From John the Apostle, published in The Gospel of God’s Love, on page 118.
“God answers prayers for things material by the work of His angels and spirits, and they, in that work, are subject to limited success. God does not exercise any arbitrary power to answer prayers, but when they are sincerely offered to Him, He works through His angels in answering them. He does not by his mere fiat do so, but His angels are always watching and working, and when the opportunity comes, they use their influence in the best possible way to bring about the ends desired.
“Humans have free will, and that determins very largely their actions, and such actions are never arbitrarily controlled by any divine power. If the prayers of mortals as to material things can be responded to by the workings of angels and spirits, they are. But if the response depends upon the will and action of humans, then such prayer can be answered only if the spirits are able to influence that will – which they only use in response to prayers that are, in their nature, proper and worthy to be answered.
“God helps those who help themselves; but while humans themselves must do those things that bring about changes, or phenomena in the material, yet we can influence their desires and intentions, and their wills that put into operation or effect these intentions.
(A question was asked about the so-called miracle of the loaves and fishes.) “As I was a disciple of the Master at that time, I should be able to state the truth about what occurred. While Jesus had wonderful powers and understood much about the workings of spiritual laws, yet he did not have the power to increase the loaves and fishes as stated in the Bible.
“God is the same now as when Jesus was on earth, and worked through spirits then as He does now – except now He has more angels with soul development in the Divine Love who are also doing His bidding. In your case, we of the higher spheres, as well as many in the spiritual spheres, know what your petitions are and we have been working to bring them about; not only because of your petitions, but also because they are so necessary for the completion of our work.
“Pray not only for God’s transforming Love, which is bestowed through the Holy Spirit, but also for material blessings as well.” Amen