{"id":841,"date":"2011-09-19T03:00:28","date_gmt":"2011-09-19T07:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lettinggo\/?p=841"},"modified":"2011-09-18T18:54:16","modified_gmt":"2011-09-18T22:54:16","slug":"how-to-pray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2011\/09\/how-to-pray.html","title":{"rendered":"How to Pray"},"content":{"rendered":"

Question: <\/strong>What is prayer and what\u2019s the most effective way to pray? Should I be really be asking God for specific things?<\/p>\n

Answer: <\/strong>Take time, at least twice a day — though preferably as often as you possibly can — to simply, deliberately become aware of what you are connected to, and then drop it in favor of your wish to have God\u2019s Life. Prayer is not about asking for things from God, but first to be with Him, then in Him. This is the essence of prayer. It has nothing to do with gifts. It has to do with awakening to that Being that isn\u2019t in time. This is the Gift of all gifts.<\/p>\n

Question:<\/strong> How can I practice ceaseless <\/em>prayer?<\/p>\n

Answer:<\/strong> Consciously placing a short prayer within your own thoughts, and working to keep it there, helps to keep you from seeing only the content of your usual thoughts. This short, repeated supplication works like a message within a message — only when you see it there, within your own thoughts, its presence reawakens you to remember that you want to remember something Higher. Begin today, this moment, to use your whole life — every moment of it — to be for something that is in reality for<\/em> you. So that when you\u2019re eating, walking, talking, doing whatever you\u2019re doing, you have your small unceasing prayer before you. Even if life starts to run away with you, keep your prayer running through you. Keep it right there on the mirror of your mind so that in the middle of any conversation or event you can look up and let it remind you of your wish to be for something Higher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: What is prayer and what\u2019s the most effective way to pray? Should I be really be asking God for specific things? Answer: Take time, at least twice a day — though preferably as often as you possibly can — to simply, deliberately become aware of what you are connected to, and then drop it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":232,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,7],"tags":[806,807,809,808],"class_list":["post-841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-meditation-prayer","category-self-remembering-awareness","tag-asking-god","tag-ceaseless-prayer","tag-prayer-practices","tag-supplication"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Pray - Letting Go with Guy Finley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2011\/09\/how-to-pray.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Pray - Letting Go with Guy Finley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Question: What is prayer and what\u2019s the most effective way to pray? Should I be really be asking God for specific things? 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His ideas cut straight to the heart of our most important personal and social issues - relationships, success, addiction, stress, peace, happiness, freedom - and lead the way to a higher life. Finley is the Founder and Director of Life of Learning Foundation, a nonprofit Center for Spiritual Discovery. He is the acclaimed author of \"The Secret of Letting Go\" and more than 45 other books and audio programs that have sold over two million copies in 26 languages worldwide. His work is widely endorsed by doctors, business professionals, celebrities, and religious leaders of all denominations. Through Life of Learning Foundation, Guy has presented over 5,000 unique self-realization seminars to thousands of grateful students throughout North America and Europe over the past 20 years and has been a guest on over 700 television and radio shows, including national appearances on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and NPR. 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