I am a little troubled here...

Public prayer is bothersome for me...

Jesus' words on the subject are as follows....

Matthew 6:5-7

"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And when you pray do not keep on babbling like Pagans, for they think they will be heard for their many words....."

Sorry folks... especially the "word for word" folks...

No offense intended to any Christians or Pagans... just repeating something I learned long ago...

What is meant by that is that you should not pray for others approval, to be seen as a good person, etc. You should pray because you have a genuine faith, and truely seek Christ.

Church IS public prayer. You should not be ashamed to pray in public, if you are sincere.

I do pray and meditate on the Lord constantly. I'm not always on my knees, my head is not always bowed, my eyes are not always closed, but I do pray, even in public.

It can be hard to understand the Bible at times, because sometimes the message is not the words themselves.

You know what...

you can say whatever you feel at ease saying...

truly, whatever rests well within you...

But I tell you the truth...and I do not see how this can be taken any other way...ONCE AGAIN>>> I WILL QUOTE JESUS>>>

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Jesus himself also did not do it in front of everybody...

He secluded himself...as an example...no?

What is so confusing here?

Pick the words apart however you choose...YOUR ROOM....means your room...private...not public...

Unless you want to try to re-define "room"... which truly would not surprise me at this point in time...

So...Jesus said to "pray to your Father, who is unseen".


Hmmm... Then why do people say to only pray to Jesus?

Thout shall put no others before me...Isn't that how it's suppose to be?

Did Jesus EVER say "pray unto me only"...Ever?

Didn't think so.

No doubt it is the will of God to have a private prayer life.

There is fellowship and friendship that is the heart of the matter with a Father that you do not physically recognize.

Talking to men is talking to men, and a man's reward is what can be expected.

Intercessory prayer, at the request of such from another is another matter.

The purpose there is to reveal a witness to the effectual working of the prayer bringing God into the matter, and not man.
The matter is then in God's charge to answer, seeing the He was called upon.

The petition of the agreeing petitioners is a witness to the Performance of the prayer by God.

The prayer itself only engages those in agreement with the prayer.

The praise of God for an answered prayer is a testimony to man of the thanksgiving to God by the one receiving the answer.

Not to be feared, nor thought of as intrusive.

However, one can learn from a prayer , prayer that works.

No sense in quoting Jesus. People who are vociferous about Christianity seldom do what Jesus taught anyway.

There are different ways of praying, when I pray in public, it's not noticable to others, it's mental prayers.

to each their own interpretation.. as a young lad after my father had left my mother (who became an abusive alcoholic) i would often go in the woods that surrounded our house to get away from my mom and talked to GOD because besides my trusty german shepherd he was the only one i had to talk to...i like to think he heard me ...i believe he is every where...

Abra:

No s***!!!

wouldee:

Come on man!! Define babble for me...

To all:

Please, this subject has always torqued me off... complete and utter non-sense...IMO...

To those who do so in private...I commend and respect you immensely... beyond description, truly...

Yup... ya found a nerve!!!! A BIG ONE!!!

out of curiosity - if this subject is a sore spot why start it? don't want to start anything just something I was wondering..

jdj7994:

Just pulling back the covers...so to speak

creativesoul,

You and I both know that you are offended by my prayer.

Let's not mince words.

Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemine yet had witnesses.

He openly prayed the Lord"s Prayer.

Our daily bread and such....

He prayed in the whole 17th chapter of John. openly. read it or not. choice is as choice does.

I answer you as a friend, here.

I answer nuenjins as a friend, here. He just happened to ask for a prayer of agreement.

It would not surprise me that a lock might be placed on the thread in question.

Works for me.

But I have no such rules, nor do I request such things myself.

I allowed a day to pass before doing so.




In the end, all here know more about what I pray and how I pray then anything else.

Would you prefer that I pray elsewhere at all?


It is not a habit for me to do as I have.


It is what I have done, once.

wouldee:

I read your prayer... and understand it was for someone, and respect that...

I could not respect the method... will never respect such a method... have never respected such a method...

I gave the reason...clearly

I understand that Jesus did pray for his disciples and the public in the book of John... with the impending crucifixion...

I have no desire to stop public speaking... freedom...

You my friend, personally, have not offended me at all... it offended what I believe in...

The power in private prayer...

I suspect you know this also...

I commend the fellowship...

I commend the desire to help another...

I do not commend the method... that's all...

By what is shared of our shared belief, perhaps we can find more common ground...

May God Bless You...

creativesoul,

Without your friendship, my time on the site would not be as

rich an experience as I do enjoy.

But as a result of your friendship and of several others, it wouldbe dry and discarded as fruitless without.

ohhhhhh do I detect a button being pushed? Shall we dig it out with a spoon?

Luke 1:10
And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.

Acts 1:14
They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

We are to pray together and in private. I prefer to pray in private most of the time. My prayers are not long and flowing and showy. Just my alone time with God.

church praying is way different than private reflection with God.Mine and Gods relationship is between us.

It's 'bible inerrancy' most of the time, and when that doesn't work,

... ANYTHING GOES!!!


I'll never get it right...

:(