Do you know how to pray?

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Do you know how to pray?
Seriously, I don't. I can hear others praying. But if it ever comes to my turn to pray, I'm like sweating, not knowing what words to come out of my mouth to pray! I felt so embarrassed, I wish to run away right there. As I've read before, Jesus tell not to be like the pharisees who pray so loud that everyone can hear, so I just pray alone, like talking to God, not in words like how I hear them pray. Now I think it is due to the asperger. But I keep wondering, is it really because of asperger? Can anyone of you pray out loud?

If I believed, I'm pretty sure I would not be able to pray out loud.

It doesn't matter if you pray aloud or not or if your prayers are a jumbled mess as long as you are sincere.

Ya I can pray out loud and I can pray quietly to myself as well. And weather you pray like others or not GOD will still understand you. He loves you and knows everything about you. So if you feel uncomfortable praying out loud then don't do it GOD understands. Pray your way. Read the Psalms as well all the Psalms are prayers to GOD. These might give you more of an idea of what you can say to GOD. There is also the Lord's prayer "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 tresspasses as we forgive those who tresspass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen." There is no wrong way to pray. You pray what you feel and what you think. GOD just wants you to be real and tell Him the truth all of it. Just do what you feel comfortable with. My friend told me of a child who recited the whole alphabet and when they finished the alphabet they said amen. Now we might not think of that as a prayer but GOD does. He knows your thoughts,feelings and well everything there is to know about you. He understands you He created you. You can pray to Him about how you feel with prayer and He'll show you the way. My brother has sever autism and he prays out loud. Now to me it just sounds like baby talk but to GOD it makes sense. I hope this helps you out.

YOU GOT YOUR LEFT HAND
YOU GOT YOUR RIGHT HAND
THE LEFT HAND'S DIDDLING
WHILE THE RIGHT HAND GOES TO WORK
YOU GOT BOTH HANDS
YOU GOT PRAYING HANDS
THEY PRAY FOR NO MAN
O.K....RELAX...
AND ASSUME THE POSITION
GO INTO DOGGIE SUBMISSION
WASH YOUR HANDS THREE TIMES A DAY
ALWAYS DO WHAT YOUR MOTHER WOULD SAY
BRUSH YOUR TEETH IN THE FOLLOWING WAY
WASH YOUR HANDS THREE TIMES A DAY
YOU GOT YOUR LEFT HAND
YOU GOT YOUR RIGHT HAND
THE LEFT HAND'S DIDDLING
WHILE THE RIGHT HAND GOES TO WORK
YOU GOT BOTH HANDS
YOU GOT PRAYING HANDS
THEY PRAY FOR NO MAN
(roll over play dead get spiritual-minded)
O.K....RELAX...
AND ASSUME THE POSITION
GO INTO DOGGIE SUBMISSION
WASH YOUR HANDS THREE TIMES A DAY
ALWAYS DO WHAT YOUR MOTHER WOULD SAY
BRUSH YOUR TEETH IN THE FOLLOWING WAY
WASH YOUR HANDS THREE TIMES A DAY

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo7pxIm4ljw[/youtube]

If it's communal/recited prayer? Not a problem. (Whoever decided that all repetition is vain didn't have Asperger's.) If it's expected to be spontaneous or self-revealing? Emphatic no. How I express my faith, though - how I relate to God is not how you will and not how the NT at the other end of the pew will.

I know how to pray.

There is no point in praying. If God knows what He is doing, nothing you can say or ask will make any difference.

ruveyn

I never pray out loud. You don't have to pray out loud for God to hear you.

If god is omniscient and omnipotent as the christians claim, then prayer is a pointless exercise.

Except as a Jedi Mind Trick. For some prayer is a pacifier.

ruveyn

You obviously have not read much sci fi of the prime period, and have never discovered that prayer is not simple minded King Cnut and the tide. Do you never talk to your cat?

I used to have that same kind of problem, then I simply stopped praying publicly. Other people sometimes get upset by that, of course, and some will even turn away. But, that is their own struggle, not mine.

To the original issue, I can pray publicly [I managed to lecture for decades, so what is the deal? Though I know a Roman Catholic professor - great guy - who found public prayer very difficult], but the makeup of the audience is important. I prefer not to and will let those who like to stand up do the job.

When I had a cat, of course I talked to her. But I never expected her to understand a word I said.

ruveyn

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To pray a little like Jesus did means (my view) to read the four gospels of the New Testament of the Bible (simplified). Jesus prayed a prayer called the "Our Father" as a kind of model prayer. God bless us, everyone - is an example of a four word prayer. Without being too technical, I personally feel some persons have difficulty praying because the words they whisper, think, or speak do not automatically translate into mental images in the brain/mind. In my view, prayers of some persons tend to trigger (normal) imaginations in their brains/minds. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (KJV - Heb 1:1). Faith is the substance (blueprint of a 3 bedroom, 2 bath new home to be built) of things hoped for (buildout of the 3 bedroom, 2 bath new home which one can enter using a key to the front door and live there with one's family for many years). Faith/blueprint/idea vs Substance/actual home. Principle is : Ideas manifest/ideas tend to turn into reality over time/thoughts are things/thoughts tend to become things over time.