HELPING YOURSELF WITH SELECTED PRAYERS

Over 125 Prayers for Your Specific Needs

This book is full of prayers which are powerful and effective. Anyone who works with the saints should own this book. It also contains prayers to La Madama, the Congo Spirit, The Seven African Powers, and more. The pictures of saints are wonderful and the prayers are even better.

What to Pray For

To the ignorant and the uninitiated this may sound like a foolish question. But those of us who know the uses, to which prayer can be put, know differently.

The fool comes to God with a fool's questions. He may feel that he is entitled to ask for anything. Of course he is entitled to ask. But by the same token, God is not compelled to grant the request.

The first important thing to do is make certain just what it is that we want.

Someone once said that there were only two tragedies in life. One was not getting what we want, the other, getting it!

Sometimes we wish, hope, strive and even pray for things that will do us more harm than good. We have not thought sufficiently on the subject of our desire.

So my first injunction is, "Know what to pray for."

The second important thing to remember is what we should not pray for something that is going to harm another. And that goes for no matter whom the somebody else happens to be.

There are no enemies in our life. We are our own first and worst enemy. We must learn to conquer ourselves.

The Good Book tells us that, “He who conquers himself is greater than he who conquers a city”. Hence we must first of all be masters ourselves.

God is not here to help us wreak vengeance on any person. We should pray for people, not against them.

The cross, the hex, the evil eye, the curse of malediction are the properties of the devil, and have no place in our dealing with god.

We all know the familiar story of the person who prayed for vengeance. He asked that a terrible curse be placed on another. This person prayed regularly and fervently that some misfortune be visited on another. That was the only aim in his life.

By a strange and ironical twist of fate, the very misfortune that he wished on the head of another, fell on his own life. So he was repaid for his prayer.

Had this person used the same time, effort and energy on intelligently applied prayer, he might have been able to reap the benefits that God gives to them who put their trust in Him and in Him alone.

So my second injunction is “Pray only for Good."

The third important thing to remember is to pray for something that fits into our life. Something that we are prepared for, something that should belong to us.

For example: It would be folly for each of us to ask God to make us the President of the United States. To begin with, very few people are prepared or equipped to be President, and there can be but one President at a time.

Other people pray for a million dollars. What they should really pray for is the opportunity to work, and earn a fair salary.

We must pray for those things that are within our reach, things that fit into our lives. Those things that we are prepared to accept and accomplish.

As we progress in our studies, we become more expert in our contacts with God. We build up our receptiveness. As the fruits of our prayers come to us, we are prepared. When the time comes, we understand and appreciate the blessings that our sincere prayers are sure to bring us.

God gives us a sign to show us that He has heard our prayers. It is up to us to discover the way in which God has worked His wonder to perform.

Our growth and development control our ability to recognize these signs.

So my third injunction is "Pray for the things that are yours."

The fourth important thing to bear in mind is that we can pray for another.

Very often our lives are so intimately tied up with the life of another, that the sympathetic bond becomes a real spiritual bond.

There are people whose lives influence one another. It may be man and wife. It may be parent and child. It may be friends. It may be lovers. It may be any two people whose understanding sympathy makes them, to all spiritual intents and purposes, one.

These people are usually ones who have developed the spiritual understanding to such a degree that they can keep their prayers within the limits that understanding prayer demands.

Some people have developed their receptiveness to so high a degree that they can influence the lives of others in a beneficial way. They are the High Chosen Few. Those whose lives and efforts have attained so high a spiritual plane that their saintliness shines from them like a nimbus or a halo of light.

They are the True Priests of Life. They understand the physical and spiritual limitations of others. Knowing and understanding these limitations, they know how to help with their prayers.

In matters of deep despondency and sadness, in matters of illness and health, we can pray for help for those whom we love, or those who are near to us. God understands these prayers. He knows that they are unselfish prayers, and is ready to accept them as such.

So my fourth injunction is: "Raise your voice in prayer for those who are near you and those who call you, friend."

We must be as ready to give thanks, as we are to ask a favor. God measures our capacity for blessings by our ability to appreciate those things that we have.

We must learn to be thankful for small favors.

We must always be ready and willing to admit that we have been in error. That we were not prepared for the blessings that sincere Prayer brought to us, if we overlooked the opportunities to serve.

There should be no shame in facing God and telling Him that we have erred. That's why we are human beings. We must at all times be ready to forgive those who have trespassed against us. We should ask God to forgive them. Have we not a most beautiful example of forgiveness before us?

Remember how He said, in the midst of His travail: "Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do."

That should be our motto in Prayer.

For that moment when we can understandingly forgive others, that moment, we have made our most intimate contact with the Lord and Master.

Above all, we must be open and above board with our God. Never try to make excuses for anything that you've done. God knows your intention before you yourself have thought of it.

Hence we learn the answer to our Question: "What to Pray For" It is

PRAY FOR THE VISION TO SEE GOD’S WORKS.