What does it mean to pray?
413569
I don't think people realize how many different ways that we can relate to God emotionally:\nPraise - I tell God all the ways he is so good\nWaiting - I just close my eyes and be silent in his presence\nPetition - I ask him for good things and needs in my life\nThanksgiving - I thank him for all of the good things he has done for me\nAsk - Ask him specific questions you have about your life\nScripture Prayer - Asking for specific things from the Bible\nForgiveness - I think about the people that have affected me negatively and tell Him that I forgive them and ask Him to help them not to do those things again.\nIntercession - I pray for people I know that have needs.
235496
My Dads sermon last night was about how prayer changes things.The fact that you have asked for prayer shows that you believe that God is able to answer those prayers.Hold on to that faith,God is very concerned about you.Keep looking past the problem and to the solution.God is the solution.My heart goes out to you.Jesus is the answer.
563689
My experiences with praying. \nEvery night I pray. For safety, for my friends, and for my family. \n\nI've still alive, I have a good life, I have great friends and a good family.\n\nRecently though I got into a bad situation. I was kidnapped by my father who I don't ever go to see. He told me I wasn't going to my mom's house for a long time. I prayed hard that I could get out of there. God answered the pray within seconds. Three seconds after Amen my dad came in and said he didn't want me around anymore and that he was taking me to my grandparents house (my mom's parents) and I thought this was the best thing that could happen to me. They took me to church and also took me home to my mom. You might say coincedince, but I say GOD.\n\nIf you truely believe in God and you want a full filling and safe happy life just pray and believe.
720240
Prayer is the science of believing.\n\nPrayer is asking for something (usually selfishly) that you desire. It is having a just positive imaging about a thing.\n\nA positive desire to get or achieve something usually produces higher out come whether done as a prayer or not. \n\nMany people get what they want through positive imaging that are atheist.\n\nPrayer is nothing more than what an atheist businessman  uses to project a positive image of what want to achieve.\n\nTo a theist, it is prayer. To an atheist it is project a positive image.\n\nIt works equally well for theist or atheist if you believe in a successful outcome.
430038
I believe it is because when you pray for others, it helps your own well-being. Some people are destined to die in ways we will never be able to understand, but that doesn't mean people don't care or want to help the only way they can.
1142212
Prayer to me is like talking to a friend about issues that you can't figure out on your own. I consider God to be my best friend and He listens to me, the funny thing is that He already knows what I am going to say before I say it. As far as answered prayers, just because you don't get what you want or asked for, doesn't mean that your prayers are not answered. See we don't always know what is best for us so even though it seems like He did not answer you, someday or sometime you will say wow He did answer, just not the way I thought He would. \n\nKeep talking to Him and praise Him for everything you have or happens to you good or bad. He loves you and knew you before you were here.
1125023
I don't have an average.  We are instructed to pray without ceasing.  So whenever I need help, peace, or anything I will offer up a quick prayer wherever I'm at.  I pray before and after reading the Bible, when I wake up, before I go to sleep, before eating.  It is our way of communicating with God, why shouldn't we pray always.
288739
pray for blessings for the ppl who have noone and nothing in life we all take for granted for what we do have we never seem to be fully satisfied we always want more and were always praying for more ...why not pray for the lost and scared ...why not pray just to say thank you for what you do have ...
102185
God will hear whatever you pray. If you think you need to quote bible verses in your prayers on certain subjects, just turn to the back of the Bible where they usually point out where to find phrases for different category of problems for you to refer. From there you select them for your prayers. I am sure you do attend church, go and approach an elder of the church and I am sure they would open their arms to help you. Always bear in mind GOD said in the bible 'Seek and you shall receive'. May GOD bless you and answer your prayers....
767053
Come on now!  You want to believe in prayer, but you find something as little as that  to turn away.  Have you ever lost a love one and you needed God to step in and keep you from losing your mind?  Well he did it for me!   Prayer does work!
816307
The difference is WHY you are praying, and HOW you are praying!!  Read Matthew chapter 6, where Jesus gives his followers a prayer to model their own prayers after... he tells us what is first in importance to pray for, and then the next most important, etc. So if we are praying in line with Jehovah's plan, it will NEVER be begging!
