How to pray?
The power of prayer. You must pray with faith - your faith will save you. Most religions claim that ritual phrases that are uttered without religious sentiment remain empty words. They are made effective only by the power of faith. Prayer is only the verbal expression of aspirations to God.
Let us recall the episode from the Gospel when a sick woman, seeing Jesus Christ surrounded by a crowd, thought: “If I only touch the hem of His clothes, I will immediately be healed.” This is what happened, although she did not utter any magical formulas. The Lord told her: “Your faith has saved you.” Note: not prayer, not application to clothing (the Shroud, icons, relics in crayfish, not pilgrimage...), but faith.
Prayer is a test of our sincerity: can we say simple words with faith, from the depths of our hearts? If we can, the prayer will be heard.
Prayer is an appeal to the Lord, a way of connecting the earthly and spiritual worlds. Therefore, there are no specific rules on how to pray that must be strictly observed. Those who doubt the correctness of actions during prayer can be given only one piece of advice: act and speak as a soul turned to God feels. Such an appeal will be immediately heard by our Heavenly Creator, because it will come from the very heart.
All human life centers around himself. He cannot forget for a moment about his problems, desires and needs. It is not easy to even realize that there are people who are capable of renouncing their own “I” and unselfishly and incessantly praying for others. Their prayer gains effective and real power. What happens to people at the moment of their renunciation of their own pride and worldly vanity?
Prayer of the Optina Elders.
Lord, let me meet with peace of mind everything that the coming day will bring me. Let me completely surrender to Your holy will. For every hour of this day, instruct and support me in everything. Whatever news I receive during the day, teach me to accept it with a calm soul and a firm conviction that everything is Your holy will. In all my words and deeds, guide my thoughts and feelings. In all unforeseen cases, do not let me forget that everything was sent down by You. Teach me to act directly and wisely with each member of my family, without confusing or upsetting anyone. Lord, give me strength to endure the fatigue of the coming day and all the events during the day. Guide my will and teach me to pray, believe, hope, endure, forgive and love. Amen.
Prayer and Energy
For our words to reach God, they must be filled with energy, otherwise you will not be heard. Initially, a person has a very powerful energy reserve, but most people waste it in vain, doing empty, petty things. We do not love our neighbors, as was bequeathed to us, but love is the most powerful energy, we are afraid of retribution for the sins we have committed, and fear is a loss of energy.
We are angry, we hate, and drop by drop of strength leaves us. When we try to pray, it turns out weak and lifeless. Therefore, before saying a prayer, it is necessary to free yourself from envy, anger, and any negativity. After such cleansing, a huge amount of energy will be released in your soul, which will flow in prayer. Believers say: “Being vindictive and praying is the same as sowing in the sea and waiting for the harvest.”
How does prayer work?
Prayer is not only extremely important, prayer is a great privilege for every believer
.
But here’s the bad thing: people who pray a lot begin to brag about it: “Oh!
I pray so much! I am special!" It's like a dog saying,
"I'm a special dog because I bark a lot!"
We don't become special just because we pray.
We must pray! But the devil wants us to become proud: “Wow!
I prayed for four whole hours today! What a great guy I am!” I pray and read the Bible not only for the purpose of receiving something from God,
I pray and read also in order to find out what belongs to me, in order to benefit from what God has endowed me with
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Some say, "I believe in prayer"
. And I believe in God, who hears prayers and answers them. It is not prayer, but God, who deals with our needs. And we should not elevate prayer above God. In cults and some pagan religions, people worship the sun, moon, water - they worship the creation, not the Creator. In the same way, prayer can be worshiped if it is given a more honorable place than God.
Communication with God is what we need in
. Don't glorify prayer. Prayer is needed to develop a deeper relationship with God. It is not meant to magnify her, but to magnify God.
The Lord once told me to teach not so much about prayer itself, but about the response to prayer. He said: “You can pray, and the Holy Spirit, knowing your desire to see His action, will begin to act, but if the people for whom you are praying do not want to respond to the action of God, then prayer will be powerless.”
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Of course, it is necessary to pray, but it also requires the desire of the person for whom they are praying to take a step towards God. Prayer has no power to force a person to make a choice. He must make the choice himself. And you can't make a choice for him. We pray for a person, and God shows us how much He wants to do for him, how much He has prepared for him, and we begin to wait for all this to appear in his life through our prayer. But nothing will happen if that person himself does not want it to happen.
