In Personal Prayer Ask Hashem for Anything!

A condensed Guide to Personal Prayer based on the teachings of Rabbi Shalom Arush shlit’a, part 4

One of the most important items on our daily personal prayer agenda is asking Hashem to help us strengthen our emuna as in the following sample personal prayer:

Please Hashem, give me full and complete emuna. Help me believe that there’s no such thing as “bad” in the world, for everything is in Your hands and everything You do is for the very best. Help me believe that You love me and that You derive gratification from me.

Instill in me the complete emuna that there is no one but You. In other words, help me internalize the knowledge that no one can help me or harm me against your will. Help me realize that anything that distresses me and anyone who brings troubles in my life is only a stick in Your loving hands to bring me closer to You. Let me fully realize that there’s no one to blame for my troubles (not my wife, nor my in-laws, nor my boss) my moments of displeasure in life are all wake-up calls from You beloved father, to arouse me to prayer and to teshuva.

Give me the complete emuna that there’s no need to torture myself and to tear myself down. Help me direct my energies into the positive endeavor of prayer, and help me believe in the power of my prayers. Beloved father, help me feel that you are with me – there is no greater gift or feeling. Help me scrap my bad habits and do Your will. Give me the desire to pray, and help me realize that all my spiritual and material deficiencies are merely the result of insufficient prayer.

Give me the emuna that everything is in your hands, Hashem. Don’t let me make the mistake of thinking that my talents and abilities are the cause of my successes. Help me invest my primary efforts in prayer, and let me depend on your magnificent loving kindness and not on my sorely limited ability and aptitude. Let me believe that my deficiencies all stem from a deficiency in prayer. Let my prayers flow forth from my heart, soul, and lips always…

“Hashem, please help reinforce my emuna and help me be happy with my lot in life no matter what.”

Ask Hashem to help us internalize each stage of emuna:

1st Stage: “Hashem, help me believe that everything comes from You. Help me realize that my wife’s yelling at me is none other than Your reprimand, so that I won’t lose my temper and ruin the peace at home. Help me realize that my success at work today was a blessing from You, so that I’ll thank You all the time…” and so forth.

2nd stage: “Hashem, help me realize that everything You do is for the very best, and even if I fail to understand how or why , help me believe strongly that everything that’s happening in my life is for the very best.”

This principle should also be applied when learning the 3rd stage of emuna as well, that everything is a message from Hashem to accomplish a specific purpose.

Request spiritual wealth:

Hashem won’t fulfill requests for material wealth or possessions unless they’re beneficial for a person. But, requests for spiritual wealth – for more emuna, more understanding of the Torah, or for assistance in fulfilling a mitzvah – are virtually always answered. The bulk of our prayers should focus on our spiritual needs, the nourishment of our souls.

For example:

“Hashem, my (terrible temper) is a barrier that prevents me from serving You properly and performing Your commandments; please give me the emuna to realize that everything comes from You and is all for my ultimate welfare, (so that nothing in the world will upset me). I know that I’m not deserving of such a gift, but I want to serve You better with all my heart.”

It won’t take long for prayer like these to be answered.

Here’s an example of how we should pray for Hashem’s assistance in helping us pray: “Master of the World, please grant me the privilege to pray properly. Help me take my prescribed prayers seriously. In your loving grace, help me say all my prayers – (Shacharit, Mincha, Maariv, Psalms, Tikkun Klali, Tikkun Chatzot, or whatever else I’m praying) – with proper intent and with all my heart. Let me understand that my prime mode of connection to You is by way of prayer. Help me say my prayers in moderation, word for word, without rushing. Let me feel that I’m standing before You, my magnificent, loving, and all-powerful Father and King. Enable me to cling to you. Help me overcome the evil inclination that does everything in its power to obstruct my prayers and distract me from praying. Save me from foreign an extraneous thoughts, grant me pure thoughts, and help me think only of You when I’m praying. Help me believe in prayer and that my prayers reach the Heavenly throne. Give me complete emuna so that I’ll have the incentive to pray with all my heart and with all my might.”

Prayer for the childless woman:

“Thank You, Hashem, for not giving me children until now, for I’m sure that my being childless is for the very best, since everything You do is for the best and surely to help me correct my soul. Thank You, Hashem, for giving children to my girlfriends. Help me be magnanimous and wish the very best for other woman, that I should never be jealous or resentful of other people’s blessings. Let me thank You with a pure and true heart for each child that’s born to one of my girlfriends.”

“Master of the World, beloved Father in Heaven, if the idea of my having children finds favor in Your eyes, please bless me with the free gift of my own children.”

“Hashem, You can help me. Show me why I don’t have children and what’s lacking in me. If I lack emuna, give me emuna! If I haven’t prayed enough, help me pray more! Teach me how to ask for what I need; I know that everything You do is for the best and that You want our prayers just like You wanted the prayers of our forefathers. Ultimately I believe that you’ll make me a mother too.”

To be continued