Prayer is a realization of your Oneness with God, and of the infinite power this gives you. It is an acceptance of the fact that there is nothing on earth you cannot have—once you have mentally accepted the fact that you CAN have it. Nothing you cannot do—once your mind has grasped the fact that you CAN do it. Prayer, in short, is thanksgiving for the infinite good God has given you. If you would know the surest way of speeding up your rate of motion, and overtaking the things you desire, try prayer -  PRAYER WORKS!

Dear Reader:

In his book Effective Prayer, Russell Conwell tells how a small congregation, with no wealthy members and little or no property, built a $100,000 Church on an initial capital of 57c—all through the power of prayer!

It seems that the people had been giving so generously toward the building of the Church, that Dr. Conwell hesi­tated to burden them with the additional expense of a new organ. But one member felt that this was showing a lack of faith in the Giver of all gifts, so he asked for and received permission to try to raise the necessary $10,000, on condition that he should not approach anyone for a con­tribution who had already given toward the building of the Church.

So this earnest member started his campaign. Having; nothing to give himself, he had to get the entire amount from others. Nevertheless, such was his faith, that he went right ahead and signed the contract for the organ, giving his personal notes for the necessary $10,000.

The first installment was $1,500, and as the time for its payment drew near, he ''wrestled with the Lord'' in earn­est and tearful prayer. The note fell due on a Monday, so on the Sunday proceeding, he asked the prayer meeting to remember him especially on the morrow. The Bank closed at three o'clock, and he had only until then to find the amount and save his note from protest.

On Monday morning, a working girl who was a fellow-member of the Church handed him a letter. He opened it and in it  was  a  check  for $1,500!  Letter and cheek were

Signed by a laboring man in Massilon, Ohio, who, having heard of the Church's need for an organ, "felt impressed to send the money!"

The second payment came in the same mail with a notice of draft from the organ people for the amount. It was from the executor of an estate in California, saying that the deceased had left the distribution of certain sums to him, and he had decided to send this amount "toward the music in the new Temple!"

The final payment was the most unaccountable of all. Three $100 bills were pushed under the door of the Church study, and a certificate of mining stock worth $700 was sent from Butte, Mont., with nothing on it to indicate from whom it came!

These are just a few instances of answered prayer from the scores of cases mentioned in Conwell's book. Others covered every possible human need, from paying off mort­gages to finding lost children, and the safe return without ransom of a kidnapped child!

<>What is responsible for such results? What is this force released by earnest prayer, that brings about such miraculous results? Can we lay our hands on it, guide it, direct it? Can we depend upon it as a positive, reliable factor, and not a mere whim of fate? Perhaps the follow­ing will supply the answer.

Sincerely,

ROBERT COLLIER

WHAT IS PRAYER?

If you would know the surest way of speeding up your  rate of motion, and overtaking the things you desire, try PRAYER!

But when I say "prayer," I don't mean the begging kind. I don't mean a lot of vain repetitions, that seldom have the attention even of the one repeating them, much less of the Lord. Go to the Bible, and you will learn how to pray.

Out of 600,000 words in the Old Testament, only six, when literally translated, mean to "ask for" things in prayer, and each of these six is used but once.

Against that, the word "palal" is used hundreds of times to signify "to pray." And "palal" means—"To judge yourself to be a marvel of creation; to recognize amazing wonders deep within your soul."

Wouldn't that seem to indicate that prayer was meant to be a realization of the powers deep within you? Wouldn't you judge that all you need to do is to expand your consciousness to take in whatever it is that you desire?

"What things soever you ask for when you pray, be­lieve that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." You are not to think of your lacks and needs. You are to vis­ualize the things you want! You are not to worry about this debt or that note, but mentally see the Infinite Supply all about you. "All that you need is near ye, God is com­plete supply. Trust, have faith, then hear ye, dare to assert the 'I'."

