Beginner's Grace: The Mechanics Of Christian Prayer

Firstly, the speaker, subject and audience are stated. The topic itself is the idea of praying and what scientists thought of the concept. Although the speaker is Albert Einstein, he didn’t use the complex words he would use when talking to a well-educated gentleman. Since the audience is a sixth grader, Einstein used simple sentences to make it more understandable to her at her reading

I had always felt that to pray there had to be some eloquent way to convey the things that you wanted to say to God. I also was often frustrated, as I questioned that if God was all knowing, why was it necessary to pray to him and tell him things he already knew. Throughout my time at NCYC I came to understand my relationship with God less like a human and omniscient being relationship, but more as a parent and child relationship. Though He may already know what you have to tell Him, it is about building the communication and the friendship, so that He can work best in your life. The best analogy that I have heard about this was from one of the leaders of the trip, and he compared life to being in a marching band. From the point of view of the musicians, it seems chaotic and as though people are going in every direction for no apparent reason; however, from up

Prayer is an essential to any kind of religious faith. Over the years and years of believing in a higher power,

9 “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.

He had watched me one day as I prayed at dusk. ‘’Why do you cry when you pray?” he asked, as though he knew me well. “I don 't know,” I answered, troubled. I had never asked myself that question. I cried because something inside me felt the need to cry. That was all I knew. “Why do you pray?” he asked after a moment. Why did I pray? Strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe? “I don 't know,” I told him, even more troubled and ill at ease. “I don 't know.” (Weisel, 1986, pg. 4)

In (Matthew 6:6 NIV), Jesus explains the merits of praying to the lord God and the reward of inner peace, “But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret: and your father who sees in secret will reward you.” It is through this conversation with God that Christians pursue peace in their lives. Prayer can either be private or communal, spontaneous prayer is one way that charismatic communities can come closer to God. The act of prayer allows believers to have a personal conversation with God; it alleviates stress attributed to the monotony of everyday life. Besides prayer, meditation is another way of attaining inner peace, it is an ancient practice within the Christian tradition, which has undertaken a recent revival, a global group that reaffirms the concept of praying and meditating for inner peace is Taizé. Not as popular as prayer and meditation, Lectio Divina, generally known as bible studies is a way for Christians to feel connected to God and to finally attain inner peace. The studying of the sacred scriptures on a day to day basis and reflecting on prayers also maintain a continual connection with God. It is vital to maintain equilibrium between prayer and service, whereby an individual fathoms the notion ‘ora et labora’, in order to equally partake in both prayer, and the concept of action whereby ora develops inner peace, which is mirrored through the

For Christians this can be a very important technique and can help to bring gratitude to one's life. "There are 2 types of prayers, praise/adoration and gratitude/thanksgiving. Gratitude has been linked with a host of positive psychological variable, including life satisfaction, vitality, subjective happiness, optimism, hope, and the belief that life is comprehensible and meaningful (Schneller & Swenson, 2013)". It is safe to say that you cannot just pray when you need something and expect a positive outcome in the long run. Your relationship with God is something that should grow over time just like any other

The Spindrift organization spent a decade performing laboratory experiments trying to determine which prayer strategy was most effective: directed prayer for a specific outcome, or non-directed prayer, having no specific outcome. Directed prayer participants tried to “direct” the process of prayer with having an outcome in mind. For example one may wish to rid a person of cancer, or recovering from a heart disease. Non-directed prayer, on the other hand, approach prayer with a more open-ended mind-set, in which no specific outcome was held in mind. Dossey considered that the Spindrift research experiments has given us much evidence to demonstrate that non-directed prayer works better than directing prayer for a specific outcome. The Spindrift researchers tried to grow mould on the surface of agar plates used routinely by bacteriologists. After stressing but not killing a patch of mould, directed prayer was used to encourage growth on one side of the plate while non-directed prayer was used on the other side of the divided glass surface. Directed prayer produced no results. Non-directed prayer produced multiplication of the mould into concentric growth rings. These and other experiments conducted by Spindrift give indications for the best prayer method to use in situations when we don 't know what should happen. When non-directed prayer is answered, the outcome is always in the direction

This made forming a relationship with the Lord difficult for her and it took her quite some time to begin to understand what it meant to surrender to Him. Even after her conversion she was still in the process of learning how to surrender and pray. She says, “I prefer to find God in circumstances I think up in advance, at home in my spare time-circumstances God will fulfill for me like a gumball machine when I put the penny of my prayer into it” (page 363). She was and still is on a journey in her relationship with Him and is still learning to know Him better. I too am still in the process of learning how to pray and surrender, and I am sure I always will be. It is very easy for me to place prayer in the category of something I do because I’m a Christian rather than because I want to spend time with the Lord and grow in Him. When I pray seriously and I open myself up to Him, I always feel a sense of relief afterward. I may not feel happier, after all prayer can reveal aspects of myself that I may not wish to face, but it always reminds me of God’s power and goodness and leaves me feeling closer to

Finally, by praying to God, students may want to know Him better. Preparing students for

“Humans have always been victims of disease, awaiting the dread unknown of death. And we have placed everything possible in its path, incantations, prayers, and pleadings.” (Hogan 19) In modern societies they typically have monotheistic religions that focus on the importance of prayer. Prayer is used for many circumstances but is mainly used for personal connection with a higher power to fulfill their individualistic desires.

Firstly, Murray and Meyers proposed that there are some serious benefits that come as results of petitionary prayer that couldn’t come about any other way. The first positive effect discussed in this article is that petitionary prayer keeps the petitioner from worshipping idols. This is because, even if the petitioner’s needs, such as the need for food, could be met by sources other than God, such as a grocery store, God still is the ultimate provider. This is true given that God created the foods that the grocery store provides. Therefore, the petitioner cannot look solely at nature and other resources of provisions as their providers, but at God. Secondly, petitionary prayer allows

As each of us travel through life, decision making is a perpetual fact. Sometimes the choices are simple, straightforward and just happen without any thought. Sometimes the choices are harder, more complex, and often do not have a clear option. It is during these difficult decisions that Christians have an advantage over the non-believer. The non-believer often gets frustrated, overwhelmed and states that it is hopeless; therefore they give up easily. As a believer in Christ, we know that our hope rests in the arms of God. Hope never ends and is always there when you need it. This leads to the question of how to find hope and understand prayer. Our hope comes from developing a relationship with God through daily prayer. It is prayer that strengthens our hope. Prayer is a direct line of communication with God. Without hope, there is no room for prayer. As we pray, our hope reflects God’s love in our life even in the difficult times.

Having been a Christian for many years I thought that I had a fair knowledge of what it meant to pray. I was amazed and humbled by the idea that through Jesus’ restorative act on the cross I am able to come into God’s presence - and not only come but be welcomed and even longed for. I believed that prayer is a powerful tool to petition God , a vehicle to praise Him , and an instrument to increase our intimacy with Him . I understood that people pray in a variety of ways, based on the teaching they have received, their experience, and even their personality. Most commonly, I engaged in prayer as a conversation with God.

A prayer is expressing a hope or wish that you have, and when you say a prayer, you feel a sense of faith that your hope or wish is coming. The beauty of prayer is that it is something you can use anywhere. It doesn't need to be said out loud. It doesn't need to be done kneeling with your hands together. It is a simple act of expressing what you want and asking for it.