Ask and You Will Receive

How to pray — What to expect from prayer — Prayer and personal responsibility — Spiritist explanation of thought transmission — Understandable prayers — Prayers for those who died — Instructions from the Spirits.

Conditions of Prayer

1. Jesus teaches not to turn prayer into a display. He recommends praying sincerely, without believing that many words guarantee being heard. (Matthew 6:5-8)

2. When praying, Jesus also invites us to work on forgiveness and reconciliation. (Mark 11:25-26)

Mark 11:25-26

3. In the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, one man uses prayer to consider himself superior to others, while the other humbly recognizes his own faults.

Jesus values the humility of the second and concludes: whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Luke 18:9-14)

4. Kardec summarizes the conditions of prayer as sincerity, humility, and an effort toward charity. Instead of using prayer to compare ourselves with others, the invitation is to examine our own conscience.

Effect of prayer

5. The Gospel says: “Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you will receive it.” (Mark 11:24)

6. Kardec asks how prayer can have an effect if God knows our needs and Nature has laws. His answer is that stable laws do not eliminate freedom, choices, and possibilities for action.

If everything were absolutely decided, it would make no sense to try to avoid dangers, learn, or change decisions. The work argues that human initiative has real consequences.

Our choices can alter events without this meaning that the laws of Nature are suspended. Freedom and responsibility are part of Kardec's argument.

Within this religious view, God could answer requests without turning the universe into a sequence of arbitrary exceptions.

7. “Ask and you will receive” does not mean that every desire will be fulfilled exactly as requested. Kardec compares this to a caregiver who may deny something when they believe it would cause harm.

The old text states that some suffering would be useful as spiritual trials. This is a doctrinal interpretation and should not be used to justify avoidable suffering, deny treatment, accept violence, or prevent someone from seeking help. Prayer can offer courage and hope while the person also seeks concrete solutions.

The maxim “help yourself and Heaven will help you” reinforces that prayer does not replace action. Asking for help and using available resources can go together.

8. Kardec uses the example of a person lost and thirsty. Instead of water appearing miraculously, the person finds strength to get up, look for a direction, and finally find a stream.

A religious person may interpret the idea and strength that appeared as spiritual help; another person may attribute them to their own reasoning or to chance. The example shows two possible readings of the same experience.

For Kardec, spiritual help would preserve the person's own participation: receiving inspiration does not mean ceasing to walk, decide, or act.

The final comparison is with the story of Tobias, in which the guide fully reveals his identity only after the journey.

How prayer would act according to the Spiritist Doctrine

Transmission of thought

9. Prayer can be a request, thanksgiving, or praise and may be offered by us or by other people. In the Spiritist view, prayers can also be made for deceased people, and good Spirits would act as intermediaries subordinate to God's will.

10. Kardec tries to explain prayer through the concept of a “universal fluid,” imagining incarnate and discarnate beings connected by a medium capable of transmitting thought.

The text compares this supposed fluid to air that transmits sound and proposes that will would produce a kind of current of thought between beings.

This explanation involving universal fluid and direct transmission of thoughts belongs to the nineteenth-century Spiritist model and does not correspond to a scientifically proven mechanism today.

Kardec's purpose was to offer, within his Doctrine, a rational explanation for what he considered effects of prayer. In this edition, we preserve the idea as part of the historical and doctrinal context without presenting it as established scientific fact.

11. In the Spiritist view, prayer can encourage good thoughts and strengthen decisions. The old example connects illness with personal excesses; this may happen in some cases, but illnesses have many causes and should not be treated as moral punishment. Prayer can provide support but does not replace prevention, diagnosis, or health treatment.

12. Kardec distinguishes problems we can avoid from those beyond our control. The original text states that most suffering would be created by the person themselves; this generalization is not appropriate. Much suffering results from social, biological, economic, or environmental factors or from the actions of third parties.

Some choices really do affect health, finances, and relationships, but this does not allow us to conclude that every illness, poverty, or difficulty is the result of individual error. Personal responsibility and compassion need to go together.

Attitudes such as humility, charity, control of envy, and respect for others can prevent many conflicts. Even so, no one controls everything that happens around them.

Even when prayer does not directly change an external situation, it can help a person reflect, strengthen decisions, and seek better paths.

In the Spiritist explanation, good Spirits could inspire thoughts without taking away a person's freedom. This is a doctrinal belief about spiritual influence.

The person would remain free to accept or reject an inspiration, just as they are free to follow or reject advice. It is in this sense that Kardec applies “ask and you will receive.”

For the Doctrine, prayer is recommended as a form of relationship with God and moral support for oneself and others.

13. Kardec values the sincere intention of the person who prays and considers that a life directed toward good gives greater consistency to prayer. This does not mean that people facing moral difficulties are forbidden to pray; precisely those who wish to change can find in prayer a space for reflection and a new beginning.

