The life of a believing Christian is inextricably linked with the practice of prayer. The question of how to pray to God correctly is asked by both the new Orthodox and those who have long been churched.
What is prayer and why do we need it?
According to the holy fathers, prayer is the mother of all virtues. This is the only way we can communicate with the Almighty. hallmark Christianity is that the Lord Jesus Christ is perceived as the Living God, as a Person to whom one can always turn and who will surely hear.
Jesus Christ
God appeared to people through the incarnation of Jesus Christ, and it is through Christ that we discover Him for ourselves. Such an opening is only possible through prayer.
Important! Prayer is an instrument of unity with God available to us.
In the ordinary sense, prayer is often considered either as some kind of mystical conspiracy, or as a way to beg God for something necessary in earthly life. Both of these understandings are fundamentally wrong. The Holy Fathers often write that when turning to the Lord, it is best not to ask for anything at all, but simply to stand before Him and repent of your sins.
Target Orthodox prayer- establish a spiritual connection with the Almighty, feel Him in your heart. The Lord knows all our needs and needs, He can satisfy them without our request. Of course, it is not forbidden to ask God for some necessary worldly blessings, but one cannot dwell on such an attitude and make it a goal.
Many novice Christians often wonder why we need to pray if the Lord himself knows everything we need. This is true, and many saints in their appeals to God did not ask for anything earthly at all. Turning to the Almighty is not necessary in order to get something desired. the main objective- connect with God, be with Him every moment of your life.
When exactly can you pray?
The Bible contains the words of the Apostle Paul, who calls us to constant prayer. John the Theologian argues that you need to turn to Christ even more often than take a breath. Thus, the ideal is when all human life turns into constant standing before the Lord.
It can be said with certainty that a lot of troubles came precisely from the fact that a person forgot about the All-Seeing Lord. It is difficult to imagine a criminal committing an atrocity with the thought of Jesus being crucified for his own sins.
Important! A person falls under the influence of sin precisely when he loses the memory of God.
Since modern people there is no way to be in prayer all day, you need to find for it certain time. So, waking up in the morning, even the busiest person can find a couple of minutes to stand in front of the icons and ask the Lord for blessings for the new day. During the day, you can repeat to yourself short prayers to the Mother of God, the Lord, your Guardian Angel. You can do this to yourself, completely imperceptibly to others.
Special time - before going to bed. It is then that you need to look at the day you lived, draw conclusions about how spiritually it was spent, what we sinned about. Prayer before going to bed calms, eliminates the fuss of the past day, sets you up for a quiet peaceful sleep. We must not forget to thank the Lord for all the blessings during the day and for the fact that it was lived by us.
It may seem to a beginner that it takes a lot of time to do this, and now everyone is in short supply. In fact, no matter how fast the pace of our life is, there are always pauses in it when we can remember God. Waiting for transport, queues, traffic jams and much more can be turned into annoying factors at a time when we raise our mind to Heaven.
What should be the words of the prayer for God to hear them?
A common reason why people do not want to turn to God is ignorance of prayers or a misunderstanding of complex church texts. In fact, for the Lord to hear us, He does not need any words at all. In the practice of church worship, the Church Slavonic language is used, and the rite of the service itself is strictly defined. However, at home, in your personal prayer, you can use completely different texts.
The words themselves do not have a defining meaning, it is not magic conspiracies or spells. The basis of the prayer that God hears is the pure and open heart of a person, aspiring to Him. Therefore, personal prayer can be characterized by such signs:
- brevity;
- simplicity;
- sincerity;
- Attention;
It is very important during prayer not to scatter attention around, but to focus it on what is being said. This is not so easy to do, so at the beginning of the Christian life, you can choose several short prayers, which can be read with maximum attention, without being distracted by anything extraneous. Over time, acquiring skill, you can constantly expand and increase the rule.
Interesting! In the Gospel we see the image of the publican who saved his soul, whose prayer was extremely brief: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner."
