A well-respected and liked seminary teacher shared many things I will remember. One of those remembered times in class was when the teacher responded to two questions asked by a student for the sake of clearing up any confusion of how to pray–outside of oneself, from within oneself, from the heart? And the second question: How shall I address God in prayer, as you, I am, Father, Mother, or we?

The teacher responded: All those ways!  The student quickly followed up for assurance. They are all OK? They all are OK, the teacher assured.

Recall Transactional Analysis (TA), a popular self-help system with support groups in the 1970′s, 80′s, 90′s. They brought forth the idea of the Adult-Parent-Child state within a person’s individual psyche. TA revealed we are each multi-faceted in our psychological makeup. This pertains to prayer–sometimes we pray childlike or in an adult frame of mind. Sometimes we are parental in our prayer tone and structure. Sometimes we are demanding, in fear, or experiencing other strong feelings.

I am quick to add however. When we desire to pray for another, the prayer is more effective when we have resolved any fear we may be feeling before we enter prayer and pray for another. Certainly, any prayer for another is a prayer we are first praying for ourselves. The prayer is coming through our consciousness and from our state of being. That is why the best prayers are to ‘be still and know.’ Open to know our oneness with Divine Spirit and the wisdom of Spirit; and secondly the affirmative prayer of knowing and aligning oneself with the Truth of Divine good.

My thoughts on prayer are–whatever state we find ourselves, when we are inclined to pray–just pray. We can have a multitude of different needs during our day and life. Simply pray as you are lead.

I respect the various methods of prayer. Though, there are sureties to know when we pray. We are always one with our Divinity, aware or unaware. Therefore it is beneficial to honor our holiness and direct connection with our Divine Nature in prayer and at all times.  Also, we always deserve Good. It is God’s ‘good pleasure to give us the Kingdom’ of all Goodness. The Divine Spirit is Omni-responsive, at hand, all-loving, and ever-available here and now. The Divine treasures are in our midst.

Foremost, prayer’s object is to rise in human consciousness, receptive to uniting with spiritual consciousness. One definition of prayer is, “the contemplation of life from the highest point of view.” We are focused and one with our higher power in what we call prayer. Likewise, in prayer we are one with a pure creative energy that has the potential to bring substance into form. Hence, prayer is filled with universal power.

The higher consciousness of prayer is a gift of our nature. We are grateful for prayer’s blessings and poised with light-filled understanding in our contemplations and times of knowing life from the highest point of view.