I wondered, with all the praying going on, if there is a specific way people should pray, so, yup, I googled it. What’s your opinion on prayer?

Aneeda72

Aneeda72

Well-known Member
As usual, on any of my posts, all opinions are welcome, even ones that mock my opinions, because after all, opinions are just that, opinions. However, please follow and comply with forums rules. I really like this verse, it explained a lot as to why I am not rich. 😂

James 4:3

”When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motive, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures”. Well, this totally explains why all those prayers for winning the lottery never worked. Who knew this was in the Bible? Not me. Now I’m sad. Wasted money and prayers.

But this next one may fit our/the worlds current situation and I found it extremely interesting. All those prayers for world peace and the US is always, it seems, at war. So many ways we’ve found to kill off generations of our people-strange that a virus has caused us to change our ways and caused others to buy more bullets.

Matthew 6:7

And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.”

Are we “babbling like pagans“? Is that why God sometimes turns a ‘blind’ ear to prayers, like a parent who ignores the continued ‘babbling’ of their child. (We have all witnessed this.). Are we not children of the god we believe in? What is a pagan in these stressful times? I have so many questions. Are there any answers?
 

I don't think there is an incorrect way to pray.
Someone told me once that you are supposed to pray as if the request has already been granted. If your prayers are sincere, they will be heard. Sometimes the granting of a prayer request comes in unexpected ways. Maybe this is a way to teach us.

Is there a wrong way to pray? Maybe.
There was a man named Bob, who I went to school with. A few years ago, Bob was working on a road construction crew adding lanes to a highway. There was an accident with the asphalt truck and Bob was badly burned from his waist down. He was in critical condition, badly disfigured.

My mother goes to the same church as Bob and his family. They raised money and held prayer groups for his recovery.
The prayers being offered were for Bob to live and for a full recovery. At the time, I offered prayers that Bob not suffer and that whatever happened to him be the best that could be for his journey. If that meant he passed, so be it.
The church's prayers were answered, after many months recovery and tremendous pain. Bob was able to leave the hospital and come home.
His life was permanently altered, since they amputated his legs. The church made his home handicapped accessible with ramps and a special shower for life in a wheelchair. Bob was always in pain. He couldn't work. His quality of life was low.

After all of the effort and prayers to save Bob, he passed away one night in his sleep, his spirit broken.

Some would say that their prayers for Bob and his family weren't answered. But they were answered~he lived and he recovered.
Use care in the wording of your prayers.
My current prayers are that justice is served. They also ask for the healing of the meek.
 
Duster said:
I don't think there is an incorrect way to pray.
Someone told me once that you are supposed to pray as if the request has already been granted. If your prayers are sincere, they will be heard. Sometimes the granting of a prayer request comes in unexpected ways. Maybe this is a way to teach us.

Is there a wrong way to pray? Maybe.
There was a man named Bob, who I went to school with. A few years ago, Bob was working on a road construction crew adding lanes to a highway. There was an accident with the asphalt truck and Bob was badly burned from his waist down. He was in critical condition, badly disfigured.

My mother goes to the same church as Bob and his family. They raised money and held prayer groups for his recovery.
The prayers being offered were for Bob to live and for a full recovery. At the time, I offered prayers that Bob not suffer and that whatever happened to him be the best that could be for his journey. If that meant he passed, so be it.
The church's prayers were answered, after many months recovery and tremendous pain. Bob was able to leave the hospital and come home.
His life was permanently altered, since they amputated his legs. The church made his home handicapped accessible with ramps and a special shower for life in a wheelchair. Bob was always in pain. He couldn't work. His quality of life was low.

After all of the effort and prayers to save Bob, he passed away one night in his sleep, his spirit broken.

Some would say that their prayers for Bob and his family weren't answered. But they were answered~he lived and he recovered.
Use care in the wording of your prayers.
My current prayers are that justice is served. They also ask for the healing of the meek.
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It would seem our beliefs, at least in this, are similar. When my sons were ill, I prayed thou will be done. Not for healing, not to save their lives, but thou will be done. They all died. I still do not question the decision of God. They all had appropriate medical care. I think of them often.
 
prayer has to be from the heart, a sincere and contrite heart, so that even the little children get heard. Many different forms of prayer, Jesus opened His eyes toward heaven and prayed some of us look to the dirt from whence we came, shut our eyes and pray, some shout as if God were deaf but Hes not, He can even read our hearts.
 
Pepper said:
Here's why, using only one example, your statement is wrong. Hitler had an opinion.
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Yes he did and millions believed his opinion. We are sure they were wrong. They were sure they were right. We are still sure they are wrong, yet some are still sure they are right.
 
evad said:
prayer has to be from the heart, a sincere and contrite heart, so that even the little children get heard. Many different forms of prayer, Jesus opened His eyes toward heaven and prayed some of us look to the dirt from whence we came, shut our eyes and pray, some shout as if God were deaf but Hes not, He can even read our hearts.
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I believe God knows everything about us, as he is God and we are his children. Yes, he can read our hearts, I agree. Then why do we need to pray?
 
Another verse I found interesting, but I wanted to look it up to see what it referred to and I don’t have a Bible. I gave my Bible which was given to me when I was a child by my grandmother to my granddaughter. I don’t think she really wanted, but, oh, well.

The verse is “that person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord”. James 1:7. WOW, that person must have really done something terrible and I wanted to find out what. Cause the prayers of this person are going no where fast.

