The Currency of Prayer
July 01

The Currency of Prayer

What is a prayer worth? Sam Beasley, author of Your Life is Your Prayer, ponders prayer as a currency in this latest blog post.

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Is prayer a currency?

I always think of time, money, energy, and psychic energy as currencies we spend, but lately it has occurred to me that we may also be “spending” prayer—the spiritual elliptical trainer that we can use for a certain amount of time until we get tired, run out of time, or get “all prayed out.”

Assuming prayer is a currency we spend, it needs a spending plan. Are you consciously allocating prayer? What are your top three conscious prayer categories?  What are your top 3 unconscious prayer categories? Do they each get prayers?  Does their prayer currency all get spent?  Sometimes we are only spending on the unconscious prayer categories—our repeated complaints about what isn’t working. 

Prayer is focused laser beam thinking that is either conscious or unconscious—it doesn’t care. If we are praying to some internal or external divine entity, if we are hoping that entity perceives/receives our prayers, we have to assume it’s listening to every prayer. We can’t presume to tell All That Is, “I only want you to listen to me when I’m saying the good stuff”, or “Stop listening to me!”  

I just landed at SEA-TAC airport and it’s 7:30am. I woke up in Oakland at 3:30am so that I could be on time for this flight. In the background of my thoughts there is a prayer/chant going on that isn’t making me very happy “I’m so tired! I’m practically out on my feet. Will this jet ever get to the gate so I can get off? It’s probably going to take a long time to get a cab and make it home. I’m so tired. I’m so tired.”

Here is what I choose to pray: 

“Let me have the strength and peace to do a good job in my presentation today. I love to be in service and I’m grateful for this opportunity!”

Here is a challenge: listen today for your mind or your voice declaring that something in your life is beyond your control and that it’s awful—that you are the victim of it and you can’t do anything about it. That is a prayer. 

Next, think of one new thought/feeling/experience you want and very intentionally let the Divine know, “I am ready for this to be in my life.”  We can’t always say when it will happen, but we can always say what we would like. 

Here is a prayer:

Please help me bring my unconscious prayers to light and my conscious prayers into being.  

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Read the original post here!

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