Through the many incidents of answered prayer recorded in the Old and New Testaments we see that prayer is not and cannot be crystallized, but is impelled and characterized by the nature or need of a present situation or condition of thought. It is always a sincere and active seeking of good. Yet the goal and quality of the prayer are determined by the degree of spiritual vision of the one who prays.
Saul of Tarsus, for instance, while wholeheartedly following his chosen mission of opposing and persecuting Christians, was devoting himself to what at the time he considered the highest good, mistaken though it was, and in doing so must have been actively engaged in prayer—must have had an unreserved and consecrated desire to serve God; and it must have been by virtue of this consecration that he was awakened to discern the Christ and to know God as He is. The sincerity of his prayer opened his eyes to the true light and to a redeemed sense of good. True prayer must lead to a spiritual—actual—understanding of God.
From the point of view of absolute Science, prayer is not a divine activity because it is not included in the nature of God. That which is omnipotent, which is forever aware of its own supremacy, naturally could not pray, for it has nothing to pray for or to desire, but includes within its own infinitude the forever progressive unfolding of every right idea.
