Tag: prayer

The Art and Science of Prayer: Part 2

The Purpose

The purpose of prayer is to commune with God and to learn His will for us. It is God’s classroom for teaching us; hence we learn His will, while He teaches. It is a platform to express gratitude, ask questions, seek direction, and confirm inspiration, thoughts, and ideas.

It is not an arena to persuade God into seeing life through our eyes. It is not a platform to teach those who are collectively praying and within earshot to pontificate doctrine in hopes of persuading others to see things our way or to be seen of men. In other words, its not a competition to sound intelligence, articulate, brilliant, or to say a long prayer as a sign of piety.

The Art of Science of Prayer: Part 1

The practical application of prayer is akin to communicating with a parent; with the notable exception that communicating with earthly parents carries different nuances. The most apparent difference is the predictably irrational behavior of earthly parental units during times of frustration and anger.

If prayer is the process of communicating with God, then an understanding of effective communication is necessary. Pure communication is an exchange of understanding. However, for the purposes of learning, the process starts with seeking to understand the other person. No expectation of reciprocity. In other words, do not expect them to seek your opinions or thoughts.