“For it was announced to us, as well as to them; But the word they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with the faith of those who heard it” (Hebrews 4:2)
God's Word will not bring any change if it is misunderstood, if it is not received, if a person does not act according to what he heard. A word is just a word, it is dead if it is just written on paper. But it comes to life when they start performing it. Did you have to get out of bed this morning and catch your Bible because it was jumping all over the room praising the Lord? She is motionless. The preached Word will do no good unless it is followed.
God's Word will come alive and begin to act when we begin to act according to the Word.
Then it will bring us great benefits, help strengthen our marriage, raise children correctly, build a business, strengthen us spiritually, and give us health.
Hell shakes when your prayer sounds, but the choice still remains with the person for whom you pray. Prayer cannot force people to do what God expects of them. He may encourage them to do something, but he will not force them to do it.
Our prayer produces enormous power. And the more you pray, the more power your prayer will have. God knows how to control this power, and He does it. He can restore what is destroyed. Prayer is designed to make what God has prepared available to people
, and not to force them to do what God expects of them.
Sometimes it happens that you pray for someone, but that person is moving in the completely opposite direction. Then the devil begins to tell us that our prayer did not work. It robs us of confidence in the Word, confidence in our ability to pray, and confidence that we understand anything about prayer at all.
My brother once told me that there was a woman in his church who had been married to an unbeliever for many years. Her ex-husband is mired in many sins and does not want to accept Christ. They have not lived together for eighteen years now, but she continues to pray for him and does not allow the thought that he may not become a believer, because she believes in it so much. But this position is wrong. Sometimes we are so proud of how strong our faith is. We say: “I firmly believe, which means everything will work out!”
But this is trust in your faith, and not in God. And the devil, taking advantage of our ignorance in the matter of prayer, begins to assure us that faith and prayers do not work. I'm sure her prayers had great power. Any prayer has enormous power, but there is someone who rejects this power - this is the person for whom they are praying, and then the prayer becomes ineffective.
Prayer is not intended to force people to do something, but to give God the opportunity to work in their hearts, to lead them to the right decision.
But if a person does not want to change, then he will have to come to terms with his choice.
Believe in God's power, be bold in prayer. God will give you what you pray for and what you confess. Come boldly to the throne of grace to receive what you need. But you cannot get anything for another person. He himself must want to receive something from God. You cannot receive salvation for another person, he must receive it himself. You can tell others about salvation, but you cannot receive it for others. The only thing you can do for other people is pray for them.
Smith Wigglesworth once said that God told him to go pray for a preacher who had been suffering from tuberculosis for a long time. Because he could not be healed, he became angry with God. Various people prayed for him a lot, but healing did not happen, and he became even more offended. And now he was dying. And God told Smith to go and get the man out of bed. Smith came to him, he had other believers, they prayed for the sick man. He also prayed in the name of Jesus Christ, and God's power filled that house. Six times God's power descended on that place, but nothing happened, the sick man was unshakable. And when the power of God descended for the seventh time, the man broke down, cried and began to repent before God of his offenses against Him. And then the sick man was healed and got out of bed completely healthy. Notice that the power of God came upon a person, but it was necessary for him to respond to this power. God wanted this man to stand up, even though he was offended by Him.
Our prayer brings God into the life of the one for whom we pray.
And God is waiting for this invitation.
Lester Sumrall's mom prayed a lot for her son. He was a naughty child and caused her a lot of problems. But at the age of 17 he fell ill with tuberculosis, and doctors said that he had only a few hours to live. That night God showed him a vision: a huge Bible the size of the ceiling, and at a distance a coffin, fully prepared for the funeral. The Lord told him: “Today you must make a choice: either you will preach My Word, or you will be put in a tomb.”
. And Lester Sumrall made the right choice thanks to his mother's prayers. And it was through his mother’s prayers that God showed him this vision.
Continue to pray that God will show the person you are praying for His will. A person can refuse and choose his own. But you continue to pray, and God will continue to work in his life as long as you pray. God never tires of working with those He loves so much. Your prayers enable God's power to operate.
Hagin's brother's sister got cancer. Day and night he prayed for her healing. And through his prayers and faith, she was healed. But five years later, her cancer appeared again, and because during these five years she did not pray, did not read the Word, and did not fight unbelief, she died of cancer. God told Hagin that she was healed the first time by his faith, but when she fell ill the second time, her faith was required, and she did not have faith, so she died. When Hagin was asked how he prayed for his sister’s healing, whether in tongues, whether he quoted scriptures speaking about healing, he replied: “I did everything that just came to my mind.”
. When one thing doesn't help, you need to do something else. We must continue to pray, because the prayer of a righteous person activates the great power of God.
“Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it, and it will be done for you”
(Mark 11:24) Believe even when you pray
, and not when something begins to happen or change. Believe that God began to act during prayer.
