I need a different way of praying

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hamburglar

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What are some ways that I can pray where I don’t feel like I’m always “asking” God for things? It always seems like I’m going, “God, help this person” or “Grant me courage”

How can I just spend time with God?
 
hamburglar said:
What are some ways that I can pray where I don’t feel like I’m always “asking” God for things? It always seems like I’m going, “God, help this person” or “Grant me courage”

How can I just spend time with God?
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I usually use the process ACTS:
Adoration: Expressing my awe of God
Contrition: Expressing my sorrow for my sins and specifically sins I’m currently struggling with.
Thanksgiving: Expressing my appreciation for my Blessings
Supplication: And finally making specific requests.

However, most often, I’m more in need of God talking to me which can be found by reading Scripture or making a daily reflection of the Mass Readings and going to sites like the Word Among US.

But don’t lament if you are always moved to make supplication. Remember Mathew 7:7-11. God may not give what you ask for but He will always give you what you need.

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread, or a snake when he asks for a fish? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him.
 
I pray by opening my heart and being totally at God’s disposal. I talk to God daily and through the day in conversation and ask him for guidance or praise him. I thank him continually for all that he has given me. Prayer is conversation with God our father, just like with a very dear friend, expressing my thoughts, fears, joys. I say teach me to pray dear Father.🙂

Silence before God is good, just listen to his voice, not asking him anything, just being the loving servant bowing before him and being open totally to all of Him. He will speak to your heart.

Blessings
 
hamburglar said:
What are some ways that I can pray where I don’t feel like I’m always “asking” God for things? It always seems like I’m going, “God, help this person” or “Grant me courage”

How can I just spend time with God?
Click to expand...
why don’t you try praying the psalms? one or two a day, starting at the beginning.
 
I have recently went through this myself. My sponsor gave me a book years ago and I finally dusted it off and read it. For me the amount of prayer, my personal relationship and closeness to God have been improved. It’s by a Catholic author so you don’t have to worry about content. It quotes not only scripture, but the CC, saints and other authers such a C.S. Lewis.
The name of the book is Prayer for Beginners by Peter Kreeft.

I also recommend it to people who are seasoned vets a prayer. It can truely renew you communication with God.
 
I remember when I first converted and started praying the rosary meditating on the mysteries I had a sensation that this was the first time I coul remember praying and it not being about me at all!

I love the Rosary:D
 
Four kinds of prayer.

The God squad calls it…
Gimme, oops, thanks and wow!

in other words…Please God,
SorryGod, Thanks God or Praise God!

you take your pick. I bet you do a little of all of them.
 
hamburglar said:
What are some ways that I can pray where I don’t feel like I’m always “asking” God for things? It always seems like I’m going, “God, help this person” or “Grant me courage”

How can I just spend time with God?
Click to expand...
Do you do any meditation/mental prayer?

Meditation is how we, ‘spend time with God.’ Of course, it’s never supposed to be purely a intellectual exercise, meditatio must merge with oratio.
  1. The Rosary
Perfect introduction to meditation, a minute to learn, a lifetime to master.
  1. Lectio Divina
“Sacred Reading.” Praying Scripture, more or less. *Lectio *(reading), meditatio (meditation), oratio (prayer), contemplatio (contemplation).

Ask me if you’re interested in knowing more. 🙂

And this reminds me… I forgot a bit of praying today. Thanks. 🙂

-Rob

EDIT: While I would not recommend having no meditation in your daily routine, another excellent way of prayer is the Liturgy of the Hours (the Divine Office).
 
I like to thank God for all the good things in my life. Even when there are “bad” things too.

