While most of us have been brought up to trust that prayer involves pleading to God to greatly help, save, fix problems and bring us things in this world, that’s not true prayer nor its purpose. Prayer in A TRAINING COURSE in Miracles (ACIM) is fairly different and incredibly beautiful. More than a song, it is joyous exchange of Love and thanks between God and His Creations that employs the forgiveness process to improve the mind before Prayer Song is all that remains. It is the ticket home so understanding true prayer, and forgiveness, will probably be worth enough time in retraining the mind.

Prayer is exchanging (sharing) a Song of Love and Creation or judgments of the ego predicated on what you ask for (trust) in the mind. There is no other way. In the Course, the mind (content) is split between God and the ego; and you also are choosing on a regular basis with a side as cause for effect.Forms (all things of this world) are miscreations reflecting the ego’s judgmental thought system. We’ve made it up (miscreated this world) and can cease anytime by correcting your brain (forgiveness). True prayer requires this correction of your brain as God has nothing in connection with forms.

What Prayer isn’t:

Since you are always deciding, what you ask for once you pray is what counts. un curso de milagros Once you plead in prayer to have God fix a form problem with another form problem, you are asking the ego mind for help (not God). Those forms and needs are deemed more important than God’s Love that may remain hidden to the degree you select the illusion.

All external things (forms) are needs. Other labels are wants, desires, status, problems, sickness, human love (special relationships), gifts and goals nowadays, etc. They are everything you choose as substitutes for God’s Love and the ego will distort the objective of prayer by using them to further the illusion. Therefore, prayer can’t be about “forms” or “needs” in any way.

The Purpose of Prayer:

The Song of Prayer is defined by the Course as a Song of Creation, Love and gratitude being sung from the daddy to the Son and returned from the Son to the daddy. God gave this gift of Love to His Son at Creation so that it’s a single voice shared by both the Creator and Created. Continuously sharing Love and Creation back and forth extends them forever in eternity. That’s prayer’s purpose.

In this form world of illusion, this prayer is still something special from God offered through the Holy Spirit, the memory of God in the mind. It’s the method that you reach God in the illusion. Whoever has ever remembered the tiniest instant of the all-inclusive joy must begin questioning what he could be choosing (praying for) and how to change his mind so he can have that all the time.

True Prayer and Forgiveness:

True prayer is: (1) asking to get what is already there, The Song; and, (2) on the way, using forgiveness (correction of the mind) to stop the ego forms or what’s not necessarily there. Joining with Love in true prayer is requesting nothing (i.e., no illusion, forms or needs) which means you end up receiving everything (Love). One problem. One solution.

Forgiveness (correction of your brain) is a section of true prayer and makes the process go quicker. Prayer is timeless and goes on forever, and forgiveness is the illusory ladder in time that returns your brain to this endless exchange. Forgiveness disappears once the mind is completely corrected and remembers only The Song.

The big secret of true prayer and forgiveness is to focus on disregarding and giving up the things you think you need and need in the illusion, even the specifics, as this requests your brain to be returned to Truth (Love). You are not furthering the illusion. You’re agreeing with God that (a) you’re a mind; (b) this form world isn’t real; (c) you made a blunder; and, (d) it is possible to choose again.

Using correction of the mind (forgiveness) places those forms and needs on God’s altar, or in his hands, as idols which are only anything you have chosen to be more important than God’s Love. No more wanting anything before His Love, the only real effect God could return is your remembrance of Him. The more you give up, the more meaningless the world becomes and the faster you sing His Song.

Prayer in the Illusion:

Since the mind still resides with God, the Course says you don’t need to decide alone and really should ask the Holy Spirit for help deciding and wait for the answer. Otherwise, you’ve already decided with the ego. If you must make a decision on the spot, you’ll get the correct “need” answer right then.An answer can be an echo of God’s Voice from the Song of Prayer. You’re not asking for the echo itself. You’re choosing the gift of Love from The Song by giving up all form needs. “Need” answers in the illusion are contained within that echo even during the correction of the mind process. They’re met at the amount of the forgiveness ladder it is possible to understand and accept.