Prayer that Heals

Search online or in a store for books on prayer and you will find hundreds of choices.  The Surrender Prayer, The Power of a Praying Wife, 31 Days of Prayer for My Children, Prayer: Does it Make Any Difference?, The Battle Plan for Prayer, Prayer: The Ultimate Conversation, The Prayer Map for Boys, Pocket Prayers, Prayers That Avail Much, and Prayer: Our Deepest Longing are just some of the many titles that I found.  Clearly, many people have an interest in prayer.

The first chapter of the book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy is titled “Prayer” and contains some original and arresting ideas about this topic.  For example, consider this statement:

 “Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual, - neither in nor of matter, - and the body will then utter no complaints.  If suffering from a belief in sickness, you will find yourself suddenly well.”

Could such a thing be true?  Does prayer really have this kind of power?  Yes!  I’ve experienced this!

Last summer, while on a camping trip, I was digging a hole using a spade.  I wasn’t being very careful about this task and I was only wearing sandals.  Unfortunately, I struck one of my big toes with the spade.  There was bleeding and the pain was intense, but I was aware of the statement quoted above about how to pray, so I immediately endeavored to put this into practice.

Turning my thought away from the evidence of the injury, I focused on the idea that my true being was spiritual and was not in matter or controlled by matter.  I wasn’t just thinking about this superficially or applying a rote formula.  I had been carefully reading the book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, and contemplating the ideas it presents about man’s spiritual being.  So my prayer at this moment was a deep and sincere effort to understand and apply the truth of what I had been reading.  Very quickly, I felt a sense of peace and the bleeding and pain ceased.  My prayer was answered!

Although my toenail was damaged and it took a year for a new one to grow out, this did not affect any of my activities.  Not only did I finish my digging project, but I had an active summer of hiking and bicycling without any further pain or limitation from this incident.

You can read Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures online or purchase it from Amazon or any major book retailer.  It is also available for sale or study at the Christian Science Reading Room in Evergreen, Colorado at 4602 Plettner Lane.

The Christ - An Answer for Opiod Drug Addiction?

The drug crisis in our country has been the topic of much discussion in the news.  Rehabilitation and treatment programs, caring and supportive families, medical experts, and law enforcement are all working to free people from the enslaving and often fatal scourge of drug addition.  In many cases these efforts don't seem to be enough.  My experience suggests that something else that can be effective is the Christ.

What is the Christ?  Jesus demonstrated the Christ-power to us in his brief ministry long ago.  He healed physical and mental sicknesses, freed people from their involvement in sinful activities, and even raised the dead.  Although Jesus is no longer with us in the flesh, many Christians believe that the Christ-power he represented is still with us today and appeal to it for help in their prayers.  Can these prayers help?

Mary Baker Eddy, a Christian teacher and healer, in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures describes the Christ as "a divine influence ever present in human consciousness and repeating itself, coming now as was promised aforetime, to preach deliverance to the captives [of sense], ... to set at liberty them that are bruised."  In my experience coaching youth soccer, handling business dealings and personal relationships, and even driving in traffic, I have found that understanding the Christ and silently acknowledging that the Christ is present, powerful, and speaking to my consciousness as well as the consciousness of all others, brings the power of this divine influence into the immediate human experience.  Not only does this divine influence come to me and give me the strength and wisdom to speak and do the right things, I find that those around me are also touched and respond outwardly in positive ways.

But does the Christ influence entering and altering the mundane experiences of my life mean that it can also alter serious issues like drug addiction, and on a nationwide scale?  In her book, Eddy says that because of the scientific nature of God's laws the lesser demonstration proves the greater "as the product of three multiplied by three, equalling nine, proves conclusively that three times three duodecillians must be nine duodecillions, - not a fraction more, not a unit less."  In fact, over the years, more than 30 testimonies have been published in the Christian Science Journal and Christian Science Sentinel of people healed of drug addiction through the power of the Christ!

So I am praying about the drug crisis in our country by turning my thought to the Christ and acknowledging that this divine influence is ever present in everyone's consciousness.  I am certain that this has a healing effect!

You can read Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures online or purchase it from Amazon or any major book retailer.  It is also available for sale or study at the Christian Science Reading Room in Evergreen, Colorado at 4602 Plettner Lane.