1105665
First of all, praying for healing is not going against God's will.  People asked Jesus to heal them, and He did.\n\nGod heals some...and for reasons we don't understand, there are those who pray for healing and are not healed.\n\nSince prayer is encouraged in the bible, and we are taught to "pray without ceasing"....it is IN His will that we pray to Him.  The results of our prayers are up to God...this is how we learn, when things "go our way", or when they "don't go our way"....we need to praise Him, no matter what the outcome.  Because He is perfect, holy, righteous, merciful, forgiving, just.\n\nJob was our perfect example.  The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord.  When our prayers are answered (in the way we want) or when they are not answered in the way we want.....He is worthy of our praise.
832168
Pray! Prayer is very powerful. It may help to read "Power of a Praying Woman" by Stormie Omartian. It helped me big time.\nThe Lord can do the impossible. \n\nJames 4:8\nDraw near to God and He will draw near to you.\n\nPhil 4:6-7\n\n6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (NLT)\n\nGod Bless!
46954
Why do some “believers” often not get answers to their prayers?\n\nBelief alone is not sufficient to please God and have him answer our prayers. Even a credulous person may claim that he believes. For belief to have substance, it must be based on accurate knowledge, which can be gained only by a study of the Bible. Additionally, belief and faith must be proved by the works they produce. “As the body without spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.”—James 2:26.\n\nA true believer would need to take God into account daily, not resorting to prayer only when faced with an emergency. He would also do acts of faith, right works that include speaking to others about his belief and faith in God.\n\nIn Harmony with God’s Will\n\nThe apostle John told us: “This is the confidence that we have toward [God], that, no matter what it is that we ask according to his will, he hears us.” (1 John 5:14) Here is another requirement for having our prayers heard by God. Our prayers should be in harmony with God’s will. Furthermore, once we pray we should be sure to act in harmony with our prayers.\n\n27 What are proper subjects for prayer? Anything that will affect one’s relationship to God; anything that will affect one spiritually. The apostle John wrote: “No matter what it is that we ask according to his will, he hears us.”—1 John 5:14.\n\n28 “According to his will” would mean that we rightly would not pray for things that promote strictly selfish interests, such as riches, position above our fellowman, revenge, selfish pleasures and like things. But we may, for example, petition God with regard to marriage—for his help in providing a suitable mate. Married couples may pray regarding the bearing of children, or for wisdom in rearing their children.\n\nThe answer from God can be expected in the form of wise guidance in the person’s own individual case. (Psalm 32:8) Of course, he should be consistent and act in harmony with his prayer. He should seek for counsel on the problem from the Bible. He may consult others who can help him to see what the Bible says on the matter. He should persist in praying on the matter until he gets a clear understanding of what is the wise course to take. (Luke 18:2-5)
337338
Prayer serves several purposes.\nIt brings you into a right relationship with God.\nIt allows you to enter in to repentance.\nIt allosw you to be thankful.\nIt allows us to be humble.\nThis is not a comperhensive list, just a beginning to help you understand why I would pray to God. So I guess for the most part both of your answers are valid. \n\nYou said "And, based on that communication they choose whether or not to assist."  You assume that prayer requires a response that benifits me. You could not be more wrong. Prayer does not require a response at all.
838840
Maybe you need to pray for faith.\n\nPrayer is the elevation of the mind and heart to God:\n+ In praise of his glory\n+ In petition for some desired good\n+ In thanksgiving for a good received\n+ In intercession for others before God\n\nThrough prayer the Christian experiences a communion with God through Christ in the Church.\n\n"For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy." (St. Thérèse of Lisieux)\n\n"Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God." (St. John Damascene) \n\nBut when we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or "out of the depths" of a humble and contrite heart? (Psalm 130:1) \n\nHe who humbles himself will be exalted; humility is the foundation of prayer. Only when we humbly acknowledge that "we do not know how to pray as we ought," are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. "Man is a beggar before God."\n\nWith love in Christ.
977019
There have been numerous times that I have prayed when I had exhausted all my ideas and had no clue what else to do.  It always helped.  I pray with both big and little problems for the strength and wisdom to deal with them. I am sometimes amazed and surprised at some of the ways that things work out.