Story of Progress

From primitive time man has instinctively sought a higher power when he has felt the need of help. He has been inclined to depend first upon himself, exhausting every idea and every apparent resource before turning to God for help. Since he was usually in a state of desperation when he at last sought spiritual help, quite naturally his prayer was one of supplication, of pleading and beseeching a god or some unknown power to come to his aid. This type of prayer added nothing to his self-confidence or to his ability to meet new difficulties as they arose.

Students of Divine Science are being illumined by greater understanding and are cultivating the habit of true thinking, that is, knowing that God has already given man all that He, Himself, is. As man lives in the knowledge of the truth of himself and knows his oneness with All Wisdom, All Power, All Resourcefulness, he no longer prays at God but communes with God. He withdraws his thoughts from appearances in the physical realm and centers them upon the omnipresence, omnipotence and omniscience of God. He openly declares his oneness with the one God-Mind and as he brings all his thoughts into alignment with that Mind, he partakes of the riches of Spirit. Thus he increases his ability to receive the flood of goodness which is constantly flowing out from God to His whole creation.

The prayer of Divine Science becomes affirmative statements of our hearts' praise of the Father and a thankful acknowledgment of what we are and what we are to express here. It directs our thinking from the need, or the problem, to the One Abiding Presence and Power. Affirmative prayer establishes confidence and enables us to meet all situations with poise and peace of mind. Prayer becomes an expression of our willingness to do our part in fulfilling God's plan for peace on earth and good will toward all, so that man may actually abide in the Kingdom of Heaven here and now.