Can someone help me with prayer? All views welcome!

CerebralCherub said:

I could really use some scriptures regarding prayer.

My questions are:

1. How formal do we need to be when addressing God i.e. should we be fully clothed and/or have our heads covered?
2. Is it appropriate to ask God for blessings or deliverance from ill health or anything else?

These questions have arisen because I am not familiar with the scriptures regarding prayer but I know different denominations have different beliefs which I assume are biblical in nature?

I was raised to view prayer as relatively casual i.e. it's okay to pray in the shower, in bed (even if you accidentally fall asleep!) etc.

I feel uncomfortable asking God for anything to do with increasing or maintaining any of my comforts in this world. This is because Jesus refers to spiritual healing, blessings etc and even redirects a mans priorities when he asks Jesus to assist with his issues with inheritance What does Luke 12:15 mean? | BibleRef.com:

Context Summary
Luke 12:13–21 records Jesus taking advantage of an interruption to explain a proper perspective of wealth. Jesus has been warning the disciples that faithfulness to Him may require their deaths. A man in the crowd, possibly shouting in the middle of that teaching, demands Jesus settle a family conflict over an inheritance. Jesus declines that request but warns the crowd against temporary, earthly treasures if they distract from their relationship with God. He will return to this theme, telling the crowd to reconcile with people and God or risk earthly and eternal ruin (Luke 12:54—13:9). This parable is unique to Luke's Gospel.

Chapter Summary
Jesus teaches the disciples about proper priorities. This includes recognizing that God knows all things, even secrets. Believers should honor God more than they fear death, or than they worry about things like food and clothes. Christians are to remain ready for Christ's return, even as faith separates those who believe from those who do not. These ideas revolve around the central theme of verse 34: that a person's heart reflects what they value most.

I have a genuine concern that people view Jesus as a genie, who is there to grant wishes, and they are angry and bitter and turn from Him when their requests aren't answered or not answered in the way they expect. In fact, this happened to me when I was young and, as a result, I turned from God for over 20+ years.

Praise His name, He did not abandon me and I was a lost sheep which was again found!

But, I feel like the purpose of prayer may be misrepresented/misinterpreted.

I would like to hear others views on this point because, currently, I only ever pray for:

1. Endurance - to retain my relationship with Jesus Christ through all temptation and tribulation
2. The salvation of unbelievers and particularly those who are close to me
3. The ability to ensure that I am representing myself in a way that that glorifies Him to believers and non-believers

Thank you all and God bless.

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A guy asked his spiritual advisor whether he could smoke while praying. He was told he could not. So he comes back and asks whether he can pray while smoking. Of course. Point being that every moment is right for prayer if only we can have a modicum of focus.

I am easily distracted in prayer and thus find it best to include some formal time and location and setting and content for prayer. It helps me get back into it. And then whatever spontaneous prayer I can manage throughout the day.

As to the content of prayer, you should be praising and adoring God in your prayer. That first. Then intercessory prayer. Then ask God for what you will, but mostly for what God wills for you. That definitely includes enduring in the faith, a most worthy thing to pray for.

Do not be upset if prayer is hard. There is a section in the Catechism of the Catholic Church on 'The Battle of Prayer' which is useful to read. It's paragraphs 2725 and following, found here: Catechism of the Catholic Church - PART 4 SECTION 1 CHAPTER 3 ARTICLE 2

We're to pray without ceasing according to I Thess 5:17 so maintaining "proper attire" and always being in our prayer closet (Matt 6:6) would be impossible.

Praying to our heavenly Father is a priviledge and involves more than giving Him our prayer requests. Though I really understand your concern. The following helped me to sort it out.

Looking at The Lord's prayer which is how Jesus told us to pray, begins with acknowledging who He is, we hallow His name, and His will is priority (Psa 100:4). Next asking for our daily bread. Then the importance of our relationship with others is noted next. We can feel very justified in having negative attitudes and feelings towards someone but He lets us know forgiveness is vital. (Matt 22:39). He'll help guard against the enemy's traps (Psa 91:3 +all). Lastly, it ends with emphasis on Him. (Matt 6:9-13).

I Tim 2:1-3 "Therefore I [a]exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,..." Giving thanks for everybody - even this can be a challenge. But we are all His creation (Psa 139:13, Job 33:4, Eze 37:6).

CerebralCherub said:

I could really use some scriptures regarding prayer.

My questions are:

1. How formal do we need to be when addressing God i.e. should we be fully clothed and/or have our heads covered?
2. Is it appropriate to ask God for blessings or deliverance from ill health or anything else?