Of course, there is a basic list of prayers that everyone who considers himself an Orthodox Christian should know by heart. This is at least "Our Father", "I believe", "Our Lady, Virgin, rejoice ...", the Jesus Prayer. Knowing these texts by heart, you can call on the help of heavenly forces in any situation.
Why is a prayer rule necessary?
If the Almighty does not need words so much, then the question arises, why then prayer rules were invented and in general ready texts, moreover, often long and complex? The Holy Fathers say that this is the payment for our impenitence and hardness of heart.
If a person could completely from a pure heart say the shortest prayer "Lord, have mercy" - he would have already been saved. But the thing is, we can't pray that earnestly. And a person really needs constancy and a special routine of prayer work.
A prayer rule is a list of texts that a person reads regularly. Most often, the rules from prayer books are taken as a basis, but you can also choose an individual list for each person. It is advisable to coordinate the list with the spiritual father or at least a priest who can give useful advice.
Compliance with the prayer rule helps a person to organize himself, build a life more clearly, planned. Not always the rule will come easy, vanity Everyday life often leads to laziness, fatigue, unwillingness to pray. In this case, you need to try to overpower yourself, to compel.
Important! The gospel says that the Kingdom God's power is taken - we are talking not about physical strength but about efforts to change one's own life and old habits.
You need to choose a rule wisely, taking into account your spiritual capabilities. If a novice Christian is given obedience reading too long rule, then this will quickly lead to fatigue, boredom and inattention. A person will either begin to read texts mechanically, or will completely abandon such an activity.
On the other hand, it is not useful for a person who has been churched for a long time to impose too small and short a rule on himself, as this will lead to relaxation in his spiritual life. Whatever your rule, you should never forget that the main condition for prayer that God hears is the sincere disposition of the heart of the one who prays.
What is the difference between home and church prayer
Because the Orthodox Christian is called to pray constantly and can do it almost anywhere, many people have a question why it is necessary to pray in the temple. There is a definite difference between church prayer and personal prayer.
The Church was founded by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, therefore, since ancient times, Orthodox Christians have gathered in communities to glorify the Lord. Church conciliar prayer has great power, and there are many testimonies of believers about grace-filled help after the service in the Church.
Church communion presupposes obligatory participation in divine services. How to pray for God to hear? To do this, you need to come to the temple and try to understand the essence of worship. At first it may seem complicated, but over time everything will become clear. In addition, special books are published to help the novice Christian, explaining everything that happens in the church. You can buy them in the icon shop.
Prayer by agreement - what is it?
In addition to the usual personal and church prayers in practice Orthodox Church there is the concept of prayer by agreement. Its essence lies in the fact that at the same time different people one and the same appeal to God or a saint is read. At the same time, people can be completely in different points peace - it is not necessary to gather together.
Most often, such doing is done to help someone in extremely difficult or difficult situations. life situations. For example, when serious illnesses of a person, his relatives can unite and together ask the Lord to grant healing to the suffering. The power of such a call is great, because, in the words of the Lord himself, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them."
On the other hand, one cannot consider such an appeal to the Almighty as a kind of ritual or a way of fulfilling desires. As already mentioned, the Lord perfectly knows all our needs, and if we ask for something, then we need to do it with confidence in His holy will. Sometimes it happens that prayer does not bring the expected fruit for one simple reason - a person asks for something that is extremely unprofitable for his soul. In this case, it may seem that God does not answer the request. In fact, this is not so - God will definitely send us something that will benefit.
Watch a video on how to pray to God the right way.
The question is actually very important! It was asked by Tatyana: Please tell me how to ask for your own, because many people will forgive and ask all their lives, but not all of their requests and prayers are fulfilled. Why does God hear some prayers and help to fulfill them, and it happens that almost instantly, while heaven remains indifferent to other prayers? And if there are any rules - how to ask correctly to be heard?
