“YE ASK, and receive not, because ye ask amiss,” says the Apostle James. Have you ever thought of this when you have prayed for some time, and then found no answer to your prayer? “Ye ask amiss.” There is the reason. Prayer, when based on the belief that there is a need unfilled or a desire unsatisfied, is never in accord with true scientific prayer. A prayer for God to do something, send something, provide, or heal is equally without power. It is sometimes believed that God requires a channel through which to fulfill our prayer, and <strong>this leads us to look outside ourselves for the answer.g> We may believe that supply can come to us; and, therefore, we watch for the person or position through which it is to come; or we may be depending on a healer or teacher as the channel through which the healing is to come. “Ye ask amiss.” Any belief that that which we are seeking is anywhere but within us, within our very own consciousness, is the barrier separating us in belief from our harmony.

True prayer is never addressed to a Being outside ourselves, nor does true prayer expect anything from outside our own being. “The kingdom of God is within you,” and all good must be sought there.

Recognizing God to be the reality of our being, we know that all good is inherent in that Being, your being and mine. God is the substance of our being; and, therefore, we are eternal and harmonious. God is life, and this Life is self-sustained. He is our Soul, and we are pure and immortal. God is the consciousness of the individual, and this constitutes the intelligence of our being. Rightly speaking, there is not God and you, but God is ever manifest as you, and this is the oneness which assures you of infinite good. God is the life, mind, body, and substance of individual being; therefore, nothing can be added to any individual, and true prayer is the constant recognition of this truth.
Joel S. Goldsmith
The Infinite Way