What is Prayer?
Prayer is our direct line with heaven. Prayer is a communication process that allows us to talk to God. God wants us to communicate like a person-to-person phone call.
Prayer is, in the Christian faith and many other spiritual traditions, a way of being and a way of relating. Prayer is a way of being in the moment, being present, being open. … Prayer is a way of connecting: to God, to ourselves, to those around us.
All of us long to connect with someone who can identify with our situations and share in our day-to-day life. Prayer is just that – a personal experience and intimate connection with our loving God.
Why pray?
Praying is healing. Praying is often used as a means of faith healing in an attempt to use religious or spiritual means to prevent illness, cure disease, or improve health.
We pray because we love; We pray to know God fully; We pray to know ourselves; We pray for healing; We pray to hear God; We pray to receive from God; We pray for gratitude.
Why do people pray today?
More than at any time in history, people are seeking answers to life’s struggles, problems, and challenges. Natural and human-made disasters are causing more and more stress in people, and their lives are under intense pressure. Hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, countries in debt — it is hard to comprehend the pressure these exert upon families struggling to make ends meet and survive.
Modern lifestyles are increasingly materialistic as people look to possessions to fill a perceived gap in their life. Frequently, they look for religious experiences, preferring New Age mystical experiences, or even occult involvement, to the Christian faith based upon the Bible, the Word of God.
We can use prayer as a way of opening our hearts to God as the wellspring of creative energy within us and the universe. By quieting our minds, we can open ourselves to experience this divine ground directly. This experience may even lead us to new conceptions of our place in the universe and give us a way of transcending our suffering.
We pray because:
1. When bad things happen to our loved ones and us, we can find comfort in prayer that God is with us always, not sitting in judgment of us in the sky, nor are we made to suffer according to some divine plan. This is the path that mystics across the world’s religions have sought for thousands of years.
2. We can use prayer to center ourselves, to accept who we are, and to become more present and aware. Various forms of meditation and centering prayers fall under this category and are practiced across different religious traditions.
3. We can use prayer as a way of expressing thanks. We can recognize that we are not independent, but dependent creatures, and be thankful for the blessings we have. Through thanksgiving, we can begin to realize that we have enough and that our societal pressure to always want more (money, power, sex, material items, etc.) will never bring true happiness.
4. We can use prayer as a method of forgiveness for both the things we have done in our lives and for the wrongs we feel have been committed against us. Many psychologists would say that healing cannot happen without forgiveness.
5. We can use prayer to connect with others. We may pray for someone in trouble and wish them well, without the expectation that a supernatural intervention will make this so. Instead, praying for others may be about connecting with what that person is going through, becoming empathetic with their experiences, and with expressing compassion.
This connection with others will strengthen as we realize that God, who is the spark of our being, is also the spark of theirs.
Many of you may think that re-conceiving prayer in this way is not new at all. You are right! The topics contained above is openness to that which is higher than we are, contemplation, thanksgiving, forgiveness, and compassion, are traditional Christian focuses. I have only tried to emphasize in a new light of how we approach prayer through these topics in the modern world.
I Believe
I believe in prayer, that is how my life unfolds. Prayer is a powerful tool I use daily, like breathing air, recite a mantra, and meditating. It is my time to speak to God, who is my source of life. I find prayer to be intimate between souls, intertwining with energy.
Prayer has led me to peace, love, and understanding. It has helped me pour out my feelings, thoughts, and opened new ideas and reflections in life. Prayer has helped me overcome my pain and suffering by sending me further into the light of strength. Prayer has saved me from myself and has given me the power to overcome adversity.
Prayer isn’t a ritual that depends on closing our eyes and putting on holy faces. We don’t have to kneel or sit. We can pray while walking, driving, or working. God responds to a two-word cry for help in the middle of a busy afternoon, just like God does to a focused prayer time after reading Scripture in the morning. You don’t have to be in a particular type of religion or attend a group. Praying doesn’t have to be complicated. God delights in any simple words we offer. With prayer, you can include others and the world. The more you connect in prayer, the more goodness and love spread throughout.
Prayer is merely sending love and magic into the world.
We respect the meanings of the word God in the interpretation in this article and other interpretation that is fitting.. God can be the creator, maker, and/or ruler of the universe and/or source of all moral authority; the supreme being, light, divine and/or spirit of life.