14. The work again uses concepts of magnetism and fluids to explain the action of prayer. These ideas belong to its historical and doctrinal context, not to a scientifically demonstrated explanation today.

No one needs to consider themselves “good enough” to wish good for another person. A sincere prayer for someone can be an expression of affection, hope, and solidarity.

The message criticizes only prayer used with pride, as though a person could impose their will on God or consider themselves superior to others.

15. Prayer does not depend on a specific place, time, or formula. It can be made at any moment. Prayer meetings can also have value when there is a shared intention and sincere participation.

The number of people alone does not make a prayer better. For the work, two or three people truly united by an intention for good may have more meaning than a large meeting without inner involvement.

Prayers that are easy to understand

16. Paul emphasizes the importance of understanding the words used in prayer. If the person does not understand what is being said, it becomes difficult to connect thought and feeling with those words. (1 Corinthians 14:11, 14, 16-17)

17. Kardec advocates prayers that are easy to understand. A simple sentence that is understood can have more meaning than sophisticated words repeated without knowing what they mean.

Repeating a prayer as a tradition can be meaningful to some people, but the work reminds us that quantity and form do not replace intention and understanding.

Prayers for deceased people and suffering Spirits

18. In Spiritist belief, prayers for deceased people can bring comfort and encouragement to suffering Spirits. This is a religious practice of the Doctrine and can also offer the living a way to express love, remembrance, and hope during grief.

See Heaven and Hell, second part

19. Kardec also discusses prayer for the dead with people who believe in eternal condemnation. Even under that hypothesis, he asks why one should stop offering an expression of compassion.

He compares this attitude to support offered to someone facing a very difficult situation: even when we cannot solve the problem, we can still comfort and accompany.

If the deceased person was someone loved, prayer can express that bond and a wish for peace, regardless of how each religious tradition understands life after death.

For Kardec, a religious belief should not make the heart less compassionate.

The Spiritist Doctrine rejects eternal punishments and understands moral consequences as part of a learning process. In this context, prayer, comfort, and good advice could contribute to the willingness to change.

20. Another objection discussed is the idea that praying would be useless because God's laws are unchangeable. Kardec answers that the unchangeability of laws does not mean the impossibility of a person's moral change.

The work contrasts its view of progress with the doctrine of eternal punishments without possibility of repentance. This comparison is theological and reflects the religious debate of the time.

For Kardec, a moral consequence would make sense only if there were also the possibility of repentance, change, and reparation.

21. The Doctrine presented summarizes its position in this way: our actions have consequences; the seriousness of those consequences is related to the harm produced; and progress depends on repentance, learning, and returning to good. This is a doctrinal formulation, not an explanation for blaming people for involuntary suffering.

Repentance is a beginning, but the work also values reparation when it is possible. The idea is to turn recognition of an error into concrete change.

The message places great importance on the will to do good, but no one needs to face deep difficulties alone. Support from other people, community, and professionals can be part of the process of change.

Praying for someone, encouraging them, advising them respectfully, and offering concrete help would be ways of participating in this law of love and charity.

Instructions from the Spirits

How to pray

V. Monod - Bordeaux, 1862

22. The instruction recommends beginning the day with a moment of conscious prayer, avoiding repeating phrases merely out of obligation. What matters would be sincerity, not formality.

In the early days of the Codification, some followers of Spiritism remained connected with their religions of origin.

Historical note from the previous edition about religious diversity among early Spiritists.

The message recommends giving thanks, recognizing limitations, and asking for understanding, strength, and mercy.

It also suggests asking for qualities such as patience, serenity, and faith. This does not mean that anyone should desire or accept avoidable suffering; asking for strength can go together with seeking solutions and protection.

The instruction criticizes the idea that God would be present only when our earthly plans work out. It invites us to include our own moral development in prayer.

The old text states that we would almost always find in ourselves the cause of the troubles we complain about. This generalization should not be applied literally. Much suffering is not the fault of those who experience it. Examination of conscience is for what is actually within our responsibility.

Prayer can also appear in everyday life as gratitude and as willingness to help someone in physical or emotional need.

When we realize that we have made a mistake, a simple prayer can express repentance and a desire to repair: recognize the error, ask for strength not to repeat it, and act differently.

For this reason, prayer does not need to be limited to specific times or places. A sincere thought during the day can have more meaning than a long formula repeated without attention.

The happiness of prayer

Saint Augustine - Paris, 1861

23. Saint Augustine describes prayer as a source of comfort, repentance, and closeness to God. The original language is poetic and seeks to convey the inner experience of faith.

The message invites recollection and presents prayer as a moment in which a person turns attention toward God and spiritual life.

Images of angels, music, and harmony represent the spiritual peace and joy the author associates with prayer.

The description of voices, fragrances, and spiritual spheres belongs to the mystical language of the message and should be understood within its religious context.

The conclusion invites us to pray with confidence even in difficult moments, using Jesus' journey as an image of perseverance and hope in the continuity of spiritual life.