No matter how long you pray for a person, a month, a year, several years, believe that God is working in his heart, working in his life. And if we stopped praying, it means that we did not believe that God began to act even during our prayer. God needs your faith in order for Him to work.
. When there is faith, then there is power. But, remember, it is necessary that the person for whom they are praying wants to change.
Once at one prayer service, during prayer, I saw Jesus, He came onto the stage and stood silently for a long time. He was waiting for my reaction to His appearance, waiting for me to tell Him something, to ask Him what He wanted to tell me. It was only when I did this that He began to speak and gave me instructions on what I needed to do for the next year. He will not put pressure and will not tell us anything until we ask Him to do so. You don't have because you don't ask. Jesus may come, but nothing may happen unless you accept Him.
We miss a lot if we don't pray. But when prayer comes answered, success comes, blessings come - don't forget where it all came from, and don't get so attached to it that you forget about God. Do not make an idol out of what you value, but thank God, pray, read His Word. God, having blessed you, does not expect you to now begin to worship these blessings. You must put nothing above God, then your life will be truly blessed.
Nancy Dufresne
Where to pray?
You can pray anywhere, but it is better to have a permanent place for daily prayer, where you are not distracted. Although it is very good to turn to God with short prayers on the topics of the day where and when you need it. In his book “The School of Prayer,” Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh said that when we choose a special place at home for daily prayer, we “win for God” a piece of our sinful land. It is as if we are creating at home a small semblance of a temple, a holy place where our communication with God will take place. In such a “prayed” place, we feel the presence of the Lord more strongly and it is easier for us to establish a connection with him. Icons remind us of the presence of God - visible evidence of God’s greatness, “windows to the heavenly world.”
St. Petersburg Church of Christ
How does the life of a believer differ from that of an unbeliever? What came into my life with the decision to follow Christ? Many things: studying the Bible, attending church meetings, struggling with sin, confidence in salvation and the love of God, and perhaps the most important and inspiring thing - prayer.
Is it easy for you to pray? What are your prayers? What do they mean to you? And for God?
What feelings do you experience during prayer?
It is human nature to worship God. To worship a power that is higher than him is incomprehensible and incomprehensible. People try to question her, pray to her.
But our God is not like that, He is not an idol, we do not need to guess how He treats us, because we know that He is filled with great and sacrificial love for us. We have the Bible - sacred Scripture, we believe that this book contains His Word. And we know that He is filled with love for us from the fact that Jesus Christ died for our sins.
So what is prayer? To put it simply, it’s a conversation with God. But as we know, conversations can be different: short and long, calm and emotional, inspiring and not so much. And what kind of conversation it is depends on many factors - weather, mood, physical condition, location, purpose of the conversation, and perhaps most importantly - with whom we are talking.
Prayer is not just a conversation - but a conversation with God. Prayer is the foundation of our spiritual life. Why? Yes, because what our prayers will determine what our perception of God and the world around us will be, what our spiritual state will be, whether we will have reverent awe of God, whether we will have peace in our hearts, order in life, strength fight against sin, the ability to forgive and love the people around us.
Prayer is also the foundation of our spiritual health. Our personal spiritual health and the health of the church as a whole depends on our prayers. We talked a lot about mercy and forgiveness, about how conflicts are a big challenge for us as a church. I believe that if our prayer life were stronger, these conflicts would be resolved faster or would not exist at all.
The power of prayer is that it changes us from the inside out. God changes us from the inside through prayer.
Where did I get all this from? From the prayer of Christ. One day the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. And He taught. Now this passage from the Bible is the well-known prayer “Our Father”.
He told them: when you pray, say: “Our Father who art in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; Give us our daily bread; and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every debtor to us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Luke 11:2-4)
I have five points for you.
1 Awe
2 Thanksgiving
3 Hope
4 Humility
5 Forgiveness
This is the power of prayer! I believe good, quality, deep prayer can give you all of the above.
Trembling
You remember who God is, where He is, and where you are (Who is in heaven).
How do you imagine God? How do you feel when you hear these words?
The Lord answered Job from the storm and said: Who is this, darkening Providence with words without meaning? Now gird up your loins like a man: I will ask you, and you explain to Me: where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you know. Who put the measure on it, if you know? or who stretched the rope along it? On what were its foundations established, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars rejoiced in common, when all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:1-7)
Job spoke quite boldly with God, and God explains to him over the course of three chapters that this is not the way to communicate with God.
to keep the commandment purely and blamelessly, even until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in due time will be revealed by the blessed and only strong King of kings and Lord of lords, the only one who has immortality, Who dwells in the unapproachable light, Whom no man has seen and cannot see. Honor and eternal power to him! Amen. (1 Tim 6:14-16)
This is what our God is like - he is amazing and incomprehensible. His power is so great that we cannot imagine it.
