Abstract
Ninety-nine prayer instances voluntarily recalled by 10 religious persons were examined for the relation between perceived binary outcome (i.e., answered, un-answered) and thirteen independent prayer variables. Independent variables included size of prayer group, vowing, claiming biblical promises, fasting, thanksgiving, agonizing, authoritativeness, repetition, self-other benefit, perceived will of God, urgency, acting on outcome, and seeking cleansing. Nine of these variables showed significant relatedness to positive outcome and were rank-ordered for contribution to positive outcome. Personal characteristics of sex and nationality of the person praying were examined for correlation with reported prayer behaviors. Finally, the thirteen independent variables were regressed on binary outcome by means of stepwise multiple regression analysis to ascertain cumulative contributions to variance in prayer outcome. Acting on outcome and thanksgiving were found to contribute most to outcome variance.
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