Very, very good questions! Indeed, not all prayers are fulfilled exactly as people ask, and there are reasons for this. Indeed, there are rules that must be taken into account when you ask the Higher Powers for something. I will try to answer in detail, although we have already talked about a lot in other articles. Links will be provided in the text.
How to ask God to hear you and help you
I repeat once again - God and the Higher Powers are not gold fish and not a genie from a bottle, and serving people is not their task, fulfilling all the desires of those who ask (this would be terrible and disastrous for humanity)! The Higher Powers realize the Intentions of the Creator, the Will of God, you want to know more about this -. Best of all, in my opinion, she said this:
I asked for strength - and God sent me trials to harden me.
I asked for wisdom - and God sent me problems to puzzle over.
I asked for courage - and God sent me danger.
I asked for love - and God sent the unfortunate who need my help.
I asked for blessings - and God gave me opportunities.
I didn't get anything I wanted, but I got everything I needed!
God heard my prayers...
But this does not mean that God and the Higher powers will not help people achieve their goals and dreams. Of course they will!
It should also be noted that it is not always God who helps a person in the fulfillment of his desires. It all depends on the desires (goals) and motives of the person. If the goals are worthy and the motives are pure, the Forces of Light will help. If the goals are dark, destructive, or the motives are negative, evil, selfish (revenge, deceit, harm) - a person can get help, but only from. And he will pay for such help with his soul and fate (slavery), and plus he will still have to answer for sins (experienced suffering).
When and why will God not help a person in his requests?
1. When a person turns to God and asks for something unworthy: evil for someone, undeserved benefits for oneself, etc.
2. If a person is not sincere in his thoughts and prayers. For example, a person asking God for something, promises Him something in his prayers. God helps him, but the man is not going to fulfill his promises given to God.
3. If a person bargains with God, as in a bazaar and sets conditions for Him. For example: “If you, God, do something to me, or give me something, then I, so be it, will be a good girl or boy”. Bargaining with God is useless, this is a nasty approach to using God for your petty selfish interests. All requests must be sincere and pure, and come from the very depths of yours.
4. If a person brazenly lies, he promises and does not do it, and so many times. For example, a person comes to church, asks something from God and promises that he will not slander, he will work, etc. And as soon as he leaves the church, he immediately forgets about his promises, immediately curses those going to the meeting, pours dirt, and is not even going to work. There are more than enough such examples.
5. When, for example, you ask for another person, but he does not deserve this help from God. This does not mean that you do not need to pray for him, but it means that the decision to help or not help this person always remains with God, He knows best.
6. If a person does not ask for something, i.e. his requests are directed in the wrong direction, contrary to the Will of God. For example, you ask God to help you enter the Faculty of Law, and you have karmic tasks in the field of education, and you need to enter pedagogy. Or you want to go to Japan and ask the Higher Powers about it, and They have prepared a fate for you with moving to Germany, for example. In this case, no matter how much you ask for something “of your own”, you will meet obstacles until you realize that you are trying to go in the wrong direction. Here, of course, it is advisable to get help, in working with which you can find out your own, and adjust your plans in accordance with the Will of the Higher Forces.
7. When you want something, ask God for it, but you haven't met the preconditions for it. For example, a person asks to be healed of some kind of illness, but he himself is not going to change. As he was embittered and offended by the whole world, he continues to be angry and offended, but at the same time he asks for healing from cancer, the cause of which is the grievances he has accumulated. Until he realizes the cause of the disease and starts working on himself, fulfilling all the conditions, he will not receive special help.
8. The most brazen option. When a person asks for something, but he himself is not going to do anything at all. His “Give” directed to God is of no interest to anyone: give me a prince (and the little girl herself is not well-groomed), give me money (but I won’t work), give me a beautiful body (but I don’t want to play sports), etc. Billions of such “Give” are sent to God every day, but the industrious Heaven will never listen to such insolent and lazy people.
