Please pray

[Heaven's Naginata]

Chrissy, your story is very touching. Even the ones who do things to us and for us that mean the world get tired and may fail us. God wants you to know that He will not leave you or forsake you. He will not fail you. Continue in the love of Christ and be zealous for Him.

[NotOfThisWorld]

I think this is really a good idea. I'll try and improve on that myself

[allin4him]

Thanks, Ed, for posting this. I am guilty of saying ''I'll pray for you''. I have prayed for them but, it's time to come together in unity with other believers, to lift up our circamstances to our Father in heaven without being ashamed of others seeing our prayers no matter how long or short they might be.

Again, Thanks!

[J-C]

Hi Ed. Thanks for your post, which I can tell was very genuine.

But before doing anything, I first consulted scripture, as we must always do:

" 1Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
2Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
3But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
4That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
5And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
8Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him." (Matthew 6:1-8)

Here, Jesus is telling us that if possible, whenever we do something for God, we must do so 'in our closet'. That is, in secret, away from the eyes of men, so that we are alone, with God (Obviously this does not apply to preaching and such). The only time we may engage in public prayer is when we are brought together in "one accord" with other believers, like the apostles were in Acts 2.

This is why pre set prayer meetings are unscriptural. If we are to pray together, it must be determined by God, who will bring us together at the time ordained by Him - when He chooses, not at 8pm on a Wednesday evening, as we may choose.

Writing prayers down for public reading will inevitably make us feel obliged to make our words seem grander than they normally would be, as Jesus told us the hypocrites did, in Matthew 6, above.


Therefore brethren, do as our Lord instructed us, and remove yourself from the eyes of the world, go into your closet, alone, and pray, so that only your Father my hear you.

This does not mean that we may not let our friends know that they are in our prayers - for letting them know that they are will undoubtedly strengthen them, and bring them comfort. But the prayer itself, and the words used, are meant for our Father's Ears only.

God bless us all as we commune with our Creator!

[Daughter of His]

i think that is a neat idea, what u are trying to do. i go to prayer groups, and i love them, they really encourage me, and help me spiritually. and the fellowship is also good. i'll try to type out my prayers too. God bless you, Beth