What is prayer? Well many of us pray but we have and idea what it is and each one of us that we know how it is suppose to be done. Many people have turn prayer into a chant, the repeating of a phrase over and over; reciting, reading a prayer that someone wrote instead of coming from your heart; and a choir. But what is true pray? Are we to pray to the Father alone? Or to Jesus? Or a human like Marry or a priest which some churches do.
According to Easton's Bible Dictionary Pray is converse with God; the intercourse of the soul with God, not in contemplation or meditation, but in direct address to him. Prayer may be oral or mental, occasional or constant, ejaculatory or formal.?
To answer one question "Who are we to pray to?"
That is very simple. We are to pray to our Father in heaven, Yahweh. This is shown to us by Jesus in Matthew 6:9 when he teaches us how to pray. The Lord's Prayer is a model prayer that is to teach us how to pray. In Matthew 6:9-10, Jesus starts the prayer out by proclaiming who He is praying to, and glorifying our Father. Then in verse 11 He ask to "Give us this day our daily bread?" which is symbolic of what we need that day. In 12, He as for forgiveness and that He forgive those that did Him wrong. Then in 13, He asks not to let into temptation or as in the Greek "experience [of evil]" and He ends with glorifying our Father again.
I agree with starting out praising our Father because scripture like Psalms 22:3, where we see our Father, "that inhabits the praises of Israel." Israel is the people of Our Father and all who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior and is grafted into that family vine. So now we have the same rights and privileges as the Israelites because we know that in Matthew 18:20, that "where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
Now the next question would be, "why do we pray?"
Here is a quick list of some reasons and types of prayer in the Bible.
"Beseeching the Lord" (Exodus 32:11);
"Pouring out the soul before the Lord" (1 Samuel. 1:15);
"Praying and crying to heaven" (2 Chronicles 32:20);
"Seeking unto God and making supplication" (Job 8:5);
"Drawing near to God" (Psalm 73:28 );
"For Healing" (James 5:15);
So next question is "How do we pray?"
Well first it is best to be sincere (Heb. 10:22), but other then that, there is no rule given that say you have to kneel, or close your eyes, or stand on your head. There are place like Isaiah 45:23 & Luke 22:41 where you see kneeling but in 2 Chronicles. 20:9& Mark 11:25, we see standing. We also see the raising or spreading of hands like in 1 Kings 8:22 & in 1 Timothy 2:8. We do need to pray in the name of Christ as stated in John 16:23.
To some it all up, we are to pray to the Father in heaven through Jesus? name. It is wise not to pray to anyone else but our Father. Jesus would be the only exception if any because He and our Father Yahweh are one in the same, John 10:30. Anything else and you will be praying to an idol or false god, which would not be good on your part.
I hoped you enjoy this quick study on prayer. I know I did not cover everything but I believe that I covered the basics.
According to Easton's Bible Dictionary Pray is converse with God; the intercourse of the soul with God, not in contemplation or meditation, but in direct address to him. Prayer may be oral or mental, occasional or constant, ejaculatory or formal.?
To answer one question "Who are we to pray to?"
That is very simple. We are to pray to our Father in heaven, Yahweh. This is shown to us by Jesus in Matthew 6:9 when he teaches us how to pray. The Lord's Prayer is a model prayer that is to teach us how to pray. In Matthew 6:9-10, Jesus starts the prayer out by proclaiming who He is praying to, and glorifying our Father. Then in verse 11 He ask to "Give us this day our daily bread?" which is symbolic of what we need that day. In 12, He as for forgiveness and that He forgive those that did Him wrong. Then in 13, He asks not to let into temptation or as in the Greek "experience [of evil]" and He ends with glorifying our Father again.
I agree with starting out praising our Father because scripture like Psalms 22:3, where we see our Father, "that inhabits the praises of Israel." Israel is the people of Our Father and all who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior and is grafted into that family vine. So now we have the same rights and privileges as the Israelites because we know that in Matthew 18:20, that "where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
Now the next question would be, "why do we pray?"
Here is a quick list of some reasons and types of prayer in the Bible.
"Beseeching the Lord" (Exodus 32:11);
"Pouring out the soul before the Lord" (1 Samuel. 1:15);
"Praying and crying to heaven" (2 Chronicles 32:20);
"Seeking unto God and making supplication" (Job 8:5);
"Drawing near to God" (Psalm 73:28 );
"For Healing" (James 5:15);
So next question is "How do we pray?"
Well first it is best to be sincere (Heb. 10:22), but other then that, there is no rule given that say you have to kneel, or close your eyes, or stand on your head. There are place like Isaiah 45:23 & Luke 22:41 where you see kneeling but in 2 Chronicles. 20:9& Mark 11:25, we see standing. We also see the raising or spreading of hands like in 1 Kings 8:22 & in 1 Timothy 2:8. We do need to pray in the name of Christ as stated in John 16:23.
To some it all up, we are to pray to the Father in heaven through Jesus? name. It is wise not to pray to anyone else but our Father. Jesus would be the only exception if any because He and our Father Yahweh are one in the same, John 10:30. Anything else and you will be praying to an idol or false god, which would not be good on your part.
I hoped you enjoy this quick study on prayer. I know I did not cover everything but I believe that I covered the basics.
