By IkeChukwu Unegbe Esq.
It would be correct to say that praying is the key means or mode through which we do communicate with our Creator and hope to secure His blessings, guidance, and protection. Of course, this implies praying in the right way! Fasting, which could mean to ‘inwardly attune oneself through abstention from eating and sometimes drinking’, may be a useful elixir in the process, if well understood and carried out in the right way. The question is: is fasting a necessary aspect of praying? If even the answer is yes, should it be compelled and be stipulated as a general practice of a group, or must it remain an individual process?
The mockery or lack of understanding about prayers comes vividly into focus when we remember the case of two football teams billed to meet each other in a match. Often we would see them converge to hold ‘last minute prayers’….and I often wonder what would be the substance of such prayer. Each one would probably be praying to the Creator to make their team victorious. How then would the Creator adjudge which team’s prayer to honour or uphold? Surely, if God is impartial, an embodiment of perfection, justice, and love (attributes which He does possess), it would be safe to conclude that He would not take sides in a football match, but must leave the players to determine the outcome of the match in the field. The same foolery is carried out when persons ‘pray’ for their enemies to be destroyed, and for their challenges to be eliminated, instead of seeking seriously to learn lasting lessons from every challenge, and praying for strength to overcome them.
In reality, there are many spiritual conditions of a human soul that do help to facilitate prayers and ensure prayers obtain necessary connections with the regions of Light and the Creator.
For the Christian, the motivation to pray may have drawn inspiration from the words of 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17 which states: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Other versions of the Scriptures contain more or less similar contents. In my part of the world, Nigeria, the quoted words have given a fillip to the penchant for persons to gather, frequently, under the umbrella of various religious groups, to literally ‘pray’ without ceasing. They go from Sunday through Monday, Tuesday, and other days of the week to pray, sing, clap, and supplicate to God for blessings. Some even audaciously command and demand these blessings from Him; offering sometimes what would seem like bargaining chips: ‘If you do this for me, I will do the other’. Some ‘entice’ their Creator with gifts, sowing of seeds, and payment of tithes, as ways of ‘doing their part, so that their Creator would then carry out His part in the bargain.’
But, what really is it to pray? Does it simply require verbalizing requests and making plenty of petitions/demands and praises of the Creator? Does it lie in ‘speaking in tongues’ and jumping up and down in ecstasy? Does it even require words?
Prayer, to have needed effect, requires fervour, a strong inner urge, felt deeply within, enveloped in the purity of intuition of the one praying. This is easily achievable during moments of spontaneous inner joyfulness or also moments of sadness from heartfelt grief, which moments usually overshadow all other distractive thoughts; enhancing inner concentration, power, connection, and focus of the prayer. Praying is different from petitioning. It is not a moment to push forward all your needs and lamentations,
A prayer follows the principle of the Law of Homogeneity: like attracts like! So, the inner state or quality of the one praying forms the pathway for the flight upwards or downwards of the prayer. This is the reason many prayers do not bring about the expected outcome. If the foundation in the soul of the person praying lacks in purity and intuitive power, is muddled up in hate and jealousy, such prayer never rises up to the throne of Grace of the Creator. A well-attuned prayer, on the other hand, finds help in the wave of the Law of Attraction, as it gets magnetized by prayers of similar nature in the spiritual atmosphere of the one praying, and thereby becomes intensified and propelled faster upwards.
