Praying..

[Queen]

I've read in the bible the words to pray and how you should pray, but I don't quite understand it. Can anyone explain praying to me? I guess we all "pray" one way or the other, when we think about friends in pain or friends that feel joy or need support.....to me that is praying as well.......

Just a silly atheist question, I guess....:tongue:

Lots of love and sunshine,
Queen

[Bill the Cat]

Prayer for me is like talking to my best friend. It is adialog. I hear Him in my mind and I talk to Him, pouring all my frustrations, hopes, fears, and every care upon Him. He's my very best friend and I love to talk with Him.

[Robert's s/n]

I hear Him in my mind

I assume you've developed a system that filters your own voice so as to avoid confusion. :hrm:

[Bill the Cat]

Today @ 12:06 PM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=328843#post328843)
Robert's s/n:



I assume you've developed a system that filters your own voice so as to avoid confusion. :hrm:

Yep, It's called the Bible.

[Paul]

For me prayer is like a "spiritual sexual intercourse" if you will.

Let me explain what I mean. It is more than just words, it is a communion between two hearts: my heart and God's own heart. It is also the communion among all the saints and angels in Heaven and on earth in Christ, in God. So it is for example a communion between my heart and Mary's heart in Jesus and with the Holy Spirit and from the Father.

So prayer is not just something that I do during some scheduled time each day or when I'm at Church, but rather it is more of a way of being. And it brings me great peace.

Here is a link where you can read perhaps a better or more easy to understand explanation of what prayer is and what it involves:

http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p4s1.htm#prayer

"Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God." But when we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or "out of the depths" of a humble and contrite heart? He who humbles himself will be exalted; humility is the foundation of prayer, Only when we humbly acknowledge that "we do not know how to pray as we ought," are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. "Man is a beggar before God." . . . .

As one advances in a life of prayer, one's prayer changes, the communion, the union one has with God becomes more profound and more free and more sweet. I've colored in tomato something which I think you would be able to relate to easily:

http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p4s1c3a1.htm#III

"Contemplative prayer [oracion mental] in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us."

. . .

Contemplative prayer is the prayer of the child of God, of the forgiven sinner who agrees to welcome the love by which he is loved and who wants to respond to it by loving even more. But he knows that the love he is returning is poured out by the Spirit in his heart, for everything is grace from God. Contemplative prayer is the poor and humble surrender to the loving will of the Father in ever deeper union with his beloved Son.

. . .

Contemplation is a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus. "I look at him and he looks at me": this is what a certain peasant of Ars in the time of his holy curé used to say while praying before the tabernacle. This focus on Jesus is a renunciation of self. His gaze purifies our heart; the light of the countenance of Jesus illumines the eyes of our heart and teaches us to see everything in the light of his truth and his compassion for all men . . . .

[bar Jonah]

Queen, there are many kinds of prayer.

Prayer of joy... of adoration and praise... of supplication... of confession and repentance...

There are many kinds of each of these prayers as well.

Supplication can be for intervention in your own life, or in the lives of others... for peace and strength... or most importantly for God to grant me wisdom and knowledge of His word, His truth and His will for my life.

But in your case, Queen... the only one of these prayers relevant to your case is a prayer of repentance and of profession of faith in the one, true God. This is the only kind of prayer God will hear from an unbeliever. The rest would be irrelevant for such a person.

[Robert's s/n]

Yep, It's called the Bible.

IOW, for a Christian, God says nothing new. Everything that He has said was said thousands of years ago and will continue to be reiterated ad nauseum. A rather inane system IMO. Are we not worthy of a voice from the clouds like NT and OT believers? Call it whining if you want, but I think my desire for clear unambiguous direction is certainly justified.

[bar Jonah]

Robert's s/n:
IOW, for a Christian, God says nothing new. Everything that He has said was said thousands of years ago and will continue to be reiterated ad nauseum. A rather inane system IMO. Are we not worthy of a voice from the clouds like NT and OT believers? Call it whining if you want, but I think my desire for clear unambiguous direction is certainly justified.
What more is to be said? We have everything we need to know about how to live a righteous life. We know enough about the history of God's relationship(s) with His children. We have everything we need to know about the gospel. We know everything we need to know about the End.

If God left something out, then why hasn't He inspired more scripture in the last 1,900 years or so?

