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Praying for those in Mosul

A Christian Science perspective: The comforting voice of Truth.

  • By David C. Kennedy

As our hearts go out to the people in Mosul, Iraq, who are trapped in areas still under the control of the Islamic state, we may wonder how we can be of help. Heartfelt prayer can not only uplift our own thoughts but also open a window of light that can embrace and bless those we’re praying for.

That light is the spiritual truth of everyone’s God-given being, which was illustrated in the healing of countless difficulties by Christ Jesus that are recorded in the Bible. Every healing by Jesus reversed some dire physical condition through his understanding of the presence and power of God. He said, “Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him” (Matthew 6:8). And he proved that reassuring truth.

Jesus showed that God bestows on His children not just health and wholeness, but also safety and well-being. While this isn’t evident to the physical senses, through spiritual intuition and love, we are increasingly able to discern man’s relation to God as His expression – an eternal, unbreakable relationship in which all are forever safe. God is never separated from His expression, or likeness, any more than the sun can be separated from its rays. As the Christian Science textbook, by Mary Baker Eddy explains: “Spiritual man is the image or idea of God, an idea which cannot be lost nor separated from its divine Principle” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 303).

Through prayer we can better understand, for those in Mosul and elsewhere, that all are held in God’s omnipotent care – in the all-embracing goodness of divine Love, and the beneficent reign of divine Principle. God is Life, and His children are never separated from Life. This understanding can save lives, but even those who have been lost will find they cannot be separated from God, from Life and goodness.

The understanding of this divine Science of being lends a light to the difficulties there that can have tangible effects – better protection and shelter for the people, for instance; more instances of vital direction for those fighting to free Mosul; and more wisdom in military tactics. In our prayers we can know that all sincere efforts to safeguard and free citizens are protected and brought to success through the power of God, divine Principle.

Science and Health says: “The ‘still, small voice’ of scientific thought reaches over continent and ocean to the globe’s remotest bound. The inaudible voice of Truth is, to the human mind, ‘as when a lion roareth.’ It is heard in the desert and in dark places of fear” (p. 559). We can give room to Truth in our own thoughts, and let God’s spiritual light embrace those for whom we’re praying.

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