THERE is a prayer of supplication, and the nature of that prayer is to ask, to plead, to beg God to be good. There is a prayer of affirmation, it is the prayer of faith; its nature is to declare that God is good, and thereby reflect a consciousness of God's presence and power.
Jesus said to his disciples, "Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." Herein we learn how to pray, and the Christian Scientist employs the method of prayer expounded by Jesus in the words, "He shall have whatsoever he saith." Saith is the word used. It shall be as a man affirms or declares, rather than as he pleads. It therefore becomes necessary that we affirm the truth, and the truth only; but before we can declare the truth, we must know what is truth, for to know the truth is to find freedom. If we declare trustingly and understandingly that God is good, our experience will be in keeping with this declaration. Christian Science prayer is a declaration of those things which are, and which "shall come to pass" in so far as the Christian Scientist makes his affirmation in faith and understanding. Such prayer is a declaration of God and of His man, therefore it is man's declaration of independence, in the true sense of freedom. Know (declare) the truth, "and the truth shall make you free," describes a Christian Science prayer and its effects in human experience. When we pray or treat, we scientifically "entertain and declare" the subject of Being,— the subject of God and man.
When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, his prayer was simple and commanding. He said, "come forth." and it was as he said. He faced death; he declared or bore witness to the power of Life. Christian Scientists face disease, face it with the courage of knowledge, and pray the prayer of affirmation, believing that those things which they say shall come to pass. They speak the word of Truth, they say "Come forth," for man is not dead in sin, is not bound by disease; mortal sense is asleep under mortal law—the heavy mesmeric sleep of Adam. All salvation is won by this same prayer of spiritual command or affirmation. Spiritual sense saith, "Come forth—come out of mortal law into the spiritual law of being; come out of the sense of yourself as buried in mortality, as bound in matter,—come into the spiritual sense of man. Let the Christ; speak within, as of old 'Rise,' 'come forth.'" Believing that it shall come to pass, one shall come forth a risen man, risen out of the false beliefs of sin, disease, and sleep.
