⁵ “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. ⁶ But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

⁷ “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. ⁸ Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! ⁹ Pray like this:

   Our Father in heaven,
      may your name be kept holy.
   ¹⁰ May your Kingdom come soon.
   May your will be done on earth,
      as it is in heaven.
   ¹¹ Give us today the food we need,^[a]
   ¹² and forgive us our sins,
      as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
   ¹³ And don’t let us yield to temptation,^[b]
      but rescue us from the evil one.

Concerning Matthew 6:13 the words, “for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” is not in the earlier manuscripts.

This example of prayer Christ used to teach us is often referred to as the Lord’s Prayer. (In truth Christ’s prayer in the garden at Gethsemane is more appropriately what should be called “the Lord’s prayer”.) This prayer example Christ gave to us in Matthew 6 is not a prayer in itself but a ‘guide’ showing us how we should pray and what we should pray about. The example is worthy of memorizing and using as we would our invisible ‘rosary’ but the words were not intended to be vainly repeated over and over as our actual prayer. It was an example of what things we should pray about in our lives. I could expound and write a complete message on each and every line in this prayer showing what we deeply need to think about and talk to God about. Throughout my own life I have found at different phases or trials in my life one area or another of my prayer will be more in depth and more intense than others at that time. Sometimes just to cover every subject in this one example of prayer, it takes me several prayers throughout the day and by evening I usually realize there is even more I need to add.

As ministers it is so important that we are in connection with God at all times and in ‘tune’ with His will. We need to be talking to God on a daily basis so that we have His guidance and input in everything we do. It is so important for those of us who lead others. It is the only way to avoid the pit of dogma and manmade doctrines and the only way to teach the truth as given to us by Jesus Christ. Too easily we will fall into the ways of other religions and will be spouting the same things if we do not go to God in prayer every day ourselves. We do not want to put stumbling blocks in the ways of those we lead nor do we want to lead them astray. We will be held accountable if we do.

Let’s talk about how to make our personal prayer more meaningful and more powerful by realizing what our intentions are when we pray. It is not the form of our words or acts that brings us closer to God, but the sincerity of our intentions. Our love of God is not measured by the rituals we do or the forms we create, but by the intentions of our heart. Our intentions need to be ‘to serve’ and ‘to love’. We may lead a busy lifestyle, but if our soul is connected with Spirit our daily activities become communion. By contrast, there are people who go through rote prayers and rituals, but their minds and hearts are elsewhere. We live from our heart or we do not live at all. Here is a benchmark by which we can assess the quality of our actions and make important decisions: What is our intention? If we truly seek to serve and give love, we cannot fail.

I have for a long time enjoyed the inspirational writings of Alan Cohen. (Alan Cohen, M.A., is the author of 20 popular inspirational books and tapes, including the best-selling Handle with Prayer. Alan brings a warm blend of wisdom, intimacy, humor, and vision to the spiritual path.) Many of my own thoughts on prayer are echoed in his works. In one of his articles, A Most Powerful Prayer, Alan Cohen tells the story of an angel attempting to earn his permanent wings, who was given the mission of finding the person on earth whose prayers had the most power to reach the heaven.

The angel journeyed for a long time and returned with this report:

"I circled the entire world and found many people reciting rote prayers without feeling or conviction. Many prayed so that others would see them, others prayed for things to fulfill their worldly addictions, and some prayed to be victorious over others. Just as I was about to give up I heard the sobbing of a little boy in a poor section of a big city. Through his tears he was reciting, "A...B...C..." and on through the alphabet. When I listened closer I heard him pray, "Dear God, I do not know how to read and I cannot recite from the prayer book, but I love you with all my heart. You take these letters and form them into words that are pleasing to you." The angel was given his wings.

In the film How Green Was My Valley, Walter Pidgeon advises:

"When you pray, think. Think well what you're saying, and make your thoughts into things that are solid. In that way, your prayers will have strength, and that strength will become a part of you in body, mind, and spirit."

The best way for each of us to connect with God is in the individual ways that seem to work best for each of us. We mustn’t let semantics get in the way. We may talk to God as our father, mother, creator, spiritual guide, source or whatever words have meaning for ourselves. God looks on the heart and what has meaning for us will communicate from our heart. God is neither man nor woman and He can be approached as the ‘Absolute Father’, ‘Divine Mother’, or ‘Innocent Child’. God can be known personally through form, and God is beyond all form. God is the ultimate shape-shifter. Every religion has a different name for God, and frankly their prayers all get results as long as their prayers are meaningful, of good intent and come from the heart.

Remember, God knows our heart. Let’s use words that are meaningful to us and God will understand them as well. We should praise God, give thanks, ask forgiveness, ask for help, brainstorm and kick ideas around, and talk over our frustrations. God is not intimidated by us. He understands frustration. He is a loving parent. He wants us to come to Him with all our troubles and all our aspirations and seek His guidance and help. In this way he can teach us and show us how creating is done. Truly He is making creators of us all. We are creators in our lives.

