The Lexicon
Abundance and the practical
Prayer
Prayer, in the mind-power traditions, is the lifting of consciousness into conscious contact with the Source, reshaped from petition into recognition. The New Thought stream renames it affirmative or scientific prayer: not begging an outside deity to change its mind, but knowing the truth of a situation until the lower appearance yields to the higher reality. To pray is to align oneself with what already is in the spiritual order and to claim it.
The teachers here, from the founders of New Thought to the contemplatives, describe prayer as both speaking and listening, both the spoken word that decrees and the inner silence that receives. Whether framed as scientific prayer, the practice of the presence, or the prayer of the heart, the act turns the one praying toward an indwelling good and away from the evidence of lack. It is the central technology of this whole stream.
In their words
Whatsoever things ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
Do not pray to bring things to pass; pray to see things that are already in the Kingdom.
Prayer must lead us beyond mind, words, and ideas to a more spacious place where God has a chance to get in.
The light of God surrounds me. The love of God enfolds me. The power of God protects me. The presence of God watches over me. Wherever I am, God is!