December20

Pray for Good Things in Life

And there was Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher; she was advanced in many days, having lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; and she◦ was a widow of about▵ eighty-four years, who stood· not ·back from the temple, serving▵ God with fastings and prayers◦ night and day. (Luke 2:36-37)

Prayer, regarded in itself, is speech with God, and some internal view at the time of the matters of the prayer, to which there answers something like an influx into the perception or thought of the mind, so that there is a certain opening of the man’s interiors toward God; but this with a difference according to the man’s state, and according to the essence of the subject of the prayer. If the man 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 him that prays) as to hope, consolation, or a certain inward joy. (Arcana Coelestia 2535)

In holy worship the church prays that God may be present and lead the thoughts of the discourse. The case herein is this. When a man is in genuine worship, then the Lord flows into the goods and truths which are with him, and raises them to Himself, and with them the man, insofar and in such a manner as he is in them. This elevation does not appear to the man unless he is in the genuine affection of truth and good, and in the knowledge, acknowledgment, and faith that everything good comes from above, from the Lord. (Arcana Coelestia 10299.2)

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