I’m very aware of the angels and spirits around me. When I pray, I feel the Divine within me connecting to this divine network of angelic beings and they are telepathically passing on my inner most feelings and thoughts to God. God translates these communications into calls for love. Then He sends back through this same network the telepathic messages of what needs to be done to answer my prayers. In this way the Universe mirrors my deepened intention. Sometimes the angels just seem to take care of the obstacles for me and they are gone. Other times there are things I need to work on and I will have these inspirational thoughts coming at me from different directions. The thoughts come to me while watching a TV show, reading my Bible or some other book, conversing with a friend or even that thought that pops into my head I haven’t thought of before. I have learned to listen to those thoughts. I will test them at times to be sure they are pure and good but I do not ignore them anymore. None of us should ignore the messages we are receiving from God either. The messages we receive may very well be the answers to our prayer or at least the direction to go to get the answers to our prayers.

No matter what we call the process, no matter how we describe it, each of us has this built-in easy to use divine guidance system. Every thought we give our attention too by continuing to think about it and speaking aloud of it and then intently praying about it will eventually manifest and align itself in harmony with our lives. The whole process of creating is a fascinating subject to study. The more we pray the more our thoughts come into alignment with the True Teachings of Christ. The more our thoughts come into alignment with the truth the more our feelings will change. As our thoughts and feelings change the more our prayers will change until our feelings and thoughts and prayers are all in harmony and truly we are at the point that our thoughts have become our prayers. It’s like a never ending cycle working together, bringing about changes in our lives and ultimately bringing about our true desires according to the will of God. There is nothing wrong with having desires. Desires are the basis of all creation. God said, “Ask, and you shall receive.” Our thoughts become prayers and through them we manifest.

The most important element of prayer is that it is real for us; the most important element of anything is that it is real for us. Our life has meaning not by the forms we create, but by the intentions of our heart. The Bible tells us, "Pray without ceasing." That means we must make not just our words into prayers, but our thoughts and acts as well. When we remember that God is where we are and who we are, we enter into a love affair that will keep the flame in our heart burning forever. Let us give God a heartfelt call and our love affair with spirit will bloom in the most wonderful ways. We will know God as we have never known Him before.

Blessings, Reverend Sharra

Excerpts from Handle with Prayer

by Alan Cohen

Our understanding of prayer begins with one basic principle:

To think is to create.

Every thought we think tends to manifest according to its nature. Everything in our life began with an idea. If we are going to build a home, we start with a blueprint. If we are painting a portrait, the model sits before us as we set our hand to the canvas. If we are traveling from Chicago to Seattle, a thought precedes our first step. The notion of something coming into existence without a thought preceding it is as preposterous as a flower growing without a seed to start it.

To change our life, we begin by changing our thoughts.

Because most people do not understand that every thought is a prayer, they attempt to change their lives by rearranging the outer world without addressing the negative thoughts they are holding about it. This is called a "geographical cure," which does not work. It is useless to try to change our outer world unless we first change our inner world. If we attempt to make external changes before doing the necessary inner transformation, the outer world will just keep repeating the same pattern. The movie Groundhog Day illustrates a very entertaining lesson in how we keep re-creating the same situation over and over again until we change our mind. The moment our attitude shifts, so does the situation.

If we want or love something a great deal, we will attract it into our life. And if we fear or worry about something with emotional intensity, we will attract the object of our fear. The universal manifestation machine is unbiased in turning our thoughts into reality.

If we are not aware that our thoughts are powerful, we will spend a great deal of time thinking and talking about what we do not want, and we will receive more of the same, and on and on, until our life is a mess and we have no idea why. We will identity ourselves as victims, find people who agree with us; and discover news stories, scientific studies, and all manner of evidence to prove that life is unfair and we are just a pimple on the complexion of the universe.

There is another way. We weren't born to live small, and we don't have to. We can shift our attitude now and begin to think about what we do want instead of what we don't want. Then, the universe will have no choice but to give us what we are concentrating on in our favor, instead of against it.

When Jesus taught, "As a man thinketh, so shall it be," he was reminding us that we must keep our mind on our hopes, not our fears. We must focus on our heart's desires rather than our nightmares.

Here is our antidote to worry: Choose a phrase that brings us release, relief, and empowerment, such as "Peace, be still," "The power of God is within me," or "Love is the answer." Whenever worry begins to set in, consciously and meditatively we should repeat our positive phrase until we return to peace. The mind is capable of paying attention to only one thought at a time. If we focus on ideas that uplift us, our mind will be unable to dwell on fearful issues. Eventually we will develop the habit of positive thinking, and the worry that once haunted us will have no reality. Let’s begin to master the power of prayer by replacing self-defeating thoughts with visions of our brightest future.

“Today I set my mind and heart on a new path. I focus my energy on love, appreciation, and my highest possibilities. Today I claim responsibility for my own success, and step forward with a new enthusiasm to manifest unprecedented good. I use my mind to create only the best, and I draw unto me all the support and resources I need for positive change. Thank you, God, for opening the door to a life filled with blessings.”