Ex-Church of Christ Support Board

Snarking on....

Another indictment I have of the CofC is their near non-involvement with prayer. And I attribute that to really a non-recognition that our life is a continuous, ongoing relationship with God....and with any relationship, a relationship with God is predicated on communication, to wit, talking with Him (on MANY levels) all the time, not just on Sundays, in Sunday school, etc.....And really, how many times do you hear the same prayer in the CofC??...And what's more, these prayers are for the most part "thank you" prayers (not trying to knock that in and of itself)...but really "thank you for this day" "thank you for.....etc., etc." becomes a death knoll for a growing relationship ISTM...My point being that I don't see the building of a relationship on "thank yous" only....I would think God most assuredly couldn't be more bored by it......Like Annie Lennox said "No more I love yous, the language is leaving me in silence"....

Here's some of what I thought to be interesting stats on prayer from the following website: h**ps://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/9-th ... he-bible1/

1. There are 650 prayers listed in the Bible.
2. There are approximately 450 recorded answers to prayer in the Bible.
3. The first time prayer is mentioned in the Bible is Genesis 4:26 (earlier dialogues where initiated directly by God, e.g.,
Genesis 3:8-13, Genesis 4:9).
4. The Bible records Jesus praying 25 different times during his earthly ministry.
5. In the Bible, Paul mentions prayer (prayers, prayer reports, prayer requests, exhortations to pray), 41 times.
6. Although prayer can (and should) be done from any bodily position, the Bible lists five specific postures: Sitting (2 Sam
7:18), standing (Mark 11:25), kneeling (Chronicles 6:13; Daniel 6:10; Luke 22:41; Acts 7:60, 9:40, 20:36, 21:5; Ephesians
3:14), with one's face to the ground (Matthew 26:39;Mark 14:35), and with hands lifted up (1 Timothy 2:8).
7. In Jesus model for how his disciples should pray (Luke 11:1-4), he provides five areas of focus: That God's name be
honored – the focus on his everlasting glory (“Father, hallowed be your name”); that God's kingdom come – the focus on
his eternal will (“your kingdom come”); that God's provision is given – the focus on our present (“Give us each day our
daily bread.”); that God's forgiveness is granted – the focus on our past (Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone
who sins against us.); that God's deliverance will be provided – the focus on our future.
8. The Bible lists at least nine main types of prayer: prayer of faith (James 5:15), prayer of agreement (also known as
corporate prayer) (Acts 2:42), prayer of request (also known as petition or supplication) (Philippians 4:6), prayer of
thanksgiving (Psalm 95:2-3), prayer of worship (Acts 13:2-3), prayer of consecration (also known as dedication) (Matthew
26:39), prayer of intercession (1 Timothy 2:1), prayer of imprecation (Psalms 69), and praying in the Spirit (1 Corinthians
14:14-15).
9. The word “Amen” (which means “let it be, “so be it,” “verily,” “truly”) makes its first appearance in the Bible in
Numbers 5:22. In that passage God commands it to be said by a person who is yielding to his examination

And here is a summary of it all from one of my sages on life, Annie Lennox, one whom I have always secretly admired:
h**ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb7vo5z8pnU

That difficulty carries on a long time, too. Prayer - REAL prayer - is hard work, difficult, unsettling, freeing, meditative, helpful....almost nothing very similar to prayer in church as a child, which was supposed to be 'spontaneous' but never really was, and which was supposed to be 'from the heart' but instead was cobbled together from half remembered, fairly trite phrases -

Bear in mind, I now use a literal prayer BOOK with a set liturgy - but at least these were written by people who actually spent time THINKING about it!

What I've learned in the decades since leaving, is that true praying IS hard. And it is a lot of things, not always the same thing. Plus I have totally ceased to think that prayer is for GOD. No, prayer is for US. A valid prayer life OUGHT TO enlarge OUR thinking, ought to encourage OUR growth, ought to create OUR understanding.

And that's - really - that's hard work. Some days (shoot, some YEARS), it doesn't seem like you are making much progress at all.

Wow, ditto that....so it seems that God gave everything for our benefit, the Law, the Sabbath ("was made for man, not man for the Sabbath"), in Christianity "to live life more abundantly", and especially prayer.....but we have demonstrated a darn propensity to turn it all around the other way since it all began.....what do you call that...."the endless frustration of everything that God is and does by man" or what??

My congregation finally stopped saying, "Guide, guard, and direct us." every closing prayer...

To anyone who may be interested....

Here's a listing of all 650 prayers in the Bible: h**p://www.gospelpedlar.com/articles/Christian ... Prayer.pdf

Here's a listing of Paul's 41 prayers: h**ps://christcentred.wordpress.com/2013/03/12/all-the-prayers-of-paul/

Shrubbery wrote:My congregation finally stopped saying, "Guide, guard, and direct us." every closing prayer...

Must be a bunch of LIBRLS!

Moogy wrote:

Shrubbery wrote:My congregation finally stopped saying, "Guide, guard, and direct us." every closing prayer...

Must be a bunch of LIBRLS!

I think they were actually concerned about suggesting that God interferes in our lives directly in that way. Not really sure. It's been about 10 years since a sermon was done on it.