Prayer? Is there a point in it?

Early on I assumed that when I prayed I was heard and that answers came in different ways. If I didn’t get an answer, which I didn’t, my assumption was that it was my fault, that I didn’t have a enough faith, didn’t humble myself enough or didn’t recognize the answer. Over the years that’s changed and now I don’t pray unless it’s when called upon in public or my turn at home. It just seemed to be a one sided conversation over the same unresolved things. I wonder if prayer is even supposed to be an attempt at communication with God since it can or seems to be so unreliable…Anyway, I’m curious if, with the things we’ve all gone or are going through, others feelings about prayer have changed as well and what you see as the purpose and utility of a prayer life.

For me the main point of prayer is mostly that it makes me feel better sometimes without really costing me anything. What’s the downside if you don’t get your hopes up too much that you deserve some specific answer? I know some prayers have been answered to many people’s satisfaction as far as they’re concerned. Even if the answers are merely coincidences or come from people’s own subconscious mind rather than God sometimes they do look vastly superior to anything I would ever expect people to end up with on their own simply through deliberate thought processes and/or luck without ever praying.

I don’t do the whole Mormon praying thing.

I do “meditate” which I think is a much better way to “commune.”

Yeah, perhaps it’s a one way dialogue, but it is the best way I know to understand MYSELF and help myself work through the tough questions of life.

I believe in it.

I struggle with formal prayer, but I do really well at having a prayer in my heart pretty much always.

Prayer, in some form or another, has real power for many, many people – and I honor it in almost whatever form I find it.

I struggle with formal prayer, but I do really well at having a prayer in my heart pretty much always.

Prayer, in some form or another, has real power for many, many people – and I honor it in almost whatever form I find it.

Ray, I remember reading another post on prayer a while back, and in one of your comments you linked us to your personal blog. After reading your post, I read a comment from another reader who discussed the respect component of prayer. Of course, I’m merely paraphrasing, but they mentioned how it’s like the goodmorning/goodnight kiss in French culture (do you know the post I’m referencing?). The reader likened this to how, in that moment of formal prayer, we are devoting our full attention to our father in heaven as a token of respect and love. :thumbup:

Anyways, that thought has really stuck with me as I’ve struggled personally with praying.

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Prayer has changed some for me too. Like Ray, I feel I have a prayer in my heart frequently. My prayers at night are mostly about gratitude and thanks. I don’t tend to ask for much. I believe in the power of prayer. I think it helps link us to a higher power, even if the higher power is within.

I think I’ll always want to retain prayer in my bag of beliefs.

We’ve been taught to go to God in prayer and sincerely ask for his forgiveness when we have sinned. So how does one do this if they do not formally pray? I’m just curious how the whole repentance aspect fits in here… :problem:

You have to believe that someone or something is there and then that forgiveness is possible before praying. Prayer itself is way down the line in what’s needed when a person starts thinking about repentance.

We’ve been taught to go to God in prayer and sincerely ask for his forgiveness when we have sinned. So how does one do this if they do not formally pray? I’m just curious how the whole repentance aspect fits in here… :problem:

My answer: If that is the framework you are working in, then formal prayer is probably recommended in order to work the concept. I am not saying by any means that is a wrong way of thinking about repentance and prayer, or that it is incorrect. I’m just running with the logic of the thought. If X then Y. If you are running this program, then you better do X to find out what happens with Y.

What some people are expressing is that it didn’t work for them. They prayed, and Y did not happen (don’t feel forgiven or no answer). This isn’t absolute or universal, because it does certainly work for a lot of people. But what if it doesn’t? Keep trying or find another way, I guess.

I personally am not that concerned with spending a lot of time bothering God with the stupid stuff I do. I figure the Big Kahuna already knows. So I pick myself up. Dust myself off. And jump back into the adventure. I don’t tend to use prayer so much anymore as a tool in my repentance / forgiveness process. I use it to commune with the divine, to expand and experience the transcendent. That’s just me though.