Excerpts from

  PRAY AND GROW RICH!
by
Catherine Ponder




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in Adobe PDF eBook or printed form for $11.95 (+ printing charge)

 


Book Description

How many times have you said to yourself... "This is what I want to be!" ... "This is what I want to have!" NOW YOU CAN GET IT! Just by following the easy, step-by-step Secret Prayer Ritual, as revealed by the Reverend Ponder in this amazing book!

"What kind of Prayer?" you ask. Is it Words? Deeds? Belief? Or is it something more that makes Prayer work? It is something more! . . . It's the SECRET THAT MAKES PRAYER WORK! A Secret you'll find on the thrilling pages of this book!

Yes, you can gain the wealth which you deserve. You can have the greater strength and energy that you need and the greater power to be made well and whole again ... if you're willing to let the most fascinating Cosmic Force in all the world seek you out!

This book was first published in 1968 and has been out of print for a number of years and is quite hard to find. This special eBook edition contains the full text of the original book and has 277 pages. This is a prosperity classic not to be missed!


Introduction


Prayer is receiving more consideration today than at anytime during the past thousand years!

This Book Is Dedicated to

My various prayer partners of the last twenty years—a Negro maid, an elderly matron, a childhood friend, a businessman, and several housewives—whose prayers helped me do all the things "they said couldn't be done":—

Become a minister, write successful books, establish a church, become an international lecturer, bring up my young son alone when I became widowed, and make a comeback from the sudden death of loved ones. Together, my prayer partners and I have found that the poet and prophet was right when he promised, "More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of."

What This Book Can Do for You

A young man with a grave problem was asked by his minister, I "Have you prayed about it?" He answered, "Prayed? This is no time to pray. It's time to do something!"

To pray is to do something—the most important "some-thing" you can first do about any problem.

Why?

Because prayer is where the true action is! Prayer is the only action you can take that truly makes things different—from the inside out.

This is true because physical action releases the weakest form of energy, whereas mental and spiritual action releases the highest form of energy.

Prayer deals primarily with the states of mind and laws of mental activity that rule your world. Prayer changes your mentality; prayer first changes your thinking as it calms, uplifts and renews you. This is one of the purposes of prayer—to change your thinking, which in turn changes your world.

But prayer goes further. There is another reason for all the shouting about the "power of prayer."

Prayer releases the highest form of energy in the universe, as it links you with a God energy, which is your source. When this happens, prayer "turns you on!"

How?

When you pray, you stir into action an atomic force. You release a potent spiritual vibration that can be released in no other way. Through prayer you unleash and loose a God energy within and around you that gets busy working for you and through you, producing right attitudes, reactions and results. It is your prayers that recognize and release that God power.

You may not feel the force of prayer because it operates at a higher vibration than that ordinarily felt by man. In fact, prayer releases an energy that is usually too fine to be recorded physically.

Nevertheless, as you pray you expand mentally and spiritually so as to become big enough in consciousness to receive a larger flow of the divine energy generated through prayer. Prayer is not only asking and communing. Prayer is also receiving.

A skeptic once insisted that he did not believe in the power of prayer. When asked if he had ever prayed, he replied that he had once. His explanation was that on that occasion he was lost in a deep forest and could not find his way out. He had been there several days and was beginning to feel the pangs of starvation. He said that in his "weakness" he prayed.

"Then God did answer your prayer, or you would not be here," exclaimed his acquaintance.

"No," replied the skeptic, "God did not answer my prayer. A couple of hunters came along soon afterward and showed me the way out."

This man did not understand that his prayer had been answered, and that the hunters were the human agency through which God's work had been done. Nevertheless, through the act of prayer, he had for a moment recognized the God power within and around him, and had thereby contacted and released it to produce results for him. He had not only asked; he had also received.

ONE PRAYS WITH THE MIND

In recent times we've heard much about "the power of thought" as well as about "the power of prayer." These two terms are linked. They are twin powers. The mind is the connecting link between God and man. Prayer is a method of thought that links God and man. One prays with the mind.

Some authorities claim that what it usually takes a person six hours to do could easily be accomplished in only one hour by a person who knew how to pray and meditate first!

A man who practices daily meditation recently proved it, as he often has. He had been given three writing assignments which he was expected to complete in a single day. At first, he was tempted to panic just thinking about the task before him—one that would take the average journalist several days at best to complete.