There are other reasons why God does not respond to requests, such as ingratitude, when a person is eternally dissatisfied with what he receives and does not appreciate at all what he already has in life. The main reasons are listed, although there are others.
How to ask God to help you! Practical recommendations
1. Ask only for what is worthy! To wish good for yourself (first of all for your Soul), other people and this world. Evil - you need to desire justice (fair punishment from Above), and not evil.
2. Motives, your thoughts - must be pure! Be sincere to yourself, for no one can outwit God. Ask yourself - for what and for whom are you asking anything from God? And answer this question honestly. Next, find pure selfless motives for yourself.
3. Do not bargain with God and be ready to accept any of His Will! Be ready to accept any response from God with gratitude, this will increase your chances of getting what you want. Ask actively, but inwardly before the Omnipotence and Wisdom of God.
4. Act yourself! “Trust in God, but don’t make a mistake yourself”. Remember, God helps, but does not do for you. Ask and do from your side everything that depends on you. The law works like this - the more you yourself take responsibility for your goal, the more help you receive from Above. God does not help idlers. They must first be willing to overcome their laziness and prove themselves worthy of His help.
5. Keep your promises to God! If you promised something to the Higher Forces in your prayers, try to follow this with all your might! And it is better to always write down what you promise, so as not to become empty talk before God. you will be helped as much as possible if you fulfill your obligations. The highest patronage of God always has a Man of Honor, and not a deceiver!
6. The most beloved requests of God that you need to know! The best thing you can ask for (which is the most encouraged Higher Powers): A) Most effective Development for your soul B) Understand and realize C) Know the Truth, find out the Truth D) Realize and atone for your Sins E) Cultivate worthy personal qualities (become responsible, strong, worthy) F) Understand and realize your own and your Purpose G) Serve To God and Society - to bring the greatest good for this world. Other.
These are the requests in the embodiment of which God will help a person to the maximum!
7. Be grateful for everything you already have in life! For all the good things - thank you! For all the trials and lessons in which you have become stronger, wiser - thank you! First of all, God helps the grateful! And from those who are not grateful and eternally dissatisfied - it takes away what they do not value.
If you have any questions -!
A loving God constantly cares for us. She is able to fulfill all our desires and dreams. She is always ready to help us in the implementation of our plans. The main thing is that we declare it. Concentrating on something, we send a signal of a certain frequency to the Universe, it is received by it, and we get into our lives what we think about.
Accepting our signals sent with the help of thoughts, God fulfills our order in the form in which we ourselves wanted.
- God cannot determine what is good and what is bad for a person. She sends him what he thinks.
- First of all, renounce everything extraneous, calm down and relax. The moment you are completely relaxed, your mind is at the border between consciousness and subconsciousness. Therefore, everything that you imagine or inspire yourself at this moment penetrates deep inside and begins work there, invisible to outsiders.
- Feel how hot blood pulsates in the tips of your fingers and toes - this means that the muscles and blood vessels have relaxed well.
Now focus and mentally say the following words:
“Powers of heaven and earth!
I need this amount of money (name it)!
Please give it to me
I will gratefully accept it!
Powers of heaven and earth!
Hurry up to fulfill my "order"!
Give me this money (name the amount)!
Finally, I hold them in my hands,
I buy what I have long dreamed of!
I enjoy it!
I enjoy life!
May it be so!"
The Bible says:
“And whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 21:22)
“Therefore I say to you: whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you will receive it, and it will be for you.”
Gospel of Mark (Mark 11:24)
If a person does not dare to dream, he believes that he is not worthy of all the best, that the best in life can only be chosen people, that nothing just falls on his head, but is achieved by hard work and is not easy, then he will remain in the position in which he is, even if this does not quite suit him.
Often a person does not even try to wish just because he does not believe in the fulfillment of his desire.
Unshakable faith that the desired will be fulfilled, makes it a reality. Already at the moment when the request is sent to the Universe, one must immediately not doubt the fulfillment of one's order, relax and live as if the desire has already been fulfilled.