The main wish of the prayer comes to fruition through the Law of Reciprocal Action; that is, the Law of Sowing and Reaping! You ultimately receive what you deserve through your inward disposition. It is the inner quality of the one praying that determines the vitality and effectiveness of the prayer. There is no circumventing the Laws of Creation, even while in prayer. The Almighty Creator does not need tHE prayers, or the praises, in the real sense. All the activities termed prayers only go to benefit human beings, if carried out properly. His Creation is already suffused with all the abundance that any human being may ever require, and it remains inexhaustible. All you need do is engage your talents in the proper ways, harness these abundance, use them for the good, and only offer thanks unceasingly. Many, however, neglect this aspect of engaging their talents and virtues in accessing the bounties of Creation, but rather, through wrong religious indoctrinations, seek to substitute diligent work with empty phrases in prayers. No wonder they get frustrated after a while; because of many unfulfilled wishes, as a result of frivolous demands upon The Almighty. Worst of all, these human beings even seek to stipulate how the prayer may be answered. They are so arrogant and impudent that they even ‘command’ the Creator to answer their prayers within a specified time frame; thereby exhibiting a total lack of humility- a necessary ingredient for the spiritual vitality of a human being!
Fasting, on the other hand, becomes useful if both the inner and outward conditions are conducive. The health of the one fasting is crucial, as the physical body is a most vital tool of the human spirit for its overall experiencing on earth. This physical body must not be endangered through long periods of fasting. The wrong attitude should not spread further that when people fast, they are somehow making sacrifices, through their ‘denials’, to God. The best sacrifice a human being may offer to the Creator is in obedience to the Laws of Creation which anchor the Will of God, and not through starvation or denials of physical enjoyment. This obedience is described as submission to the Will of Allah in Islam. A Muslim desiring favours during fasting must also devote to total submission to the Will of Almighty God or Allah. The body feels healthier, of course, when it is not suffused with food and drinks, but more importantly, the individual should cultivate a healthy consciousness about the Laws of Creation, (the Will of Allah) and fervently obey their dictates. If this is done, then there is a natural mechanism in Creation, (through the operations of the Natural Laws) that ‘answers’ all needs even before a word is uttered.
When the Lord Jesus Christ was approached by the disciples with the request to teach them how to pray, it was recorded in Matthew 6:5-8 that He taught: “When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men…but when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your father who is unseen.” Implied in those words, is the need to pray in spirit (without words), through your intuition, and allow the inner movement of your soul to energize what leaves your spirit at that moment. Why do I say so? Simply because it says pray to your father ‘who is unseen’. That simply means pray in spirit, in silence, especially when alone.
Indeed, even in the passage under 1 Thessalonian referred to above, verse 15 thereof gives a useful guide as to the inner attitude to adopt before praying. It states: “See that none render evil for evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.”(KJV).
In other words, the greatest prayer manifests first through your deeds, thoughts, words, and actions toward others. If your deeds proceed in purity and love towards one and all, then, before the Laws of Creation, and before the Creator, they would arise as prayers. Then, following the Law of ‘Sowing and Reaping’, which is also called the Law of Reciprocity, you would find that miracle after miracle would be happening in your life, because you already are obeying the rhythms of the Laws of Creation. Of course, this path may be difficult for many, and so, they rather go into a frenzy of making many words, chants, and incantations, under the guise of prayers. Those words would sound hollow and lack the potency to attract blessings from On High because they are coming out from soils not attuned to purity and love.
As for the blessings of the Creator, and how they manifest, each person already swims in them without noticing. The setback is that many are always wishing and desiring that the blessing from God must manifest in the way they envisage, whereas the reality is that there is no arbitrariness in the out-workings of the blessings and Will of God. Everything works according to His perfect Laws, and these Laws do not bend because of human wishes. In addition, many are also gluttonous about their desires; and are constantly wishing to grab more and more from the bounties of Creation, neglecting thereby to even enjoy what they presently possess. Is that not the reason for the admonition: ‘Count your blessings, and number them one by one.’
In summary, may our prayers manifest more in our thoughts, and words and even more in our deeds towards one and all; in all our relationships. Also, jettison the wrong notion that because you belong to this or that religious group, therefore you have better chances of your prayers receiving reciprocal Divine help. In reality, before the Creator, we are human spirits, without creeds, ethnicity, colour, etc; only the nature of our intuition (the temple within) counts. Keep this inner temple pure, and you will be constantly connected with the realms of Light, attracting all help, protection, and happiness.
- Unegbe Esq., a lawyer, writes from Lagos.