Seems the Bible is on line. I googled the book of James. From what I understand if you are an adulterer, you better stop. A sort of REPENT NOW situation or your prayers fall on deaf ears. In fact, I found a lot of that in my searches.

Prayers from the righteous are heard and answered, prayers from the evil or wrong doers, not so much. I don’t really know where the self-righteous fit in. The Bible seems to be black and white with very little space for grey.

Ops, I’m cooking lunch. Got to go. Husband better pray it’s eatable. Lol, I am such a bad cook.
 
I read somewhere that all prayers are answered but sometimes God says no. I pray this is over soon and that we don't forget the tireless doctors, nurses, grocery workers, truckers, and first responders when it's over. I pray for a vaccine that works. And while I'm at it, I pray that I can retain my sanity, at least, because my sense of humor is shot full of holes.
 
CarolfromTX said:
I read somewhere that all prayers are answered but sometimes God says no. I pray this is over soon and that we don't forget the tireless doctors, nurses, grocery workers, truckers, and first responders when it's over. I pray for a vaccine that works. And while I'm at it, I pray that I can retain my sanity, at least, because my sense of humor is shot full of holes.
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Well I notice a lot of people are losing their sense of humor so you are not alone. I agree, God does say no. I don’t think we will forget anyone, and while the folks you mention certainly deserve praise so do many others. Especially the janitors and housekeepers who make so much less money, but clean and disinfect the equipment and rooms of the sick.
 
You all seem to regard prayer as 'talking to God', but it isn't actually. When you pray, you are focusing your thoughts on something, whether giving thanks for your blessings, or hoping for something. This concentrates your mental energy.

Everything is energy, positive and negative. If we all concentrate our thoughts and minds on positive things, it has an effect on the energy surrounding our world, and we all benefit.

This is why good must always overcome evil, otherwise we are all doomed.
 
Rosemarie said:
You all seem to regard prayer as 'talking to God', but it isn't actually. When you pray, you are focusing your thoughts on something, whether giving thanks for your blessings, or hoping for something. This concentrates your mental energy.

Everything is energy, positive and negative. If we all concentrate our thoughts and minds on positive things, it has an effect on the energy surrounding our world, and we all benefit.

This is why good must always overcome evil, otherwise we are all doomed.
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I remember a day when my mother came and got me. Before bed, dad wasn’t home, and she brought me into her room. (I thought I had never been in this room. I had forgotten where this happened till now.)

She brought me to the side of her bed, said kneel beside me, we will pray together. I don’t remember the exact words. I do know I was between 5 and 7. It was a big bed and I was pressed against the side. We were living in Los Angeles, Ca. She prayed that dad would stop hitting her.

She wanted me to pray that dad would stop hitting her. I prayed silently. I prayed that she would stop hitting me. Neither prayer was answered any time soon. When I was 15, she divorced dad. He stopped hitting her. She stopped hitting me when I was 17.

I went to visit my grandmother after finishing high school. She refused to let me come home. Dad, remarried, refused to let me live with him. Homeless, but saved, as dad found me a place at the Salivation Army Home for young woman in LA. How many children still pray for rescue? How many are told no?

Yup, I talk to God as well. But not all our conversations are pleasant.
 
Due to something I read on a different thread I want to make a comment here, off topic.

Non-believers are welcome on this thread, and everyone is welcome on any thread I start. As to separate threads for non believers or believers, how can you have an open discussion without people whose opinions differ from yours?

I think the way to handle religious threads, without disagreement, is to put, in the first post, that you only want people who agree with you to post on your thread. I feel that was done on a recent thread, so I didn’t post on it and won’t.

IMO, if you decide to post on a thread, where your opinions are not wanted, well, you have to be prepared to accept the judgements placed on you by people who missed the part about JUDGE NOT LESS YOU BE JUDGED. Stepping down off my soap box, 🤣
 
Continuing on topic, the more I research this, the more interesting it becomes for me.

Proverbs 15:29

”The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.”

So now I had to look up who the righteous are, believe me, it’s a very short list as opposed to the self righteous, that would be a very long list. The list included Noah, JC, John the Baptist etc., but it didn’t end well for any of these people.

While I don’t know what the righteous prayed for, it seems the answer might have been no.

Philippians 4:6

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” It seems that it’s very hard to get God to hear prayers. Remember this God, God the father, is the God of the Old Testament.

He walked the earth. He caused the flood. He was unhappy with his children. Which is why I found some passages about having to go through and believe in JC. That by doing this, our prayers might be heard by JC. That even though we are imperfect, not righteous as God demands, we still have a shot at heaven.

Why then do we direct our prayers to God? Why don’t we direct our prayers to JC? God the father and JC are not the same, but we don’t seem to separate the two. Why is this? I believe we have become weak in our beliefs. Blindly following our various religious leaders, who have forgotten the proper, acceptable way to pray.
 
But what I found next really fit, as far as I’m concerned, our current situation.

James 4:13, 14, 15

13. Go to now, ye that say to day or to morrow, we will go into a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain.

14. Whereas, ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life. It is ever vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanish away.

15. For that ye ought to say, if the Lord will we shall live, and do this or that.

How does prayer change this passage? The Lord decides if we live or die. This passage also seems to bring into question free will. This stuff is really hard to understand, IMO.
 
Don't tell God what to do.
Don't expect anything to happen
right away.
Try not to be disappointed with the outcome.
 

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