The Word is full of prayers that we can read and use to help us express our heartfelt states. They have a special power to open our minds to influx from heaven and to give us strength against evils and falsities.

"The Word in its literal sense, or the natural, is in its fullness, and also in its power; and by means of it man is in conjunction with the heavens" (The Word 5)

This power becomes effective when the Word is read or recited reverently by people on earth (Divine Providence 256, Apocalypse Explained 1066[4]).

Through prayers from the Word the Lord literally can "give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways" (Psalm 91:11).

Here are some examples from the Word, of prayers for personal strength:

"Direct my steps by Your word, And let no iniquity have dominion over me. Redeem me from the oppression of man, that I may keep Your precepts. Make Your face shine upon Your servant, and teach me Your statutes." (Psalm 119:133-135)

"Lord, help me stop worrying anxiously about tomorrow, and give me strength to face the troubles of this day." (Adapted from Matthew 6:3-4)

"I am a little child O Lord; I do not know how to go out or come in.... Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil." (1 Kings 3:7, 9)

Of course, there are many more. Here are just a few more references that you can look up:

Prayers for troubled states: Psalm 4:1, Psalm 7:1, Psalm 42:1, Psalm 86:6-7.

Prayers for mercy and forgiveness: 2 Samuel 24:10, Psalm 25:7, 11, Psalm 130:1-5, Luke 18:13.

Prayers of personal commitment: Mark 12:30, Psalm 37:5.

Prayers of comfort: Psalm 90:1-2.

In so many instances, these prayers have great spiritual power and beauty - not just because of their natural language, but also because, when we read them, we open our minds to the Lord's influx. He says,

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." (Revelation 3:20)

When we pray, we are hearing His voice, and opening the door.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For you, Lord, are with me; Your rod and your staff, they comfort me." (Psalm 23:4)

(References: The Word 15)

5. V. The spiritual sense of the Word and its natural sense.

I have sometimes talked with spirits who were unwilling to know anything about the spiritual sense of the Word, saying that its natural sense is the only meaning the Word has, and this is holy because it comes from God. They asserted that if a spiritual sense were to be accepted, the literal form of the Word would be worthless. Many of them insisted on this, but they received a reply from heaven, that the Word without a spiritual sense in it would not be Divine, and because the spiritual sense is its soul, it is consequently Divine, in fact alive; for without this the literal sense would be as if dead. The real holiness of the Word consists in this. Thus the Word can be compared to the Divine Man, who is the Lord; in Him there is not only a natural Divine, but also a spiritual Divine and a celestial Divine. This is why the Lord calls Himself the Word. It was also said that the real holiness of the Word lies in its literal sense, and that this is more holy than the others, the internal senses, because it is the wrapping and container of the others, and it is like the body which is made alive by the soul. So the Word in its literal or natural sense possesses its fullness and also its power; and by its means a person is linked with the heavens, which would be separated from mankind but for the literal sense. Everyone knows and acknowledges that the Word is in its depths spiritual, but up to now it has been obscure where this spirituality was hidden.

[2] But since the spirits who took a stand on behalf of the literal sense alone were unwilling to be convinced by these arguments, there was produced countless passages from the natural sense, which could never be understood without the spiritual sense. For instance there are in the Prophets lists of nothing but names; many kinds of animals are named, such as lions, bears, oxen, calves, dogs, wolves, owls, ojim, ¹ dragons; also mountains and forests, and many other things besides, which would mean nothing without a spiritual sense.

For instance, what might be the meaning of a dragon described as red with seven heads and seven diadems on its heads, pulling down with its tail a third of the stars of heaven, and wanting to swallow the baby to which the woman was about to give birth; the woman being given the two wings of the great eagle to fly into the desert, where the dragon ejected water from its mouth after her like a river? Again, without the spiritual sense it would not be known what was the meaning of the dragon's two beasts; by the one which came up out of the sea, resembling a leopard, with feet like a bear's and a mouth like a lion's; and by its other beast which came up out of the ground, as described in Revelation Chapters 12 and 13. Again, what is the meaning there of the Lamb opening the seal of the book, horses coming out, first a white one, then a red, then a black and then a pale one, described in Revelation 6, as well as the other things in that book? Again, in Zechariah, what is the meaning of the four horns and the four smiths (Chapter 1:18-21); the lamp-stand and the two olive trees next to it (Chapter 4); the four chariots coming out between the two mountains, attached to which were horses, red, black, white and dappled (Chapter 6)? Again, the ram and the he-goat and their horns, with which they fought each other in Daniel (Chapter 8); and the four beasts coming up out of the sea (Chapter 7); not to mention vast quantities of similar things? To convince them further it was cited what the Lord said to the disciples in Matthew (Chapter 24) about the ending of the age and His coming again, which no one could understand without the spiritual sense.

