advice on prayer

[RileyG]

I am a Roman Catholic, but I greatly admire Methodism for its emphasis on charity for your neighbor, and growth in holiness.

I want some advice on prayer from a non-Catholic. How do you pray? My mind tends to wanders.

I kindly ask, please, do not attack my Catholic beliefs.

God Bless

 

[circuitrider]

Do you use the rosary by any chance? I use Anglican prayer beads and they help me focus my prayer. The rosary might do the same thing for you.

 

[RomansFiveEight]

Nobody here is going to attack your Catholic beliefs, no worries. As descendants of Anglicans we're probably closer to you than the fundamentalist groups around here.

I'm with CW. Your Rosary is a great place to start. If you're a liturgically minded person, you might even find some great 'prayer starters' in the daily office section of your Book of Common Prayer. While the intention of those is, of course, corporate prayer and worship; it contains great written prayers that can help point you in the right direction. I use that a lot to structure my prayers around that same sort of format.

I'm also a very big fan of corporate prayer; though it's not for everyone. If your parish has a daily mass it might behoove you to attend sometime. Often those are a little more prayer focused and will give you a chance to pray in that more structured and corporate fashion.

 

[circuitrider]

Good thoughts RomansFiveEight!

Another option is to find a resource for praying the "Daily Office or as you church calls it the "Divine Office." Your priest probably praise these daily offices and might be able to loan you material or point you to material to follow the office.

I just googled this site on praying the divine office using online resources.

http://divineoffice.org/liturgy-of-...he-liturgy-of-the-hours/#sthash.Ke2g9Bu7.dpbs

You might take a look.

 

[Emmy]

Dear RileyG. Whenever we talk to God we pray to our Heavenly Father. We tell God that we Love God, and we thank Him for all we have and are. We talk to God of our needs and ask for help and guidance. What does God want from us? Jesus tells us in Matthew 22: 35-40: " The first and great Commandment is: Love God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. The second is like it: love thy neighbour as thyself." Verse 40 tells us: " On these two Commandments hang all the law and the Prophets." God is Love, and God wants loving sons and daughters.
In Matthew 7: 7-10: we are told: " ask and you shall receive," then thank God and ask for Love and Joy. Keep asking for Love and Joy, and share all love and joy with our neighbour. God will see our loving efforts, and God will Bless us.
The Bible tells us to " Repent and be Born Again," We ask God to help us to change all selfishness for Loving God and loving/be always kind, to our neighbour. (neighbour is all we know and all we meet, friends and not friends)
The Holy Spirit will help and guide us, and Jesus our Saviour will lead us all the way: JESUS IS THE WAY.
We keep Loving and Praying, and gradually change into the men and women which God wants us to be. We might stumble and forget at times, but then we ask God to forgive us, and carry on Loving and Praying.
I say this with love, Riley. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ.

 

[JCFantasy23]

I am a Roman Catholic, but I greatly admire Methodism for its emphasis on charity for your neighbor, and growth in holiness.

I want some advice on prayer from a non-Catholic. How do you pray? My mind tends to wanders.

I kindly ask, please, do not attack my Catholic beliefs.

God Bless

I'm curious about trying prayer beads sometime - I do have a rosary - but so far with prayer I pray without using any aides. Sometimes my mind does tend to wander, sure, but I grab it back to focus.

 

[RileyG]

Yes, I do pray the rosary. I do pray the divine office occasionally. I do not have a copy of the book of common prayer but I heard good things about it. Thank you all.

 

[counJS]

using a prayer journal or list of things I want to pray about helps keep my mind focused. When i lose my place or mind wanders I simply open my eyes and see where I am and where I got side tracked and go on from there.
prayer journals are great for also keeping track of answered prayer

 

[Maid Marie]

I say sentence prayers during the day as I go about my activities. For example, while I am driving, I will listen to Christian music and pray for my friend with Cancer. For example, as I listen to the song "Break Every Chain" by Tasha Cobb, I will say things like "God, break the chains around Rob's heart that cause him to believe he's going to die. I speak to the spirit of cancer and tell it that it has to flee" and so on based on how I feel led as I listen to the song.

I will pray the psalms. To pray on behalf of my friend with cancer, I copy and pasted some psalms about healing and God's protection on paper and will read them aloud as a part of my prayer.

I love to play my flute. So, I will get out my hymnal and play various hymns based on how the lyrics describe my prayerful thoughts.

 

[totesTheGoat]

My mind tends to go at 1000 miles per hour, especially when I close my eyes. Every sound, every itch, every memory floods into my conscious mind and keeps me from having a focused and fruitful prayer time.

I've actually picked up a technique from a friend who does buddhist meditation. I close my eyes, interlace my fingers, and place my thumbs so that the tips just barely touch one another. Then I try to focus on my breathing until my mind clears. If I find that my thumbs mash together, I'm thinking too hard and need to relax. If my thumbs come apart, my mind is wandering and I need to focus.

Once I've gotten my mind to clear, I start my prayer. If my mind starts taking off, I return to being aware of my breathing. Once my mind has settled again, I continue my prayer. It feels awkward the first few times, but it becomes nearly subconscious after a while (note that I said nearly subconscious. It defeats the purpose if it actually becomes subconscious), and my mind has begun to clear more quickly once I assume a submissive posture toward God. It's still a work in progress for me, but the thumb/breathing technique has really helped me keep focus while praying.

Another technique (used in praying the rosary) is repetition of a word or phrase. This also helps clear the mind. The tactile feedback of praying the rosary seems similar to the thumb technique. I second the advice that if you devote focus and effort on praying the rosary, you may see improvement in your mind wandering.

Finally, I've been trying to follow the ACTS format for my prayers lately (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication). It can be humbling sometimes! It's amazing how easy it is for my mind to slip into supplication mode even while I'm in the adoration phase. I haven't been doing it long enough to see results, but the structure really helps me organize my thoughts while I pray, and I can identify when my mind wanders faster than before.

I hope this helps!

 

[Abel Gkiouzelis]

I am a Roman Catholic, but I greatly admire Methodism for its emphasis on charity for your neighbor, and growth in holiness.

I want some advice on prayer from a non-Catholic. How do you pray? My mind tends to wanders.

I kindly ask, please, do not attack my Catholic beliefs.

God Bless

Hi Riley and all friends!! How are you? Prayer is the most difficult task. When our mind wanders, then just bring back to prayer! God bless you!