Prayer is Universal

Prayer is universal to most religions and is central to Christiainity. In more mainline denominations prayer appears more ritualized centering on the “the Lord’s Prayer”, and pre-written orations compared to the composed on the fly, free flowing petitions of Pentecostal and Bible centered churches. Nevertheless faithful followers in groups from Assemblies of God to Baptists to Catholics to Lutherans to Orthodox to Presbyterians to Pentecostals to Wesleyans all pray. So pray!

How to Pray

If you are at a loss for words the “Lord’s Prayer” (also sometimes called the “Our Father”) is a great place to start:

Therefore pray in this way: Our Father, who is 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 debts as we also forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil. For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen. (Mat 6:9-13 MKJV)

Many believe, and I am among them, that the Lord is not so much teaching exacltly what to say as he is teaching how to pray. Important elements in this prayer include:

Speaking directly to the Father, calling him Father
Praising God, “Hallowed Be thy name…”
Asking God for what you need in all areas, physical needs, guidance, etc.

“Give us this day our daily bread…”
“Forgive our debts”
Lead us not into Temptation, but deliver us..

Acknowledging his power and sovereignty.
“For yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory”

The bible is not like a technical manual where all the specifications for how things work are spelled out in precise order. Other guiding principles for prayer were taught by the apostles and early disciples in other books of the new testament. Some of these follow:

Pray frequently and often

There is a old joke that goes like this: Why is it when people talk to God they are praying, but when God talks back, they are schizophrenic? Prayer is talking to God. God is our heavenly father. God is always near us, always listening. We get near to God when we pray. God wants us to pray constantly. God does answer prayer. It is a lifestyle of constant communication between us and our heavenly father.

Pray without ceasing.(1Thes 5:17)

Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; (Romans 12:12KJV)

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; (Ephesians 6:18KJV )

The first century church prayed constantly.

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
(Acts 2:42 KJV)

Paul and the people that ministered with him prayed constantly.

For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; (Col 1:9KJV)

Conditions of Prayer

There are some rules to prayer. If you want an answer you have to believe that God will answer.

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.(Mark 11:24)

The next verses tell us a condition for receiving forgiveness, forgiving others.

And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.(Mark 11:25-26NKJV)

There are other things we are taught that interfere with our receiving answers to our prayers, for example, husbands that don’t honor their wives as joint heirs of the grace of God shouldn’t expect answers to prayer.

You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.(1 Pet4:7NASB)

If we pray for things that come from our basic selfish desires we can’t expect an answer.

You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.(James 4:3)

The above verse shows good reason to not only pray but to study to learn what are good things to pray for and have in our lives. God’s word teaches us that we are to pray fervently, earnestly living righteously to get answers to prayer.

The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.(James 5:16b-18)

Do you know what it means to be earnest? It means to do it with feeling, to have some passion in it. The opposite of praying earnestly is to pray and fall aleep doing it. The opposite of praying earnestly is to pray mindlessly with words that you are not focusing on. Praying earnestly means praying with focus and intensity. Pray like a child does when they ask for something they really want. That is praying earnestly.

Ready, Set, Pray

Have you ever been in love, or made a new friend? Did you talk to them? Of course you did. Do you ever get with friends, counselors, co-workers? Do you talk to them? Of course you do. God is all of those things, and talking to God is called praying. So pray. Pray regularly. Pray often. Pray when you are in trouble. Pray when something good happens. Pray when you want to do something. And if you are having a hard time getting started, pray about that.

Original Christianity

This web is a look at primitive, original Christianity, how it developed over time into innumerable denominations and divisions and how original Christianity compares to current practices. It is a resource for looking systematically at the beliefs and practices in the original Christian church, numerous movements and churches since, the modern Christian church, with discussion about how all these changes happened and especially focusing on how well each of these compares to scripture.

Why?

"Jesus Christ is Lord" is the common belief of billions of Christians. But there are tens of thousands of denominations. While ancient denominations like the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox claim to be the original and consequently "true" church, innumerable churches and denominations have started citing error in these ancient bastions and/or the leading of the spirit to reform the church and restore the church.

There are numerous disputed issues. Cessation doctrine (prophecy and the gifts of the spirit ended with the apostles), infant baptism, the inerrancy of Scripture, the form of Church government, the role of women in the church, and currently, the acceptance of homosexuality are just some of the many disputed doctrines that cause the Christian body to be so divided.

The Reformation movement performed an invaluable service. But instead of simply reforming the church or simply working to create one more correct alternative church the Reformation movement worked to increase the number of disputes over scripture and consequently the number of splits has increased exponentially.

The problem with looking at all the denominations is that it can become confusing to just compare this church or denomination to that one. The complexity of looking at all the theological implications can become overwhelming. For many busy people that means just making the best, less than fully educated decision they can, and staying with the church of their heritage or finding a church where they feel they can grow. Just finding the information can be an overwhelming task. Putting it into some understandable framework is an even more complicated task.

This web site, rather than trying to just compare all the current positions on the differences goes back to the beginning (primitive, original Christianity) and evaluates Christianity starting at that point. This includes looking at the gospel accounts, but also includes looking at early church documents as well as other ancient documents, both secular and religious. (There is also a section on Philosophy because its profound impact on Christian theological development.) The articles have numerous references to works both in print and online.

Next the web site looks at the developments in Christianity from original Christianity forward to see how the church developed over time comparing each development with what we know about original Christianity. The goals are:

To trace the development of the church from start to now to see how the church at large wound up with all these competing churches/denominations today, and

To equip people with the knowledge of original Christianity to enable people to make an informed decision on what is the true faith and practice of the church Jesus Christ started.

For an overview of the articles by category, go to the Table of Contents Page.

This is a work in progress. My prayer is that sharing my journey is helpful to you and that together we can grow in the faith that Jesus Christ made available some two thousand years ago.

Also Please Pardon our Dust. There are hundreds of posts and some of them still have typos. If you find typos You can contact Mark at [email protected]. Please be so kind as to mention the name of the post as well as to copy and paste the section with errors. Thank you and God Bless You.

How to Pray

Pray frequently and often

Conditions of Prayer

Ready, Set, Pray

Original Christianity

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