THE SIMPLE PRAYER
By Mary L. Kupferle
Several years ago while I was talking with a loved friend and Truth teacher, she mentioned that, when in need, she seldom asked God for anything specific. Instead, she often used the simple words, “God, I am trusting!”
My friend used these words when she studied, as she helped others out of difficulties, and as she went about daily tasks and household duties. She repeated the words “God, I am trusting!” either silently or aloud with calmness and assurance.
These words returned to me with new emphasis and meaning when I encountered a personal trial a short time later. I repeated them in a quiet but firm manner, and the burden was lifted and the problem solved. In other instances that followed, I used this little prayer. As a result, a desired household article was supplied unexpectedly; I received a gift of two beautiful new suits; longed-for flowers for the yard materialized; an ink spot came out of a dress after I had been told it could not be removed; and important telephone call was completed in spite of seeming obstacles; and I was able to procure an automobile when none seemed available.
Perhaps you think that your problems are more complicated and involved than mine or that you cannot accomplish the desired miracle of healing or harmony or supply with such a small and simple prayer. No matter what your problem, no matter how great or small its size, God never fails. But you must turn to God in order to receive the blessings that you desire. This is what the little prayer “God, I am trusting!” helps you do. It turns your thoughts and attention to the One who is the source of all your blessings, the Creator of your being.
Recently a woman who was assisting a neighbor in putting some screw hooks in a wall found that one of the hooks had been removed. The neighbor remarked discouragingly: “It’s impossible to take it out. It’s in too deep and too tight.” The woman smiled and replied: “Oh no, it isn’t impossible. If I just let God tell me how to work it loose, it will come out easily.” As she spoke she acted, and within a few moments the hook came out easily. Her neighbor expressed amazement, exclaiming, “Well I would never have believed it!”
Sometimes you and I may feel that an old condition or difficulty is too deeply imbedded in our minds, bodies, or lives to come out easily by using so simple a prayer as “God, I am trusting!” We may feel that we need some great soul-lifting realization or some inspiring revelation to break our bonds and set us free.
Jesus often said that He, of Himself, could do nothing. He knew the futility of forcing matters or of trying to accomplish things by means of personal will and human reasoning. He knew the truth that it is always God within who does the work. Jesus told His followers this, and He told them only to believe, to trust, and to know that God knew their needs, desires, and purposes better than they themselves.
This is still the Master’s advice to you and me today; namely, to trust God’s power above the power of humans. This is what we do when we say, “God, I am trusting!” All the most poetic and beautifully worded prayers in the world cannot bring us any closer to God than our speaking this simple prayer directly from our hearts.
When the Master raised Lazarus from the dead, His words were simple ones. He said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me” ( Jn. 11:41 ) . Is this much different from “God, I am trusting”? The Master’s prayers were always simple ones, and ours should follow the pattern He set. The complexity of the problem did not alter Jesus’ simplicity of manner and it does not need to alter ours. We are not to try to impress God or anyone else, but only to come closer to a living awareness of the divine Presence.
This is what the simple prayer accomplishes. Just as we loosen a screw by small but persistent turns, so we dislodge any negative belief from a place in our consciousness by small but persistent prayers that help us become consciously more aware of God.
Most of us rise above our difficulties through persistent, small prayers rather than a single soul—sweeping one. The turning of the moment is the important thing, and this turning of our attention to God—the all-powerful, indwelling, and ever-present God—is the way we find God and the solution to our problems. The more often we turn to God, the more often we are consciously with God. The more we are consciously with God, the more like God we consciously become, demonstrating perfection in our minds, bodies, and lives.
Nothing is so deeply imbedded in your consciousness that it cannot be removed, whether it concerns a problem of health, wholeness, supply, or human relations. As you begin to say, “God, I am trusting!” you strengthen your relationship with the Most High. You find God very near—even within you—as the faith of your heart, the guidance you desire, and the light of inspiration.
This practice of speaking simple prayers does not mean that periods of silent prayer and meditation are not of great value and necessity, for no one can grow in spiritual stature and grace without such periods. But by constantly repeating a simple prayer such as “God, I am trusting!” throughout the day, we form the habit of consciously taking God into every moment of our day.
A Truth teacher once said, “When you invest 100 percent of yourself in God, you will find the 100 percent returns you are looking for.” When we begin to invest our-selves—our thoughts and words and actions—in God, and we will find that we express more of God and we will find the truth and perfection of the kingdom becoming more evident in our lives.
The value of a simple prayer, held in mind persistently throughout the day, unfailingly brings us into a growing conscious awareness of God’s presence in our lives.
A young woman, down to her last dime, read the words “In God We Trust” inscribed on the small coin, and her renewed faith encouraged and enabled her to secure the position she so desperately needed. Hundreds of times before that moment, coins had passed through her hands, the words unnoticed! How often the infinite treasures of God’s kingdom pass us by unnoticed!
Turning and returning to God in the prayer “God, I am trusting!” reminds us of this truth—the truth that we are God’s beloved children and heirs. God’s power is unfailing and is available to us whenever we are willing to become aware of it in our lives.
Begin, therefore, beloved friend, to trust the all-wise One who created you and will forever sustain you, for:
“Blessed are those who trust in
the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
They shall be like a tree planted
by water
sending out its roots by the stream.
It shall not fear when heat comes,
and its leaves shall stay green;
in the year of drought it is not
anxious,
and it does not cease to bear
fruit.”
--Jeremiah 17:7-8