How Should We Pray?

It bemuses me when we are singing in a fellowship meeting and the lyrics are, "I bow" or "I lift my hands" or "I kneel" or "I dance" or "I shout" and the congregation does none of those things while singing them..

I know my thoughts on this, but I would like to know how others view this topic of prayer......I thought it might be a good discussion.

A few scenarios to get your mind going.....

1. Do you have to have your eyes closed when praying?
2. Do you have to physically be in a specific (kneeling or otherwise) position when you pray?
3. Do you think a prayer should be have a certain format to it?
4. Where/when can you pray?

These are merely examples to jog your mind...I just want to hear what you think a prayer should be. Thanks!

I hear you there. Some of the hymns/songs I can't help but dance. Maybe you should dance/ lift your hands and people might feel God's spirit working in you and start to join in 🥰🙏

I hear you there. Some of the hymns/songs I can't help but dance. Maybe you should dance/ lift your hands and people might feel God's spirit working in you and start to join in 🥰🙏

For me it depends... At work when 200 kids are fighting it's me running to try to break it up praying "please Jesus help" there is no time for everything else.
At home when I have what I call 'my deep prayer' I normally sit down, eyes are normally closed as it helps me to concentrate.
Format...
I thank God for everything he has done/given me that day. Talk about where I went wrong, talk about family, friends and people, life. Then be quiet for a bit. Then end the prayer in Jesus name.
You can pray any time any place morning, noon and night. God never sleeps and is always listening 🥰

I do. It feels odd not to do what I sing. Though I sometimes change the words from the original because I don't always agree with, or I have a more encouraging idea than, the theology assumed in the song.

Its actually amazing I think, how when you just close your eyes and lift up your hands during praise and worship....its pretty powerful

It's an amazing feeling and one you wish would never end 🥰

It's an amazing feeling and one you wish would never end 🥰

Yes ma'am, I agree 110%.....ya can't beat it! I also tear up whenever I think about how God has blessed me, I hope those feelings never go away. God is so good to us, isn't He?

Precious friends, you just made me feel I had to "make this up" :

Earthly feelings come and go
But soon there Will Be A Day
When God Himself Shall Show
us His Final Un-Ending Way!

See ya'll In God's Great [ Never-Ending ] GloryLand! ♫ 😇 ↑

Amen.

They are not praying as Jesus taught.They are praying as what Jesus calls a hypocrite.

hypocrite was a Greek word for a stage actor .Like someone who performed in the roman colosseum in plays.They are putting on a show but according to Jesus ,the show is for man and not God.

Jesus has never steered me in the wrong direction.

That's brilliant. What hymns/songs do you change the lyrics too? Have you ever written your own songs? 😃

I know my thoughts on this, but I would like to know how others view this topic of prayer......I thought it might be a good discussion.

A few scenarios to get your mind going.....

1. Do you have to have your eyes closed when praying?
2. Do you have to physically be in a specific (kneeling or otherwise) position when you pray?
3. Do you think a prayer should be have a certain format to it?
4. Where/when can you pray?

These are merely examples to jog your mind...I just want to hear what you think a prayer should be. Thanks!

I was thinking how many worship teams "perform" onstage when I read this.
David danced before the Lord with all his might, & his heart showed in every step.
"Performance" worship of any kind isn't acceptable in or out of church. God looks only at the heart, for from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
He knows how many are "faking it".

I know my thoughts on this, but I would like to know how others view this topic of prayer......I thought it might be a good discussion.

A few scenarios to get your mind going.....

1. Do you have to have your eyes closed when praying?
2. Do you have to physically be in a specific (kneeling or otherwise) position when you pray?
3. Do you think a prayer should be have a certain format to it?
4. Where/when can you pray?

These are merely examples to jog your mind...I just want to hear what you think a prayer should be. Thanks!

I know my thoughts on this, but I would like to know how others view this topic of prayer......I thought it might be a good discussion.

A few scenarios to get your mind going.....

1. Do you have to have your eyes closed when praying?
2. Do you have to physically be in a specific (kneeling or otherwise) position when you pray?
3. Do you think a prayer should be have a certain format to it?
4. Where/when can you pray?

These are merely examples to jog your mind...I just want to hear what you think a prayer should be. Thanks!

As a few examples,

"Oh, I'm running to your arms " >> ""Oh, I'm resting in your arms".

"Take me past the outer court into the Holy place,
past the brazen altar, Lord, I long to see your face.
Take me by the crowds of people, and the priests who sing your praise.
Lord, I hunger and thirst for your righteousness,
But it's only found in one Place.

Take me into the Holy of Holies. Take me in by the blood of the Lamb. Take me into the Holy of Holies.
Take the coal. Cleanse my lips. Here I am." >>

You took me past the outer court, I'm in Your Holy place,
I'm past the brazen altar, Father, Jesus is your face.
You took me by the crowds of people, I'm a priests who sing your praise.
Lord, I hunger and thirst for your righteousness,
But it's only found in one Name.

You've brought me into Your Holy of Holies. Took me in by the blood of the Lamb. You've brought me into Your Holy of Holies.
Jesus is the coal who cleansed my lips. Here I am."

I added two or three extra verses to a song that someone had written from some of the verses from the prophecy that includes Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey. I rewrote the rest of the same prophecy into verses to the same tune, for our congregation to sing on Palm Sunday. I've also adjusted the lyrics of some popular songs to give a Christian message.
"You are like a Hurricane" by Neil Young.
"Let it Be" by the Beatles, became "Be in Me" - to name two.

When I first started seeking God ,I had many of the same questions,so I turned to the bible and learned what Jesus taught about praying.The best discission I've ever made was to start learning from Jesus .


Jesus teaches his students how to pray.
Mathew 6

5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;

18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.