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The Science of Prayer
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Product Code: 0-942958-26-8
Manufacturer: Kappeler Institute Publishing
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Paperback, 64 pages
Level:
SUBJECT(s):
Preparing Yourself to Study Science
The Bible in the Light of Christian Science
RELATED RECORDINGS:
M-27, “The Lord’s Prayer”: Considered according to the 7 synonyms for God interwoven with the 4-fold operation of Being (1 hour, audio and video)
SYNOPSIS: This book contains the full text of two previously published booklets by Max Kappeler, The Spiritual Principle of Prayer and The Lord's Prayer—Its Scientific Interpretation. Part I presents the spiritual nature and purpose of prayer in the light of Science. Part II looks at the spiritually scientific structure behind both the Lord's Prayer and the chapter "Prayer" in Science and Health. As we ponder the principles in this book, we develop a full and deep spiritual consciousness that matures into a constant prayerful attitude within ourselves.
CONTENTS:
PART I: The Spiritual Principle of Prayer
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Petitioned
Chapter 2: The Petitioner
Chapter 3: The Means of Prayer
Chapter 4: The Aim of Prayer
PART II: The Lord's Prayer—its scientific interpretation
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Right Prayerful Attitude
Chapter 2: The Spiritual Layout of the Lord's Prayer
- The 7 synonyms for God in the Lord's Prayer
- The 4 divine modes of operation in the Lord's Prayer
Chapter 3: An Example of Scientific Prayer
EXCERPT:
From Max Kappeler, The Science of Prayer, pp. 26–28. The prerequisite for fulfillment of the promise. The conclusive power of prayer represented in the Bible and the Textbook, however, does not always seem to prove itself in human experience. How often our hopes of help are disappointed! And how many of us have had our blind, childlike faith in an ever-present, saving God shattered, and given way to ever greater skepticism! We suffer the same experience as that which drove the Apostle Paul to investigate more closely why our prayers so often go unanswered. He came to the conclusion: "…for we know not what we should pray for as we ought" (Romans 8:26).
That prayer must be more than a fervent expression of our wishes and feelings was clear to Jesus' disciples. They came to Jesus and asked him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples" (St. Luke 11:1). Jesus answered this discerning request by teaching them the Lord's Prayer. He reinforced their faith in this prayer with the words: "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them" (St. Mark 11:24). But this promise was coupled with an important precondition; they must pray correctly. Jesus saw through human thinking; he was aware of the disciples' doubt about the efficacy of prayer and therefore explained why their prayers often went unanswered. He told them straight: "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name" (St. John 16:24). At that time, the name was used to designate the identity of a person. Thus, Jesus implied that prayer is answered only when it is asked in his name—that is, when it is identical with the Christ-mind. "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you" (St. John 16:23) [author's italics].
Behind this simple instruction there lies a scientific law that Jesus wanted to teach to his disciples, and that should also be our own starting point: only like comprehends like. Only a divinely molded prayer finds access to God. Prayer is only right, can only be tangibly fulfilled for us, when the Christ-mind prays in us. Therefore, the first requirement is to establish within ourselves that prayerful attitude which is in complete accord with the divine.
Scientific prayer. The first chapter in the Textbook, "Prayer," contains the basis for spiritually scientific prayer. In seven great main subjects, it shows how we can acquire that inward prayerful attitude which is an essential prerequisite for the fulfillment of prayer. The Lord's Prayer, with the scientific interpretation of each individual petition, forms the climax of the chapter. Each of these petitions stems from that spiritual prayerful attitude which, being attuned to the Christ-mind, approaches the infinite with appropriate questions and petitions. Praying aright means asking scientifically correct questions; to such questions we always receive a scientifically correct answer. The fulfillment, or answer, is given in the spiritually scientific interpretation of the Lord's Prayer.
Hence, scientific prayer always comprises:
a) a correct prayerful attitude (as given in the Textbook chapter "Prayer"),
b) the right questions or requests engendered by this attitude, and
c) the resultant redeeming answers (given in the Textbook by the scientific interpretation of the petitions in the Lord's Prayer).
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