Speaking to the Lord.

jameshjr · Mar 22, 2023

Hello all, i wanted to get your experience of praying.

I know that we are told to pray constantly, however, being a man, i do not do this. I wondered how often you all speak with the Lord.

I.e. when walking down the street are you speaking with the Lord and saying thank you for my ability to walk and for the ability to create a plan and follow it etc.

( I hope that this makes sense.)

Thanks and God bless,

James.

P.S. this seemed like the most appropriate forum that i could find for the thread, though it is not a request for advice, but a request for people to share their personal experience.

timothyu · Mar 22, 2023

Prayer if anything is questioning whether our own thinking has any merit when compared to the will of God.

jameshjr · Mar 22, 2023

timothyu said:
Prayer if anything is questioning whether our own thinking has any merit when compared to the will of God.

Hello, thank you for the message.

that is an interesting perspective. I guess i was wondering how often people are praying i.e. is it constant, or near to constant, or 50% of the time etc. because i fall so short of any onf these benchmarks, and i wanted to get other peoples opiniions.

timothyu · Mar 22, 2023

Every time you think something to yourself. I guess that would vary according to person.

By_the_Book · Mar 22, 2023

jameshjr said:
Hello all, i wanted to get your experience of praying.

I know that we are told to pray constantly, however, being a man, i do not do this. I wondered how often you all speak with the Lord.

I.e. when walking down the street are you speaking with the Lord and saying thank you for my ability to walk and for the ability to create a plan and follow it etc.

( I hope that this makes sense.)

Thanks and God bless,

James.

P.S. this seemed like the most appropriate forum that i could find for the thread, though it is not a request for advice, but a request for people to share their personal experience.

It's the first thing I do when I open my eyes in the morning and the last thing I do at night before I go to sleep, and I continue to dialogue with him throughout the day really just continually every few minutes. He's as much a part of my daily life as any human being and it is almost like a physical person who is there.

jameshjr · Mar 22, 2023

timothyu said:
Every time you think something to yourself. I guess that would vary according to person.

Thank you, i found this interesting artcile on the subject, if you fancy a read:

What Does It Mean to 'Pray Without Ceasing' and Is It Possible?

We are told to "pray without ceasing" in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, but is this even possible?

www.christianity.com

jameshjr · Mar 22, 2023

By_the_Book said:
It's the first thing I do when I open my eyes in the morning and the last thing I do at night before I go to sleep, and I continue to dialogue with him throughout the day really just continually every few minutes. He's as much a part of my daily life as any human being and it is almost like a physical person who is there.

Hello, thank you for your message and sharing your experience. i would say that i am not praying as much as you are. I will ask the Lord to increase the time i spend praying to Him.

timothyu · Mar 22, 2023

jameshjr said:
Thank you, i found this interesting artcile on the subject, if you fancy a read:

Your article states "I think that praying without ceasing simply means that you're lifting your whole day up to God".

You pray long enough you will realize your day is God.

jameshjr · Mar 22, 2023

timothyu said:
You pray long enough you will realize your day is God

Maybe you are right on this, i have not come to that realisation yet, though i do see what you mean

timothyu · Mar 22, 2023

jameshjr said:
i have not come to that realisation yet, though i do see what you mean

It will come when you leave your concept of self as separate behind. Adam and Eve fell when they became self aware.

jameshjr · Mar 22, 2023

timothyu said:
It will come when you leave your concept of self as separate behind. Adam and Eve fell when they became self aware.

i dont mean to be disrespectful, and i may be off the mark here, but some things you have written sound quite new age(y). Do you think that we are able in this life to be able to leave our concept of self behind. It is my understanding that Adam and Eve fell because they disobeyed God. Therefore i think that their minds became corrupted and therefore were able to determine truth for themselves (knowing good and evil).

timothyu · Mar 22, 2023

jameshjr said:
i dont mean to be disrespectful, and i may be off the mark here, but some things you have written sound quite new age(y).

Yeah, Jesus got that lot from the Pharisees also.

jameshjr said:
Do you think that we are able in this life to be able to leave our concept of self behind.

No, not in this lifetime, but the idea is to realize we have put it before God, in some cases so far we don't see our connection to Him any more. Everythiung has become self oriented, about self, including thinking Jesus didn't come to right creation but just to save us. Me me me.

jameshjr said:
It is my understanding that Adam and Eve fell because they disobeyed God.

Yes they put their will ahead of His, the ultimate original sin. As a result we became self aware.

jameshjr said:
therefore were able to determine truth for themselves (knowing good and evil).

Yes but the problem wasn't so much in knowing it but in misusing it, again the result of self determination instead of following God's lead.

timothyu · Mar 22, 2023

repeat

jameshjr · Mar 22, 2023

timothyu said:
Yeah, Jesus got that lot from the Pharisees also.

Did you mean to quote this, that you had already written, because it seems to me that you are trying to provoke me.

I have also noticed that you seem to be 100% certain of everything you write.

timothyu · Mar 22, 2023

The Gospel of the Kingdom is irrefutable.

timothyu · Mar 22, 2023

jameshjr said:
Did you mean to quote this, that you had already written,

Twas a reply foul up with two of my posts battling for supremacy. Sorry for the repetition.

jameshjr · Mar 22, 2023

timothyu said:
The Gospel of the Kingdom is irrefutable.

Your words and the words of the Bible are not the same thing.

Please forgive me, if i am not at the same level of understanding that you have.

timothyu · Mar 22, 2023

jameshjr said:
Your words and the words of the Bible are not the same thing.

Please forgive me, if i am not at the same level of understanding that you have.

I think then in time you will find they are the same. And yes we are all at differnet points in the journey. The idea is to keep seeking Him, not ourselves.

studentinprayer · Mar 22, 2023

jameshjr said:
Hello all, i wanted to get your experience of praying.

I know that we are told to pray constantly, however, being a man, i do not do this. I wondered how often you all speak with the Lord.

I.e. when walking down the street are you speaking with the Lord and saying thank you for my ability to walk and for the ability to create a plan and follow it etc.

( I hope that this makes sense.)

Thanks and God bless,

James.

P.S. this seemed like the most appropriate forum that i could find for the thread, though it is not a request for advice, but a request for people to share their personal experience.

If I choose tomorrow to live a monastic life: giving away my material possessions, leaving my family commitments and moving to a simple community. I could easily see myself finding a way to live in a constant thankful prayer. As is, I am far too involved in the things of this world, so Instead I more make many reminders and personal commitments to return to that space and live moments everyday in contemplative reflection and prayer.

There is a certain inclination to live all life only focused on fasting, study, prayer, singing and quiet work; however, I still think I am made better by my choice to be in the world, spending much of my days in the complexity of business, family, friends, wife and children.

There is something to witnessing how quickly I can lose my composure in something as trivial as hitting a traffic jam. For indeed in that moment I can find myself lost in murderous rage and question if I ever even had a peaceful nature to begin with. Or the pure difficulty of watching a child complete defiance or my wife or friend challenging my beliefs. I find these things difficult and even ugly but can't help but think they enhance the moments where I can be completely in prayer.

Perhaps, I am just justifying my own resistance to a better life, but at least for now it seems to be working and simply choosing to make prayer apart of my everyday routine is enough.

timothyu · Mar 22, 2023

studentinprayer said:
There is a certain inclination to live all life only focused on fasting, study, prayer, singing and quiet work; however, I still think I am made better by my choice to be in the world, spending much of my days in the complexity of business, family, friends, wife and children.

Agree. The idea is to live this life following the will of God rather than our own. No real purpose in putting ourselves in a box where we can no longer love all as self.

Speaking to the Lord.

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