In our prayers we may helpfully consider three important phases: affirmation, pleading, and praise. These are readily discernible in a careful study of the Lord's Prayer, together with its spiritual interpretation, as given by Mary Baker Eddy on pages 16 and 17 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures."
The various affirmative statements of truth given in the Bible and our textbook, when accompanied by faith and spiritual understanding, are prayers. For example, the twenty-third Psalm begins, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want," and continues with verses affirming David's consciousness of God's loving presence, power, and protection.
Another powerful affirmation is found in Jesus' words at the tomb of Lazarus: "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always." And Lazarus rose from the dead.
