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I have been praying a lot more recently. In order to find inner peace, I have stopped asking God for things. It has led to too much disappointment over the years. Granted, I had a couple small prayers answered recently, which has bolstered my faith somewhat, but my current belief is that if I am to ask for things, they should be fairly simple things. As all-powerful I believe God is, I find asking for simpler things tends to lead to more answered prayers than asking for stark miracles (like someone growing back a limb). I also don’t ask for forgiveness for things either. I am not sure why — I generally feel better after a prayer if I don’t remind myself of how I screw up all the time. But I do give thanks and pray for other people. This represents 90 percent of my prayers now.
How about you — do you pray frequently and for what do you pray generally? If the categories of thanksgiving, intercession (praying for others), repentence, and petition (asking for things) helps you frame up your answer, feel free to use those categories to describe where you tend to concentrate in your prayers….
My prayers are a combination of hopes, requests for support, and self fulfilling prophecies. Examples:
I pray that our home can be a refuge and protection from the illness that is infecting so many.
I pray that we can be patient and supportive with each other as we are forced to see each other so much more often.
I pray that we will have harmony in our home and work together to help accomplish our goal both individually and collectively.
I pray for the guidance of the HG in making good decisions and choices about how to spend our time and what opportunities to pursue.
I do not pray for forgiveness much but if I did I suppose it would sound something like this, “Thank you for your gift of the atonement and the knowledge that you will always help us pick ourselves up when we stumble, fall, and make mistakes.”
Basically, help – usually generically, but sometimes specifically. Most often it is just casting my mind and heart upward and asking to be led and guided to do the right thing and be of help to others. Always a prayer in my heart, so to speak.
My own personal prayers are much less frequent now. I try not to ask for anything I’m not willing to work for. I think the biggest advantage to prayer is in giving thanks. My beliefs about the nature of God have changed since my FC. I no longer believe in a god who intervenes directly in our day to lives. I believe that the act of prayer is for the benefit of the person praying, like a structured meditation. Praying to God is to help us figure out what we need to work on in ourselves (repentance) and how to act ethically in the world. Whatever comes of or prayers is up to us and chance. I do believe that the universe is setup to encourage good and punish evil (in the long run) and that is divine providence enough.
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I don’t formally pray very much. In my more orthodox days I prayed multiple times per day, usually at least twice personally (that is, not a meal or family prayer, etc.) . My prayers are much different now. I can also say I’m more likely to “carry a prayer in my heart” (at least by my interpretation of what that means). When I do formally pray I never ask for anything directly but I do express hopes and desires, similar to the way I would in talking with a friend (“I hope that all works out for my daughter”). I also express gratitude in much the same way (“I’m glad/thankful it worked out that way”). I sometimes express gratitude for the atonement or being able to atone but I seldom ask directly for forgiveness (although I recognize several instances in the NT where people did ask forgiveness and it was granted and likewise Joseph Smith initially asked forgiveness which led to the FV). I do not expect my prayers to be answered but most of the time I do recognize a feeling of peace (which I associate with the Holy Spirit) while praying. I also recognize the occasional “tender mercy.”
One of my favorite topics … prayer and what it even is I mainly agree w/others who see prayer as not so much petitionary as more along the lines of an expression of thanks (gratitudinal? is that a word) or as simply a contemplative focusing exercise, as I tend to do.
I occasionally felt such focused awareness, beyond the need for petitionary prayer (for a while anyway), many years ago back in the days when they still let me into the Celestial Room.
😳 Otherwise it’s nearly identical with just hoping, and I’ve always believed the maxim “hope is not a plan.”
On the other hand, with petitionary prayer (even if you hold to the idea of a pseudo-external deity) it’s presumptuous to think you know what to ask for … iirc an old saying of Gurdjieff’s was
“prayer very dangerous, one must first know for what to pray, and to know this is already to know a great deal, beyond the exalted level of ‘Advanced Idiot’.”He also added “for the highest type, only ‘Thy Will Be Done’ is correct prayer, but such are very few!”
:ugeek: Just now I pray for a solution to our situation and that evil men will not be able to exploit to their own ends
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