These questions have arisen because I am not familiar with the scriptures regarding prayer but I know different denominations have different beliefs which I assume are biblical in nature?

I was raised to view prayer as relatively casual i.e. it's okay to pray in the shower, in bed (even if you accidentally fall asleep!) etc.

I feel uncomfortable asking God for anything to do with increasing or maintaining any of my comforts in this world. This is because Jesus refers to spiritual healing, blessings etc and even redirects a mans priorities when he asks Jesus to assist with his issues with inheritance What does Luke 12:15 mean? | BibleRef.com:

Context Summary
Luke 12:13–21 records Jesus taking advantage of an interruption to explain a proper perspective of wealth. Jesus has been warning the disciples that faithfulness to Him may require their deaths. A man in the crowd, possibly shouting in the middle of that teaching, demands Jesus settle a family conflict over an inheritance. Jesus declines that request but warns the crowd against temporary, earthly treasures if they distract from their relationship with God. He will return to this theme, telling the crowd to reconcile with people and God or risk earthly and eternal ruin (Luke 12:54—13:9). This parable is unique to Luke's Gospel.

Chapter Summary
Jesus teaches the disciples about proper priorities. This includes recognizing that God knows all things, even secrets. Believers should honor God more than they fear death, or than they worry about things like food and clothes. Christians are to remain ready for Christ's return, even as faith separates those who believe from those who do not. These ideas revolve around the central theme of verse 34: that a person's heart reflects what they value most.

I have a genuine concern that people view Jesus as a genie, who is there to grant wishes, and they are angry and bitter and turn from Him when their requests aren't answered or not answered in the way they expect. In fact, this happened to me when I was young and, as a result, I turned from God for over 20+ years.

Praise His name, He did not abandon me and I was a lost sheep which was again found!

But, I feel like the purpose of prayer may be misrepresented/misinterpreted.

I would like to hear others views on this point because, currently, I only ever pray for:

1. Endurance - to retain my relationship with Jesus Christ through all temptation and tribulation
2. The salvation of unbelievers and particularly those who are close to me
3. The ability to ensure that I am representing myself in a way that that glorifies Him to believers and non-believers

Thank you all and God bless.

Click to expand...

Here is what I have to say to you, after reading your post.
Forsake all this man-made nonsense and talk heart to heart with God.
Nothing else will work for you. [Staff Edit]

CerebralCherub, encourage you to keep searching, reading Scripture and pursuing God. Our prayer life is part of our armor (Eph 6:10-19) and when based on His Word, it is our sword. (Eph 6:10-19).

As far as personal prayer ( because there is such a thing as corporate prayer, church prayer, prayer groups too), I've had tremendous results with prayer, just stopping what I'm doing at the time, standing, looking up and let it flow from the heart. Many times prayers have been answered from that approach, just as you are. It makes me think of the book of Job, God instruct Job to stand up and be a man , as they communicated!!! My suggestion, just don't make it a public scene, it's your private conversation with God. Don't worry about the formality or wording, the Holy Spirit is with us to make the delivery clear. Assuming one is reborn of the Spirit. The important matter is to get it out and from the heart.. From scripture there is something to be said about a prayer space behind closed doors. A prayer room or as scripture says a closet. The meaning here though is alone with God.

In times of hard grief, bedtime prayers for the peace of the Holy Spirit have fully taken me over to where I get a solid 6 hours or so of sleep, then toss a bit from there or just get up.

Forgiveness, in prayers for others. Put aside any bitterness, give it to the Lord first, then make your request be known.

It is great that you want to learn about prayer as it is such an important topic. There are lots of more in depth books and teachings on this subject but I will try to explain a couple of things that might be helpful.

You can pray for anything, but if you pray for the wrong motives, then it is not going to be granted. What motives are right? ones that are not selfish or contain the love of money. To pray for healing though is not generally selfish. Why? because most people can do more for God being healed than they can being sick. James 5:14-15 says to call for the elders and anoint with oil and the prayer of faith will heal.
James 4:3 (NASB)
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

So in addition to having the right motives, someone that is praying needs to have faith. Most of us sometimes just beg God, but that is not faith, that is hope that by some miracle God will just do it. And yes, sometimes that might work. But often God is seeking something from us and that something is faith. So you can basically pray and receive what you the right motives and the faith for.

Of course that faith comes from God anyway. Rom 10:17 "Faith comes from hearing and hearing by the (spoken or rhema) word of God." We all can read the logos or written word of God but sometimes the word from the bible or from God directly hits our hearts and at that moment we can go from thinking God might do something, to believing that He has done it.

