IN these days of upheaval the restless children of men through necessity often turn to God in prayer—prayer for peace, security, and supply. The need and value of prayer were known to Moses, Enoch, Noah, Daniel, Solomon, and other Old Testament characters, all of whom prayed to God in meekness and humility. They prayed with confidence, expecting an answer. Theirs were answered prayers!
Mankind often prays to a finite, personal God for worldly accumulations, high places, and great power; it prays with human will for the increasing of profits, amassing of wealth, and selfish purposes. Christian Science teaches that since God is unchanging, ever-present good, prayer neither persuades nor conciliates God. It does, however, purify desire and increase the expectancy of good. Sincere prayer, or communion with God, acquaints one with His oneness and allness, until it is seen that prayer and its answer must be inseparable.
Jesus knew these spiritual facts. His prayers included affirmations of truth and denials of error. They were protests of loyalty to Principle, affirmed in declarations of God's allness and man's conscious at-one-ment with God. Everything opposed to good was denied reality and excluded from his thought and action.
