Confidence in our prayers

2nd Church Berkeley readings, 5/20/15
SH Ps. 46:1
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
SH I John 5:14, 15
14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
SH John 4:46-53
46 So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death. 48 Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. 49 The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die. 50 Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth. 52 Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house.
SH Mark 1:35
35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.
SH Matt. 7:7
7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
SH John 16:28 2nd I, 32 1st yet, 33
28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. 32 …yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. 33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.
SH Luke 9:1, 2, 10-12 (to 1st :), 13 (to 1st ;), 16, 17
1 Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. 2 And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. 10 And the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they had done. And he took them, and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. 11 And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing. 12 And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and get victuals: 13 But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, We have no more but five loaves and two fishes; 16 Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude. 17 And they did eat, and were all filled: and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets.
SH Matt. 14:23 (to 1st :), 35, 36
23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: 35 And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased; 36 And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.
SH I Tim. 2:1-4
1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
SH 1:1-4
THE prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the
sick is an absolute faith that all things are
possible to God,- a spiritual understanding of Him,
an unselfed love.
SH 1:11-14
Mind. Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from
trusting God with our desires, that they may be
moulded and exalted before they take form in words
and in deeds.
SH 2:15-3
Prayer cannot change the Science of being, but it
tends to bring us into harmony with it. Goodness at-
tains the demonstration of Truth. A request that
God will save us is not all that is required. The mere
habit of pleading with the divine Mind, as one pleads
with a human being, perpetuates the belief in God as
humanly circumscribed,- an error which impedes spirit-
ual growth.
God is Love. Can we ask Him to be more? God is
intelligence. Can we inform the infinite Mind of any-
thing He does not already comprehend?
Do we expect to change perfection? Shall
we plead for more at the open fount, which is pour-
ing forth more than we accept? The unspoken desire
does bring us nearer the source of all existence and
blessedness.
Asking God to be God is a vain repetition. God is
“the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever;” and
He who is immutably right will do right without being
reminded of His province. The wisdom of man is not
sufficient to warrant him in advising God.
SH 15:26-27
Self-forgetfulness,
purity, and affection are constant prayers.
SH 4:12
The habitual struggle to be always good is unceas-
ing prayer. Its motives are made manifest in the
blessings they bring,- blessings which, even if not
acknowledged in audible words, attest our worthiness
to be partakers of Love.
SH 9:32-6
nature? Consistent prayer is the desire to do right.
Prayer means that we desire to walk and will walk in
the light so far as we receive it, even though with bleed-
ing footsteps, and that waiting patiently on the Lord,
we will leave our real desires to be rewarded by Him.
The world must grow to the spiritual understanding
of prayer.
SH 12:31-1
In divine
Science, where prayers are mental, all may avail them-
selves of God as “a very present help in trouble.
SH 394:28-29
We should remember that Life is God, and that God
is omnipotent.
SH 396:22-26
At the right time explain to the sick the power which
their beliefs exercise over their bodies. Give them divine
and wholesome understanding, with which to
combat their erroneous sense, and so efface the
images of sickness from mortal mind.
SH 397:12-22
When an ac-
cident happens, you think or exclaim, “I am hurt!”
Your thought is more powerful than your words, more
powerful than the accident itself, to make the injury
real.
Now reverse the process. Declare that you are not hurt
and understand the reason why, and you will find the
ensuing good effects to be in exact proportion to your
disbelief in physics, and your fidelity to divine meta-
physics, confidence in God as All, which the Scriptures
declare Him to be.
SH 398:32 The
The great fact remains that evil is not mind. Evil has
no power, no intelligence, for God is good, and therefore
good is infinite, is All.
SH 16:1-5, 7-11, 20
A great sacrifice of material things must precede this
advanced spiritual understanding. The highest prayer
is not one of faith merely; it is demonstra-
tion. Such prayer heals sickness, and must
destroy sin and death.
Our Master taught his disciples one brief prayer,
which we name after him the Lord’s Prayer. Our Mas-
ter said, “After this manner therefore pray
ye,” and then he gave that prayer which
covers all human needs.
Only as we rise above all material sensuousness and
sin, can we reach the heaven-born aspiration and spir-
itual consciousness, which is indicated in the Lord’s
Prayer and which instantaneously heals the sick.
Here let me give what I understand to be the spir-
itual sense of the Lord’s Prayer:
SH 14:22-24
the body, and present with Truth and Love.] The
Lord’s Prayer is the prayer of Soul, not of material
sense.
SH 13:10-12, 14-16
If our petitions are sincere, we labor for what we
ask; and our Father, who seeth in secret, will reward
us openly.
sooner by words than by thoughts? Even if prayer is
sincere, God knows our need before we tell Him or our
fellow-beings about it.

SH iii:6

Oh! Thou
hast heard my prayer;
And I am blest!
This is Thy high behest: —
Thou here, and everywhere.
Mary
Baker G. Eddy

Hymns:
146
270
124


Ps. 46:1
I John 5:14, 15
John 4:46-53
Mark 1:35
Matt. 7:7
John 16:28 2nd I, 32 yet, 33
Luke 9:1, 2, 10-12 (to :), 13 (to ;), 16, 17
Matt. 14:23 (to :), 35, 36
I Tim. 2:1-4
SH 1:1-4
SH 1:11-14
SH 2:15-3
SH 15:26-27
SH 4:12
SH 9:32-6
SH 12:31-1
SH 394:28-29
SH 396:22-26
SH 397:12-22
SH 398:32 The
SH 16:1-5, 7-11, 20
SH 14:22-24
SH 13:10-12, 14-16
SH iii:6

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