Mark 11:24 (NASB)
24 "Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.

Hebrews 11:6 (NASB)
6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
So you must believe God is a rewarder.

Now I admit that this is only one aspect of personal prayer. This is not intercessory prayer for others to be saved or to be given mercy from God.

But it is not wrong to pray for any need you feel you have. To know God's will though find a scripture that speaks about it. Like for healing, once a man asked Jesus if he was willing to heal him. Jesus said yes. In Psalms, "he sent His word and healed them. One of my favorite scriptures, is
Psalm 138:8 (KJV)
8 The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.

If it is a concern, God wants to help you with it. So you would cast your cares on Him, and expect that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

James too says you can pray for wisdom and if you are single-minded God will give you that.

So why not expand your prayer by reading God's word and finding faith for things that you previously thought impossible? Then from that faith pray that you receive according to Mark 11:23 and you shall have them. (assuming they are from the right motives and that faith is real).

I admit there are critics to this type of thinking. They sometimes call it "name and claim it." What they fail to understand is again that the right motives and the faith must be there, or it is not going to work.

So I would challenge you to read God's word and note some of the promises. Then try to approach God to see if he will help you in a similar way to what the promise suggests. It has been said that God will pass over a 1000 people to find the one with faith. It is faith that pleases God. Jesus marveled at the Centurion's faith. Every Christian has faith for salvation, but God wants us to believe for more than just that. We must see him as that rewarder of those that seek Him. Yes, there are other times that you worship and praise him for who he is. But yes, you certailnly can ask for more if you can find the faith in God and His word to request it.

CerebralCherub said:

My questions are:

1. How formal do we need to be when addressing God i.e. should we be fully clothed and/or have our heads covered?
2. Is it appropriate to ask God for blessings or deliverance from ill health or anything else?

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1) No need. God when representing Himself to us is as a homeless person asking for some change.

2) Asking for things like that is okay.

I learned how to pray by relating to the Lord and spending time with Him. We’d converse throughout the day on different subjects without the formality or structure many advocate. It’s a relationship after all and I don’t act that way with others. Our discourse is intimate and personal as one would expect with a Father and daughter.

I’d liken my approach more to what Brother Lawrence speaks of in Practicing the Presence of God.

Practicing the presence of God is a term used to describe someone being in continual fellowship with God and being continually aware of Him throughout the day.

His teaching was simple: whatever you do, in word or deed, converse with God about it. Talk to Him and worship Him as you do all of your tasks. If you happen to wander from this conversation, don’t beat yourself up about it, instead, peacefully return to communion with God as soon as you are aware of what happened.

Communing with the Lord this way had numerous benefits and the most notable were dependence and sharpening my discernment. I grew accustomed to seeking His input before others and we don’t emphasize the value of doing so enough. Hearing from the Lord is another aspect and you’ll be more adept when you talk to Him a lot.

Don’t overthink it or fall into should’s. Tell the Lord you want to pray and ask Him to teach you how. Then share what‘s on your heart. After a while you’ll find the method best suited for you.

~bella

CerebralCherub said:

I could really use some scriptures regarding prayer.
My questions are:

1. How formal do we need to be when addressing God i.e. should we be fully clothed and/or have our heads covered?

Click to expand...

Hello CerebralCherub, the Biblical admonishments for women to cover their heads (and to have long hair) is meant as a sign or symbol of their submission, first and foremost, to God, as well, then, to the other God-ordained authority in her life (e.g. husband or father). As such, I believe that head coverings are meant for public gatherings such as church (especially when praying or prophesying), not in the privacy of one's home.

Christian women also need to carefully consider things like clothing, jewelry, hair style and other outward adornments when they go to church, as the focus in church is supposed to be on God, not on any of us (though I don't believe that there is anything wrong with looking your best, looking pretty, put-together, etc., as long as doing so is not too distracting to the rest of the congregation).

~1 Corinthians 11:3-16

CerebralCherub said:

2. Is it appropriate to ask God for blessings or deliverance from ill health or anything else?​

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Yes .. e.g. Matthew 6:11; John 15:7, 16:23-24, James 5:13-16; 1 John 5:14-15

Just FYI, you will find lots of excellent, short, informative (Q & A type) articles on prayer that may be helpful to you here:

God bless you!!

--David

Matthew 18:4
Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Come to Him as His child. Children don't have complicated methods when talking to their parents. They know who to trust and they run to them and speak to them about anything and everything going on in their little hearts and lives. (1 Peter 5:7) (John 16:27)