Agnostic/atheists who believe they are helping when they join a list of concerned people by stating they are "Sending positive thoughts to the missing/injured and their families."
two way street... praying = I will talk to my imaginary friend and ask him to help people with real problems. Just saying...
Just wondering though if you don't believe there is a higher power, how do the good thought particles work or know where to go? Unless of course you're Tom Cruise.
its all about... well there is this... Hmmm... No clue...
I've been thinking about this very subject for a while and I had a few ideas that needed to leave my head. The following are my very candid perception on the subject (**religious warning**)
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I find prayer to be a three tiered system; one that can each benefit by themselves but when combined, poses the greatest advantage for all parties.
Personal benefits:
Prayer can serve as a calming effect and have organizational merits. Even if you are not on the level of believing in an all powerful God, reflection on where you are at in your life on a day to day basis can prove useful.
This effect can be seen at its purist form through interactions with a young child’s experience with prayer. A simple prayer before bed in the least can effectively calm and close a child’s day. During an prayer of innocence, one can witness what is truly important at the core of their mind, and hearing themselves vocalize their wishes and gratitudes can organize and instill them at the forefront of their minds for application later.
There are two basic categories that can take form during one’s prayerful interaction.
Asking: Many people utilize prayer in times of need only, which can force a tunnel vision scenario where one idea is clung too while other options go unnoticed. While indeed there are unsure or tragic times when something solid and unshaken to hold on to is needed, there are others where control has to be relinquished and a trust learned. Reaching from the bottom only as a last resort towards help will never allow an even keel. Relationships will remain detached, ignoring a power that is always available there.
Thanking: While the “ask and you shall receive” approach is biblical, I believe an attitude of thankfulness can turn one’s thoughts towards needs already met and force a positive mindset on what is truly important. This can sculpt what is approached next, whether it be requests or a visible pursuit accordance to a higher will. It’s also too easy to forget past events we may have found reassuring, possibly even miraculous at the time. Recounting them can build mental and spiritual foundations ensuring our requests or future pursuits are not undirected or in vain.
Benefiting others:
When you turn your focus towards others, your focus on your own tribulations can be kept at bay and in check. Your world and thoughts are widened and can allow you sight into other people’s needs. This in itself can turn you into an instrument for filling those needs, further putting yours into the background trusting they will be met aside from your power.
A step further that many people neglect is the personal acknowledgment of lifting up others as you are remembering them. While your outward focus may be soothing to you, it is encouraging for those around to know you have been including them in prayer. Even discounting a prayer/God based philosophy, friends and even strangers can benefit from the knowledge that they are not alone and are being thought of. So much more true when beliefs are shared and both parties are strengthened together.
Benefiting God:
The third and quite possibly most misunderstood layer of prayer that can effectively draw the others together pertains to God’s glory. If in fact is his Word is true, and God, because of perfection does and deserves everything for his own glory, which prayers and displays fit into that? If he deserves only glory, our prayer has to affect that in order to be effective. While a quiet prayer request can certainly receive God’s attention, an announcement of said prayer, whether publicly acknowledging a need/praise or, reverting back the inclusion of others, the passing along of information that prayers have been spoken on someone’s behalf, could bring about greater glory if proclaimed and answered all while a deeper faith/trust is revealed and developed.
It is for this reason I believe answered prayer appears to take on an exponential result in those who walk closer to God. This faith/glory transaction continues to build if selflessness is applied and God’s will is able to remain at issue. A thankful attitude, remembering prayers answered only keeps the process building.
It is necessary to add that one very difficult term in this build is that with so much external going on around us, sometimes a complete tear down is needed or what we believed served us well as foundation will have trouble rising past a certain height. Something will always be there underneath to give way if the stonework was done by us.
In summary to the idea of the power of prayer, its benefits and layers may not always be at surface for us to view or even timeline from a human standpoint, but knowledge of them may be integral to our spiritual and mental well being and to God’s plan for us, others, and to His own glory.