[3] The existence of a spiritual sense in every detail of the Word can also be confirmed by some of the Lord's sayings, which could not be grasped unless understood spiritually. For instance, no one would be allowed to call his father on earth 'father', nor 'teacher' or 'master', because they have one Father, Teacher and Master (Matthew 23:7-10); or that they should not judge for fear of being judged (Matthew 7:1-2); or that a husband and wife are not two, but one flesh (Matthew 19:5-6), although they are not one flesh in the natural sense. Nor is there any prohibition of judging one's companion or neighbour as regards his natural life, for this is in society's interest; but the prohibition is on judging him as regards his spiritual life, for this is known to none but the Lord. Again, the Lord did not forbid calling one's father 'father', nor a teacher 'teacher', nor a master 'master' in the natural sense, but He did in the spiritual sense. In this there is only one Father, Teacher and Master. And the same is true in other cases.

[4] They were convinced by this that there is a spiritual sense contained in the natural sense of the Word, and that still the real holiness of the Word resides in its literal sense, because all the inner meanings of the Word are fully present in it. In addition it was proved that the literal sense also exhibits clearly everything which teaches the way to salvation, and so how to live and what to believe. Also, every teaching of the church is to be drawn from the literal sense of the Word, and proved by it; not purely by the spiritual sense, since this does not permit linking with heaven and through heaven with the Lord, but this must take place by means of the literal sense. For the Lord's Divine influence coming through the Word extends from first to last.

Footnotes:

256. 3. Strict materialists justify their rejection of divine providence when they see that Christianity is restricted to that smaller part of the inhabited world that we call Europe, and even there is divided. The reason Christianity is found only in that smaller part of the habitable world called Europe is that it is not suited to the character of people of the Middle East the way Islam is, Islam being a kind of compound religion, as already noted [255]. Any religion that is not suitable is not accepted. For example, a religion that prohibits marrying more than one wife will not be accepted but rejected by people who have been polygamists for centuries; and the same principle applies to other practices mandated by Christianity.

[2] It does not matter whether a larger or a smaller part of the world accepts a religion as long as there are people who have the Word, since there is still light from them to people who are outside the church and do not have the Word. This has been explained in Teachings for the New Jerusalem on Sacred Scripture 104-113. Strange as it may seem, wherever the Word is read reverently and the Lord is worshiped because of the Word, the Lord is present along with heaven. This is because the Lord is the Word, and the Word is that divine truth that makes heaven what it is. This is why the Lord says, "Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in their midst" (Matthew 18:20). This can be done with the Word by Europeans, then, in many places in the habitable world, because Europeans are in business all around the world and are either reading the Word or teaching from it everywhere. It may seem as though I am making this up, but it is true.

[3] The reason Christianity is divided is that it is based on the Word, and the Word is composed entirely of correspondential imagery. For the most part, these images are semblances of truth that contain hidden genuine truth. Since the church must necessarily derive its teaching from the literal meaning of the Word, and that meaning is of this nature, it is inevitable that there should be quarrels and arguments and dissent in the church especially about the interpretation of the Word, though not about the Word itself or the divine nature of the Lord himself. It is universally believed that the Word is holy and that the Lord is divine, and these two beliefs are essential features of the church. This means that people who deny the Lord's divine nature, the ones called Socinians, are excommunicated by the church, while people who deny the holiness of the Word are not even considered Christians.

I may add at this point something striking about the Word, something that points to the conclusion that inwardly the Word is divine truth itself, and that at its very heart it is the Lord.

[4] When spirits open the Word and rub it against their face or clothing, then simply from this touch their faces or clothing glow as brightly as the moon or a star. Everyone they meet can see this. This is a witness to the fact that nothing in the world is more holy than the Word.

On the Word being composed entirely of correspondential imagery, see Teachings for the New Jerusalem on Sacred Scripture 5-26; on the need to draw and corroborate the teaching of the church from the literal meaning of the Word, see Teachings for the New Jerusalem on Sacred Scripture 50-61 of that work; on the fact that it is possible to get heresies from the literal meaning of the Word but harmful to validate them, see Teachings for the New Jerusalem on Sacred Scripture 91-97; and on the church being derived from the Word, with its quality determined by its understanding of the Word, see Teachings for the New Jerusalem on Sacred Scripture 76-79.