Then he quieted his mind, prayed and meditated for an entire hour. During this meditation time, ideas for all three writing assignments quietly flowed into his conscious mind. He then proceeded with the tasks and completed them in a few hours without the usual "blood, sweat and tears.

An engineer with grave responsibilities on a large project had only one method for solving his engineering problems. When they arose, he always retired to his private office and sat quietly behind his desk, meditating and praying for guidance. Always the answer came as the right ideas or the perfect solution cropped up.

One day one of his employees, a young "jet set" engineer right out of college, asked the secret of this engineer's phenomenal success. When informed, this young man replied incredulously, "You mean you just pray and meditate and the answer comes?"

The root meaning of the word "man" is "one who looks up." Some psychologists claim that man uses only about 1/10th of 1 percent of his energies and powers, because he does not live up to the root meaning of his name: He does not look up, nor does he look within, often enough. It is sad to realize that perhaps all but 1/10th of 1 percent of man's forces are wasted because they are expressed outwardly instead of inwardly. But something can be done about it!

WHY PRAYER HAS MIRACLE POWER

Scientists tell us there are no miracles—only the working of higher laws not commonly understood. Actually there seems to be one set of natural laws for the physical world and another set for the invisible world of mind and spirit. The laws of mind and spirit are so much stronger that they can be used to accentuate, neutralize, or even reverse the laws of the physical world. Prayer is the one power in the world that seems to set off the working of those higher laws.

Prayer can get the job done—when nothing else has.

Why is prayer so powerful? Why can prayer accentuate, neutralize or even reverse the laws of the physical world?

Because through prayer, you tap the operation of higher laws of supreme mind and spirit. Through prayer you release a spiritual force which shatters fixed states of mind that have caused so much havoc in your world. Your imprisoned thoughts and pent-up negative emotions go free and dissolve, as a higher energy floods your being and your world.

Indeed, the energy and power released in prayer help you to "crash through" the negative thought strata that had previously bound you to all kinds of problems. Thereafter, the impossible becomes possible. Your ships come in. So-called miracles occur. It is then that you realize that prayer did overcome the usual "laws of nature" and did what they said couldn't be done!

If prayer were commonly understood and practiced by mankind universally, the dreaded things of this world—crime, disease, poverty and war—could become ancient history. You can begin helping to eradicate these universal ills, as well as a score of personal ones, as you begin deliberately developing your prayer powers described in this book.

PRAYER MAKES YOU IRRESISTIBLE FOR RECEIVING RICHES

Perhaps you are thinking that prayer has not yet made your dreams come true or your "ships of gold" come in. That is because the art and science of prayer are not accomplished in one giant step nor in one dramatic act. Prayer is a continuous practice which should be applied to the little as well as to the big things in your life.

Does this sound dull? Well, it isn't! If you have thought so, you do not know what you've missed.

Prayer can be supremely exciting. Once, when I was trying to get guidance about my teenage son's future, as I prayed Air Force planes flew overhead so low that they interrupted my prayer time. When this happened on two separate occasions in a row, I realized that apparently was the answer. Within a matter of weeks, my son had decided to delay attending college and had enlisted in the United States Air Force.

Prayer also has a sense of humor at times. Once when I was trying to get guidance about whether to accept a lecture invitation in the State of Indiana, a college band near my apartment suddenly started playing, "Back Home Again In Indiana" so loudly that it roused me from my prayer period, and I took that as intuitive guidance to go to Indiana to lecture. It proved to be one of the most thrilling lecture experiences I have ever had.

Dr. Billy Graham once said, "The man who has never discovered the power of prayer in a spiritual sense has never really lived." I believe it! You will too!

Once you get the workings of it, there is a certain indescribable fascination about prayer; an unforgettable, irresistible quality, an exuberating and exulting feeling that draws you back to it again and again. As you turn within to its power more and more, you discover you are carrying within your own being a portable para-disc which you can contact anytime anywhere, regardless of what is happening around you.

There is a quaint saying among the Pennsylvania Dutch, "The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get!" Prayer slows you down to GET IT attraction. Prayer gets you in the mood to receive your good. Prayer gives you a taste of heaven, and it tastes good! (The word "heaven" means "expansion" and the practice of prayer expands both you and your good.) St. Francis of Assisi, who loved to pray in a cave, described prayer as "a heavenly sweetness."

