Your prayerslistings.com Directory

Prayers

In the West, we often associate prayer with churches and the consultation of one God. However, prayer – which is also sometimes called orison – is actually the effort of anyone to communicate with any deity or spirit, be they God, Allah, or another major religious symbol.

What is prayer?

Most prayers follow a few general themes. People tend to pray in order to make a request, admit that they’ve committed a sin, seek help with a particular problem, or even just to talk with someone. Particularly religious individuals will carry on full length conversations with a deity, as if they had a physical presence next to them.

Prayers can also take musical form. When sung, a prayer is usually referred to as a hymn, gospel, or even incantation. In order to make church attendance more popular, many North American churches have turned prayer into an excited, group singing session.

That leads us to where prayer can be done. In most cultures, anywhere; it’s both a personal and corporate practice, with believers acting in the privacy of their own homes and also in public forums. Since prayer is a link between a creator and the created – like father/son, mother/daughter – the communication never ends and there is never a limit on how it can be performed. Even if prayer can be performed in a public setting, it is still an innermost and often well-protected rite.

The method as to how prayer can be performed is just as unique. Some people attend church and pray in groups, rarely speaking to God (or a God) when alone. However, others pray several times a day, no matter the circumstance. Prayers can be performed sitting, kneeling, prostrating on a floor, with eyes closed, open, or even covered in tears. Prayers are not necessarily even spoken, especially since many monks take a very serious vow of silence.

Traditionally, prayers in the Bible were petitions. This means the earliest prayers were requests of God, in hope that like a judge he may consider one’s position and somehow provide an answer.

Although both Christians and Jews pray together, the latter consider public prayer to be the best form.

(less)

Prayers

Sponsor Links