This greeting, “Our Father who art in heaven,” had deep meaning and a huge picture of God for Jesus. Are you in awe? Is the picture close to the real thing? Prayer helps with this. Even a greeting in prayer can immediately put us in our place. I now have a channel of communication with God, the great and omnipotent. Everything around you may fade and seem unimportant even at the beginning of your prayer.
Personally, I have problems with imagination. If you do too, read psalms, listen to spiritual songs. Sometimes I need to read the Bible first. While driving in the car, I listen to spiritual songs.
Make time for prayer! God is worthy of this. Find a time and place! The main desire. Revelations come through prayer.
Thanksgiving
“Hallowed be thy name”—what do these words mean to you? Let Your name be holy! Let everyone know about You! These are probably the words of a man who is happy that he knows God. Who is filled with gratitude for what God has given him.
From one blood He brought forth the entire human race to inhabit the entire face of the earth, assigning predetermined times and limits to their dwelling, so that they would seek God, lest they sense Him and find Him - although He is not far from each of us. (Acts 17:26-27)
It was God who made you where you are and at what time.
Carrying your cross means coping with the circumstances of your life.
But God proves His love for us by the fact that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. (Rom 5:8)
The result of prayer can and should be deep gratitude for the sacrifice of Christ. Prayer will help us to be filled with gratitude.
Hope
The direction to heaven is “Kingdom Come.”
What helped you decide to follow Christ? After all, it was not an easy decision. We already had an established way of life. For me, it’s definitely the realization that after death there are two paths. The path to God with Christ is a difficult path, but it is the path to heaven. Do you always remember this? About where we are going. When we say “Thy kingdom come,” we are essentially saying to God, may we soon be with you in Heaven. This is where we are heading. The early Christians had the expression “Maranatha” - “Come, O Lord.” They passionately wanted this - the arrival of the kingdom of heaven. And this means the destruction of everything material and temporary. This is why many sold their property - they expected that Jesus was about to return.
What now? Nobody knows that day and hour. Almost 2000 years have passed. Well, we don't know if Jesus will come in our lifetime. I think we are all tempted to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the world.
One day Jesus told the parable of the sower.
and those who fell among the thorns are those who listen to the word, but, leaving, are overwhelmed by the worries, wealth and pleasures of life and do not bear fruit; (Luke 8:14)
There are other soils, but this one is for you and me.
Causes of infertility:
- worries (search for food, clothing, family, dacha, etc.)
- wealth (you are rich and contented, you simply have nowhere to strive, the problems of others do not bother you)
- everyday pleasures (what to do - watch football, play on the computer, watch a TV series, read a book, don’t want to think about others)
Jesus told parables to expose and stir people up. Know yourself and repent.
To awaken jealousy is the purpose of the parable.
The Pharisees showed irritation when they recognized themselves in the parable. It is unpleasant. What is the purpose of the parable of the sower? Who is it addressed to? To all people. It has an illustration of a good heart and three illustrations of a heart that is not in a good place. What should be the reaction of those who hear?
I think her goal to awaken jealousy in us is to understand what kind of soil our heart is like at the moment and deal with it in order to come to a state of a good heart that bears fruit.
Why do we need church meetings? Don't forget to stay sharp. Remember that in addition to the material world, there is also a spiritual one.
Prayer, especially daily prayer, reminds us of where we are going, what is truly valuable and what is temporary. This is her strength.
Humility
“Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven!”
You indicate your needs and trust (Our daily bread)
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:6-7)
Prayer is not a spell. The result of our prayer should be the feeling that God is in the know. This is for us. Peace in our hearts!
Open your desires - what do you want? And that should be enough.
The goal of our prayer should not be its fulfillment, but peace and tranquility.
Then Jesus comes with them to a place called Gethsemane, and says to the disciples: sit here while I go and pray there. And, taking Peter and both sons of Zebedee with him, he began to grieve and yearn. Then Jesus said to them: My soul is sorrowful unto death; abide here and watch with Me. And going away a little, he fell on his face, prayed and said: My Father! if possible, let this cup pass from Me; however, not as I want, but as You want. And he comes to the disciples and finds them sleeping, and says to Peter: Could you not watch with Me for one hour? Watch and pray, lest you fall into temptation: the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Again, going away another time, he prayed, saying: My Father! If this cup cannot pass from Me, lest I drink it, Thy will be done. And when he came, he found them sleeping again, for their eyes were heavy. And leaving them, he went away again and prayed a third time, saying the same word. Then He comes to His disciples and says to them: Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is being delivered into the hands of sinners; Arise, let us go: behold, he who betrayed Me has drawn near. (Matthew 26:36-46)
Two different Jesuses - the grieving one and the worried one. Calm, confident, decisive and strong.
