Forms of Prayer Include
Prayers To Ask God To Provide

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Go here for links to different forms of prayer including traditional prayer.

Do we just let God decide for us?

In the Catholic Christian tradition the form of prayer which asks for something is called a prayer of petition. eg. Dear God, let me do well in this maths exam.

As a Catholic Christian I was not brought up to use this form of prayer to pray for specific things for myself.

Belief in God often goes with the belief that God knows better than you what would be best for you, and therefore the desire for Him to decide for you. Religious teaching therefore leans more towards simply allowing oneself to reconnect with God in such a way as to allow Him into your life to guide it.

In my experience, Muslims are particularly strong on the idea of allowing God to decide what happens. They communicate this with the words Insha'Allah, meaning “God willing”. It is the equivalent of “Thy will be done” in the Lord’s Prayer. In the same way, some Christians add “(if it) please God” after saying what they wish to happen.

More than ever, I am committed to allowing God to decide for me. But I now also believe that when we think we are letting God decide for us, we are often just allowing ourselves to receive only what our environment and genetics have programmed us to receive.

I believe in us choosing what we need and asking for it.

Can God give us what we ask for?

As a child, I don’t know that I even thought of God as being able to operate in the world to give me what I wanted. Yet, this wasn’t very logical as I prayed for health for other people, and my prayers were frequently answered.

I now believe in a field of infinite possibilities within which we can attract much of what we ask for.

We are to expect God to meet our physical needs

I believe that we are to expect God to meet our physical as well as our spiritual needs. And I find this view supported by the Bible.

The more I expect to be provided for, the more my experience confirms it, and I now expect God to work in my physical world.

This or something better

At the same time, I also allow room for divine guidance. I set my intention and let it go.

Affirmations and visualisations

I plan to say more about forms of prayer you can use to see physical changes in your world in a section entitled The Law of Attraction. The forms of prayer will include affirmations and visualisations.

Affirmations and visualisations are often not thought of as prayers because they are not addressed to a Creator. However, they do call on the knowledge that the power of the Creator flows through us all.
For me, this makes them forms of prayer nonetheless.


Move from Different Forms Of Prayer to the next page – Prayer For Forgiveness

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