“Please pray for me.”
Have you ever been asked to pray for someone?
I recently received news that a close friend suddenly fell ill and was struggling for her life. On that call, I was asked to pray for her. After hanging up, I immediately sat down to pray…then stalled. What do I do? What should I say?
Growing up in Oklahoma, a request for prayers was as common as making brunch plans. Reflecting on it, I appreciate this beautiful practice common in the heartland of America because of deep roots in Christian faith. The community isn’t afraid to speak to God and ask others to petition God on their behalf.
Being Hindu, I have different practices. Sometimes, I am unsure of what Sanskrit shloka – or prayer – precisely applies when asked to pray for someone.
Sitting at my altar, not knowing what to do, I just spoke aloud to the Universe. I asked God to heal my friend. While I knew this was effective and perfectly fine to do, I also knew there was more I could do to amplify the power of my request using specific prayers. So, I began researching the topic.
The power of prayer is growing in acceptance and is rooted in our potency as a divine co-creator with our higher power. An active petition for spiritual intervention can lead to miracles in both healing ourselves and our loved ones. Prayer has power, as science and research is demonstrating, as this podcast with Oprah Winfrey and Larry Dossey shares.
What I didn’t know was that how we pray and what we saw can amplify our requests.
Spiritual teacher, Antoinette Spurrier, shared insight on how to specifically pray for healing. Here’s what I learned:
Each of us as humans has the power of the creator within us, Antoinette says. The common Biblical prayer of “may thy will be done,” strips us of the power of requesting divine intervention. She adds that you should only recite this verse if the person has died. The inevitability of our own mortality cannot be avoided or prayed away. But, if hold hope, you should harness the power of the divine using mental, physical and psychological tools.
So, what do you say? Antoinette shares that it is important to first start by visualizing the person in need in a state of perfection. Then, you say the following:
With these words, you actively call for grace, miracles and intervention from a higher power and utilize your power as participant in life. Can you use these prayers for yourself? “Absolutely,” Antoinette says.
Remarkably, my friend came out of ICU and is currently recovering well. It will never be proven that the prayers of her loved ones had an effect, but I believe our prayers were received. Her recovery motivates me to keep conversing with higher powers. If anything, I know what to say the next time I see a Facebook friend write “requesting prayers, please.”