To get what you want, you need to believe that it is already in this moment that you are already receiving. It is necessary to create in oneself a feeling of receiving in order to radiate the corresponding frequency of receiving and thereby attract people, circumstances, and events for the fulfillment of goals.
Be sure to imagine what you want. Don't be afraid to fantasize. These fantasies are known only to man and the Universe. Plunge into the fantasy, keep it in your head and live in it as a fait accompli.
No need to ask questions about how the desire will be fulfilled. The universe itself organizes everything. But an attempt to figure out how the realization of the desired takes place indicates a lack of faith that the desired already exists and the radiation of the frequency of the lack of faith occurs.
Appearing disappointments or doubts should be replaced by an unshakable faith in the help of the Universe and the fulfillment of desires.
17.10.2014
Sometimes each of us understands that the support of loved ones is not enough, and therefore we turn to God for help. Someone constantly reads an oral prayer, saying it loudly for all to hear or in a whisper, only for God and himself. Everything will depend on the need. Indeed, during prayer, some reject all their dreams and thoughts about their sins, but, apparently, they are good, since God gives us in right time your faithful prayer. Such prayers are heartfelt and sincere.
How to Appeal to God
The main form of a person's conversation with the Lord is prayer at home. Of course, in best case, this will be an appeal to God in front of the icon, near a lit candle. So, Orthodox people they pray standing, but only sick or old people can sit during prayer.
You need to start the prayer with a sign of the cross, it starts from the forehead, stomach, right shoulder, then left. Since a person understands that we are all not without sin, it is customary to accompany prayer with a bow, thus we symbolize our reverence before the Lord. A person, praying, will ask for help in any difficult situation for him. It is wrong to look for the best blessings in your prayer, but you need to ask for them.
You can also ask for help from angels, who are divine creatures that are able to connect the heavenly world and the earthly one. Asking them is very simple, you just need to be able to correctly formulate your desires and intentions, it is not necessary to speak out loud, because you can do it to yourself.
A person can, just like the Lord, call for help in a difficult situation. By the way, this does not say at all that only a saint or a believer can ask for help, therefore, the main thing is only to believe that a person will be heard and they will be helped. Regular appeal to angels not only in bad life situations, but also in good moments life, will speak of your gratitude to these divine creatures.
Prayer in the Temple
The main place in the life of all Christians will be occupied by prayer speech in the Church. While before the start of the service a note is given to the priest or his assistants with the remembrance of the dead, it is also worth buying candles. Approaching to put a candle, it is worth crossing yourself, while turning to God or a saint. For example, you need to say: "Jesus, Lord, have mercy on me a sinner." Light candles, so you join the service of God. But remember that participation in this action must be meaningful, you must understand that you are speaking to the Lord, asking him and the saints. In order not to get tired during the service, it is worth taking part in chants with the choir and bowing.
After describing the structure of the services, it is worth asking one extremely important question - perhaps the central one for this book. The question was formulated by one of the readers of the first version of this book before its release...
Often believers come to church to venerate icons. Therefore, it is important to understand how to do it correctly. When you put a candle at the altar and decided to venerate the icon, you must: - observe ...
Dear reader, I think that both in your life and in the life of people close to you, you happened to observe how a person “discovers” this or that area of culture for himself. This happens, for example, with music. One is mine good friend, ...
Asks YaroslavAnswered by Inna Belonozhko, 10/15/2011
Yaroslav writes: Good day! Is it possible to ask God for everything? Usually a person asks God for what he wants, but a person wants what he loves, but what is a passion. But a Christian must fight them. How to be?!
In one of the answers to a question on this site, I quote: "Does God's creation require improvement? The Lord Himself personally worked on you, created you. What do you doubt?" On the physical side, I think that He has greatly underworked me. And to ask for improvement, I understand the sin of passion.
