A Practitioner’s Perspective
by Heather Epps, RScP
As I have taken all the spirituality classes over the years, there have been many opportunities to learn the affirmative prayer techniques established by the Science of Mind founder and author, Ernest Holmes. At first, I felt intimidated by this formal way of praying however, over time I realized that, as Holmes says, every thought is a form of prayer and Spirit is always listening.
There are many reasons to keep prayer as an important spiritual practice, and I hope that you are routinely praying for yourself and others. The Bible says that “Faith can move mountains” and prayer is a powerful way to practice your faith.
There have been many triple-blind, peer reviewed and randomized controlled scientific studies about prayer showing its effectiveness, so we can stand firm in our belief that prayer works! These studies have shown that personality traits such as optimism, expecting a response, and degree of engagement with a ritual all influence the outcome of prayer.
This past summer, many of us participated in the class on abundance where we prayed for unexpected income and watched abundance flow around us throughout the summer. Each time I have taken such a class, participants experienced receiving money very unexpectedly from unexpected sources. Prayer just works.
The Centers for Spiritual Living teach a five-step prayer and our Practitioners provide such a prayer every Sunday in our community. Let me review the five steps of our prayers!
Step One is to affirm our belief in Spirit (using any name) as we remind ourselves of its role in creating the Universe. We acknowledge the presence of this Power in all places at all times.
Step Two is bringing God’s creative power to the individual level, acknowledging that the same Creative Energy that is responsible for the Universe’s creation is also responsible for the individual’s creation. Spirit within me is the creative power at work in this prayer. Holmes instructs that these steps should last until the one praying knows this Truth for themselves.
Step three is the affirmative part of our prayer. In this part of the prayer, we pray in the present tense for whatever goodness we desire for ourselves or for others. If you are praying for yourself, you are free to be specific, but specificity often limits the outcome! In other words, why pray for $50 when you can pray for money to live comfortably or extravagantly? This is why you will not hear Practitioners give specific requests. Instead, the focus is on what we want to experience overall – abundance in this case.
If you are praying for someone else, we teach you to seek their permission for praying for anything specific. We can’t pretend to know what is best for someone else’s life. If I don’t know what they want, I can always pray for the highest and best outcome for them in any given situation. For example, maybe I think my daughter really needs the job she just applied for, and maybe she also thinks this is the perfect job for her. But maybe, there is a better job, paying more or more suited to her skills and needs. It is most powerful to invite God to bring to each of us what is best.
The last two steps are much simpler. Step Four is where I express gratitude for the prayer and for the goodness of God. We know the power of saying thank you in advance!
Lastly, in Step Five I release this prayer to God, fully believing that it is done and fully surrendering the details of its fulfillment. We close, symbolizing that the prayer is done. by saying “And So It Is!” And sometimes, we say these four words with the enthusiasm best exhibited by our very own Remi!
Let’s pray together! It works!