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2007-03-23 04:58:24 · 14 answers · asked by ? 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
In Luke 11:1 Christ's disciples came to Him and asked Him to teach them to pray. If you know anything about the Jew's, you know that they didn't need to be taught to pray, any devout Jew would pray at least 3 times a day. So what was it that the disciples were asking Jesus?
If you read this passage in the original Greek, it makes more sense. What they are literally saying is, "Lord, teach us to be prayers (or praying). They knew how to pray, what they were asking was to learn prayer as a way of life. Real prayer, not ritual religiosity. They saw what happened when Jesus prayed. It's interesting that they didn't ask to be taught miracles, or other (supernatural) things. The disciples saw that when Jesus prayed something real was happening.
Prayer is a natural outflow of a relationship. It's not something that should be done as a daily devotional (5-5:30 in the morning), it's an all day thing. We should not "legalize" prayer. There is no formula, it's a dialog, a transparent conversation (Asking, Seeking, Knocking). Another problem is when we try to codify prayer. God would much rather have someone standing and looking up towards Heaven with his heart bowed, than sitting in the proper position with a heart that is away from God.
We should not look at prayer as something that costs us our time, or our energies. There is no cost to prayer; there is no cost to discipleship; the price has been paid (past tense) by Christ. True prayer is a natural thing, and it should be done between you and God. Just as our children don't need to be taught how to ask for stuff, we as God's children always have access to Him.
Blessings!
2007-03-23 05:43:07 · answer #1 · answered by disciple 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Good question.
Its definitely better to pray 1 heart felt prayer than 5 ritual prayers as ritual prayers are meaningless and therefore doesnt take any thought or express any emotions to God. It also gains no results and is less likely to get an answer.
Gods sees the heart of a person and doesnt pay attention to the amount of meaningless prayers prayed.
2007-03-23 05:07:27 · answer #2 · answered by JDJ34 3 · 4⤊ 1⤋
Any heart felt prayer is better.
Matthew 6:7
But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
2007-03-23 05:16:38 · answer #3 · answered by Luv&Rockets 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I never got one prayer answered that I didn't pray and work for it. I don't think there's a god to be annoyed by repetitive prayers. It's really more a question of how much time you want to...see, I want to say "piss away on prayer" but part of that prayer time actually does much the same thing on a personal level as sitting or meditation does so...it all depends on how much time you want to spend doing that.
2007-03-23 05:06:00 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
A heartfelt prayer is what God desires from us. He is not pleased with ritual prayers. We are to worship Him in spirit and truth. And since prayer is a form of worship, it should be done in spirit and truth.
2007-03-23 05:19:45 · answer #5 · answered by beano™ 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
you should pray one heart felt prayer because prayer has to come from the heart. if does not come from the heart it shows God you don't really care you just want to be supposedly holy.
2007-03-23 05:07:53 · answer #6 · answered by maez 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I'd say it's better to pray one heartfelt prayer a day than to recite a prayer over and over again.
God appreciates it when we treat him like we have a relationship with him. Not like some stern seargent, ya know, "Yes, sir, no sir!".
James 4:8 encourages us to draw close to him, like a friend. A friend doesn't want us to call him everyday and say, "Hello, I'm glad you are my friend. Forgive me if I do something wrong to you. Bye."
2007-03-23 05:04:43 · answer #7 · answered by ♥LadyC♥ 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋
The answer is clearly 5. This is particularly true for Muslims, because if they do not pray 5 times a day, in many countries they will not live to pray the next day.
2007-03-23 05:39:16 · answer #8 · answered by Fred 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
God does not like repetition, one heartfelt prayer is better than a billion ritual prayers.
2007-03-23 05:02:13 · answer #9 · answered by Angelz 5 · 4⤊ 1⤋
I believe those ritual prayers are called vain babblings. God knows what we need even before we ask, but He commands that we ask Him. Sometimes the best prayer is complete silence before God and let God speak to us. Try it in your closet. God said, "Be still and know that I am God."
2007-03-23 05:03:55 · answer #10 · answered by Jeancommunicates 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