A Summary of New Church (Swedenborgian) Teachings about Prayer

What is the use of Prayer?

At baptisms, it is customary for the minister to offer a prayer for the child who is about to be baptized:

O Lord, graciously receive this child. We pray that this child may be enlightened by Your Word, defended in temptation, and led by Your Holy Spirit, now and evermore.
Similar prayers are said at weddings and other occasions, asking the Lord's blessing and protection for others:
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May He cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. May He lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. (Numbers 6.24-26)


But questions and doubts sometimes arise: "What is the use of these prayers?" Will our prayers cause the Lord to bless those whom He otherwise would not bless? Does any actual good result when we pray for the welfare of our children, for friends who are sick, or for people who are in some difficulty?

Although most people intuitively believe that prayers have actual effects, there are times when doubts arise. Therefore it is important to be clear about what the effects of prayer are, and how these effects come about--not only as we pray for ourselves but also as we pray for others.

How does prayer effect the one who prays?

In the Spiritual Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, we read:

"If a person prays from love and faith, and for only heavenly and spiritual things, there then comes forth in the prayer something like a revelation (which is manifested in the affection of the one who prays) as to hope, consolation, or a certain inward joy."Arcana Caelestia, paragraph 2535
Hope, consolation, or a certain inward joy,are the promised results of sincere prayer. The natural objects that many people seek through prayer, however, such as success, good fortune, and healing, are never said in the Writings to be the direct result of prayer.

Those who doubt that prayers are answered, or who have been disappointed that their own prayers have apparently not been heard, may have mistaken ideas about how prayer operates. The influence that prayer has is not on the Lord, but on the one who prays. In brief, prayers facilitate "something like an influx into the perception or thought of the mind, so that there is a certain opening of the person's interiors towards God."Arcana Caelestia, paragraph 2535.

When our interiors are opened towards God, we come into a receptive state where God is able to be present with untold benefits.

What is true prayer?

True prayer entails a person's whole life. It is more than simply "waiting for God." It includes thinking from and acting according to God's revealed truth. "Truth is what prays in a person, and a person is continually at prayer when living according to the truth" Apocalypse Explained, paragraph 493

People who are not living a good life, therefore, cannot truly pray, but "when they abstain from thinking and doing evils, and lead themselves, as of themselves, by the truths of the Word to a good life, they make themselves receptive. Then their prayers, devotions, and externals of worship avail before the Lord" Apocalypse Explained, paragraph 248e

The Lord knows our prayers before they are even uttered, "but still He wills that people should ask first, to the end that they may do it as from themselves, and thus that it should be appropriated to them" Apocalypse Revealed, paragraph 376e

The essence of prayer is that God's will be done. "In prayer, when inspired by God, there is always the thought and belief that the Lord alone knows whether what is sought would be beneficial or not. Therefore the one who prays leaves the Lord to decide whether to listen to what they ask for, then accordingly pleads that the Lord's will may be done, not their own." Arcana Caelestia, paragraph 8179

Why pray for others?

It is in perfect accordance with Sacred Scripture to ask that the Lord's will be done, both for one's self and for others. The key is to ask only for what contributes to the Lord's kingdom. (cf. Apocalypse Explained, paragraph 815.10).

Praying for others is part of being truly human, for "the effort to intercede is in all love"(Apocalypse Explained, paragraph 644.23; Arcana Caelestia, paragraph 8573.2).

When we truly love another person, we will have that person's welfare in our heart, and therefore in our prayers. In fact the writings of Swedenborg do not speak highly of those who fail to pray for others. "There are those who think that heaven is to be merited by supplications, yet they pray not for others, still less for all, but only for themselves, and thus their prayers are not heard." (Spiritual Experiences, paragraph 1850; see also 1300, 5976; Arcana Caelestia, paragraph 952, 452)

We are therefore not to pray only for ourselves, but for all in the Lord's kingdom. The Lord's Prayer is a prayer for others as well as ourselves. There are many examples of prayer for others in the Old and New Testaments, including the admonition to pray for those who injure and persecute us (Matthew 5.44) and to forgive others in our prayers (Mark 11.25). The Lord "prayed on the cross for His enemies, and thus for all in the whole world" (Arcana Caelestia, paragraph 1690)

How does prayer effect those for whom we pray?

Angels are able to "communicate to another the goodness, blessedness and bliss that they themselves have received" (Arcana Caelestia, paragraph 6478).

Delight and happiness in heaven are thus "communicated from one to many by means of a real transferring that is remarkable" (Arcana Caelestia, paragraph 1392).

This communication happens by means of the spheres that surround everyone, both in heaven and on earth (Arcana Caelestia, paragraph 8794e, 10130.3), for a person's sphere "inwardly affects their companions" (True Christian Religion, paragraph 433.2)

When a person prays to the Lord from genuine love and faith on behalf of another, the "hope, consolation and inward joy" which they are given by the Lord may be communicated in remarkable ways to those for whom they pray.

The communication of love has tremendous power, whether it is expressed in tangible or intangible ways, for love carries all good fortune, success and healing within it. Most essential, however, is the recognition that all good comes from the Lord - for without Him we can do nothing. Our continual prayer must therefore always be "Thy will be done."

 

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