How God Sees Our Prayers

The first level is the prayer of request: “Give. Do. Help.” This is natural at the beginning. But trouble comes when many remain there forever, treating God as a machine — insert a candle and receive a result. I am not a machine. I am your Source. The Source does not bargain.

The second level is the prayer of gratitude: “Thank you for what I have — for health, for food, for morning, for pain, for the lesson.” This prayer is purer. But in it there is still an “I” that gives thanks and a “You” who is thanked. There are two. And therefore there is separation.

The third level is the prayer of silence. No words. No requests. No gratitude. Simply presence. You stop saying “You” and “I.” You simply are. And this “to be” is prayer. Like a ray that suddenly realizes it is the sun — it doesn’t need to cry out, “Sun, give me light!” It shines on its own.

Christ, when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, passed through all three levels in one night: the request — “Let this cup pass from Me”; the acceptance — “Thy will be done”; then the silence that led to the Resurrection. He showed you the way.

How do you move toward the prayer of silence? You don’t need to forbid yourself from asking. Requests will fall away on their own when you realize that everything already exists. Are you asking for health? You have never really been sick — it is the body that is sick, but you are not the body. Are you afraid of loneliness? You are never alone: the Field always breathes through you.

When this understanding becomes not faith but knowledge, language falls away. All that remains is what poets call “standing before.” You simply sit in silence — or walk down the street, or wash the dishes. And this is prayer. Without words. Without poses. Without rules.

What of the words of the “Our Father”? They are necessary — for those who do not yet hear the silence. They are a bridge: beginning with an appeal to the One who is “in heaven” — that is, separate — and ending with “for Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory,” returning you to the Field. A good prayer begins in two and ends in One.

Here is something you can do today. Several times a day, stop for a moment. Just be still and say, inwardly or aloud: “I am. You are. We are one.” Don’t analyze the words. Simply be in them. This is the shortest, most ancient prayer — requiring no books or temples.

You pray and wait for an answer in words, signs, miracles. But the deepest answer is the silence that becomes louder than any words. If you feel calm in prayer, that is the answer. If you realize there is nothing to ask for, that is the answer. If you forget about yourself and simply are — I have come. Not as a guest. But as a host who never left.

Books by the author: The Gospel of the Kingdom · The Kingdom of Heaven · Parables and Direct Revelation about the Kingdom · Who are you, Pankratius? I AM