Your soul gets twisted out of shape when you battle life, people, circumstances. Prayer takes away your spirit of fuss, gives you a gentleness of pace. One of the most obvious signs of the person who prays is the quiet way he is able to maintain his equilibrium in the grip of circumstances, until those circumstances finally lose their grip on him!

One cynic has said there is nothing so unattractive as a prayer-less woman. I am even more cynical: There is nothing so unattractive as a prayer-less person, because his prayer-less-ness has demagnet-ized him to the blessings of life.

When you pray you quiet your mind, body, emotions, vibrations. Prayer gives you a sense of peace and tranquility that are attracting powers. In one way or another, prayer first makes you more attractive, and then gets busy attracting your good to you. Prayer makes you irresistible to your good! And, most certainly, to all the riches of confident living, including adequate financial supply.

NOTHING DULL ABOUT RIGHT PRAYER

A lot of dull things have been written about prayer, but you will not find any of them in this book!

If prayer has seemed a dull practice to you in the past—a practice that you regarded as fine for sweet ol' ladies and innocent children but one that just did not work for you—it was probably because you simply did not know how to pray. There's more to prayer than mumbling a few self-conscious words that you know never reach the ceiling!

In his book, Prayer Can Change Your Life, Dr. William R. Parker points out that among the people who participated in his prayer experiments at Redlands University, those who prayed at home on their own without benefit of psychological insight or spiritual instruction got no results. Their prayers brought absolutely no improvements, because they knew not what effective prayer demanded of them.

When you pray with your conscious mind only, just a fraction of your total mind prays, and you get only a fraction of the results due you through prayer.

The purpose of this book is to acquaint you with all the fascinating ways you can pray: through relaxation, denials, affirmations, concentration, meditation, the silence, realization, thanksgiving. Regardless of your life situation, you will find there is always a way you can pray—to suit your mood and circumstances—a method that gets the job done. There is no better way to secure all the riches of life you so earnestly desire.

After studying the favorable effects prayer had on his patients, world famous doctor and scientist Alexis Carrel, M.D., promised; "If you make a habit of sincere prayer, your life will be very noticeably and profoundly altered." But you must be sincere in prayer. You should pray the way you make love—with everything you've got! One plain spoken theologian has described this method as "passionate praying." Truly, as you study the laws of prayer hereinafter described, you will find yourself getting into the act—the act of prayer—more and more and getting richer—more and more—without tensions or fears.

Prayer will then turn on the action of God's goodness within and around you. As you persist in developing your various prayer powers, it will dawn on you that prayer is where the action is; that prayer has "turned you on" and you will undoubtedly have the results to prove it! But whether or not the sure-fire answers to prayer have come through yet, you will be convinced of its necessity in your life from the peace of mind and deep soul satisfaction you are experiencing—which, in turn, lead to every outer blessing, and I do mean richer blessings and more of them.

When this happens, you will no longer complain, "Why all the shouting about the richness and power of prayer?" You will be one of the enriched "shouters"!


Book Contents

1. The Shocking Truth About Prayer

How a businesswoman got out of a deep rut in her life. Nothing ever dull nor complex about dynamic prayer. Your universal God power is within your grasp, four indwelling God power. Why many people's prayers go unanswered. Pray first instead of last. A case of power of prayer in finance. The path to riches of instant good. Prayer is soul-stretching. No frustrating strain in prayer. When you think your prayers grow stale. The variety of prayer. Oriental and western prayer methods reversed.

2. What to Do When Your Prayers Have Not Been Answered    

How to "grow" into the answer to prayer. Overcoming blocks to answered prayer. A healing for riches through forgiveness. The secret of dissolving negatives within you. How to channel yourself for answered prayer. How to deny all that saps your prayer vitality. Answered prayer will not be rushed. Why one must clean up one's life for answered prayer. Persistence in prayer always brings results. How to meet one day at a time prayerfully. Prayer has many fringe benefits for you. Proved techniques for answered prayer.

3. The Constructive Prayer of Relaxation 

To relay is to loosen, release yourself from a situation. How to tune in to a universal cosmic current. Pray in the body. First step in prayer of relaxation. How to relax your emotions. A professional woman healed through relaxation. Second step in the prayer of relaxation. Holy breath—what it means. Third step in the prayer of relaxation. Last points on prayer of relaxation.

