to broaden our understanding of prayer
we need to keep in mind that God is
everywhere and is not limited by time or
space before we can pray to Him anytime
and anywhere with or without anyone
praying with us in the Gospel of Luke
Jesus taught that we should always pray
and not lose heart Paul later echoed
this message by admonishing believers to
pray without ceasing thus making prayer
a vital part of our lives a number of
prayers recorded in the Bible occurred
in a group setting one notable example
was when the believers prayed in one
Accord for the promise of the Holy
Spirit another example was when the
early church offered up constant prayer
for Peter when he was kept in prison for
us today this means that we can also
pray wherever our fellow brothers and
sisters in Christ are gathered when
Jesus was on earth he often withdrew
into the wilderness to pray one of the
reasons he did this was to set an
example for us in line with his teaching
when you pray go into your room and when
you have shut your door pray to your
father who is in the secret place this
means that even though we may pray with
others it is also important for us to
spend quality time alone with our
Heavenly Father
ideally someplace quiet and away from
the cares of life
what typically comes to mind in regards
to the outward form of prayer is a
person on bended knees with eyes closed
and hands clasped together there are
however other postures of Prayer
mentioned in the Bible such as sitting
standing bowing down or falling on one's
face out of all the biblical references
that indicate a posture of Prayer
kneeling down occurs more frequently
than any other posture for example
Daniel knelt down three times a day to
pray Peter in a time of need
got down on his knees to pray for a
disciple who had died jesus also knelt
down to pray when he was alone and in
agony while there are no restrictions as
to how we should pray kneeling expresses
our reverence and humility towards God
when we kneel before God we show our
respect for God and pay homage to his
sovereignty acknowledging that he is
infinitely greater than we are kneeling
is also used in the context of worship
as one psalmist wrote oh come let us
worship and bow down let us kneel before
the Lord our maker therefore it is
appropriate for us to pray kneeling down
moreover we can freely express ourselves
in different ways through prayer for
example Hannah spoke to God silently
while Ezekiel cried out with a loud
voice nehemiah prayed secretly within
himself while one time Jesus lifted up
his eyes to heaven and prayed so that
people standing by could hear one
tax-collector even beat his breast
saying God be merciful to me a sinner
our expressions are often tied to our
emotions therefore at times we can let
out these emotions in prayer Hana wept
in anguish as she poured out her soul
before God Jesus when he was about to
face the cross also prayed with vehement
cries and tears to him who was able to
save him from death but therefore we are
not required to pray in any specific way
but can pray in any way that our
circumstances were feelings may call for
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although we've established that we can
freely express ourselves in prayer we
may have some reservations about voicing
all of our inner thoughts out loud to
God it may even seem unnecessary since
God knows everything that is in our
hearts this is why some people may
prefer to pray silently in their hearts
while that is one way to pray the Bible
also teaches us other ways in which we
can pray for example we can speak
intelligible words which is also known
as praying and understanding or we can
repeatedly say hallelujah while we speak
our mind to God hallelujah is a Hebrew
expression of praising the Lord found in
the Bible therefore it is appropriate to
use it in prayer believers who have
received the Holy Spirit on the other
hand can speak in tongues as the Spirit
gives them utterance therefore those who
have yet to receive the Holy Spirit can
either pray understanding or praise the
Lord with hallelujahs regardless of the
language or actual words we use to pray
Jesus promised that whatever we ask in
his name he will do therefore we should
begin our prayers by saying in the name
of the Lord Jesus I pray all Authority
has been given to Jesus in heaven and on
earth therefore we can be confident that
praying in his holy name is not only
powerful but
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