What is prayer, and how do you do it?
 

I'm interested in hearing peoples take on prayer and what purpose it serves in their life.

prayer is your direct conversation with God. its your sacred communication with your creator God!!! prayer develops our relationship with god. It is for
the purpose of worshipping,
requesting guidance, requesting
assistance, confessing sins or to
express one's thoughts and
emotions. Thus, people pray for
many reasons such as personal
benefit or for the sake of others or to come closer to God. It is said that PRAYER CHANGES THINGS, it is the most powerful weapon we have as humans beings against forces of evil.

To me, the only true prayer is a sensation of gratitude in oneself, for one's life, for the beauty of all that exists throughout all of creation.

Other than that, prayer is begging for something that one can't seem to provide for himself. On a planet so abundant that it provides all the resources and food necessary to keep everything alive on it and room for more, man still can't seem to realize how rich he really is.

So in spiritual poverty, man begs.

In self-realization, man trips over himself in awe of life. That to me is prayer. All I need is already here AND I see it!

Begging prayers are not seeing that we already have it all.

How does one pray to say Jesus for example without coming of as a begger?

Excellent, you should be able to hear my applause from there.

My take on prayer ...
 

... is all in my signature line ....

I've appreciated that from day one, yet have retained a question;to whom or what are we being thankful? An overall nothingness sounds to me an entirely fruitless exercise, yet prayer is anything but a fruitless exercise.

So there must be some greater 'THING/ONE' at the end of the prayer, right?

Well, Meister Eckhart would say that such was God, of course.

But, then, he also said, "The Eye with which I see God is the same Eye with which God sees me". I understand this, for whatever reason, and bear that in mind, whenever I feel compelled to ask What It is that I'm giving thanks to.

Are you praying in unconditional gratitude?

Or

Are you praying to ask for something you can't get for yourself?

Or

Are you telling him how great he is and then asking for something you can't get for yourself because he said you have to believe in him to get to God?

Does God or Jesus really need to be praised before they are willing to love? Doesn't sound right to me. The Creator of doesn't have unconditional love?

Maybe the better question first is why pray to someone like Jesus or whomever?

You got it....do I have to beg to live or can I use my God-given ability to learn to take care of myself?

Interesting, I've heard people on this board speak of praying to Jesus or another, and they don't seem like beggers.

Jesus offers "salvation" for "believing". So people pray how much they believe in him.

It sounds beautiful to lavish praise on such a holy man but the deal is salvation and that makes it begging. Take away the promise of salvation and how many people would still be Christians? They would drift to another religion where they can "pray".

People don't have whole minds and don't realize that most of their problems are self-created. They can save themselves if they would take total responsibility for lives and happiness.

Alright then.

It's a transaction...it's a projection of man's ego onto an image of God. Most people don't give unconditionally and project that on "God" or "Jesus".

Like prayer before a flight that the plane won't crash. How can God be love if he requires enough prayer to decide to allow a safe flight?

It's all superstition...

"God helps those that help themselves" ....now we're talking...good stuff in that

"Give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and feed him for a lifetime" really good!

"Let go and Let God" If I trust in the abundant Earth and my God-given ability to learn and grow, then I can stop trying to recreate creation and just be me. If I take on a messiah attitude and let go and just pray, then I'm going to die praying and wondering where God was this whole time.

"The truth will set you free"

So prayer is nothing more than an attitude of gratitude, and becomes pointless or even counterproductive aside from that.

It's not even an attitude....it's you sitting in a pool of your own energy that simply dazzles you.

It's like the feeling of an incredible view, like a sunset over the ocean....pick something that puts you in awe....and that breathtaking view is what you see inside you! It's not something you're watching like the sunset, but what you're experiencing.

It's your nature and you see it and are blown away by it!

Prayer is nothing but an intention. There is no one to whom to pray. Prayer only helps you to express your own intentions. Your external world will mirror the inner, so it will come to be if the inner world is suitable for it to come into being.

So its kinda like how Gregg Braden describes it?

How is that?

Well, since I started forming a Relationship with God, as a Kindergartner ;)
(BEFORE I ever knew of a Bible, or went inside a church,
or watched someone pray), my "chats" with God,
were very similar to how I talked with other friends...
In our very beginning, I had sooo many Questions, God answered as only HE can :).
Soon,
I was profusely THANKing Him for everything, for literally hours...
Thank you God for my clothes.
Thank you God for my food.
Thank you God for my Grampa.
Thank you God for another day.
Thank you God for all the pretty flowers.
Thank you God for this beautiful Rainbow. etc. etc.

and

at some point, God said: You can also ask me for things you might want :)

Hm, what can I ask?? -
Hm, oh I know:
1. Dear God,
Please let me go! to America...

and then, one day I told GOD He had made one mistake.
and God, knowing my heart, already knew what... but
like any Gracious Daddy, he offered: Do tell me.

Well, God, you did EVERYthing Right. - But,
you sent me to the WRONG :( planet.
See,
the planet I was Supposed to be on, has ONLY HAPPY :D & Healthy children.
No Big people. ONLY HAPPY LITTLE people.

and God said: "No my precious child, I make no mistakes. I sent you to earth,
to teach others how to stay the Precious child I created you each as.
You will teach this by your example, & your words.
I LOVE you soo much and forever. Always Remember this"

For 55 years now, I continue my Relationship with GOD. PRAISE :) God!

That feeling itself is the prayer.




Insightful post sk8joyful.

Considering God has been my Teacher for 55 (or actually
23 ;) yrs.), one can hope I am insightful :) to a degree.

Question is: Are you Enjoying :) a Relationship with God as well?

Well I've never had a conversation with Him.

How sad :( you've never Experienced... Prayer as another facet of enjoying ;) a Relationship with God

yeah,
I coulda ended-up as most people here in this Forum,
who, after decades of practiced denial... convinced themselves GOD is not real.

Thank God He made Contact, & we started
when I was but 5, in that communist country. PRAISE :)God!

You can always Start now, you know :)

You can only have a relationship with something that is not you. Only persons can have relationships.

Therefore it's sad if you only can have a relationship with God.

Perhaps if I get better at mediation hear something.

I do believe in God.

Well, look who's talkin':
you have No "about me": so no relationship with yourself even?
&
2 friends? - Maybe (instead of your persistent put-downs :rolleyes:),
were you to actually Practice... what Steve says: "create
a positive & supportive :) environment", you might
Develop some more friendships, like 100's even. - Try it! :D You CAN do it.

How can you have a relationship with yourself? You can only BE yourself.

Does your relationship with God continue in dream state and during dreamless deep sleep?