Inappropriate time to pray?

[prospectmom]

I have the best one... you should always pray when you do not want to... when it is the last thing you want to do as when that is happening your in the grips of satan and prayer will help the most.

[LostSheep]

I have the best one... you should always pray when you do not want to... when it is the last thing you want to do as when that is happening your in the grips of satan and prayer will help the most.

I'm beginning to see how true that is. And it always pays off when I do it.

[MikeUpton]

So for instance, praying in thanks for your food in your car after going through the drive through, fine. A Mormon praying in thanks for the bottle of Jack Daniels and the blow, not so much.

which brings up a somewhat unrelated but useful point: there are many instances after sinning (or perhaps on your way to commit the sin) that you will feel unworthy to pray or that it is improper to do so, but this is a lie the adversary uses.

[Dravin]

which brings up a somewhat unrelated but useful point: there are many instances after sinning (or perhaps on your way to commit the sin) that you will feel unworthy to pray or that it is improper to do so, but this is a lie the adversary uses.

Very true. Feelings of being unworthy to pray or having crossed a line of no return are a couple of his favorite tactics. If he can't keep you doing the sin he'll try to keep you from repenting.

[ztodd]

I dont ever kneel to pray. a) I dont like kneeling and b) I find it hard to pray outloud, I dont know why I just cant do it, my mind goes blank and I cant get any words out. For this reason I never say prayers at church. My prayers are 'thoughts' to God in my head, usually done as Im walking to work, on the bus or lying in bed. Thats how I pray.

Keep trying SoulSearcher- I don't know how to explain it very good, but there's just something about praying out loud that really adds some special meaning to it. Kneeling does that too, I think.

[Maya]

Hemi : Moving forward together LDS.net

might have made it as a t-shirt...

Sometimes I feel a bit stupid in church parties, when we pray for what is at the table to be nurishing and good for oss... and it is all cakes and cokies.... I been brainwashed to believe there is NOTHING nurishing in them. I doubt we should ask such a miracle. I think we should pray that it would taste good and we would enjoy it, but that afterwards it would not detach on our bodies but find its way out fast.

[AnnieO]

In my experience I've often found that those prayers that are just 'off the cuff' in the shower or while driving and travelling, they're the ones that I seem to be more sincere about than other stuff. Like I know I should pray before food and morning and evening but I guess I pray more 'honestly'* when they're just prayers of the heart.

*honestly isn't the correct word but I can't think of what I mean right now. :)

[MikeUpton]

No but our spirits should be drawn out in a continuous prayer with gratitude as the number one topic.

I'm posting that one somewhere prominent

[Gwen]

a side note on the subject that several have mentioned about how silly it can be to bless sweets to nourish and strengthen us. don't forget that when blessing that they will taste good and enjoy them to bless those that prepared them, provided them, organized the activity..... etc. i find when i'm asked to give a "blessing" on food that really shouldn't be blessed it's really a blessing of gratitude for the activity and a blessing on those that have worked so hard to make it happen.

[Guest Alana]

Reminds me of a story from The Friend years ago. Two boys sneak into a cow pasture that they know they aren't supposed to be in. Suddenly they are being chased by a big mean horned bull. The one boy says to the other "quick, kneel with me and pray!" the other boy says "no way, I'm praying while I run!"

I think the lesson of the story was that you need to do everything in your power to help yourself and leave the rest to the Lord, but I think it also illustrates that 1. You can pray to your heavenly father anytime, even if the trouble you're in is your fault and 2. You can pray while on the move.

[Hemidakota]

Sometimes I feel a bit stupid in church parties, when we pray for what is at the table to be nurishing and good for oss... and it is all cakes and cokies.... I been brainwashed to believe there is NOTHING nurishing in them. I doubt we should ask such a miracle. I think we should pray that it would taste good and we would enjoy it, but that afterwards it would not detach on our bodies but find its way out fast.

Concur!

[the Ogre]

Reminds me of a story from The Friend years ago. Two boys sneak into a cow pasture that they know they aren't supposed to be in. Suddenly they are being chased by a big mean horned bull. The one boy says to the other "quick, kneel with me and pray!" the other boy says "no way, I'm praying while I run!"

I think the lesson of the story was that you need to do everything in your power to help yourself and leave the rest to the Lord, but I think it also illustrates that 1. You can pray to your heavenly father anytime, even if the trouble you're in is your fault and 2. You can pray while on the move.

Thank you for the cute story. I think the only inappropriate time to pray is on the street-corners to be seen of men.

I lived for a while in Brooklyn, NY. There seemed to be quite a bit of this with Chabbad. I have also seen it in South Korea with Korean Pentecostals.

