The Humble Prayer Within

Neville's Inner Vision

Two prayers rise in the temple of my mind: the Pharisee's self-glorifying 'I' and the Publican's broken call, 'God be merciful to me.' The Pharisee is a state of consciousness that trusts outward form—fasts, tithes, appearances—over the inward I AM. The Publican stands at the threshold, aware of need, and pleads inwardly for mercy, recognizing the I AM as the source of forgiveness. When he says, 'God be merciful to me,' he is not begging a distant deity but turning toward the I AM within. In this light, justification comes not from performance but from inner surrender—ceasing to exalt the self and aligning with the mercy of the I AM. If I am to experience this now, I revise my exalted thoughts and feel myself as the recipient of mercy, simply because I am. The inner temperament that leads to exaltation dissolves, and the exalted state is the humble alignment with God within. Thus the law is fulfilled: humility invites exaltation; pride invites abasement.