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The efficacy of prayer has been studied since at least 1872, generally through experiments to determine whether prayer or intercessory prayer has a measurable effect on the health of the person for whom prayer is offered. A study in 2006 indicates that intercessory prayer in cardiac bypass patients had no discernible effects.
Prayer can take a variety of forms: it can be part of a set liturgy or ritual, and it can be performed alone or in groups. Prayer may take the form of a hymn, incantation, formal creedal statement, or a spontaneous utterance in the praying person. The act of prayer is attested in written sources as early as five thousand years ago.
A progression on the scale is characterized by a change in the perspective of the purpose of prayer. Rather than using prayer as a means of changing the reality of a situation, a more mature individual will use prayer to request assistance in coping with immutable problems and draw closer to God or others.
Interior life is a life which seeks God in everything, a life of prayer and the practice of living in the presence of God. It connotes intimate, friendly conversation with Him, and a determined focus on internal prayer versus external actions, while these latter are transformed into means of prayer.
Mental prayer was defined by John A. Hardon in his Modern Catholic Dictionary as a form of prayer in which the sentiments expressed are one's own and not those of another person. Mental prayer is a form of prayer whereby one loves God through dialogue with him, meditating on his words, and contemplating him. [9]
Christian prayer is an important activity in Christianity, and there are several different forms used for this practice. [1]Christian prayers are diverse: they can be completely spontaneous, or read entirely from a text, such as from a breviary, which contains the canonical hours that are said at fixed prayer times.
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Three other prayers are often seen by Baháʼís to have particular power, including the Báb's short prayer for the removal of difficulties, and the Tablet of Ahmad and the Long Healing Prayer, both by Baháʼu'lláh. [3] There is also a prayer for protection from "calamity and pestilence" (epidemics). [8] [9]