for the Goodness of our God.
The essence of prayer is to remain connected with the Light, with the Almighty Father at all times and to belong to Him; and this can only be achieved through our activities that are good, pure and noble such as love and kind consideration for one another.
Forms of Prayer
There can therefore be only one form of prayer that is guaranteed to ascend to the steps of God’s Throne. And this is prayer that arises from our spiritual intuitive movement. However, in common with the habit of classifying everything in other to understand them, which essentially points to the fact that these proceed from intellectual analysis, we generally consider prayer as consisting of worship, thanksgiving, fasting, intercession, praise, adoration etc., depending on the understanding and practices of various sects and individuals.
In all these designated forms, the basis of the prayer that may be expected to ascend to the Light remain only those imbued with intuitive movement of the spirit; an intuitive approach to the Eternal One, whose Majesty, is unapproachable in any other way. Therefore, no matter the external form any prayer may take it cannot be effective unless it comes from our innermost being, our secret unseen place.
The intuitive approach itself proceeds from the individual in one of two ways. The first is a spontaneous intuitive overflow arising from a deeply felt need of the moment, which is often so intense that we cannot find the words to express them, the only outward expression being perhaps only an outcry or deep groans. This arises from within the individual out of his/her intuition without reflection, through the experiencing of the moment. As the intuition arises it then veils itself in words1.
Intuitive movement directed to the Light may also arise in a more formal manner, when we deliberately decide to approach our Creator. This approach seeks by prior forming of thought and words, by prior reflection, to awaken a deep intuitive link to the Luminous Heights. We form words first and by working backwards seek to set free the corresponding intuition through the words1. These are the only two forms of prayer that could be regarded as an approach to the Eternal One.
Prayer as pure spiritual movement belongs unconditionally to worship which encompasses every approach to the Creator that swings in purity and is expressed automatically in the process of daily living. Such prayers arise from or are imbued with strong intuitive , inner spiritual movement. Even planned or organised approaches to the Almighty, such as thanksgivings, praise, fasting etc. may be elevated to worship if imbued with spiritual intuitive volition.
Petitions, properly defined, also represent intuitive spiritual activity. Petitioning in its true sense defines the ability of the human spirit to automatically take out of Creation (see next blog). This potential within the human spirit to take out of Creation whatsoever it strongly wills is the great assurance from the Light that if we ask or seek we must receive. Such petitions where the spirit, without any formal deliberation, opens itself to the power of God in Creation, which it then uses to receive its desires out of Creation or form its works, when pure may also be regarded as worship. The guidance given in revealed religion and indeed by the Son of God in the Lord’s Prayer represents helps to achieve this important act of taking from God’s Creation in a manner that reflects our spirituality and dependency, i.e., in humility and purity.
Therefore, petitions are not synonymous with and must not be equated with begging or demanding as is often the practice. Petitioning and intercessions that do not arise from spontaneous intuitive movement, although also considered as prayer, do not truly belong to worship. They are formal prayers that retain the potential to rise if the thought and words can awaken the spiritual intuition. Unfortunately, the formal forms of prayer, irrespective of our good intentions, do not always result in the awakening of the intuition. Distractions limit the possibility of releasing the intuitive awakening within the individual and such prayers often result in caricatures of the sanctity of the spirit’s approach to its Creator.
The word of Truth in the Grail Message explains the process; ‘It is only the intuitive perception embraced by the words which depending on their strength and purity ascend above the boundaries of formed words. Words are meant in part only as signposts to indicate the direction, which the ray of the intuitive perception should take. In part, they also release the nature of the rays within man himself, who uses the formed word as a support and as a cloak’1.
Other formal approaches to prayer that may or may not arise from or awaken the spiritual intuition are joint hours and other group gatherings for prayer. The degree of intuitive spiritual connection formed can elevate such group activities to the status of worship. Thus, in such gatherings the individuals receive differently depending on the purity and fervour of their personal intuitive movement. While some receive in abundant grace others receive no benefit at all and may, by constituting disturbances and by generating thoughts that dishonour God, even harm themselves. Prayer, whether spontaneous or formal, must have as its basis the inner movement of the spiritual intuition. Any form of prayer that lacks intuition is hypocritical and may be blasphemous. It is better not to pray at all than to bring dishonour to the name of the Lord God in a caricature of prayer.
The wrong understanding of petitions and intercessions as begging is at the root of many aberrations we call worship or prayer. It is not surprising that those who correctly perceiving the importance of prayer but lacking the understanding of the true meaning and process of prayer, sometimes degenerate to personal flagellation, bodily tortures and contortions and even to emulating pagan orgies, in a vain attempt to reproduce the deep abiding joy of feeling connected to God. They misrepresent the euphoria and ecstasy artificially induced thereby for a connection to the Almighty.
When and Where to Pray
With the correct understanding of prayer as worship, the answer to the question as to when and where to pray is answered. This may be summarised in one phrase – we should pray everywhere and every time. As David said in the first Psalm, we must delight in the Law of the Lord and on His Laws meditate day and night. Not meditations in the sense of deep intellectual reflections or transcendental meditation of Eastern philosophy. Meditation here simply means a conscious awareness of the dictates of the Will of God or at least a conscious seeking for His Will at all times and in all things.
