The Answer to Prayer

Chapter 9.2 – The Answer to Prayer
 
The Answer to Prayer
 
Everyone who ever tried to use prayer to ask for something has experienced
what appears to be failure. This is not only true in connection with specific
things that might be harmful, but also in connection with requests that are
strictly in line with this course. The latter in particular might be incorrectly
interpreted as “proof” that the course does not mean what it says. You must
remember, however, that the course states, and repeatedly, that its purpose
is the escape from fear.
 
Let us suppose, then, that what you ask of the Holy Spirit is what you really
want, but you are still afraid of it. Should this be the case, your attainment
of it would no longer be what you want. This is why certain specific forms
of healing are not achieved, even when the state of healing is. An individual
may ask for physical healing because he is fearful of bodily harm. At the
same time, if he were healed physically, the threat to his thought system
might be considerably more fearful to him than its physical expression. In
this case he is not really asking for release from fear, but for the removal of
a symptom that he himself selected. This request is, therefore, not for
healing at all.
 
The Bible emphasizes that all prayer is answered, and this is indeed true.
 
The very fact that the Holy Spirit has been asked for anything will ensure a
response. Yet it is equally certain that no response given by him will ever be
one that would increase fear. It is possible that his answer will not be heard.
 
It is impossible, however, that it will be lost. There are many answers you
have already received but have not yet heard. I assure you that they are
waiting for you.
 
If you would know your prayers are answered, never doubt a Son of God.
 
Do not question him and do not confound him, for your faith in him is your
faith in yourself. If you would know God and his Answer, believe in me
whose faith in you cannot be shaken. Can you ask of the Holy Spirit truly,
and doubt your brother? Believe his words are true because of the truth that
is in him. You will unite with the truth in him, and his words will be true.
 
As you hear him you will hear me. Listening to truth is the only way you
can hear it now, and finally know it.
 
The message your brother gives you is up to you. What does he say to you?
 
What would you have him say? Your decision about him determines the
message you receive. Remember that the Holy Spirit is in him, and his
voice speaks to you through him. What can so holy a brother tell you except
truth? But are you listening to it? Your brother may not know who he is, but
there is a light in his mind that does know. This light can shine into yours,
giving truth to his words and making you able to hear them. His words are
the Holy Spirit’s answer to you. Is your faith in him strong enough to let you
hear?
 
You can no more pray for yourself alone than you can find joy for yourself
alone. Prayer is the restatement of inclusion, directed by the Holy Spirit
under the laws of God. Salvation is of your brother. The Holy Spirit extends
from your mind to his, and answers you. You cannot hear the Voice for God
in yourself alone, because you are not alone. And his answer is only for
what you are. You will not know the trust I have in you unless you extend
it. You will not trust the guidance of the Holy Spirit, or believe that it is for
you unless you hear it in others. It must be for your brother because it is for
you. Would God have created a Voice for you alone? Could you hear his
answer except as he answers all of God’s Sons? Hear of your brother what
you would have me hear of you, for you would not want me to be deceived.
 
I love you for the truth in you, as God does. Your deceptions may deceive
you, but they cannot deceive me. Knowing what you are, I cannot doubt
you. I hear only the Holy Spirit in you, Who speaks to me through you. If
you would hear me, hear my brothers in whom God’s Voice speaks. The
answer to all prayers lies in them. You will be answered as you hear the
answer in everyone. Do not listen to anything else or you will not hear truly.
 
Believe in your brothers because I believe in you, and you will learn that
my belief in you is justified. Believe in me by believing in them, for the
sake of what God gave them. They will answer you if you learn to ask only
truth of them. Do not ask for blessings without blessing them, for only in
this way can you learn how blessed you are. By following this way you are
seeking the truth in you. This is not going beyond yourself but toward
yourself. Hear only God’s Answer in his sons, and you are answered.
 
To disbelieve is to side against, or to attack. To believe is to accept, and to
side with. To believe is not to be credulous, but to accept and appreciate.
 
What you do not believe you do not appreciate, and you cannot be grateful
for what you do not value. There is a price you will pay for judgment,
because judgment is the setting of a price. And as you set it you will pay it.
 
If paying is equated with getting, you will set the price low but demand a
high return. You will have forgotten, however, that your return is in
proportion to your judgment of worth. If paying is associated with giving it
cannot be perceived as loss, and the reciprocal relationship of giving and
receiving will be recognized. The price will then be set high, because of the
value of the return. The price for getting is to lose sight of value, making it
inevitable that you will not value what you receive. Valuing it little, you
will not appreciate it and you will not want it.
 
Never forget, then, that you set the value on what you receive, and price it
by what you give. To believe that it is possible to get much for little is to
believe that you can bargain with God. God’s laws are always fair and
perfectly consistent. By giving you receive. But to receive is to accept, not
to get. It is impossible not to have, but it is possible not to know you have.
 
The recognition of having is the willingness for giving, and only by this
willingness can you recognize what you have. What you give is therefore
the value you put on what you have, being the exact measure of the value
you put upon it. And this, in turn, is the measure of how much you want it.
 
You can ask of the Holy Spirit, then, only by giving to him, and you can
give to him only where you recognize him. If you recognize him in
everyone, consider how much you will be asking of him, and how much
you will receive. He will deny you nothing because you have denied him
nothing, and so you can share everything. This is the way, and the only way
to have his answer, because his answer is all you can ask for and want. Say,
then, to everyone:
 
Because I will to know myself, I see you as God’s Son and my brother.