The only other time I think is when visiting a non-LDS home and offering a spontaneous prayer without permission of the resident of the home.

Otherwise, I can't think of a time when prayer wouldn't be a good thing, especially if it is done in private and done when one has time on their hands, but I too have prayed while driving or riding my bike (I usually pull out my iPod in those cases as the music can be a distraction).

[Hemidakota]

Good one...

[MikeUpton]

I heard a story, (yea i hate hearsay, so hence this disqualifier: i dont know if its a true story, but it sounds reasonable. It could have been from a talk somewhere, but it could have been from a friend.)

It goes, when Gordon B. Hinckley was the prophet, he was sitting in a restaurant with some other general authorities, when the food was served. Everyone began to eat, and then one of the GA's piped up, "excuse me, aren't we going to say a prayer to bless the food first?"

The prophet responded, "Are you grateful for the food you have to eat?"

The GA said, "Yes."

The prophet said "Then eat it!"

Often when I am in a public place eating food, I say a prayer in my heart, rather than going through anything formal.

Edited May 20, 2009 by MikeUpton

[Maureen]

tomk said:

Certainly, public prayers should always be uttered using appropriate language and in appropriate circumstances.

When you say "appropriate language", are you referring to using archaic pronouns like thee and thou?

[ztodd]

tomk said:When you say "appropriate language", are you referring to using archaic pronouns like thee and thou?

"While worldly manners of daily dress and speech are becoming more casual, we have been asked to protect the formal, proper language of prayer. In our prayers we use the respectful pronouns Thee, Thou, Thy, and Thine instead of You, Your, and Yours. Doing so helps us to be humble. That can also enhance our prayers. Scripture so declares, “Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers.”

LDS.org - Ensign Article - Lessons from the Lord's Prayers

[adobo44]

Is there such thing as an inappropriate time to pray? I know it seems like a strange question, but say you're in the shower, or in your car. Is it irreverent to kneel in the shower, or pull your car over to pray?

There is no inappropriate place,or time,for that matter to pray,you can also pray in your heart when you are in the car,or a restaurant,or in an airplane,but the Lord is ready for you 24/7,as long as you pray with sincere intent ,in all humilaty,the Lord will always hear your prayers.

[Tough Grits]

Is there such thing as an inappropriate time to pray? I know it seems like a strange question, but say you're in the shower, or in your car. Is it irreverent to kneel in the shower, or pull your car over to pray?

I have really enjoyed the comments on this thread! Especially the poem posted by Wingnut, the story posted by Alana, and the insighful post by prospectmom.

Dravin's self-proclaimed "tangent" also brought up some interesting points.

I have also been frustrated with myself when praying over family meals, and the redundancy of the food giving us "strength and nourishment". We are told not to have vain, repetitive prayers. I don't think my family is trying to do that, I think we just can't be creative and fresh over every single meal...which is 3 meals multiplied by 7 days a week...hmmm...that would amount to a lot of creativity!!!! LOL

As humans, I think we just tend to be habitual and repetitive anyway. I remember when my daughter was only 2 or 3, and my husband would go to work at 10:30 at night.

Every night I would kiss him at the back door and tell him to be careful. One night---as my daughter stood by watching---when I got to the part about being careful my daughter said, "Yeah, don't step in any ant piles."

We both laughed. I guess to a small toddler she thought her daddy needed to watch out for ant piles, as that was her greatest fear when walking outside. She had no idea that I was referring to my husband being careful on the road at night. Either way, my husband wasn't going to be safe just because I told him to be careful, but it made me feel better and it was a way of expressing my love for him.

Our prayers do need to be sincere, but sincerity is not lost---I feel---if we occasionally lack freshness in our terminology. Heavenly Father knows our intents.

Which is why I like the "conversational" prayers that I have with Him throughout the day. They are completely fresh and based on what I am thinking, doing, needing at that very moment. At any rate, our prayers---formal, conversational, slightly redundant---are all communication with Heavenly Father and are better than the silence of not speaking to Him at all.

At least in my opinion. ~TG

[Seanette]

Is there such thing as an inappropriate time to pray? I know it seems like a strange question, but say you're in the shower, or in your car. Is it irreverent to kneel in the shower, or pull your car over to pray?

I wouldn't think so. I'd consider closing your eyes in prayer while driving inappropriate, but that's for safety reasons.

My understanding of Scripture boils down to "we should pray when we feel moved to do so". Kneeling is considered optimal for personal/family prayer, but not mandatory. I usually do my personal prayer seated or lying down, so that physical discomfort isn't distracting me from focusing on the prayer.