"Hearing voices" is very subjective. God's word set down in "stone" is a bedrock foundation of knowledge and wisdom.

[Robert's s/n]

If God left something out, then why hasn't He inspired more scripture in the last 1,900 years or so?

My point was that the Bible, an age-old book, is more difficult to understand than one-on-one lessons with the man upstairs. This is certainly only a pipe dream though.


"Hearing voices" is very subjective. God's word set down in "stone" is a bedrock foundation of knowledge and wisdom.

Apparently "stone" is also subjective. The Bible was written in a culture completely foreign to our own, hence the variety of interpretations. It's difficult not to believe that a voice from the sky followed by miraculous wonders would lend themselves conveniently to the biblical God's purposes.

[India]

<ahem> To get back to the original question...

Queen, I see prayer as simply talking to God, much like you would talk to another person. The differences are that God doesn't have human failings - he always understands what you mean, even if you can't express it; he never tunes you out; he's never too busy to listen - and God will hear whether we talk silently in our thoughts, out loud, or by writing things down. When I pray, I (try to) thank God for what he's done for me and who he is, ask for help with my life and help for other people, apologize for doing wrong and/or just tell him what I'm going through at the moment.

I believe that God will hear your prayers as long as you are sincere and you're open to finding out if he's really there and working with him should he answer you in some way.* There are many people who have reported receiving an answer from God even when they weren't sure he existed when they prayed to him. I think you will be interested in reading this person's story: http://rationalchristianity.net/testimonies/vicki.html

I also think there's a difference between thinking about someone and praying for them. Praying for them means you're not just thinking of them, you're doing something for them: you're asking God to help them.

*I will add a caveat to this - if you try praying to a god who definitely doesn't exist, like Zeus for instance, you won't get an answer. The Christian God does exist, and if you pray to him or simply to "God" in general, he will hear.

[Dee Dee Warren]

Okay guys remember this is a nondebate section. Only answers to the original poster and not interaction between posters.....

[Paul]

Yesterday @ 03:40 AM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=328719#post328719)
Queen:

I've read in the bible the words to pray and how you should pray, but I don't quite understand it. Can anyone explain praying to me? I guess we all &quot;pray&quot; one way or the other, when we think about friends in pain or friends that feel joy or need support.....to me that is praying as well.......

Just a silly atheist question, I guess....:tongue:

Lots of love and sunshine,
Queen


Hi Queen,

Let me share a personal testimony which I think might help you understand those questions and the answer you seek.

Just moments ago -- within the last hour I'd say. I came first to love God with a pure heart by seeing Him reflected in the heart of Mary who is presently in Heaven. So this was an experience of prayer.

Then for a moment -- lasting perhaps half a second -- I sinned; I had pride in my soul. And for that half a second, my soul was ugly in that respect -- pride is the opposite of love. Pride is where you worship yourself rather than your Beloved. And that's what I did in some degree or way for that brief moment. Then it happened again for a similarly brief moment. It was horrific to see this. We are not always aware of all the hardness of our hearts and the pride of hearts and some say it is God's mercy that we do not always see our souls as God sees them.

And so what did I do? I was praying this whole time, but I had to act in a more decisive way. So I spoke to my Creator. I told him exactly what I was thinking and feeling. I told him that I was scared of sin because it is so horrific, so ugly. I told him I wanted to be safe in Him. You see I found sin to be more scary than anything I had ever seen before. And I don't remember quite when chronologically but I also had prayed that the Father through whatever means He wills fill me with the Holy Spirit so that I might not sin, so that satanic, horrific pride be not present in my soul. That I may be free to be who God has made me to be.

Anyway, I think my head was bowed down. Then I don't remember quite what led to this. But probably I remembered what a good friend of mine once told me. He said to me: you know Jesus, you know the Holy Spirit, now ask about the Father! :) I won't share the rest of our conversation but I will say that it was conveyed to me that through prayer I could come to know the Father. I was also told that the Holy Spirit would help me. It was also emphasized that I am to do this through Jesus.

Anyway, somehow, perhaps because of the music I was listening to, I came to realize in a greater or more real way through prayer with the help of the Holy Spirit, who the Father is. And I came to realize this through Jesus -- through seeing what He did in his life. And then I added a signature to express my thanksgiving and love for Jesus.

