How have you experienced the power of prayer in your life?

Question

In an increasingly stress-ridden world with growing religiosity, more and more people are turning to prayer. Often when you are grateful or helpless you turn to prayer. How have you experienced the power of prayer?

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Answer 1

When I was a child, I was very worried about my school grades! Now I find it so funny that such a silly situation tensed me so much. However, when I was in that situation, the problem seemed so big - and it was my faith in prayer which helped me to calm down and relax.

There have been so many situations when I was faced with such helplessness where I realized that my actions alone would not be able to pull me out. Those times led me to such a deep prayerful state which came out straight from the heart.

Yes, my prayers have been answered and I have always been well taken care of. The result of the prayer may not have been what I asked for, but whatever happened turned out to be for my best!

If I look back to the past, all my problems which appeared so big in the past do not bother me any more. It feels as if I'm taken care. It feels so blissful to realize that I am being taken care of. There is so much abundance in the nature and I am well provided for. However, in the times of helplessness, when this awareness was diminished, prayer has given me so much faith and comfort more than anything.

The biggest blessing for me is having a spiritual master, or a Guru in my life (Sri Sri). That way, I have someone to relate to in my prayers. With so many miracles happening in my life, the faith in the power of prayer has come so effortlessly to me.

Answer 2

Belief in God:
Muslims believe in one, unique, incomparable God, Who has no son nor partner, and that none has the right to be worshipped but Him alone. He is the true God, and every other deity is false. He has the most magnificent names and sublime perfect attributes. No one shares His divinity, nor His attributes. In the Quran, God describes Himself:


Say, “He is God, the One. God, to Whom the creatures turn for their needs. He begets not, nor was He begotten, and there is none like Him.” (Quran, 112:1-4)





No one has the right to be invoked, supplicated, prayed to, or shown any act of worship, but God alone.

God alone is the Almighty, the Creator, the Sovereign, and the Sustainer of everything in the whole universe. He manages all affairs. He stands in need of none of His creatures, and all His creatures depend on Him for all that they need. He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing, and the All-Knowing. In a perfect manner, His knowledge encompasses all things, the open and the secret, and the public and the private. He knows what has happened, what will happen, and how it will happen. No affair occurs in the whole world except by His will. Whatever He wills is, and whatever He does not will is not and will never be. His will is above the will of all the creatures. He has power over all things, and He is able to do everything. He is the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, and the Most Beneficent. In one of the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad , we are told that God is more merciful to His creatures than a mother to her child.1 God is far removed from injustice and tyranny. He is All-Wise in all of His actions and decrees. If someone wants something from God, he or she can ask God directly without asking anyone else to intercede with God for him or her.

God is not Jesus, and Jesus is not God.2 Even Jesus himself rejected this. God has said in the Quran:

Indeed, they have disbelieved who have said, “God is the Messiah (Jesus), son of Mary.” The Messiah said, “Children of Israel, worship God, my Lord and your Lord. Whoever associates partners in worship with God, then God has forbidden Paradise for him, and his home is the Fire (Hell). For the wrongdoers,3 there will be no helpers.” (Quran, 5:72)

God is not a trinity. God has said in the Quran:

Indeed, they disbelieve who say, “God is the third of three (in a trinity),” when there is no god but one God. If they desist not from what they say, truly, a painful punishment will befall the disbelievers among them. Would they not rather repent to God and ask His forgiveness? For God is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. The Messiah (Jesus), son of Mary, was no more than a messenger... (Quran, 5:73-75)

Islam rejects that God rested on the seventh day of the creation, that He wrestled with one of His angels, that He is an envious plotter against mankind, or that He is incarnate in any human being. Islam also rejects the attribution of any human form to God. All of these are considered blasphemous. God is the Exalted. He is far removed from every imperfection. He never becomes weary. He does not become drowsy nor does he sleep.

The Arabic word Allah means God (the one and only true God who created the whole universe). This word Allah is a name for God, which is used by Arabic speakers, both Arab Muslims and Arab Christians. This word cannot be used to designate anything other than the one true God. The Arabic word Allah occurs in the Quran about 2700 times. In Aramaic, a language related closely to Arabic and the language that Jesus habitually spoke,4 God is also referred to as Allah.

Answer 3

Not yet. I feel we have to work hard towards our goal and still if we dont succed it is our bad luck. Prayer could be a way of consoling yourself that you have even tried the powers of supernatural and thus have passed the buck to someone more powerful. There can never be a proof to the success of prayer. It is only a belief.
In case of severe misery or helplessness when there is no solution people turn to prayer becuse they want to get out of the problem at any cost. I am not against prayer because it may give mental strength but what is the proof that prayer has solved the problem.

Answer 4

The only prayers I dare offer are those for acceptance and understanding. Far too many have been drowned in the flood after praying for rain. What I need is a calm center, a trust that whatever I am going through is part of a Divine Whole.

Having had two experiences with the Ineffable Light, I feel confident that religion is manmade but there is a Loving Being that shines beyond all the illusions of this world. That Loving Being... well, does not need worship, does not pay much attention to greedy prayers for things to happen. Just being intouch with that Light has been life-changing for me. All are faces of the Divine. I pray to remind myself that.

