How to pray

This article explains how to pray. That is how to form a powerful prayer. It starts with the prayer, "Our Father", it then explains how to pray this prayer, it continues with an analysis of its first sentence: "Our Father who are in heaven, hallowed be Your Name".

No human being can tell you how to pray perfectly because the directions on how to pray were given by God, Jesus Christ in the New Testament, Bible, Luke, chapter 11, line 1-4 (Luke 11:1-4) and in (Matthew 6:9-13). He was asked by one of his disciples: Lord teach us how to pray. Then Jesus Christ said: When you pray say:

Our Father, who are in heaven, hallowed be Your Name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Yours is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Any additional instructions on how to pray are of secondary importance. Pray the above prayer until you meditate on the words. Please, say the above words slowly, concentrate on the words. After some time your mind might hit back but be persistent that is how you win and your prayer is answered. Say the above prayer five to ten times daily until you concentrate and you are satisfied that you said it correctly. Pray for a year or two the above prayer without asking for something else. Then, you can pray a morning and an evening prayer and also add your requests and they will be answered. These prayers are included in this website. Please, make sure that the prayers you say include a lot of times the "Our Father" prayer and the psalms. Do not feel pride after you pray. There are people who pray all the 150 psalms, which are powerful prayers, every day. The psalms frequently mention enemies that make our lives miserable. If you do not have enemies then think of these enemies as the evil and his demons who drive us to sin. We commit sins by our thoughts, by our actions, by our speech, and by things or actions we omitted doing.

In the morning and evening prayers the Nicene Creed or the Symbol of Faith is included. There, it is mentioned, that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. There are people who believe that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. The importance is how the Nicene Creed was originally written and it was written as the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. Also, Jesus Christ in John 15.26 said: "But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me." If the Holy Spirit had proceeded from the Father and the Son Jesus Christ would have said it to avoid confusion. This is my opinion, if you still strongly believe that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son you can include the Son in your prayers.

Below, the first phrase of the "Our Father" prayer is explained.
Our father: It requires the attitude of a son who is ready to talk to his father. Before I start talking to my father I feel love and I believe that he will listen to me. I go and talk to him not with casual wear especially if I want to ask for something. I talk to Him either standing or on my knees. In my opinion, the "Our Father" means love to God, father and creator and love to all the people since the "Our Father" makes us all brothers. The prayer is not in singular but it expresses love to all the people recognizing that we are creatures of one God, all brothers and we pray one for all.
The prayer should be done with the three states of the human: the spirit, the mind and the body. According to Saint Paul: "I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also" in (1 Corinthians 14:15). A person should pray spiritually that is to feel because the spirit is perceptible to us like a feeling. God is a spirit. "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love", (1 John 4.8). By mentioning "Father" I start my prayer with my spirit because I call God father and I give the relationship of God and me the relationship between a father and his son. Creator to a creature. A son loves his father and since God is love he becomes united with Him. With the word "Our" one recognizes that all the people are his brothers covering a lower level, his communion with other people. It is natural for somebody to pray for other people. It is a healthy need. It means that he prays correctly.

who are in heaven: Going lower we reach the mind. In the prayer the attention should be focused to God. As far as the mind is concerned the spirit or the feeling sparks thoughts to the mind. With the same way the body or a sense, for example, hearing makes the mind think. The mind is the joining link between spirit and body to focus its attention to something we will have to give it something to imagine, something to capture. The mind cannot understand or imagine God it does not perceive spirits or feelings it can get closer to God with its stopping. The mind hovers in this known world so we give it a space to focus and stop: heaven. The heaven because the mind has to think of God and God is found there. The thought of heaven causes the mind to have rare thoughts and encourages it to stop thinking or to be concentrated on the words of the prayer. According to Evagrios the Pontikos (For prayer, 70(Migne 79, 1181C)): "the prayer is the displacement of thoughts": who are in heaven.

hallowed be Your Name: The body prays and is hallowed (sanctified). This phrase means Your Name is holy. You are holy. You are God. We exclaim You are God. In addition, hallowed be Your Name, means Your Name hallows, sanctifies. You God hallow, hallow us. God hallows us by filling our body with the Holy Spirit inside and out because that is what hallow means. Leviticus 19:2: "Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.'" John 17:19: Jesus Christ: "For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified." How is the body unified with God? By being hallowed, sanctified, filled with the Holy Spirit.

Pray with love. Feel love to God when you pray. It is useful to shout with all your strength: God we love you, just before praying Mark 12:30, spirit. Pray continuously until you concentrate on the words of the prayer. Insist, try to be concentrated on the words of the prayer. In the beginning you might be concentrated then the mind may start to wonder. Then, focus your mind and direct it to think only the words of the prayer even if you have to say the Our Father prayer 20 times, mind. Ask God to hallow, sanctify your body to be filled with the Holy Spirit, body.

The above text was developed to give a new dimension to prayer. A prayer which the spirit, the mind and the body of a man become one with God.

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