Effective Prayer To be effective, our prayer must coincide in principle with the work of sowing and reaping:
1) Prepare the soil
2) Sow the seed
3) Attend to the seed and soil
4) Harvest the fruits Anyone who has worked the field or in the garden knows that sowing and reaping is a process that takes place over time. Likewise, our prayer must continue over time. However, the term prayer also refers to a variety of prayerful acts (affirmations, treatments, recitations, repetitions, ritual incantations, etc.), most of which require only a moment of time. Science of Mind considers the act of prayer (whatever technique you use) to be the mental work that establishes a consciousness, which is actually the prayer. Praying may take
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Praying is what we do. A prayer is the mental work we 've done. Prayer is what praying accomplishes. We stop praying when our work is done. Ernest Holmes ' taught that if we don 't yet have the results, then we still have work to do. We continue to do our work, establishing and maintaining a consciousness through which the creative work is done. When our work is done, God 's work has just begun. We must remember: Our work is not the creative work. We facilitate the process. We don 't make it work. We don 't do the creative work. There is a power within that works through us. We don 't make things work. We don 't make life work out. We don 't make seeds grow. We have enough work to do, sowing seeds and harvesting the results. Daily treatment work is good practice and a practical discipline, keeping us mentally prepared and present to reap what we have sown. In this sense, one prayer is enough, but that prayer is unceasing; for our prayer is the consciousness we maintain every …show more content…
It is easy to forget, but impossible to remove anything from Mind. To our chagrin, we may see the effects of that which we used to believe, even though we 've refuted it and refuse to accept it; yet there it is. The roots may run deep. This years flower garden may give rise to a few of last years vegetables. Seeds can lie dormant until the conditions are right. It may not surprise you that Jesus had a parable about this too. In the Parable of Wheat and Tares, a field is sown with wheat; however, as the crop grows, weeds grow up along with it. The weed in question (a tare) looks like wheat while they are growing side by side. It is difficult to tell them apart — until harvest time. While we find it difficult to distinguish one from the other, we can see the results, or lack thereof. One bears good fruit, the other does not. This is the way it is with many weeds. They manage to grow up along side beneficial and desirable plants because they look similar, until one flowers and the other has nothing to show for itself. A negative results in nothing. The positive provides something. It is a mistake to try to judge what will be. Simply let them be, for eventually, the choice will be
In Tan’s article, “The Use of Prayer and Scripture in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy” published by the Journal of Psychology and Theology in 2007, he discusses integrating prayer and scripture with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Tan uses examples of integration from real-life counseling sessions that he has been involved in, as a counselor. Tan’s article first discusses the usefulness of CBT and other behavioral techniques in counseling (Tan, 2007). Tan discusses very early in his article that CBT is as effective as antidepressant medications and is more effective that cognitive therapy alone according to a recent placebo study (Tan, 2007).
My father and mother would always instruct me how to pray by reciting the Lord’s Prayer. Every morning we would go in my parents’ bedroom, get on our knees and begin to pray. This devotional time was spent every morning as soon as we got out of bed. In fact, if we were asleep we were awakening to begin our daily devotion. I remember, my father would begin the prayer and each of us had to lead a portion of the ongoing prayer. My parents always instilled in me that prayer was the key to anything that I wanted to accomplish in life. However, after I prayed, I needed to believe that the work was already accomplished. Growing up in my environment, I could not understand as a child why they would wake me out of the bed in order for to come and pray. Today, I can honestly say I appreciate my parents for showing me the value of prayer. I can relate to the topic of the use of prayer because of a situation which transpired in my life approximately fifteen years ago. I have experienced the miraculous power and the value of prayer. My father was the manager and lead singer of a gospel group. The group would rehearse every Tuesday night with the singers and the musicians which consisted of approx ten members. On this particular Tuesday night after rehearsal, he complained of a slight headache. He didn’t think much more about the headache because he thought he just needed some rest after a long day at
Throughout the years, religions have come together to bring about a new age of interfaith and interconnectedness. There are countless of examples where people have adopted two or more religions as there own, seeing and respecting the relationships and similarities between the two. In hand with this, people are now beginning to understand other religions and respect their practices. There is sort of a hybrid coming about of religions, where communities will pray with each other in a sort of collaboration of respects. However, this change in religion did not come about easily, it took much strife to bring about an interconnectedness that everyone is now a part of. Now that this interconnected and respect occurs in some areas, this can open up
The cornerstone of any relationship with someone is the ideal of grace and mercy. When grace is absent, dealing with people becomes difficult we develop issues with trust. Grace involves hoping that God is listening and will answer all prayers in ways according to His will. Digging into the cross of hope and prayer, this paper discusses the theological definition, biblical foundation, and practical application in order to identify how the two connect. These principles have helped me learn what it means to be a Christian.
Prayer in Public Schools An issue that has been constantly debated for years is whether voluntary prayer in public schools should be permitted. A student should be allowed to pray voluntarily at the beginning of each school day based on many reasons. Prayer based on moral beliefs reinforce good citizenship as defined by our forefathers. A daily reminder of a need for the belief of good over evil is a necessary part of this society.
