Should I pray before studying my homework?

[Anti-Fear]

I consider myself a Christian because I believe in Christ and his teachings however I am a non-practicing Christian, I dont have much experience praying and never went to church. My question is should I pray before doing homework? if so, where in the Bible does it say I have to?

 

[wvmtnkid]

If you are looking for a verse that says "Thou shalt pray before doing thy homework", you aren't going to find one. However, as a Christian, I believe that Jesus is here with me, not matter what I am doing, and that includes homework. When I was in high school and college, my prayer was usually, "Lord please open my mind and help me to learn what it is I need to learn. Take away what is distracting me and help me to focus on my studies. Help me to retain the knowledge I need." Before tests and exams I would just ask Jesus to help keep me calm, help me to breathe, and help me to recall what I had studied. Just pretty simple stuff. You don't have to pray eloquent prayers for the Lord to hear you, just what's on your heart.

 

[Anti-Fear]

Thanks, I really like your approach to studying with God's help. I didnt expect any of those fancy things you thought I was referring to. I would like to know whether there is any instance in the Bible about someone praying to God when studying or learning?

 

[wvmtnkid]

That's a good question. I can't think of a specific example right off, but someone else might have a better answer. I do know that the book of Proverbs has a lot of good advice about learning and knowledge. You might what to read in there to help give you some insight.

 

[forjesus]

In all thy ways acknowledge him. Pray at all times.

 

[Uncle Joely]

Pray without ceasing...
Pray continually 1 Th 5:17

God wants us to have a relationship with Him, can't have a good relationship without communication. God wants us to talk to Him, tell Him our concerns, hopes, struggles, praises.
You are not required to pray before going to bed, or before meals, or any specific time. Just to place all your needs in God's hands, and trust him.
When you see some of the awesome things God can do, why in the world you not pray about everything.
Happy experimenting.

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It's a war out there, make sure to keep your armor on.

 

[Susan]

I'm sorry if I appear to be going against the popular opinion, but I don't particularly believe that the verses about acknowledging God in all your ways and praying without ceasing necessarily mean that you must pray before you do anything and everything or be punished/not do as well.

When it comes to homework, sure, if you feel convicted to pray first, go ahead (LOL, and on some it can't hurt ~.^ )
However, if you didn't pray but you did resist a temptation to cheat and you did work responsibly, you've acknowledged God in your ways a lot more than even the most detailed and intense prayer would have, see what I mean?

IMHO "Pray without ceasing" means to persist in your requests, to have faith that they will be answered-not to go around all day mouthing prayers all the time. I can tell you from personal experience, such praying may start out spiritual, but it easily becomes an empty mechanical exercise.

As for the idea that prayer/giving/Bible reading/whatever are some kind of currency with God, where we "buy" His love, protection, blessing, etc. I totally disagree with it.

First, we should pray, give, read, whatever because we love God and want to talk to Him, want to give, want to read-not because we fear that He is going to turn against us and, say, make you fail the test not prayed over or cause you to have a paycheck docked because you didn't give in every offering you could.

Second, God doesn't work on a currency, pay-and-recieve basis. I can give some examples of how this works both ways:

In 1998, soon after I became a Christian, my family wanted to rent a house since we were being asked to move from our old house (the landlord wanted to sell the place rather than rent to us) Anyway, I prayed and proceeded to read 20 chapters of Proverbs in one sitting (in the KJV to boot) as a "sacrifice" so that we would get the house. We got the house-unfortunately it was a slum and we had to move out 8 months later when it was condemned by the fire department. Now, if blessing were conditional and earned, such an event might make me seriously question my faith.

As another example, I once saw the most beautiful sunset over the mountains near Lake Arrowhead here in California. I didn't pray for a beautiful sunset, I don't remember if I had read my Bible yet at the time, yet there it was-a sight I'll remember until the day I die for its beauty. Yet it was freely given to me and to all others who looked at it.

Anyway, with all that I digress. My point though is that there is nothing that says you should or should not pray before you do something, and that it's about your motives for praying. If you think your prayers will make God bless your test scores, forget it-you'll only end up blaming Him when things go bad. If you pray because you want to talk to Him about your homework, go ahead-and I applaud you for your conviction.

Anyway I'm happy that you're thinking about practicing the faith again, just keep in mind that it's not about what you do for God but what God has done for you.

 

[Uncle Joely]

Philippians 4:6
"Do not be anxious for anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

If anything worries you, including homework, we should take it to God.
Nobody has yet said that if you do not pray for your homework, you are sinning.
The original question is "should I pray before I do my homework"
Sure, it will never hurt. Do you have to, No.

Lets try not to get hung up on the little things. God wants us to talk to Him because we love Him, NOT because we have to.
If we do not want to pray, then there is something wrong.

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Every great man of God has tribulation, and every great man of God succeeds.