Remember this: If you pray to God, but keep your attention on your problem, you will still have your prob­lem. You'll run into it and continue to run into it as long as you keep your attention focused upon it. What you must do is fix your attention upon God—upon His good­ness, His love, His power to remedy any ill or adjust any untoward condition. Focus your attention upon these, and these are the conditions you will run into.

Prayer is expansion, and expansion of yourself into the Godself all around you. As Kahlil Gibran describes it in his great book "The Prophet"—"For what is prayer but the expansion of yourself into the living ether. When you pray, you rise to meet in the air those who are pray­ing at that very hour, and whom save in prayer you may not meet. Therefore let your visit to the temple invisible be for naught save ecstasy and sweet communion. I can­not teach you to pray in words. God listens not to your words save when He Himself utters them through your lips."

Prayer is a realization of your Oneness with God, and of the infinite power this gives you. It is an acceptance of the fact that there is nothing on earth you cannot have—once you have mentally accepted the fact that you CAN have it. Nothing you cannot do—once your mind has grasped the fact that you CAN do it.

Prayer, in short, is thanksgiving for the infinite good God has given you. The word most often used for "prayer" in the Old Testament means—"To sing a song of joy and praise."

And how often you see that method used by every great character of the Bible. Running through all of Jesus Christ's acts, as well as His teachings, you find the glowing element of praise and thanksgiving. When He looked at five loaves and two small fishes and realized that He had a multitude to feed, His first thought was a thought of praise. "And looking up to Heaven, He blessed." When He raised Lazarus from the dead, He first praised and thanked God.

When Paul and Silas lay in jail, bound with chains, did they repine? Did they get down on their knees and beg for help? On the contrary, they sang hymns of praise, and the very walls were shaken down and they were set free. "The righteous doth sing and rejoice." "The sons of God shouted for joy."

Go back over the Old Testament and see how often you are adjured to "Praise the Lord and be thankful, that THEN shall the earth yield her increase." Probably no life chronicled in the Scriptures was more beset with trials and dangers than that of King David. And what was his remedy? What brought him through all tribula­tions to power and riches? Just read the Psalms of David and you will see.

"Jehovah reigneth; let the earth rejoice;

Let the multitude of isles be glad.

Bless Jehovah, 0 my soul;

And ail that is within me, bless His holy name . . .

Who forgiveth all thine iniquities;

Who healeth all thy diseases."

Throughout the Bible we are told—"In everything by prayer and supplication WITH THANKSGIVING let your requests be made known unto God." Again and again the root of inspiration and attainment is stressed: Rejoice, be glad, praise, give thanks! "Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the window of Heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

The most complete interpretation of prayer I have heard came from the man who wrote—"Once I used to say 'Please.' Now I say, 'Thank you.' " "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving," the Psalmist bade us, "and into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him and bless His name." And Christ's apostles tell us the same thing—"Let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God con­tinually. In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."

Someone has said that prayer is the spirit of God pro­nouncing His works good. "This is the day Jehovah hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it." It is sound psy­chology as well, as Prof. Wm. James of Harvard testi­fied. "If you miss the joy," he wrote, "you miss all."

Complete, wholehearted reliance upon God—that is the prayer of faith. Not an imploring of God for some specific thing, but a clear, unquestioning recognition that the power to be and do and have the things you want is inherent in you, that you have only to recognize this power and put your trust in it to get anything of good you wish.

But perhaps you have prayed long and fervently for some particular thing, and it has not come. What then? Has it ever occurred to you that the answer was there, but you didn't receive it because you were not ready or willing to accept it?

God always answers prayer. Over and over He tells us this. The answer to your prayer is as sure as tomorrow's sunrise. YOU are the one who is not sure. You are not sure, and so you do not accept the answer.

If you accepted it, you would act on it, wouldn't you? Did you ever act upon the answer to those long and fervent prayers of yours? Yet that is the way it must be, if you are to pray for an answer—and GET it. If you pray for health, you must accept health. You must act as though you already had it. If you pray for other things, you must accept them at once and start doing—even on the smallest scale—the things you would do when the answer to your prayer became evident.

And all thing's, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.—Mat. 21:22.