Peace

Answer 5

Oh yes I have and probably more so when I was down and believe it has help me when no one else could . I have turned to prayers and still do more so now and even so that my life is above the norm of most families . I have more peace and serenity than ever before . I still pray and it has given me strength to move on in life .

Answer 6

Yes, I have received direction, strength, hope and comfort in response to prayer that I can't imagine happening without prayer. I learned to pray well from a 12-step group, with additional help from religions. It's too bad everyone can't have that teaching and that experience, even though that teaching doesn't work for everyone. It is a cooperative effort that gives prayer any power. Anything like, "I want a pony", isn't the best attitude.

Answer 7

The prayer is such a vibration that originates inside and it needs no authentication from outside. The prayer and all similar techniques allows to build mind control and focus on the real time. It reduces the tension unnecessarily created within and forces our inspiration to achieve the best at this time. No matter whether the situation may be difficult somewhat. Actually it's the vibration that starts with racing with ur self. It creates sympathy, creativity , natural behaviour and much more. When someone prayes, it originates peace inside and not violance, that's why its called as a prayer.The prayee moves away into the spiritual world and then into the devotional world for some time. And after that he recognizes that the true power of the prayer always reaches and adds 0.1% to the cosmic energy which never lasts.

Answer 8

My mother has rheumatoid arthritis very badly. The pain from it is not like any other form of arthritis and it is daily. Several years ago while visiting her I noticed the pain was much worse than ever before. It had hit a level that was intolerable for her. That night I prayed to Sri Sri to lift her pain to the point that it is at least manageable and that she can always get around. The next morning my mother was completing a crossword puzzle and commented that one of the answers was Shankar - the same name as my Guru. My mother is not a devotee and actually I've never known her to do crossword puzzles as a norm.That night and each day that passed I noticed her pain lessening more and more. Years later while she still has pain each day, it has stayed manageable and it doesn't hold her back in doing what she wants to do. Even dancing every week with the other Sr. Citizens! During my last visit she commented that while she has pain every day, she feels so blessed because it has stayed manageable and she can get around - which at this stage of the disease is amazing. She feels it is because she prayed to God to give her pain instead of my father who was ill at the time with heart disease. She did not think he could take the pain. So she feels God heard her and made sure that at least her pain stayed manageable. I am sure that is true. But I also know the moment it started lessening to a manageable place was the morning after my prayer to Sri Sri and find it interesting that that same day she came across his name as an answer in a crossword puzzle. It's all One God.

Answer 9

Last year when my father was in the hospital getting quadruple heart by-pass surgery, I was completely distraught not knowing what to do. We didn't know if he would make it through or not.
We were at the hospital so long that they gave us a "family room" within the waiting room. I brought a book, magazines and my laptop to try to distract me. Of course nothing could.
I kept thinking the worst and finally found myself on my knees praying. I prayed and prayed, or it was more like, I begged and begged for his life.
My prayers were answered quickly.
There was a telephone line in the family room and I had my laptop on line. When I was at the worst of my dispair, just then, a close friend sent me an IM. We chatted for a few minutes and I actually felt better. It wasn't that I hadn't chatted with this friend in a long time and don't know why he pinged me just then, but it was because I knew that this was a small sign that my prayers were being heard. The conversation was a beautiful turning point and the suffering ended.
Just a small sign from the Divine that I am being taken care of was all I needed to get me through the next 6 months.

The power of prayer is both instant and long standing.
Even if we may not like what's happening, the Divine always hears us and answers us if we're listening.
Even if I don't like what's happening, I have faith that the best thing for all will happen for all.

Answer 10

The prayer and all similar techniques allows to build mind control and focus on the real time. It reduces the tension unnecessarily created within and forces our inspiration to achieve the best at this time. No matter whether the situation may be difficult somewhat. Actually it's the vibration that starts with racing with ur self. It creates sympathy, creativity , natural behaviour and much more. When someone prayes, it originates peace inside and not violance, that's why its called as a prayer.The prayee moves away into the spiritual world and then into the devotional world for some time. And after that he recognizes that the true power of the prayer always reaches and adds 0.1% to the cosmic energy which never lasts.

Answer 11

It may appear ridiculous to attempt to answer a question which is fully loaded.

71 years hence, it will be untruthful to state that I have not experienced the power of prayer in my life.

Started as a disbeliever, it was my marriage and birth of a child that turned me into a believer in prayers. Perhaps the child's illness or some other similar situation!

But, often, the power of prayer was experienced in unexpected ways. There have been crises in office, at home and elsewhere too. The prayers were answered more often than not in unconventional ways and solutions came from rather unexpected sources.

Yes, Now I can say I have experienced the power. But to recognise it as such took quite some time. The realisation came much later that that was the way in which my prayers were answered.

Now, prayer is a daily routine asking for nothing in particular; not even acknowledging the PRESENCE of the OMNIPRESENT. It is just that I have logged in.