how do you pray?

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Like i stated in a prevoice post, I pray through meditation, but I also find that burning insense, exspecly one called true love. this is the one that annie and myself use when we meditate together. our meditation sessions can last around 10 hours without movment or speaking.

I pray by saying the lord's prayer every night.

My prayer life is mostly petetion...you know, Please God give me this or that. Not a very mature prayer life....

I also have a small cross in my car. As I get in, I try to thank God for the good things in my life and give over the bad.

I'd like to do more but right now life is so busy. I beleive God understands.

BeeBee

I have heard it said that "prayer is when we speak to God, meditation is when we listen"

The closest I come to prayer these days is the practice of the Brahma Viharas. I found this to be a universally acceptable form of meditation and helpful in getting your head and heart in a good place.

http://accesstoinsight.org/lib/bps/wheels/wheel006.html

I do the muslim ritual prayers as a base and then individual prayers to Allah afterwards: also zikr which means remembrance ie of God, which you mostly do like a mantra on the names of God such as ya Rahman, the compassionate or ya Rahim, the merciful. I also use lots of music and chanting which I compose myself. Also loads and loads of incense, it's like a smokebomb has gone off in my house sometimes - mostly frankincense although I've got some which is wood soaked in oil which is very beautiful although I don't know what sort of wood it is.

Preferably only before getting hit by a truck.

I just pray whenever, wherever, however. Since God is omnipresent and omnipotent, he can hear you no matter what you do. I often burn incense or candles to cause a 'religious' shift of consciousness, but rarely and only for important and special prayers.

*grins* It has also been said that a man prayed, and at first he thought that prayer was talking. But he became more and more quiet until in the end he realised that prayer is listening. Me, I think prayer is communion between us and God. That being the case, I do a range of things, including burning a candle, singing, reading the Bible, praying in my head, chatting on the way to uni... anything really!

I don't actually understand prayer, what it means in principle, verus what it can mean to a particular person verus what it does mean at any particular time. If someone could explain it to me, i might be able to tell you how i pray.

Conventional, stereotypical prayer differs for different bodies of people. For Catholics and Muslims for example, prayer includes specific ritual sayings, such as the Our Father, or Hail Mary, or the prayers that Muslims say at various times of the day. Then there is the sort of prayer where you use your own words, but it basically follows a pattern of 'Dear God, thanks for *insert stuff here*, please give me *insert objects or tasks here*, much praise, worship and adoration, you're humble servant me'. Then there is the idea that prayer is communion. This basically means a conversation with God. Prayer can take as many forms as there are people, and then some!

I have a hard time speaking my thoughts and what I want. In fact, a friend once told me that I give her a new perspective on the "written word". I have a notebook that I carry around everywhere with me, and often write my prayer requests and praises into that. Sometimes it gets confusing because I also write most other things that come to mind down in the same notebook, but it makes for an interesting read afterwards!

Perhaps then i pray whever i talk to myself. I talk to myself, out loud very often to entetain myself and whatever audience may exist. I dont ask for things from god, i dont praise god, i dont give offerings to god, i give respect, and friendship. And i engage in this friendship by acting like MST3k for reality, to entertain myself and god.

Wow, I feel the same way. It is sometimes so hard for me to pray out loud to God. I right down my thoughts and concerns and ask him to take care of it. No matter how bad a day I had, I try to find one good thing to pray about.

I'm a sort of lapsed Catholic, and the repetitiveness of prayers appeals to my OCD. However, when I've prayed lately it's just been long monologues, talking to God like my therapist. It actually helped; I was able to figure things out as I talked about them, and though I can't claim it was divine intervention that allowed me to see things more clearly, I will say that in a sense, the prayer "worked."

I pray to God using my own words, like talking to God. I think that fasting is a way to listen and be patient to what God wants you to do, like if you're in a difficult situation. I think God has His timing for prayer, and it is always perfect. There are times, like if I didn't get something, I would get it later, and it ended up to be a much better time to recieve that then than the other place in my life where I thought I needed it most. It's interesting how God knows what's better for us than we do sometimes. I like praying to God everywhere; at school, at home, in church, in a race (of course, asking God for me to finish it and stuff). My life is pretty tough, and without prayer to God, I don't know what I would do, or what I could do without God.

i pray the same way as aspiegirl2. i agree with wot she as just said.
God Bless.
Fiona.