Why do we pray?

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Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Pater noster, qui es in caelis: sanctificetur nomen tuum; adveniat regnum tuum; fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo, et in terra. Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie; et dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris; et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.

Two billion Christians will be praying this on Sunday 👍
 
To the OP:I am sorry that you are struggling so. I do feel your pain and your struggle. We are all part of the one body that is Christ.

The other posters have given you intellectual reasons for prayingand they are very knowledgeable and holy people. You seem unready to accept them. I’m trying to explain from my experience why prayer is important to me.

When I can become at peace in Christ in prayer, it helps me with everything.

Petition is a small part of my prayer. Often my petition is acknowledgemnt of my own weakness anda plea for help in doing what God wants me to do. With His help, I have done things that amaze me (like picking up my 200+ pound father when he fell the other day.) Without His help, I can’t even stay focused to complete a thought.
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In thanking God for the good things in my life, I focus on the good rather than exclusively on the bad as I tend to do when angry or depressed.

In praising God, I become more aware of the greatness of the power of good, and that gives me hope. In being one with Jesus, I experience perfect love, and I am better able to love those around me.

Yes, there are always things we don’t like in this world; but it is amazing, if you observe closely, how often God turns things around and good comes out of the perceived evil. It doesn’t always happen, at least not that we understand, but isn’t it amazing when it does?

May the peace of Christ be with you.
 
itullian said:
and since i’ve recently lost my faith and have been religiously praying for it or “knocking” as Jesus said and recieve only silence and heartache i deduce it doesn’t work.

maybe there’s no one there? maybe, i’m knockin’, no answer…
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Where did it go? You say “I’ve recently lost my faith…” Are you angry for selfish interests or are you putting God first in your life. I get the impression that you believe God owes you something. It is you who has abandoned your faith. It is not lost. I recommend you go to confession and address your concerns with your priest. We all go through periods of dry prayer, but there seems to be a more deep seeded issue at hand. I am praying for you and hopefully with you, that you will find your way in seeing that God’s love is all encompassing and he only wants you to be the best version of you that you can be. (Thank’s Christopher West)
 
itullian said:
yes, i am. and i’m not immature in my faith. since you gave a thumbs up to my logic when stated by someone else. how do you jive that with Jesus saying ask and you’ll recieve?
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

and since i’ve recently lost my faith and have been religiously praying for it or “knocking” as Jesus said and recieve only silence and heartache i deduce it doesn’t work.

maybe there’s no one there? maybe, i’m knockin’, no answer…
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And so I guess that you don’t believe that God has led you here in answer to your prayers??

Peace
James
 
itullian said:
yes, i am. and i’m not immature in my faith. since you gave a thumbs up to my logic when stated by someone else. how do you jive that with Jesus saying ask and you’ll recieve?
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
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I have an idea about that, but it leads to another problem. When you ask for something, make sure that it will happen anyhow (for example ask that the Sun will rise tomorrow), or ask for something that cannot be verified if it happened or not (for example ask for being allowed into heaven). Two surefire ways of making certain: “ask and you shall receive”. However, if you ask for something that can be verified and which is not obvious, then chances are that it will not be fulfilled (for example ask for a foot of snow in the middle of the summer). Here is a highly satirical view of this problem: Prayer of a little boy. Or, of course, as you said: “There is no one there… and there is door either to knock on”.
 
Serious said:
(for example ask for a foot of snow in the middle of the summer).
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Prayer is not a genie or soda machine. Your example sounds to me like asking for magic, not a prayer request. The purpose in life is not to magic things to make you happy, it is holiness 🙂
 
Good question. I’m sure we have all asked ourselves that at one time or another.
One description of prayer is conversation with God. We know that God is listening to us because of our faith, regardless of how we feel.

There are three ways that God can speak to us through prayer: granting consolation,
nourishing the gifts of the Holy Spirit within us, and giving inspiration, according to this article at
Catholic Spiritual Direction. I hope you will find some help and understanding from this. 🙂
 
The primary reason why we pray is because God wants us to pray …
 
Dave_B said:
Prayer is not a genie or soda machine. Your example sounds to me like asking for magic, not a prayer request. The purpose in life is not to magic things to make you happy, it is holiness 🙂
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I don’t think so. I simply chose something that is not likely to happen. In the forum of Prayer Intentions you can see almost nothing but requests for someone to get better, requests to get a better paying job, and alike. They sure sound like asking for magical intervention.
 
Serious said:
I don’t think so. I simply chose something that is not likely to happen. In the forum of Prayer Intentions you can see almost nothing but requests for someone to get better, requests to get a better paying job, and alike. They sure sound like asking for magical intervention.
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You know - you are quite right.
Far too often and for far too many people (myself included) we seem to want to pray when we want something. This thought led me to start a thread a while back asking…

Who has more unanswered prayers, us or God???

God asks us to Love. As we talk with Him in prayer, He will prompt us to do good things. Some of these things will be hard. Do we do them? Do we respond to God with a Yes or do we hedge and wiggle and say “not now” or "that’s so hard’ or some other excuse…

If I wish for my loving father to give me snow in summer (something very out of the ordinary) should I not be willing to give God something quite out of the ordinary as well?
Isn’t that how a loving relationship is supposed to work?
Further, if I truly love another, do I need to ask for extraordinary things?

Love is the center of this whole thing. God’s Love for us needs to be reciprocated. Love doesn’t just mean that God says yes to us, but that we say yes to God…without that reciprocity the channel of Love (grace) is damaged or broken.

Peace
James
 
all my life i’ve talked with God. thanking Him MUCH more than asking for anything.

now i’m finally asking and…

i’m…
 
itullian said:
all my life i’ve talked with God. thanking Him MUCH more than asking for anything.

now i’m finally asking and…

i’m…
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This is good… Be sure to listen… He is there… He is Good…

Peace
James
 
I find prayer pretty hard going too really as of the original post and kind of made the same comment in confession etc. If it changes nothing then whats the point.

I won’t say everything because that was in my confession but later on when I talked to priest and having missed the one lent group on prayer etc he angled our talk around to include that. Which included meditation or you guys may know it is contemplative prayer?

Anyway I did remember I did have a go a few years ago but was struggling with that too. But this priest reached me much better in many ways and I went home and the Sermon that Sunday he gave us all a taster and set me going again in a much better time than a few years ago.

If you are finding prayer hard then try Christian Meditation. But I urge you to speak to a good priest who can guide you a little because otherwise you may get stuck as I initially did. Now I am beginning to feel really focused. Admittedly for a short time but really focused and real. I don’t need to ask am I there yet - because on one level, yes I am. But a lot to go on too.

God told us to “Be Still and Know that I am God”. It is well worth it honestly. I had quickly said to the priest but it is too still for me. He was a little baffled I think and now I know why. You can be still and Know God anywhere and its that simple. I urge you to have a good try.

And communicative prayer is important as there are two forms of prayer we ask for things and the being with God.
 
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