Kathrin
 
hamburglar said:
What are some ways that I can pray where I don’t feel like I’m always “asking” God for things? It always seems like I’m going, “God, help this person” or “Grant me courage”

How can I just spend time with God?
Click to expand...
Centering Prayer Overview
Centering Prayer is a method of prayer, which prepares us to receive the gift of God’s presence, traditionally called contemplative prayer. It consists of responding to the Spirit of Christ by consenting to God’s presence and action within. It furthers the development of contemplative prayer by quieting our faculties to cooperate with the gift of God’s presence.
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Centering Prayer facilitates the movement from more active modes of prayer — verbal, mental or affective prayer — into a receptive prayer of resting in God. It emphasizes prayer as a personal relationship with God. At the same time, it is a discipline to foster and serve this relationship by a regular, daily practice of prayer. It is Trinitarian in its source, Christ-centered in its focus, and ecclesial in its effects; that is, it builds communities of faith.
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Centering Prayer is drawn from ancient prayer practices of the Christian contemplative heritage, notably the Fathers and Mothers of the Desert, Lectio Divina, (praying the scriptures), The Cloud of Unknowing, St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila… It was distilled into a simple method of prayer in the 1970’s by three Trappist monks, Fr. William Meninger, Fr. Basil Pennington and Abbot Thomas Keating at the Trappist Abbey, St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts.
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centeringprayer.com/cntrgpryr.htm
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God Bless
Jim
 
Orionthehunter, I like ACTS! 👍

stbruno, I like Gimme, oops, thanks and wow!:rotfl:

God bless!
 
JimR-OCDS said:
Centering Prayer Overview

God Bless
Jim
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I refer you to the following entitled “The Dangers of Centering Prayer” right here on Catholic.com

catholic.com/thisrock/1997/9711fea1.asp

And excerpt: "Centering prayer originated in St. Joseph’s Abbey, a Trappist monastery in Spencer, Massachusetts. During the twenty years (1961–1981) when Keating was abbot, St. Joseph’s held dialogues with Buddhist and Hindu representatives, and a Zen master gave a week-long retreat to the monks. A former Trappist monk who had become a Transcendental Meditation teacher also gave a session to the monks.

Many people assume centering prayer is compatible with Catholic tradition, but in fact the techniques of centering prayer are neither Christian nor prayer. They are at the level of human faculties and as such are an operation of man, not of God. The deception and dangers can be grave.

Centering prayer differs from Christian prayer in that the intent of the technique is to bring the practitioner to the center of his own being. There he is, supposedly, to experience the presence of the God who indwells him. Christian prayer, on the contrary, centers upon God in a relational way, as someone apart from oneself. The Christian knows a God who is personal, yet who, as Creator, infinitely transcends his creature. God is wholly other than man. It is also crucial to Christian prayer that God engages man’s whole being in response, not just his interior life. In the view of centering prayer, the immanence of God somehow makes the transcendence of God available to human techniques and experience."
 
Orionthehunter said:
I refer you to the following entitled “The Dangers of Centering Prayer” right here on Catholic.com

catholic.com/thisrock/1997/9711fea1.asp

And excerpt: "Centering prayer originated in St. Joseph’s Abbey, a Trappist monastery in Spencer, Massachusetts. During the twenty years (1961–1981) when Keating was abbot, St. Joseph’s held dialogues with Buddhist and Hindu representatives, and a Zen master gave a week-long retreat to the monks. A former Trappist monk who had become a Transcendental Meditation teacher also gave a session to the monks.

Many people assume centering prayer is compatible with Catholic tradition, but in fact the techniques of centering prayer are neither Christian nor prayer. They are at the level of human faculties and as such are an operation of man, not of God. The deception and dangers can be grave.

Centering prayer differs from Christian prayer in that the intent of the technique is to bring the practitioner to the center of his own being. There he is, supposedly, to experience the presence of the God who indwells him. Christian prayer, on the contrary, centers upon God in a relational way, as someone apart from oneself. The Christian knows a God who is personal, yet who, as Creator, infinitely transcends his creature. God is wholly other than man. It is also crucial to Christian prayer that God engages man’s whole being in response, not just his interior life. In the view of centering prayer, the immanence of God somehow makes the transcendence of God available to human techniques and experience."
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👍 Right on! if you want to be Buddhist quit pretending your Catholic and be a Buddhist. But if your Catholic, practice Chrisitianity and quit prostylizing other spiritualities.
Orionthehunter, Thanks for posting the Link.:).
 
The Lord’s Prayer (the Our Father) is the perfect prayer. It contains within it all the major kinds of prayer. Try spending an hour (a Holy Hour with the Blessed Sacrament would be great!), meditating on the Lord’s Prayer, spending about 10–15 minutes on each type of prayer. (If you don’t have an hour, just spend a few minutes on each part.) You can think of it as the “5 P’s”:

Praise:“Hallowed be Thy name.” Spend some time praising and thanking God for all His goodness.