Peace be upon you, Yaroslav!
I want to discuss with you. Do you agree? :)
"And I will tell you: ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you; for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened" ().
“Do not worry about anything, but always in prayer and petition with thanksgiving, open your desires before God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus” ().
"Ask and you do not receive, because you do not ask for good, but to use it for your desires" ().
Interesting Scriptures. And bringing hope and joy, right? Is everything possible??? And the man, inspired, immediately "orders" God a sports car "Maserati" to fly and show himself. Desire of the flesh, passion, sin? Okay, asking for wisdom. Is it bad? But in the heart there is a "worm": it asks ... not to glorify God, not to work in the field of God, but for self-glorification, self-affirmation, "how wise, intelligent, authoritative I am." From this follows pride, and there also the loss of a sense of dependence on God. Will a person in this case get everything he wants? Here, Yaroslav, it turns out that you can have different motivations when asking for something even "good".
So what to ask? For example, naturally, when we want to be healthy. And in prayer we ask for health for ourselves and loved ones, because we are worried about them. Going to school, to work, to the store, etc. - you can ask for the blessing of God and His presence with us, wisdom and protection. Is it a sin? The Lord is just happy when we ask Him for it. But asking for health and at the same time - breaking the laws of health, going to a nightclub - and asking for blessings, taking an exam, hoping for God's help - and neglecting preparation, etc.? What will be the answer to prayer?
Someone has problems at work. Asking God to help solve them, is it a sin, a passion? No, this is natural and correct. You just need to completely trust the Lord, put the situation in His hands, agree with His will. He knows what is needed, when and how. Some moments in our life revolt us, but it is important to believe God, He does not do everything in vain. Time will pass, and we will see that the moment was for the good, that this is a real acquisition in the future. The Lord's answer to our requests can be "yes", and "yes, but not now", and "no". Trying to demand something is unreasonable. Asking, agreeing with the desire of God - one hundred percent gain.
Yaroslav, the Lord definitely loves you. And your desires of the heart are clear to Him. You are His child, the Lord attentively listens to your experiences, joys and sorrows, everything that you openly share with Him, everything is perceived and accepted by God. Now you will make His decision regarding your life, appearance, destiny.
You, quoting my answer about God's creation, speak with pain in your heart about your own physical dissatisfaction with yourself. I myself felt the same until the Lord revealed to me His love and how much He values me. And when earlier I could even present a certain claim to God that He "underworked" me, now I thank God. I looked at myself with different eyes. Not the way a person looks and evaluates by his worldly standards. And just like Christ, by His eyes, by His deed on Golgotha - for me! And I know that even for my sake alone - there would be a Calvary cross. And this is all because the Lord values me so highly, I am His dear, beautiful, unique, beautiful daughter. So are you, Yaroslav - the most precious son Heavenly Father. You are rich because you are the son of the King, Master and Creator of the Universe. Be inseparable from God and all privileges are yours.
Perhaps there is something in us that cannot be physically changed. Despair is no help to us. Trust in God is freedom from complexes and thoughts about "flaws". Let us ask God to open our eyes to ourselves, to teach us to love ourselves and appreciate ourselves, as a loving God does. You can always adorn yourself with love, tenderness, kindness. To allow the Lord to do this is to ask Him to give such a gift, such joy. Bring light, peace, do good deeds, give a smile and good word to glorify the Lord - these are the wonderful desires of the heart, what you can ask for - and it will be given in abundance.
Yaroslav, everything that the Lord allows in our life is not always pleasant. But any suffering that is done under the control of God will turn into a blessing in the future. We do not understand many things, like ordinary people, and do not see the beginning from the end, like the Lord. And only being in close connection with God, we will be satisfied and our burden will not be heavy, and our life will not be meaningless.
Trust God that everything in your life is just as good for you. And the wise Lord knows why and why.
Blessings and joy!
Sincerely,
Read more on the topic "Prayer":