Prayer is what gives peace to the heart. Pray until peace.
He knew what He needed to do, He knew He wouldn't get what He asked for. He needed to reveal his desires to God, talk about his feelings and accept.
Forgiveness
“Forgive us our sins, for we forgive our debtors.”
This is a tricky phrase. You immediately ask yourself the question - have I forgiven? I believe that we need to forgive in prayer.
I, I myself, blot out your transgressions for my own sake, and will not remember your sins: (Isaiah 43:25)
This is what our God is like! He forgives for His own sake, so as not to have resentment, negativity, in order to continue to fulfill the promise.
Forgive for yourself. Forgiveness is something that depends on us. Pray until forgiveness. It may take you three times or more, but get there. I have witnessed many times how my attitude changes.
Forgive us our sins. Prayer is where we need to learn to forgive and also feel forgiven. It's amazing how many bad things guilt can do to us.
Alexander Soloviev
Published April 21, 2022
Other Bible Lessons
The Power of Prayer - Experiments
In order to unravel the phenomenon of prayer in our time, the latest computer technologies are used.
• Neurophysiologist Valery Slezin back in 1986 recorded for the first time an encephalogram of the brains of clergy during their prayer. The result was sensational and was immediately accepted at a world psychiatric symposium. But the neurophysiologist in the USSR was almost fired from the institute. Slesin showed that brain activity actually disappears during prayer, i.e. it decreases tenfold. During the waking state, the adult brain operates at approximately 12 Hz. And while saying prayers, an electroencephalograph in the professor’s laboratory recorded activity of about 3 Hz.
These kinds of indicators would be typical if the participant in the experiment were unconscious. But for the researcher, the most surprising thing was something else: a frequency of 3 Hz is characteristic of the work of an infant’s consciousness. According to legend, Jesus Christ once said, “Be like children and be saved.” It is quite possible that this phrase is not just a beautiful metaphor, but a key commanded to humanity, a means that everyone can use for their salvation. With the help of prayer, an adult returns to the state of infancy, to pristine purity.
• British scientists from the Center for Brain Research in Cambridge conducted an experiment on 20 volunteers, among whom were 10 deeply religious people and the same number of atheists. Each participant in the experiment had electrodes attached to his arm and received weak electric shocks. During the experiment, believers were asked to look at an icon with the face of Jesus Christ, and atheists were asked to look at a reproduction of a Gauguin painting.
In 20 min. During the experiment, each of the volunteers received 20 unpleasant electrical shocks. However, the two groups perceived them differently. Those who looked at the face of Christ felt completely safe and did not worry. Moreover, the instruments showed that they did not experience as much pain as those who looked at Gauguin’s painting. A device that analyzes the functioning of the brain showed that the believers activated the anterior lobe of the right half, that is, these people themselves suppressed the pain inflicted on them. But atheists did not have such a brain reaction.
Dad got very sick. Doctors refrained from making predictions and just shrugged: “80 years, whatever you want!” My sister called me and, crying into the phone, told me how bad our daddy is. And I went up to the icon of Matronushka and began to pray. I don’t know how to pray, I said whatever came to mind, asked to ward off the illness and prolong my dad’s life.
This has never happened to me; I somehow lost myself in prayer. It was as if I was no longer at home, but floating somewhere, looking at myself from the outside, then there was a push and I sank to the floor. As if I woke up, woke up, if you want. My throat was dry, my head was heavy, but my heart felt calm. Dad didn’t get better right away, he was on the edge for some time, then his sister called and said that dad was feeling better. After that he lived for another 5 years.
Conversations with the priest. The Power of Prayer
Audio |
In the St. Petersburg studio of our TV channel, the rector of the church in honor of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir in the village of Ust-Dolyssy, Velikiye Luki diocese, priest Vladimir Flavyanov, answers questions from viewers. – The topic of today’s program is “The Power of Prayer.”