Plan: “Thy kingdome come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This is the time to try to conform your will to God’s will (his plan for your life). Give God time to speak to you silently, to let you know what He wants you to do with your life. Ask for the grace to conform your will to His. Pray that others will do the same.

Petition: “Give us this day our daily bread.” This is the place where you petition God for everything you need, for yourself and for others.

Pardon: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Examine your conscience. Ask for God’s forgiveness. And ask for the grace to forgive others. Are you holding a grudge against anyone? Pray for that person, and ask God to help you love that person as God loves them, despite their imperfection.

Protection: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Ask for God’s protection from all evil and harm, both physical and spiritual. How are you being tempted? Talk to God about it, and ask His help.
 
PhilotheaZ said:
The Lord’s Prayer (the Our Father) is the perfect prayer. It contains within it all the major kinds of prayer. Try spending an hour (a Holy Hour with the Blessed Sacrament would be great!), meditating on the Lord’s Prayer, spending about 10–15 minutes on each type of prayer. (If you don’t have an hour, just spend a few minutes on each part.) You can think of it as the “5 P’s”:

Praise:“Hallowed be Thy name.” Spend some time praising and thanking God for all His goodness.

Plan: “Thy kingdome come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This is the time to try to conform your will to God’s will (his plan for your life). Give God time to speak to you silently, to let you know what He wants you to do with your life. Ask for the grace to conform your will to His. Pray that others will do the same.

Petition: “Give us this day our daily bread.” This is the place where you petition God for everything you need, for yourself and for others.

Pardon: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Examine your conscience. Ask for God’s forgiveness. And ask for the grace to forgive others. Are you holding a grudge against anyone? Pray for that person, and ask God to help you love that person as God loves them, despite their imperfection.

Protection: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Ask for God’s protection from all evil and harm, both physical and spiritual. How are you being tempted? Talk to God about it, and ask His help.
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Thanks, PhilotheaZ, I like it a lot.
One “Our Father” is usually I get for my penance after confession. It always takes me more than half an hour with tears in my eyes and wounds in my heart to go through it.
Your 5 Ps is good to keep in mind.
 
hamburglar said:
What are some ways that I can pray where I don’t feel like I’m always “asking” God for things? It always seems like I’m going, “God, help this person” or “Grant me courage”

How can I just spend time with God?
Click to expand...
The Divine Office

Have names for whom you pray nearby.

Say the Offices slowly gives time for reflection.

It’s like a door into heaven opens.
 
PhilotheaZ said:
The Lord’s Prayer (the Our Father) is the perfect prayer. It contains within it all the major kinds of prayer. Try spending an hour (a Holy Hour with the Blessed Sacrament would be great!), meditating on the Lord’s Prayer, spending about 10–15 minutes on each type of prayer. (If you don’t have an hour, just spend a few minutes on each part.) You can think of it as the “5 P’s”:

Praise:“Hallowed be Thy name.” Spend some time praising and thanking God for all His goodness.

Plan: “Thy kingdome come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This is the time to try to conform your will to God’s will (his plan for your life). Give God time to speak to you silently, to let you know what He wants you to do with your life. Ask for the grace to conform your will to His. Pray that others will do the same.

Petition: “Give us this day our daily bread.” This is the place where you petition God for everything you need, for yourself and for others.

Pardon: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Examine your conscience. Ask for God’s forgiveness. And ask for the grace to forgive others. Are you holding a grudge against anyone? Pray for that person, and ask God to help you love that person as God loves them, despite their imperfection.

Protection: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Ask for God’s protection from all evil and harm, both physical and spiritual. How are you being tempted? Talk to God about it, and ask His help.
Click to expand...
I LOVE it! I don’t feel it was what I was looking for when I posted the thread, but this really is a great idea!
 
richardwy said:
The Divine Office

Have names for whom you pray nearby.

Say the Offices slowly gives time for reflection.

It’s like a door into heaven opens.
Click to expand...
Where can I find the Divine Office? I have seen a few sites, but those seem to never feel “full.”

P.S. Does “Dominus Vobiscum” mean “The Lord is with you (plural)?”
 
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