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)

(Mga Sanggunian: The Word 15)

119. 6. Then the Lord cleanses us from the compulsions in our inner nature and from the evil practices themselves in our outer nature. The reason the Lord cleanses us from our compulsions to evil when we expel evils in apparent autonomy is that the Lord cannot cleanse us until we have done our part. The evils are in our outer self and the compulsions to evil in our inner self, as closely connected as roots and trunk. Unless the evils are expelled, then, there is no opening. The evils block the way and close the door, a door that the Lord cannot open unless we cooperate, as I have already explained [114-118]. So when we, apparently on our own, open the door, the Lord uproots our compulsions at the same time.

Another reason is that the Lord is at work in the center of our being, and works from that center into everything that depends on it all the way to our boundaries, and we are living at these boundaries while this is happening. As long as we ourselves are keeping these boundaries closed, then, no cleansing can take place. There can be only the kind of work within us by the Lord that the Lord does in hell--we are forms of hell when we are in the grip of our compulsions and the evils they cause. This work is simply arranging it so that one thing does not destroy another, and so that what is good and true is not harmed.

The Lord's words in the Book of Revelation show that the Lord is constantly pressing us, urging us, to open the door: "Look, I am standing at the door and knocking. To all who hear my voice and open the door I will enter, and I will dine with them, and they with me" (Revelation 3:20).