This is indeed a very capacious, very important topic. Each of our television viewers, and every person who turns to the Lord, knows what prayer is. But I would like to talk about its power and about those moments when it seems to us that the Lord does not hear our prayer. And yet, let's start with the most important thing: what is the power of prayer? – We have many examples of prayer books. And, of course, I immediately want to remember one of the greatest prophets - the prophet Elijah. When he was still young, but was already glorified as a great prophet, there was great persecution, Israel fell away from faith in God, and many prophets had already been killed. He complained: “Lord, they killed everyone, they are looking for me; I'm the last one." The Lord hid him in the desert, and a terrible heat began. And just like that, the prophet Elijah prayed... We remember this story from the Bible. Something else strikes me about this story. When children die, when the weak or, say, our relatives die, of course, everyone prays, and even more so in those ancient times there were no atheists or communists. All were believers, especially since they were Israel, God’s chosen people. And they all pray to God, they all remember Him, they all seem to turn to Him, but for three and a half years not a drop has fallen. And only the Lord heard the prayer of the prophet Elijah - and the rain poured down.
That is, it turns out that the Lord did not hear anyone. And although we say that God does not seem to hear, it seems to me that this is a little wrong. God still hears everyone. Another thing is that punishment is required for the lawlessness that the country has committed. That is, the country destroyed itself with its lack of faith. Now she had to turn to faith. Therefore, prayer in this case was needed in order to remember God. Therefore, prayer is a conversation with an interlocutor (as we are talking with you). We met, we talk - this is already a prayer.
That is, prayer can take different forms. Reading the Gospel is already prayer, pilgrimage is also prayer. We can pray in different ways. We can work, knit, worry about something - this is already prayer. Therefore, it may be different. Accordingly, prayer can have different strengths. Depending on the needs we have, the power of our prayer may change. If such a need arises (our shirt was stolen or something else), then we immediately begin to pray fervently, but if we constantly receive what we ask for, then in fact our prayer will lose power. Sometimes the Lord tests us. He doesn’t give us something, he tests our diligence and hard work.
I really like the story shown in the movie "The Island". The hero already realized that he was not a murderer, but the prayer did not change, he continued to pray: “Lord, forgive me.” This is just an indicator of its correctness. We continue to pray, we continue to talk.
– That is, the power of prayer also depends on the state of a person in which he is? If you imagine that everything is fine with a person, wonderful, no temptations, good health, healthy children, no poverty (in general, everything is fine), then, probably, there is nothing to pray for? Relatively speaking, do we need some kind of temptation for the power of prayer?
- It turns out like this.
– Or maybe the power of prayer is gratitude? Or is such a prayer rare?
– There are three types of prayer. We are now talking about prayer of petition, but it can also be prayer of gratitude. And the third type of prayer is doxological. Considering that our spiritual growth occurs little by little (after all, we are like little children), the Lord teaches us to ask in the same way. It's not bad. And then we must learn to give thanks, and then we must also learn and glorify God. This is the name of our faith: we are Orthodox, we learn to glorify God correctly. Therefore, at each level of prayer, a certain strength is also required.
It turns out that we most often talk about petitionary prayers, and in some places we even talk about self-interest. That is, we believe in God only when we have problems. But if everything is really good, there’s nothing to pray about. But sooner or later we will die. Suppose the Lord has mercy, we accept an amazing gift, we go to heaven. And if we don’t know how to pray, what are we going to do there? And everything is a stupor. That is, it turns out that we don’t know how to talk to each other, build relationships with each other, but at the same time we want to build a relationship with God.
– So prayer is the knowledge of God?
– Yes, this is both knowledge and trust at the same time. We can never fully know God, but we will do it anyway. There is, of course, more trust here. Because we still have some distortions. We say that God is love, and this is true. But, on the other hand, what kind of love are we talking about? Only about the human, we don’t understand the other, we don’t know. There are examples of animal love, of course, but there is nothing to talk about here. We only know the human one. And we know God’s love only in comparison with our own. That is, it is immeasurably higher. And only when I know her, I know God.
– Every time we pray, we turn to the Lord. But often we see that people make prayer requests to the saints and blessed ones. Quite recently we celebrated thirty years of glorification of St. Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg. And there is a wall near the chapel. When the chapel was closed, a pious tradition arose to pray at the wall. At first I thought that this was some kind of ritual belief, because how could that be? And then I realized that for prayer, probably, even walls are not an obstacle. But still, I often see that people pray not to God, but to, say, a saint. And they endow him with Divine rights. Is it so? Is it possible? Or I'm wrong?
– No, this happens, unfortunately. And I wouldn't say it's rare. It happens that in our country the concept of the Holy Trinity is replaced by the concept that there is a Savior, the Mother of God and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Here it is - the Holy Trinity. That's why you encounter this. And almost the deification of Saint Matronushka as well. That is, they turn to her instead of God, so it turns out. She is not glorified by God, but I am turning to her. And it’s as if I don’t need God anymore. This, of course, is a problem of our time, but it simply speaks of our low spirituality in reality. Little by little, I think it will pass. We will learn.
