I was taught to pray for every little thing in my life because I was told, "God cares about every hair on my head and therefore wants to be involved in my every need, and shower me with blessings." The problem is God did not give me my every need, or shower me with blessings. In fact on a scale of 1-100 I'd say I was scoring in the low teens.
As I got older, during prayer time at church, I discovered that the more people you got praying for you. the more your chances increased. Many churches had prayer trees so that members would call people all over the country and all over the world to get them praying for you. I thought of God as the great distibutor in the sky and when he had enough requests in to bless me, he would do it. But even with a whole team praying for me, when I measured my blessings, they were still in the low teens. I even tried fasting, and tithing, but they didn't improve my score.
A preacher told me, " to get what you want, write it on a piece of paper in exact detail and keep the paper by your bed and read it oput loud every day and night for ten days and then burn the paper and soon your prayer wpould be answered. Didn't work.
As a Catholic we were taught to memorize prayers and repeat them over and over. We had rosaries and we were told that if we said the roasary everyday all our pryers would be answered. I took about 20 minutes a day and for a few years our family would kneel in a circle at home and say the 25 Hail Marys, the five Glory Be prayers and the Our Father (the Lord's prayer. This had no affect either on my low score.
I'll admit, I had a lot of guilt about my prayer life. "Maybe, I thought, " I should pray longer, add more fasting, and wear out my knees". I tried getting up an hour earlier and praying in a special closet I fixed up as a prayer room. Usually after ten minutes, I would fall asleep. I had a miserable prayer life.
When I grew old, I am now 65, and limited my Bible study down to just the words of Yahshuah, the answer opened up to me.
Yahshuah did not intend for us to bring a wish list to the father. Yahshuah was surrounded by people obsessed with prayer methods -bad prayer methods, involving pagentry and sacrifices (as if blood pleased God) and self mutilations, fastings, tithes and offering (bribes) and every trick to get stuff from God.
In one fell swoop Yahshuah ended it all, He said go into your private room and pray alone. That ended all the pagentry, rituals, and group pestering of the Father.
Next, he ended the prayer list. He said the only physical need you could pray for is daily bread. You must not come with a list of requests. Father knows what you need, and if it is truly necessary, and you are 100% seeking his Kingdom, He will provide a means for you to receive it.
Yahshuah never taught like the modern preachers that prayer is a conversation with God. In fact, he warned us to be on guard with people who say, "God told me, or God spoke to me" -false prophets.
Yahshuah warned us not to babble or make long prayers full of repetitions. So much for the rosary and memorizing prayers. God (Yah) apparently is not impressed by the length of our prayers at all.
The Rabbis had made a big business out of praying against the enemies of Israel and Yahshuah turned that on its head. He said to pray "for" your enemies. Since you are to agape -love them, that means you do not pray for justice and vengeance, but pray that the best of everything will come their way. Will that make them nicer to you? Of course not, but it will change you. Now we're getting down to the main reason for praying.
Prayer is actually a time for you to have an attitude adjustment. Yahshuah would spend whole nights in prayer. He was wrestling with his attitude, because he knew that's where sin begins.
To me, prayer is a state of God-awareness. It is somewhat close to Indian meditation where you empty your mind of all desires. You can sit, lie, kneel, or stand, as long as you are focusing on the Father. The Father then becomes like a mirror showing you all the areas of your attitude that need adjusting. Prayer is not about praising God and tellling him how much you love him, prayer is about letting God awareness help you grow to be like him.
What about praying for the sick?
Yahshuah healed thousands of sick people but nowhere did he ever pray for one. If you have the power to heal, do it, but if not, the rest is smoke and no fire. Don't play at healing, you'll only make it worse and damage the sick one's faith. Laying on hands, anointing with oil, speaking in togues and dancing around the sick, does not come from Yahshuah. He never authorized nor practiced those things.
So am I saying don't pray for the sick? Of course not, but pray in the privace of your room, not the sick person's room . What if you yourself are sick? Just pray that the Father's will is done and accept what comes. You don't have to storm the gates of heaven and wrestle God in prayer. Before you speak, he already has answered.
So to understand what Yahshuah taught about prayer, prayer is a time for you to get alone and focus on the father and think about what is in your life that needs to change to make you more like him. Pray for good to befall your enemies, pray for friends and family but in the same way as you prayed for your enemies. Don't pray for material things, but pray that every good comes to them.
Now of course if you think of God as a big judge with a big whip that's how you'll turn out. If you think of him as the welfare department you'll become a social worker. If you think of him as a warrior you'll go get a gun.
If you realize he is a peacemaker who sends loving sun and rain on the good and the bad, then you will become a true child of light in a dark and dangerous world. You'll also send loving rain and sun on the good and the bad equally.
