Does prayer help people pass tests, succeed at jobs?

[Emergent]

I was reading another thread where someone passed the NCLEX on second try, and gave her recommendations for others. In addition to her study plan, she attributed her success to prayer.

First of all, someone who took 2 tries to pass, while certainly a role model for perseverance after defeat, isn't the first person I'd look to as an academic role model.

Secondly, I believe study and hard work, not prayer, is the secret to success. Many people have succeeded in life without prayer. I find the whole concept of God blessing some, but not others, wrong.

I believe in God, I believe in prayer, but God is not Santa Claus who gives presents to good children and coal to bad ones. Prayer should be a means to connect with The Almighty to grow spiritually, not ask for worldly favors, in my opinion. I disagree with the name it and claim it version of Christianity.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Very interesting thread.

To me, prayer is basically the same as meditation with a spiritual intention... quiet reflection intended to 'center' oneself and achieve a positive frame of mind. It may be directed toward readying oneself for a particular ordeal/task or just to overcome negative thoughts - e.g., "give me strength (not to ram that rude driver that just cut me off in traffic". Add in the proscribed behaviors/ rituals, and it becomes "religious"... Some people find comfort in participating in it as a group, chanting/repeating standard phrases or words or performing some sort of concurrent ritual (kneeling, obeisance, sign of the cross, etc.). Just my $.02.

The value of prayer? I think it can reduce anxiety, particularly if the individual believes that a Supreme Being is receptive and potentially responsive t the supplication.

Although I do believe in a Supreme Being, I actively avoid ritualistic behavior & magical thinking and I'm sure that I'm not important enough to merit her full attention.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I am another one who believes that prayer is a form of meditation -- and as such can have many benefits for the individual doing the praying. But I don't believe there is a super-natural being out there consciously deciding which prayers to answer and which prayers not to answer. That just never made sense to me.

Even as a very small child, I used to think, "If God exists as the great and good force he/she is supposed to be ... then he/she couldn't be so mean and hateful. If I can forgive people, then why can't God? How could he/she be unable to forgive some people and send them to Hell?" I recognized that the internal logic of the conventional system of Christian beliefs wasn't consistent. No god worthy of being worshipped would be so unforgiving and cruel to some people. So I opted out at a very young age.

But I fully acknowledge and appreciate the benefits of meditation (even in the form of prayer).

[TuesdaysChild]

When I plainly read the New Testament, it's my understanding that Christ said your Father already knows what you need and what you want, so keep your prayers simple: Your will, not mine. Provide what I need to get through this day. Forgive us, help us forgive others. You are in control.

Getting accepted to schools, passing tests, getting a job, etc., I see these things as partly in our control and partly in the control of others. I also don't see everything that happens or doesn't happen as either a test or a blessing. Our spiritual walk comes in when it comes to how we handle the good and the bad. Is it with humility? Is it with grace? If a mother prays for her child to live, but the child dies because we live in a physical world and their physical body is sick (aka not because her prayers were not answered), does she turn away from her faith or does she persevere in the knowledge that God can take the bad things that happen to us and use them for good?

I might be in the minority, but I don't believe God concerns himself all too much with what happens to us in this life, but more so in the way we live it.

[soapfloats]

I became an atheist about a year ago. Though I was never really devout as a Christian, before a test or the likes, I would pray for strength, to be the best I was capable of being, and for whatever outcome that would lead to the most happiness. Most of the time I was praying before a competition, and as a teen I was the type who felt guilty for winning.

Recently, I was sick with nerves when I took my state CNA exam, and there was no longer anyone I would pray to. And I was determined not to let my nerves set me back into a religion I don't believe in. I still did well and passed, without prayer, and got some excellent compliments from the evaluators as well.

Of course, those who believe will believe that the outcome was still according to god's will, despite my disbelief in one.

Anecdotes aside, there's actual research on the effectiveness of prayer, just a Google Search away :)

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

I know this is a old thread, I just found myself reading this section and it's funny to read it from a whole new perspective now. EmergentRN my views used to be very much like yours. I actually took it a lot further. I found it nauseating when people attributed all their good to God and bad that happens was always "free will". Especially being that I fought so hard and against all odds to get myself through pre reqs and nursing school, there is no way I was going to attribute that to God. Not when those odds were an abusive marriage, the suicide of my brother who was such a good person and prayed so much. Or how God can do miracles, can part the seas, can give Shamgar an Ox Goad to defeat and slay 600 men, but he couldn't protect the innocent children from the evilness of man?? Yea I wasn't buying it. As someone that had been through so much traumatic abuse, went on to develop severe depression, PTSD, anxiety, borderline personality disorder and suicidialty when I moved to the South and was constantly asked about my religious views I would curtly say "God and I are on a time out, he doesn't care for me and I don't care for him".

One night back in Jan. though the power or prayer changed my entire world and now my entire perspective has changed. Everything has changed. So now when I see the posts about praying to pass NCLEX or the more recent "Didn't pass in 2 tries, maybe God has other plans for me" in which I got in a debate with a poster that accused the OP for blaming God for their failing and told them to pray less and study more. I now see though it's not praying to pass the test. (I mean I wasn't there for their prayers, maybe they did ask for that) but what I imagine they are praying and what God is answering is more the prayers for clarity, concentration, focus. a calm mind. etc. etc. To which if those prayers are answered, absolutely prayer can help to pass NCLEX, nail the interview, and so on.

[SouthpawRN]

Well you took it once, so you have a better idea what is on the exam , what you did not know and what you should study. You may also have more motivation and put more effort into studying. If you view prayer as a form of meditation that allows you to clear your mind and create focus or better yet, sell fulfilling prophecy, then I guess prayer can help. It is proven that people do better and stick with goals when they commit to them publicly or to some other person. If tbe person made a commitment to god to pass the test, this is also a factor that could influence her success.

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

I am somewhat of a lapsed Catholic. Still I look at prayer as a form of meditation. Some people find it helpful, others do not . What ever floats your boat .

Hppy