What constitutes a prayer?

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ndsp

Guest
#1
#1
I understand the "Our Father" is instruction on how to pray and test that our prayers are within "thy will be done, who'art in heaven", etc. But what constitutes an offical prayer? Sometimes I will ask the Lord to bless someone that could use a blessing at the time, or just a shout-out to anyone I may encounter that I may have trespassed against, to help them past whatever may have happened and get back to a good day. The trick here, is that I do it in my head; I don't break out aloud in prayer. 98% of my prayers are quiet. Do those "quiet" prayers count? I have been instructed more than once that prayers should be said aloud, and praying quietly is cheating.
 
Magenta

Magenta

Senior Member
#2
Jul 3, 2015
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“When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

"But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

“And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him."
 
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ndsp

Guest
#3
#3
Fabulous. Thank you Magenta!
 
resurrection33

resurrection33

Banned
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Dec 19, 2009
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ndsp said:
I understand the "Our Father" is instruction on how to pray and test that our prayers are within "thy will be done, who'art in heaven", etc. But what constitutes an offical prayer? Sometimes I will ask the Lord to bless someone that could use a blessing at the time, or just a shout-out to anyone I may encounter that I may have trespassed against, to help them past whatever may have happened and get back to a good day. The trick here, is that I do it in my head; I don't break out aloud in prayer. 98% of my prayers are quiet. Do those "quiet" prayers count? I have been instructed more than once that prayers should be said aloud, and praying quietly is cheating.
Click to expand...
Prayer is anytime we talk to, or listen for, the Lord. Paul instructed us to pray constantly (1 Thess 5:17). We don't have to stop what we are doing to pray.
 
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graceNpeace

Senior Member
#5
Aug 12, 2016
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There is no such thing as an "official prayer"!
Prayer is talking to God - so just talk to Him...
 
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oldethennew

Banned
#6
Feb 28, 2016
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a seeking heart, and A Precious, Receiving, life-giving, Heart...
 
notbythesword

notbythesword

Senior Member
#8
Apr 28, 2015
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I believe that when you pray, it’s important to be speaking in truth from the heart, and have a humble mindset. I personally pray aloud. Until you brought it up, I honestly haven’t really looked into if verbally praying is necessary. Looks like I’ll have something to research now:confused: I will say that Romans 10:9 says to “confess with one’s mouth” when proclaiming faith in the Lord Jesus…so maybe this is important in prayer as well. Anyways, good question.
 
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Merc

Guest
#9
#9
When my words can't express my love for Father listen to the beating of my heart for it beats for you when my tears are not enough to tell you thank you for your love for me Father listen to my heart it beats for you.
 
D

Depleted

Guest
#10
#10
Prayer's just talking to God.

If you talk to your best friend is it less official if you aren't asking him something, or more official if you're telling him something good about him? It's talking.

With God we don't have to talk out loud. He hears us directly. Considering we're supposed to pray without ceasing, I would think talking out loud would be very disruptive to the people around us quite often. (Imagine you're seeing your doctor for test results. Now, you're praying for good results, but imagine doing that out loud while she's telling you those results. I suspected she'd be annoyed. lol)

Now, I don't think "without ceasing" means nonstop. I think it's like with any other friend, except God's there all the time, so you don't need a phone to talk to him. And the Lord's Prayer? I think that's a reminder of all things we're supposed to be telling God at any given time.

And God talks back. That's why we read the Bible. That's God talking back to us.
 
G00WZ

G00WZ

Senior Member
#11
May 16, 2014
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Any type of communication to God is prayer
 
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