The Breakthrough – A New Light

In the first portion of Chapter 6, Rabbi Arush explains that a secret of powerful prayer is to believe with complete faith that Hashem yearns to send you the salvation you want. You must believe that you are important and precious in the eyes of Hashem just as you are and that He wants to bring you close to Him. When you have this type of faith, you possess the vessel to draw down a complete salvation. 

Now Rabbi Arush explains a second secret of successful prayer: Praying for the sake of Hashem and asking Him to fulfill His will. 

Everyone who asks Hashem to help him spiritually is, in a sense eliciting Hashem’s will. Therefore, you can entreat Hashem with all your might, because you are, as it were, looking to help Hashem do what He really wants to do. Pray like this, “Master of the Universe, I ask You that Your true will be actualized, because in this way Your name is made great, and that is Your true will and Your salvation as it were!” 

 
 
Rabbi Arush says there is an additional and wondrous depth to prayers that are expressed entirely on behalf of Hashem. This is because Hashem deeply wants us to change and comport ourselves in the way that children of the King should act. Therefore, we pray on behalf of Hashem. We pray that His will for us should be actualized. 

 
 
There is another reason that such prayer brings about salvation and that it is called perfect prayer. This is because it is a prayer without any personal interest, prayer that is 100% for the sake of performing the will of Hashem. In this kind of prayer a person has no personal will or ulterior motives. His entire intent is only to want what Hashem wants, to want Hashem’s will to be actualized. He has totally cancelled himself before Hashem, which is the pinnacle of prayer. 

Every time we engage in prayer to free ourselves from our animal nature and cravings and come close to Hashem, we are engaging in prayer on behalf of His will and His honor that his children will appear as He wants them to appear. Therefore when we recite such a prayer, we may ask for an immediate salvation. 

 
 
Rabbi Arush suggests that in order to make this concept vividly real, imagine a father and mother whose son has grown completely alienated from them and causes them endless pain. If he comes and tells him that he wants to return to them, they will immediately rejoice and forget the past, and give him everything with their whole heart. As for parents of a son who remains alienated from them, they would be willing to give him so much if only he would want to return. 

 
 
If this is true even of human parents in this world, how much more is it true of Our Father in Heaven whose love and compassion are infinite and whose will is infinite. How much does He want to help every person! Think how pleased He must be when a person realizes that he is living a mistake and wants to improve! When we understand that prayer is the tool that will bring Hashem to actualize His will, our entire prayer will be a prayer on behalf of Hashem. 

 
Rabbi Arush is not asserting that  after  a single  prayer session you will change entirely and that there is no need for any waiting whatsoever. He is saying  that the reality of having to wait must not discourage us from crying out repeatedly. We have to believe with simple faith that in the realm of Hashem there is no waiting, and everything can be brought about in a single moment. It’s only the Evil Inclination who tells us that this situation is so big, it will certainly take forever to achieve what I want… the reality is that Hashem can give it to you in a moment. Realizing this strengthens our prayers so that they will be words of flaming fire. Certainly such prayers can bring about swift results.  

At the same time, we should not be upset if we are not answered immediately. The greatest wisdom is the following: At the time of prayer, you must yearn, want, cry out, and expect to receive immediately, with absolute faith and absolute prayer, without resigning yourself to waiting. But after you pray, you must accept the need to wait with love for Hashem, and you must just continue to be happy and accept everything with love. 

Additionally, elsewhere I have read Rabbi Arush teach that we may also inject a sense of urgency for basic needs like shidduchim, children, good health, children on the on a good path of Torah, and good income. We do this by framing our request properly. We ask not for our sake but for the glory and honor of Hashem. We ask only so that we can serve the King to the fullness of our potential. When we do this, we transform prayers for material or physical items into spiritual requests. 

 
 
It’s vital that we make these requests in humility, without a sense of entitlement. We are asking as a free gift, just for the privilege of serving the King better, and not because we deserve it. Moreover, there should not be any sense of sadness or complaint, only yearning. Rabbi Arush says that after our prayers and requests, we should assume a sense of happiness and gratitude. There may be delays and we must realize that these too are for our own good. We should utilize the delays to build our emuna that everything Hashem does is for the best even if we don’t always understand it. In fact, it is this enhanced emuna that will ultimately empower our prayers and evoke Divine compassion to grant our request. 

 
In summary, by praying for the sake of Hashem’s honor we empower our prayers. Hashem wants us to come close to Him and do His will. Our prayers can be answered decisively and immediately but if more sustained prayer and effort is required, we should not be discouraged. We should be patient and persistent. Through indefatigable Torah study and prayer we should work to build vessels of gratitude, humility and emuna till the beautiful breakthrough finally comes.