But there is another aspect here. We say that you need to believe in your soul. Of course. But there is also a spirit and a body. And you need to believe both spiritually and physically. Therefore, moments of touch are important for us. The main thing, of course, is not to focus on this, otherwise it turns out that we are pagans. That is, we believe that you must definitely touch the icon or the relics, and if you don’t touch it, then everything is as if it were invalid. It is not true. Even if, for example, I cannot cross the threshold of the temple, but at the same time I prayed... Remember, the Lord told a parable about the publican and the Pharisee. He practically could not even enter the temple, he only beat himself in the chest, and the Lord saw his prayer as just more fervent than that of the Pharisee.
- God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
- Yes, just that. And so his prayer turned out to be more sincere, he really repented, and the Pharisee was exalted. But God heard his prayer too. That is, God hears everything and gives it to everyone. Therefore, here, of course, our body should also participate in prayer. How can it participate? I can go somewhere, I can attach myself to something, but if this opportunity does not exist, we do not remove ourselves from meeting God, even if there is some obstacle between me and God. And ideally, the lives of our saints, when one saint woke up and said: hello, saint such and such... And there are a thousand kilometers between them. He says: “I greet you; Hello dear". That is, there was no cellular connection, but they talked to each other as if they were nearby. Just like you and me.
– It always seems to us that we possess this power of prayer, especially since we also know this phrase: pray unceasingly. In this case, we see that sometimes people take a prayer book on the subway or somewhere else and, as they say, read out prayers. I don’t know if they are reading or maybe actually praying. But what to do if this is not possible? What does it mean to “pray without ceasing”? And in this case, the power of prayer is valid only in the temple? Or is this still possible anywhere?
- Of course, anywhere and anytime. And when tragic things happen (for example, you are attacked)… That’s where you were attacked, that’s where you pray to God. And these may not be exactly beautiful places, not necessarily a temple. And right here and now, in this perhaps ugly point of the earth, you are already giving your soul to God... And the Lord accepts you, and not this place. That is, it is not the place that is important, it is your meeting with God that is important. Therefore, prayer can be absolutely everywhere. It doesn’t even matter what clothes you’re wearing right now, whether you have them or not; What is important is your conversation with God, how ready you are to talk to Him. We seem to be ready to talk to Him, but we are not always ready to hear, we are not always obedient. That is, we still have another problem - a problem with humility. We have a lot of pride, a lot of selfishness, and this obscures God from us. That is, it’s not God who doesn’t hear me, I don’t hear Him.
– You said “readiness”. I remembered that when we go to bed, we, pointing to our bed, say: “Lord, will this coffin really be my bed?” I then thought that this readiness for the unknown, whether we wake up in the morning or not, is very important.
Question from a TV viewer: “There is such a tradition: when a child leaves the house, his mother blesses him and baptizes him. My mother is already aged, that is, I am already an adult child. Is it possible for children to do the same when blessing their parents: baptize them and speak kind words?”
- Of course, everyone can do this, not only parents, but also children. This is a good, good tradition.
– A very good aspect has arisen here. We know that a child prays in a special way, because he does not need to prove that the Lord exists, he knows about it well, he does not need anything in order to turn to the Lord. He does not need any intermediaries, and the child’s relationship with the priest is always very simple and easy. When my daughter prays, I am always very happy about it and always feel it.
– I also ask my children to pray.
“And since children can bless their parents, I’ll probably introduce this tradition in my family.” Still, if there is the power of prayer in every person, as I understand it, and since we are created in the image and likeness of God, then we are probably capable of incredible things. But we still have, in addition to our personal prayer, general prayer, we have liturgy. At this moment, when we are not alone, how should we pray? Just listen to the deacon or priest? Or how should you behave in church while praying?
– Here you just touched on the choirs. I wanted to give this example. Let's imagine that the choir has many voices - and each of the singers wants to be heard. This is a good example. Here are the parishioners praying: everyone wants the Lord to hear him. But when we voice this by singing and everyone starts singing to the maximum, then we won’t have a choir. It is very important to work in tandem here. Like cells in the body: not each one should be first, they just should be together. It's the same in the family. It is clear that there is a head of the family, but the main thing here is together. If we do something together, something works out.
