Why Do We Pray?
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Contents List For Why do We Pray? What are our reasons for prayer?
I Connect and Communicate with God I Serve God. I Have A Sense of Purpose I Pray Out of Habit. Prayers of Desperation I Pray Out of Belief In The Power of Thoughts. I Am Willing to Experiment and Join My Mind With Others I Love God. I am Devoted To God A Spiritual Poem - Always in Prayer
Why do we pray? What are the reasons for prayer and the benefits of prayer
Here are some of my thoughts.
I have written this in the first person (I) so that when the reasons for prayer are your own, you are saying an affirmation about your commitment to prayer whilst you read.
Knowing what our motivation is can help us to persevere in prayer when we feel like giving up.
I believe all our thoughts are prayers with the power to create. We do well to choose our thoughts carefully. One we can do this is to make our thoughts and intentions conscious through prayer.
Why do we pray?...Reasons for prayer - Who am I? I have an intuitive knowing that I am part of something larger than myself. I know my words and needs and intentions are important.
- An act of faith that there is something bigger than ourselves of which I am a part.
- "Are you there God? It's me," I ask.
There is a bigger Self of which I am a part. I connect with it. I keep the channels of communication open. I receive guidance.
- An act of discipline so I do not become too focused on my own little world, and forget my connection with God who is all there is.
- I love God. It is natural to talk to one I love.
Why do we pray?...Reasons for prayer - I live a life of greater purpose when I start the day by looking ahead to what is to come and finish it by looking back on what has happened.
- The problems of the world can be solved by putting God in charge. I choose to be a part of the solution.
- I want my life to be useful. Through prayer, I plug myself into Source so that it can shine through me.
- I don't believe the problems of the world can be solved purely through human endeavour.
- Any solution brought about by myself is at the level of my own wisdom and my own interests. I want to bring through a solution that is good for all. I do this by connecting with Unity Consciousness - with the One, the God in whom we are all united.
- I don't just want a solution within the current world, I want a whole new world - a world with a God of Love in charge. Through prayer I strengthen my experience of this Love. Through prayer I give God, the Divine access to change my mind.
Why do we pray?...Reasons for prayer The following may not look like great reasons to pray. But it is often during difficult times that we become willing to take up the habit of prayer. Prayer of desperation can lead us into an experience of God's love and the power of prayer. If you think you are praying for the “wrong” reasons, pray anyway. As ACIM says,“Your little willingness is enough”, God will do the rest. - I have been taught to pray and I have kept or want to resume the habit of prayer.
- It comforts me to believe in a loving presence to whom my words and needs and intentions are important.
- It does no harm to pray. I know the comfort of prayer.
- I want a sense of control or influence over events that seem very much out of my control and influence.
- I have no one else to talk to. I am lonely.
- I have done all I can do to physically solve my problem or another’s problem and I don't know what else to do.
- I don't know how to forgive another and the anger is too painful.
- I don't know how to forgive myself and the guilt is too painful.
- I want health.
- The bills need paying and I don't know what to do.
- Someone has died, and I believe that there is no time and no space, and so my prayers can reach them and assist them.
Why do we pray?...Reasons for prayer - I understand the power of thought. I understand that all our thoughts are prayers with the power to create. I don't want to just keep thinking the same thoughts and creating the same world. I want to open our minds to the new. I want a future unlike the past.
- I am willing to do the experiment. I want to try out this spiritual practice that people have engaged with down the millennia.
- To focus my mind on what I want instead of on what I am experiencing or what I fear.
- To join my mind with others, because I believe in the power of joined minds.
Why do we pray?...Reasons for prayer - Through prayer I am aware of God’s love for me. I am willing to receive God’s love. I am willing to know that God says I am beautiful in His/Her eyes.
- I need God. By myself I am nothing and can do nothing.
- I love God/Spirit/the Divine, and there is nothing sweeter than to lose myself in a deep sense of Oneness with Her/Him and with all others.
- Why do we pray? Because God calls us to pray. We choose to answer that call.
A Spiritual Poem About Prayer
Always in PrayerMy prayer is
the opening of a vent: my world,
a little less stagnant,
I breathe. My prayer is
the opening of a shutter: my world,
a little less dark,
I see. Let me be
always in prayer.
It's OK to find that prayer gives you access to a bigger, lighter world. “Praise be to God,
who has not rejected my prayer
or withheld his love from me!”
(Psalm 66:20, NIV)
© Katherine T Owen, 2009 Other spiritual poems on this site For an explanation of the release – It’s OK to...
For a discussion on the use of a spiritual quote |
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