What's your protocol for prayer

[Uber]

Hi Ladies,

I just wanted to know what the general consensus was.

In my early years if Christendom, I learnt and/or emulated certain, what you could call, protocols of prayer

1) Pray with your eyes closed
2) Pray Loud and fast
3) When praying you should look like your having warfare with the enemy
4) The second you wake up, you should begin praying
5) Apart from the obvious mobile ringing, you should not allow any other interruptions from prayer e.g husband wanting to chat, 3year old crying etc
6)Prayer should last at least an hour.

Apart from no1 (If I pray with my eyes closed I start to think of all other things which is futile if praying whilst in bed as I will fall asleep) I did the rest faithfully until I got married. I then discovered that my hubbie prayed whilst he was half a sleep and had no strict time frame or even regimen for prayer. Soon I picked up his habits. I struggled for years to take it more seriously. Finally things are taking shape. However, I now have the following principles or protocols or whatever you want to call them.


1) No need to pray with eyes closed if you can focus better
2) Best to wait until hubbie has gone to work and child has been given his breakfast and strict instructions not to disturb Mummie whilst she is praying
3) Babbling/shouting/excessive physical movement religiously whilst praying can become monotonous and lack meaning. It's ok to have a normal friendly chat/be quiet/still/or just praise the Lord.
4) If I manage to pray for an hour led by the spirit it's brilliant. I will not feel guilty if on occasion I do not pray for an hour. ( I have since heard that prayer should account for a tenth of your time, i.e 2.4 hours a day)

These are the few that come to mind. Do you ladies have any thoughts?

 

[LongTimeComing]

For the longest time I was told that you don't necessarily have to pray aloud. So I would pray in my head, when I was driving, before bed, etc. It would be less than 5 min usually and truly I didn't feel like God there, any comfort, or like I had made any progress. Usually I would be distracted in the middle of it by the tv, phone, etc. Usually I didn't close my eyes either.

Here lately I have been praying aloud and my prayers have lasted longer. Not from me trying to make them last, but for me having more to say I guess. They are deeper, more emotional, and more fulfilling. I feel like I have actually had time with God. I still don't close my eyes, but I do turn off everything before I start.

HTH

 

[Uber]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DogH_lt6UTk

about 30 seconds into this video is how I was taught prayer was supposed to look like


^^^ You are right though. Feeling like God is there with you, does make you want to carry on. It's not that I have never felt like this before but now I really talk to my heavenly Father the way I would my earthly Father.

 

[Prudent1]

Bess,
I think each of us had/ has certain things we were taught or saw as kids and assumed were the way we should pray.Most of us were not given corresponding scriptures to enforce/ illustrate how to pray. In most cases our 'teachers' meant well. Fortunately, as adults who are ever growing and learning in Christ, we know now the outline or model for prayer concerning the things we should pray about (along with the answers to all of life's questions) can be found in the word of God (Matt 6: 9-13). We have only to look to Jesus to see how he prayed and what he prayed for. A lot of the time constraints, etc are man made and purely religious in nature. We should not ever compare our prayer life to someone else's. We can learn from others but with the understanding that just as a particular condish may work for you, it may not yield the same results for me. I try to pray/ communicate with God, like I would want to be communicated to. Like you described the conversations with your earthly Father in your comments. If I am trying to have a serious convo with my SO for example, I want his undivided attention. If he is paying more attention to the game or I can sense he is distracted in some way, I don't like that. I might become irritated. Likewise, God has feelings. He is crazy about us! He looks forward to the time we spend with him. I sometimes send a quick text msg just to say, "Hi" and "I am thinking of you" to friends. Sometimes my prayers are Hi God! Thank you for x, y, z! I love you. Ok I'll TTYL. There are things he wants to say to us. He wants to hear what we want to say even though he is God and knows already. There are times when prayers are quick and times where they are longer. All the while I am developing a close, intimate, personal relationship with God. Sometimes, I am more vocal or emotional b/c I am excited or upset. Sometimes not. I can be like that in my relationships with peers, family, etc too. It just depends on the circumstances. The point though is that each of us needs to learn how to pray/ speak to God and then learn how to hear him when he speaks to us. Our prayers cannot be one sided convos just as we don't solely have one sided convos with others. When we seek him, if we seek him on his terms, he will be found.

 

[Uber]

Real nice Prudent1. I totally agree about not comparing your prayer life to someone else. I used to compare myself a lot when I was able to pray for an hour daily. It made me feel spritually mature. I also struggled with comparing myself to my husband earlier on in our marriage, when I know that his convos with God have absolutely nothing to do with me. But hey, as you say we grow etc. Interesting to hear how you talk to God. I find myself doing this too. I suppose we all would. Sometimes the Spirit just causes us to express our feelings to Him.


You are also right about looking at Jesus, and how he prayed. Sometimes I visualise Abraham, Job and David and how their conversations with God would have gone.

The main reason I posted this thread I suppose, is because of the guilt I am getting over about the way I pray.

 

[plainj]

Well said Prudent.
I also learned to pray by emulating the screaming, writhing, jumping, rolling, etc. It never felt right so I had to stop and do it my way; the way that matched my personality: quiet, calm. I love being still, quiet and intimate with God and feeling His presence and seeing and hearing His answers. So my prayers are usually simple, quiet and calm in private and in public unless the Holy Spirit moves me more.