I don't know how much of this makes sense to you. Let me know if you have any questions. The Christian life is a great adventure. If God should invite you to embark on it, respond. The friends you will discover through it are worth it :)

[mattbballman19]

Queen,

I'll confess right away that I haven't read any book dedicated to the topic of prayer. I'll also confess that my prayer life hasn't been at the potential it could be at right now. I probably share the sentiments of a lot of Christians, but I know that's no excuse.

The key idea which I've learned so far in my walk is that it isn't what you say or how you say it, but the motivation/intention behind what you say and how you say it. There is also a time-factor: how often do you pray? What are the usual circumstances that you find yourself praying in? Here are some ideas for prayer:

1. Praise Him: Trust me, He can't get enough of that.
2. Thank Him: I'm sure there's something in your life that He's done that you're thankful for.
3. Ask Him for assistance/confort: Exams/other, etc . . .
4. Just talk to Him about your life.
5. Share with Him your sufferings/burdens/problems.

The hardest time to do 1-5, I think, is in the middle of the day. Everything is busy and the last thing you FEEL like doing is praying. Well, I have an idea that I know will work, because I've used it, but, I'll confess, have slacked on prayer for the very reason that I stopped using it. I know its cliched (But, how do cliches form in the first place ;-)) but, the FIRST THING you do in the morning when you wake up (after of course necessary trips to the bathroom, etc . . . ) is spend that undisturbed time with God in prayer. Chances are, you aren't going to FEEL like doing, but if you excerise the most powerful thing God gave us (our will) and CHOOSE to do this, I am confident in saying that your prayer life will increase and get better. Your willingness to pray in the middle of the day will be there, since you've started out your day with, let's say, an hour on your knees. You're life will be forcibly molded around what you force yourself to do with your will. Then, after a while, you'll WANT to do it. It's magical. I've never been fond of allowing my feelings to guide me in my life, since they change so much. I'd rather trust in my immovable and unchangable convictions to guide me in what I know is spiritually beneficial.

matt

[Rahab]

Prayer to me is my mode of communication with the God I aknowledge to be the only True God. I think I actualy address my prayers to Christ as my faith is founded on Christ being divine and the sole incarnation of God among us.
I pray without any particular ritual form. At times silently, at times verbaly. I express my emotions, thoughts, struggles, thankfulness and even discontentment to God. Mostly because I consider Him to be " Abba" and I try to relate to Him as his "little one". I give Him my humanity thru my prayers.
Most of my prayers are when I am on my own. I have avoided group prayers because folks at times linger in specific details about the lives of other people and I consider that He already knows who is in trouble ("not one sparrow falls from a branch without Him knowing about it"). So when it comes to praying for others I keep it private. I will pass prayer requests to other christians but I do not engage in discussing specifics regarding private lives.

I do not necessarly expect an answer based on yes or no. I try to trust that He is handling the situation. No answer usualy means "wait", "be still".

I also think that non believers such as yourself can approach God in prayer and ask " help me believe in you.....". It is a first step. I know it means that you are willing to explore the possibility that faith is not some bogus phenomenon. In reality..... what would you have to lose?

One has to seek God....with the knowledge that He is waiting for you.

[Da Lone-Warrior]

Dear Queen,

Prayer is part of my routine in life, whereby I remind myself that there is more than just matter in motion to this world.

We are all both material and spiritual beings. Prayer is us acknowledging that what we have is contingent upon our having been blessed and that the source of all blessings are God.

Prayer is also petitionary. I.e., we have spiritual say-so, just as we have material say-so. I pray for a good friend of mine who has health and economic problems and I also pray for him to grow in his faith and become a part of a wider community, since he tends to be rather like a hermit at time.

How do we know prayer works, well it's hard to "prove" that it does. The general notion is that life is complicated and we really can't measure what may have happened if we didn't pray and so prayer involves a leap of faith as well. Those who pray will be able to testify to how they perceive it as having made a difference, but objectively there are always counterfactual problems.

Prayer is also a source of healing and calm from when we get run-down.

There also are prayers that serve to unite us with others and remind us collectively of our relationship with God.

anyways,
recap:we are both spiritual and material beings and prayer is an important part of our spiritual lives. Jesus, when preparing to die on the cross, spent the time in intense prayer, so intense that it was like he was sweating blood.

dlw