PRAYER AS TAUGHT BY CHRIST AND OTHER TEACHERS OF MANKIND

Christ gave us an immeasurable lot when it comes to prayer. Just like He taught us to keep our speech simple He made it clear that this commandment applied to prayer as well. Jesus also gave us The Lord’s Prayer. This prayer alone provides everything for the seeker if he pene­trates into it deeply and grasps it aright. The Grail Message makes it clear to us that the Lord’s Prayer is the very essence of Christ’s Message. It says further that the Lord’s Prayer shows man the whole gospel in concentrated form and is the key to heaven for him who knows how to experience it rightly. It can be both a staff and a torch for the advance and ascent of everyone! This is also the reason why we are not meant to rattle it off as if we are rendering a nursery rhyme.

Unlike the usual begging list men are used to, the Lord’s Prayer contains mainly promises man makes to his Creator. These sentences: “Our Father Who art in Heaven!”, “Hallowed be Thy Name”, “Thy Kingdom come”, “Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven” – are actual promises to the Almighty which we should not make with levity as such carelessness have dire consequences.

The very first petition “Give us this day our daily bread!”  comes only after the vows.   And the Grail Message gave the true meaning of this petition thus:

“When I have fulfilled what I promised, let Thy Blessing rest upon my earthly work so that, in attending to my physi­cal needs, I may always retain the time to live according to Thy Will!”

Also, see the workings of the Law of Sowing and Reaping in the petition: “And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us!” When you pray this way you express your confidence in the law of sowing and reaping ordained by the Will of God. You are agreeing that the forgiveness of your own sins is conditional upon your having previously forgiven all the wrongs inflicted upon you by your fellow-men. 

Jesus also instructed that we avoid the public and pray in privacy. And we find a good example of this in Mohammed the Lord’s servant sent to the people of Arabia who in preparation for his task went to a lonely spot not far from Medina and there he fasted and prayed for seven days.

Under Mohammed’s spiritual leadership, five prayers a day was decreed in order to be able at all times to live in God’s Will and His Holy Presence. Furthermore, when praying the people were to turn their faces towards the East. Mohammed explained: “The Light comes from the East, you see it with the earthly sun. Open yourselves to the Light that would enlighten you, and look towards it.” Even the prescribed ablutions of the body were meant to remind the people that purity of soul is the indispensable condition for fulfilling the Will of God.

There is a lot to be learnt from a prayer sent up by Lao-Tse another servant of God who was sent to the people of China many centuries ago. One day, he perceived with gratitude how he had been guided from above and sought to show appreciation. So moving were the words in which his prayer was cloaked: “Sublime, Almighty God, I no longer wish to be anything myself. Make me into an ever better instrument of Thine, into Thy servant!”

I hope from all the forgoing we have noticed that prayer is not just about asking and begging for only earthly things. Our core as man is spirit. As such we need to pay more attention to spiritual things and this ought to be the priority as we approach the Throne of our Heavenly Father.