{"id":2399,"date":"2014-09-28T09:00:21","date_gmt":"2014-09-28T14:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=2399"},"modified":"2014-09-28T22:16:19","modified_gmt":"2014-09-29T03:16:19","slug":"the-proper-way-to-pray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=2399","title":{"rendered":"The Proper Way to Pray"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Right<\/a>Many complicate the prayer process. They feel we must say the right words, at certain times of day, at specific places, and in the perfect position or God will not listen to us.<\/p>\n

Opinions on these issues abound. Should our hands be open, closed or lifted up to God? Are righteous prayers only done in Hebrew and Latin? What about repeating Christian mantras? Should our eyes be open, closed, or lifted up to God? Should we pray silently or out loud? Should we pray at church, at home, out in nature, and on the freeway coming home from work? Should all prayers start with \u201cOur Father who art in heaven\u201d and end with \u201camen\u201d? Should we pray in the morning when we get up, during our lunch hour, or at night when we go to bed? Is there a magic formula that can assure God will give us what we want, if we do everything exactly right?<\/p>\n

Truthfully, these things are not important to God. They are peripheral issues, matters of personal preference. What makes one person feel closer to God will not do the same for another. The danger is judging others who do not do it the way we think it should be done. Also a Pharisaical approach takes the heart out of heartfelt prayers. Prayer becomes more of a ritual than a heart to heart talk with God. God is looking for that personal connection with us.<\/p>\n

Some get very fixated on having a perfect posture for prayer. There are no rules in the Bible about this either, but we find lots of examples of\u2026<\/p>\n