"They’ve released another prayer study...it's fascinating...they were studying the effect of praying for people who have medical problems and found that patients who received regular prayers from others had fewer complications and got well faster, even when they weren't aware that prayers were being said. It's undeniable proof that the force of prayer is real. But they also found something else. They found that the most effective prayer of all was structured not as a request but an affirmation...

“They set up the study to test two types of prayer. The first was just asking God, or the divine, to intervene, to help a sick person. The other was to simply affirm, with faith, that God will help the person...

"A prayer that asks God to intervene assumes that God can intervene but only if he decides to honor our request. It assumes that we have no role except to ask. The other form of prayer assumes that God is ready and willing but has set up the laws of human existence so that whether the request is fulfilled depends in some part on the certainty of our belief that it will be done. So our prayer must be an affirmation that voices this faith. In the study this kind of prayer proved to be most effective.

"All the great prayers in the Bible are not requests, they are affirmations. Think of the Lord's Prayer…..It goes 'Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses'. It doesn't say please can we be forgiven. It merely affirms that these things are ready to happen already, and by faithfully assuming that they will, we make it so."

"Some scientists are theorizing that these findings also imply something else, something that has a profound significance for every person alive. They maintain that if our expectations, our faithful assumptions, are what makes prayer work, then each of us is beaming a force of prayer-energy out into the world all the time, whether we realise it or not.

"If prayer is an affirmation based on our expectations, our faith, then all our expectations have a prayer effect. We are, in fact, praying all the time for some kind of future for ourselves and others, we just aren't fully aware of it."

"We all have a mental and spiritual influence on what happens to us in life. Remember the scriptures about how faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains. What if this ability is the secret of true success in life, of creating true community.

"We all have to figure out how this works. It's time."

Great topic.

Can I ask, did the people know that they were being prayed for? And the volume of prayer they had? As opposted to not know?

Could it be more related to the amount of tangible love the individual feels. Prayers on ones behalf is a tangible sign that people care enough to make an effot.

What was the sample size? ARG...I can't beleive Iasked that... he he

Interestingly enough I do neither of that type of prayers...if I pray at all it's one of thanks.

I onces chatted to a girl about her god and her way of prayer. "She said the hardest thing to hear was god saying no". I always thought that was pretty profound.

Interesting research though!!!

Lov n hugs

Lis

No none of the sick people knew they were being prayed for as this could have affected the results.

I think the most importnat point for me here is that you create your own reality (as well as other peoples) by the things you keep manifesting.

Mermaid....this would be along the lines of the Power of Positive Thinking, wouldn't it?....also Linda's "If you MIND, it MATTERS."

Luv,
Rainbow~