One of the most revolutionary religious teachings is that of Christian Science concerning prayer. This Science removes prayer from the realm of blind faith and mere petition into the domain of accurate, ever-operative divine law. Its teachings do away with a doubtful, weak trust in a changeable, persuadable, and distant God, and show one how to demonstrate the God who is divine Principle, Love. In Christian Science we learn that answered prayer is the result of the spiritual awareness of the presence of God and His kingdom, for the purpose of prayer is to render thought receptive to the ever-present harmonies of divine Love.
The Apostle James states tersely (James 5:16), "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." Some time before this, Christ Jesus taught (Mark 11:24), "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." When he stood before the tomb of Lazarus, he refuted the material sense evidence which claimed that Lazarus, still behind the forbidding stone walls, was shrouded in the mesmerism of death. With impressive certitude he prayed (John 11:41, 42): "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always." Lazarus, as we know, came forth, giving proof of the law of eternal Life which Jesus had applied.
When Jesus fed the multitude, he brushed aside the sense evidence of a meager supply, and looked away from the pitifully inadequate number of loaves and fishes into reality, "up to heaven." Prayerfully he contemplated the divine fact of Love's unfailing law of supply, and forthwith demonstrated law in satisfying the human need of all those present.