Murray states, “We must begin to believe that God, in the mystery of prayer, has entrusted us with a force that can move the Heavenly world, and can bring its power down to earth”. The importance of prayer in the Christian faith is doubtless, this does not ensure the clarity with which it can be explained. Nevertheless, prayer can be expressed as both a highly unique individual experience, and a collective community expression; prayer is central to the Spirituality & Discipleship module. Prayer does not merely resonate within the module, but is a theme that runs through the centre of each tradition. Prayer is ubiquitous throughout all spiritual traditions and the evidence for this is lucid within the module guide where prayer is in the title
E.M. Bounds wrote a wonderful book devoted to prayer entitled Power Through Prayer. This book encourages the preacher to become a true prayer warrior. E.M. Bounds has written many books on prayer, encouraging Christians to devote their life to prayer. Since the writer is coming from a preacher background himself, one can clearly see the passion he has for prayer in his life. Fellow preachers will hopefully be encouraged by this and want to devote their life to prayer, so that they will better their preaching. Bounds exemplifies through his work that preaching has no power without prayer. He also sets forth the idea that prayer is the life-giving force behind our work for God. In reading this book, it inspires one to pray more and be able to be more effective in their ministry.
the act of prayer. Stump points out since this is the definition of petitionary prayer, prayers of
Oaks, the seed is the “word of God” or the “Word of the kingdom, the thorns are the cares of the world, the good ground is the word of the gospel, and the roots represent out spiritual roots. He says that, “It is up to each of us to set the priorities and to do the things that make our soil good and our harvest plentiful.” He says that the seeds in the stony ground with no roots is when people are not truly concerted to the gospel of Jesus Christ and can easily wither away when oppositions come. He continues by saying the seeds in the thorns is when the riches of the world deceit us. Lastly, he discusses the good ground, how we need to set priorities and make our harvest good and plentiful. Jesus explained that “the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience” (Luke 8:15). We accomplish this by doing the small and simple things daily such as praying and reading our
Prayer is so powerful that we don’t even realise what it can do for others and our own lives. The physical world is always effected by what’s happening in the spiritual world first so prayer is the place to go!
We need to look at prayer with deeper thoughts. Prayer isn’t just closing your eyes, folding your hands and speaking. Prayer is a much more meaningful part of religion. We all need to pray, God himself demands us to pray. Prayer is defined as an act of God, a god or another object of worship, such as in devotion, confession, praise, or thanksgiving. When most people pray, they just say the same prayer, like the Lord’s prayer for example. Saying the same prayer isn’t really such a bad thing, its more about the meaning and the time that you spend praying. Prayer shouldn’t just be looked at as a routine or habit, but as more of a love poem to express ones self to God. Questions such as: why do we need to pray? What is this prayer?, and What does God command us to pray for? Are what we should be asking ourselves before we come to God in prayer.
... When Muslims prayer that there mind is clear of any trivial and not importatn thought so that you can give god your undivided attention. http://www.hajinformation.com/main/c20.htm. The prayer starts by standing shoulder width apart and followed by a knell and followed then by the prayer of Salat.
Every prayer that every person has ever made has been heard by God. He hears everything and He sees everything. If our prayer, or prayers, has not been yet answered, it is important that we do not lose faith or stop believing that He will help and answer our prayers because He will. God has special timing for everything and when the timing is right, your prayer or prayers will be answered. Like they say, “God works in mysterious ways.” Trusting in Him and believing in Him is pivotal.
The praying time cannot be shorter than 3 minutes. The length of time depends on the persons and his state, sometimes one likes to pray more. Islam considers many activities in life as worship such as cleaning your house, working. In praying there is a pattern where people kneel and bow couple of times and repeat the words of Quran. Each prayer has a specific number of kneels and bows, so some prayer times is longer than others. The mosque is used differently during “Jumha” Friday prayer; people pray and listen to the “kutbah” speech afterwards. Quran as a sacred object is used in praying when the person stands to read the holy words of Allah.
Prayer (Salat) is one of the main obligations with Allah has ordained on His servants. Prayer in the Arabic language it means du’aa. In Islamically, it means to worship Allah through certain known and prescribed sayings and actions starting with Takbeer, and ending with Tasleem. Yet, Takbeer is the Arabic terms for the pharase Allahu Akbar and Tasleem means the concluding portion of the Muslims prayer, where one recites “Assalaaamu’alaykum wa rahmatu-Allah” once while facing the right, and once while facing the left. Then, Prayer is one of the five fundamental requirements that a Muslim is obligated to perform and given the highest priority in the Holy Quran. In addition, prayer also is a religious observance that believers are commanded to perform throughout the course of their lives, the times of which have been stipulated. Such as, praying five times a day is Morning (Fajr), Zuhr, Asr, Maghrib and Isha’. There are many benefits of Prayer described in the Holy Quran. It is enjoined on the Muslims as an obligatory act by Allah as can be noted from the following verses of the Holy Quran ;