That we could pass every minute of our life in prayer may appear impossible to a superficial observer. Where then is the time to eat, to drink, and to undertake our daily chores and needs; time for all those things we love to ‘enjoy’? Praying everywhere and every time simply implies subjugating all our activities to the Will of God; being intuitively alert to every event and at every moment of our existence, and referring all to the glory of God. This is the essence of the admonition from the Son of God to watch and pray always.
The Grail Message deepens our understanding of the Word from the Light. “The watching concerns your life on earth, during which you must at any moment be ready of your own accord clearly to sense the impressions assailing you, and also to weigh and scrutinise them, as well as carefully to examine beforehand everything emanating from you. Praying, however, ensures the maintenance of the connection with the Luminous Heights, and the opening of oneself to holy streams of power for earthly application”4.
Living in this consciousness of the Creator in our lives is true prayer – a conscious subjugation of our own will and volition to the Will of God. A wrong attitude towards the understanding of this injunction to pray at all times and in all circumstances is exemplified by the conduct of the apparently pious Pharisees during the time of the Lord, Jesus on earth. They pray in public corners and streets where they are guaranteed to be noticed. In condemning this public display of prayer Christ taught us to pray in our inner being, our secret sacred altar, so that our Father who sees in secret will reward us. If we pray in or for public notice, we already have our reward in their acclamation.
Unfortunately, this was again interpreted to mean that we need to hide to pray and some extremely zealous individuals have gone to the extent of developing a phobia for praying openly. What the Lord adjourned is that we pray in and with our inner spiritual being, the secret and most sacred part of our being that has the capacity to connect with the Luminous Heights. As such this does not require a dedicated time or place and does not require any particular position such as kneeling or standing but is a total dedication of self to God. The Grail Message admonishes: “Make your work a prayer, spiritualise the work of your hands! In its performance, every task should become a reverential worship of God in gratitude that God has given you the chance to accomplish something extraordinary among all the creatures of this Subsequent Creation, if only you so wish!”5.
Prayer as worship is an intensely personal intuitive experience. It is an automatic affirmation of God by the conduct of our lives. It means to live and experience in the perpetual consciousness of the presence of God surrounding us in His Will. Continuous experiencing in the consciousness of an Ever Present, All Seeing and All-Knowing God is the foundation for worship.
Prayer should be the pivot on which our lives revolve. We should approach Him with our work and in our leisure, in our thoughts and in our words, in our homes and in public. In what we read, what we eat, how we dress, how we conduct ourselves and indeed in every single facet of our being. Not just on Sundays, Festive holidays or formal occasions. Prayer and worship for us therefore means to live, to experience – an automatic consequence of existence for a spiritual being that has come to ego consciousness.
The connection with the Luminous Height can only be kept open through intuitive activity in prayerful worship and so our standard of worship is also a measure of the alertness of our spirit in Subsequent Creation.
Obviously, proficiency in this cannot, at our present level of development, be achieved overnight or just by an act of our will. It can only be achieved by perseverance as Christ indicated in many parables. The more often we turn to our Creator in up-building activity, the more familiar we become with the act and the more spontaneous and freer will become our prayers.
It is a poor understanding of what prayer means when people indulge in loud, even noisy acclamations at specified periods or make unreasonable demands by insisting that their Creator must answer because they have condescended to believe in His Son; or because they are so precious that He had to come to earth to shed His blood for their salvation. They command, they cast out and bind and they even pray that the Almighty, the Eternal Love, enthroned in unapproachable Perfection stoop to destroy their perceived enemies in some gruesome way or other.
Apart from a lack of love and consideration for their neighbours, such approaches are reminiscent of pagan worship. There is no better way to thank our Creator or to worship Him than in joyful activity in whatever we are permitted to do. The human spirit who thankfully receives the power of the Creator flowing through us all, and joyfully transforms this into up-building activity in matter stands aright in Creation.
In this way, we offer the best form of prayer – spontaneous thanksgiving and worship; and this we can do with every moment of our life, whether awake or asleep, for the spirit never sleeps. If we serve in the Will of God by keeping our intuition pure and focused on Him, even the periods of sleep will come to represent hours of blissful worship free from the cares of every day inconveniences.
It should be the goal of all true human spirits on earth, to reach the state of existing in pure consciousness of God at all times and in all circumstances, thus in a perpetual state of worship and thanksgiving. In the joy of being permitted to exist in His Creation.
- In The Light of Truth, The Grail Message by Abd-ru-shin. Volume III.36.
- In The Light of Truth, The Grail Message by Abd-ru-shin. Volume II-19
- Matthew 6:5-8
- In the Light of Truth, The Grail Message by Abd-ru-shin. Volume III-41
- In The Light of Truth, The Grail Message by Abd-ru-shin. Volume III-1
ThePureGate.com 
Great job
LikeLike