4. The Prayer of Cleansing to Receive Riches 

The "lesson" of evil. How to invoke the power of the prayer of cleansing. A young executive's experience with cleansing prayer. The cross a symbol of healing. Complete release: the second prayer of cleansing. Prayer of release brings marriage. The prayer of release includes confession. Getting release from others. Complete forgiveness: The third prayer of cleansing. How forgiveness heals, prospers, harmonizes. Vacuum: The fourth prayer of cleansing. How fasting is a form of cleansing prayer. Cleansing: A constant and self-renewing process.

5. The Prayer of Complete Protection

How to be protected from robbery. Prayers of protection for health. How your protective prayers reach others. How crops and weather conditions are protected through prayer. How protection prayers put out fire. Prayer protection in war. your angel prayer protectors. Angels of prosperity and healing.

6. The Powerful Prayer of Decree

How affirmations produced a book. Prayer begins with words. Results of prayerful affirmation. Why verbal prayer is always a necessity. Verbal prayer has psychological value. Verbal prayer brings quick financial help. Most powerful types of affirmation. First: The prayer of talking directly to God. Second: The prayer of asking. Third: The prayer of asking for direct guidance. Fourth: The decree of divine intelligence. Fifth: The decree of divine love. Sixth; The decree that God's will is being done. Seventh: Decrees of the divine plan. Eighth: The decree of divine order. Ninth; The decree of blessing. Tenth: The prayer of faith. Eleventh: The prayer of divine restoration. Write out your decrees.

7. The Prayer for Miracles 

Psychologists know about miracle consciousness. Ancients knew how to activate spiritual consciousness. How to activate your miracle consciousness.  The Christ mind. The power of the phrase "Jesus Christ." Call on the name Jesus Christ. Write out Jesus Christ prayers. Picture Jesus Christ. Behold the Christ in others. How to behold the Christ in yourself. How inviting the Christ within heals one. How to invoke the peace of Jesus Christ. How to affirm the finished works of Jesus Christ. Ways to invite the universal Christ presence. How a sophisticated woman was healed. How to be blessed with the forgiving power of Jesus  Christ.   The  miraculous  word  power of Christ Jesus. The white miracle light of tlie Christ. How to invoke Christ consciousness through words of Jesus. How to release your miracle energy power.

8. The Prayer of Concentration and Meditation 

The history of concentration. The incredible power of concen-tration. A housewife's experience. The necessity of concentration in prayer development. How to induce concentration through list-making.  Your first list. How a businessman made a special list. Your list of choice—the second list. A healer's secret formula of success. Top executives prove value of list-making to themselves. Your third list. How to induce concentration through imaging. The grand results of modern prayer wheels. How a business woman worked out a happier life. My own experience in completing  an  assignment.   How  a prayer  wheel served a college professor. How a tenement family "graduated" from their tenement. Imaging creates and concentration hastens desires into manifestation. Induce concentration through decree. Prayers as "mantrams of power." Too old to get a job? True cases of "rags to riches." Intluce concentration through secrecy. How a woman healed herself through concentration. How to induce inner concentration and meditation. How concentration leads into meditation. How to develop your concentration and meditation powers. How to concentrate regarding troublesome people. The art of concentration develops slowly.

9. The Might of the Prayer of Silence 

Why the lack of silence is abnormal. What happens in the prayerful silence. How one little boy grew up to "sit in the silence." How to be spiritually ready for the silence. All the truly great people practice the prayerful silence. Silence is in every element of dynamic nature. The healing power of the silence. How silence healed in a hospital. Informal methods of practicing the silence. How a man in advertising business reaped rewards of silence. How the practice of the silence can bring more friends. The triumph that only silence can bring. The infinitely prospering power of the silence. How to know when to rest your case! How to formally practice the silence. The fruits of the silence.

10. The Prayer for Realization That Gets Results 

How a complex human relations problem was cleared up. How to identify with the prayer of realization. Healing of breast accomp-lished through realization in prayer. Spiritual prediction for this century coming true. Holy telepathy: How to get true realization through prayer. How to ask for inner assurance of answered prayer. How to receive guidance by dwelling on subject. How to affirm guidance most effectively. Your inner sensing and feeling is the secret of effective prayer. Many prayer methods can bring realization. How the author attained realization in prayer of concentration and meditation. Realization through group partici-pation. How prayer was tested in scientific experiments. Some examples of how realization was received through prayer telepathy. After realization, then what?

Epilogue—After Prayer, Then What?

How to prepare rather than despair. Get ready for surprises. After prayer comes the never-failing light.



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