GOD HELP ME

The simplest of prayers, and from the standpoint of repetition the most effective, consists of these three words.

This is a simplified form of the Pilgrim's Prayer:

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of David, have mercy on me."

It forms a special inner practice, "The Prayer of the Heart".

A form of mantra yoga handed down by special teachers in the Greek Orthodox Church.

It evokes three components:
1. The higher consciousness above and beyond the ego (GOD)
2. The lower separated individualized consciousness (ME)
3. The striving of the second to draw strength from the first (HELP)

By relating the petty ego struggling in its morass of self-pity, indignation, injured dignity, etc., to another entity far greater than itself, a sense of proportion is restored.
The awareness is shifted from a very narrow preoccupation to a wider horizon.
"The Master Game" By Robert S. DeRopp 1969

A twentieth-century healer who was a great admirer of Emmet Fox but did not embrace New Thought theology (which we have, even though we have no creed) was Agnes Sanford.[1]
Agnes Mary White Sanford (1897-1982) is considered to be one of the principal founders of the Inner Healing Movement[5]. She was the daughter of a Presbyterian missionary in China and the wife of the Episcopal priest Edgar L. Sanford [2]. Her first book, The Healing Light, is often considered a classic in its field. Sanford was the mother of John A. Sanford [3], the Jungian analyst and author.

Sanford was a key figure in the Charismatic Movement[4] in the United States during the 1960s through to about 1980, mainly through her writing.

It is not generally known, but Agnes Sanford herself suffered from severe, recurrent depressions for many, many years. In her autobiography, Mrs. Sanford said that she finally began to break out of her chronic depression after a Protestant clergyman laid his hands on her head and prayed for her. For the next year, she wrote, she went about her work repeating to herself, hourly and daily, the same prayer: “Lord have mercy on me, and fill me with Your Holy Spirit.” Little by little, over a period of time, the depressions vanished, and she was finally free of them.

It was not until years later, when she met an Orthodox priest and told him of her experience, that Mrs. Sanford learned that she had been reciting, unknowingly, the ancient Jesus Prayer of the Orthodox Church:

“Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,”

a prayer which monks, nuns and the Orthodox faithful had been reciting for centuries.

She healed thousands of people herself in addition to teaching many others to heal, especially clergy from many denominations.

[1] Source: http://www.neweverymoment.com/articles/article/3114323/154191.htm


[2] Edgar L. "Ted" Sanford (1890–1960) was an American Episcopal priest and the author of God's Healing Power.


Sanford was the son and grandson of Episcopal priests. His own son, the Reverend John A. Sanford, was also an Episcopal priest and author of numerous books. Sanford entered the priesthood late in life after a period of turbulent years. As a young man he learned engineering drafting in various New England machine shops, and then went to college relatively late in his life. After graduation he taught Latin for a short time. Finally, motivated by boredom, he went to China, where he worked as a teacher and engineer of sorts and as a lay missionary and administrator of a Christian boys school.

Still in China, at the age of about 32, Sanford was ordained to the Episcopal ministry. About at this time, during a visit to Soochow, he met his wife-to-be, Agnes Sanford, a daughter of Presbyterian missionaries . They married in 1923. After a short time together in China, they returned to the United States where he took a parish in Moorestown, serving as a rector for 23 years from 1926 to 1949. He and his wife led the School of Pastoral Ministry which they founded in 1952.

[3] John A. "Jack" Sanford (1929–2005) was a Jungian psychoanalyst and Episcopal priest. Sanford studied and mastered Greek mythology, Greek language, and American Indian history, His first ordained ministry position was as assistant priest at St. Luke's Parish in Monrovia in 1955. He became rector at Trinity Church in Los Angeles in 1958.

Sanford and his wife Adaline, whom he married in 1954, grew weary of the downtown Los Angeles environment and its declining air quality. When he was offered a position at St. Paul's Cathedral near Balboa Park in 1965 he welcomed the move to San Diego.

Sanford worked as a parish priest for 19 years. In 1974, he left parochial ministry for full-time work as a Jungian analyst and psychotherapist, lecturing and authoring a series of books, most of them regarding religion, psychology, Greek mythology, and American Indian history.

After those years, Sanford enjoyed his private practice as a psychoanalyst focusing on psychology, religion and inner growth and he found some time everyday for writing his books. He was a mentor for Journey into Wholeness since its beginning in 1977.

Sanford was pioneer of authoring books on serious dream study and interpretation, combining both spirituality and science.

[4] The term charismatic movement is used in varying senses to describe 20th century developments in various Christian denominations. It describes an ongoing international, cross-denominational/non-denominational Christian movement in which individual, historically mainstream congregations adopt beliefs and practices similar to Pentecostals. Foundational to the movement is the belief that Christians may be "filled with" or "baptized in" the Holy Spirit as a second experience subsequent to salvation and that it will be evidenced by manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Among Protestants, the movement began around 1960. Among Roman Catholics, it originated around 1967.

The term sometimes also more widely encompasses the Pentecostal movement from earlier in the 20th century and more recent claimed manifestations of the Holy Spirit among Christians.

[5] The Inner Healing Movement refers to a grassroots counseling movement among Christians of various denominations. Its methods are largely based around the calling up of suppressed or hurtful memories in order to deal with them. Practitioners in the movement may not always have formal training in counseling or psychology. Christian psychologist and academic Fernando Garzon [6]views this in a positive light, saying: "...it may serve people who might not get help otherwise, cannot afford professional therapy, do not wish to use insurance, or have access to counseling limited by managed care. Others belong to churches in which the pastor is either are not trained, not interested, or not available (due to having too many other pastoral duties) to meet the needs for pastoral counseling. Still others simply may trust lay people, whom they know, more than a therapist, whom they do not know. In addition, the training itself may benefit the lay counselors spiritually and emotionally."

The inner healing movement is also often compared and associated with Inner Healing and Healing of Memories. Other people who feature prominently in its history are Ruth Carter Stapleton[7], Leanne Payne[8], and Charles Fillmore. A number of organizations are currently active, including Elijah House, Ministries of Pastoral Care, and Sozo Ministry. Another important part of Christian Inner Healing Methods is the active involvement of God in the healing work taking place. The belief that God heals both physical and mental problems is a long-standing Christian belief, originating in traditional Jewish beliefs.

[6] Dr. Fernando Garzon is an Associate Professor in the Center for Counseling at
Liberty University, a licensed psychologist, and the Chair of LU’s Institutional Review Board. Dr. Garzon’s research interests and publications focus on spiritual interventions in psychotherapy, lay Christian counseling approaches (Freedom in Christ, Theophostic Ministry, etc.), integration pedagogy, and multicultural issues. His clinical experience encompasses outpatient practice, managed care, hospital, and church settings.

[7] Ruth Carter Stapleton (1929 - 1983) was a sister of Jimmy Carter and was known in her own right as a Christian evangelist.




[8] Leanne Payne is a leader in the healing prayer movement. She is the founder and president of Pastoral Care Ministries.