There is another very important point here. Little children have prayer and faith in us, parents, without quotation marks at all, that is, they believe in us the way we should believe in God. But we don’t believe in God that way, but the children believe in us. Therefore, if suddenly a child loses faith in God, then, of course, we, the parents, are primarily to blame for having seduced them somewhere, tempted them, broken them somewhere, perhaps. And, of course, we need to pray hard, correct ourselves and give positive examples to our children, because their prayer is amazing. They really believe in God, they even see Him. It’s good for us if someone can dream about something in a dream. This also happens very rarely. But children really are directly with God.
– So it turns out that the power of prayer does not depend on a person’s physical strength?
– Yes, not from the muscles, there’s something else here. Here the strength of the spirit is first and foremost, the strength of the soul. And, of course, the purpose of prayer is also very important. I have already said that when a person, say, is robbed, he immediately begins to pray: “Lord, return it, it’s mine.” Motivation appears immediately. But if there is no special motivation and you have to pray every day, you end up with a routine. Every day you read the rule, every day you read: “Lord, have mercy!” And there is no this power of prayer. That is, motivation is very important. But it shouldn't be artificial, it should be real.
– Question from a TV viewer: “My mother-in-law often turns to otherworldly powers and tells fortunes with cards. I am a believer, but, one might say, the Lord called me through her. And now my daughter and I take communion every week. I read prayers, akathist to Archangel Michael; I feel God's help. Talking with the priest in confession, I, of course, trust in God. But I would like to ask, what prayers should I read to protect myself from demons and evil spirits? Because my mother-in-law said that she wanted to pass on this, as she said, talent and gift to my daughter. Maybe there are some special prayers? Because they say that when such people die, it just doesn’t go away. How can we protect ourselves? We do everything that the Church gives, communion, prayers.”
– You touched on a very important topic, this is the topic of fears. That is, again, we begin to pray when we have problems. No problem - as if there was nothing special to pray about. Fear is an energetically very strong motivation. On the other hand, fear paralyzes - and a person becomes inadequate, he thinks inadequately and is unable to love. Therefore, on the one hand, thanks to these fears, we resort to God, because we understand that no one but God will protect us. On the other hand, the saints – they were not afraid. They went to death, to the beasts or to war, smiling. That is, prayer, if we are talking about the purpose of prayer, should give peace and happiness. And this happiness is unconditional. Just as the sun shines no matter what happens on earth, so does prayer. That is, when I am in prayer, I am no longer irritated, angry, or afraid of anything. I'm just not afraid of anything.
Therefore, I highly recommend that you still remember the lives of all the saints. They all went through panic, fears and overcame everything. Therefore, I ask you very much: do not be afraid. Christ walked on the water when the apostles were sailing in a boat, and when they saw Him walking on the water, they almost went crazy. And He told them just one phrase: “Do not be afraid.” And only the Apostle Peter also walked on the water. We must overcome this fear, because it destroys everything.
– Indeed, prayer can be different. Among other things, it probably happens that, given some kind of ignorance and unwillingness to recognize the Lord, we can turn to something else, thinking that we are turning to the Lord. And I understand that there is a downside to prayer here too. Could it be that prayer may not be good for a person?
– If, for example, I decided to become a weightlifter, and I have weak bones (I’m not talking about muscles, they can be pumped up, but the bones are what they are), then this barbell can simply break me. Neither a coach nor even a doctor will help. The bones are different. I might be a good swimmer, maybe I’d write good poetry, but I’m definitely not a weightlifter.
So it is here: each of us has our own spiritual talents. Someone can be a good prayer book, someone can be a good guide, and someone can paint icons. That is, not everyone is given high prayer, as strong as that of John of Kronstadt or Blessed Matrona. Moreover, we seem to say that priests and saints are great prayer books, too, but Blessed Ksenia was not a priest. And blessed Matronushka was not a saint. That is, they were ordinary worldly women, but their prayer was so great that it was enough for the entire planet.
Therefore, here it is not statuses or some of our talents that are perceived, but precisely the power of love: how much a person is ready to love, how much he is ready to be like God. Because we already have an image, but I must acquire godlikeness. And you can only acquire it through deeds. No feats - no nothing. This is where hard work is needed, and prayer helps, especially when we return to routine. And you must force yourself to pray sincerely every time, and not fall into a routine. Like, for example, women wash, cook, and clean the house every time. It seems like a routine, but they do it in love, and the family is preserved. And if we settle into a routine, everything slowly fades away. Here also. That is, it requires feat, regularity and obligatory effort. Every time prayer should be difficult.
– So you can’t follow the lead of your fatigue?
- No you can not.
– And is it necessary to grow in prayer, including through daily prayer?
– And you should have your own prayer, and church prayer, together with everyone else. That is, we are together. Like in the gym.
– Question from a TV viewer: “Is it possible to read the evening rule not only before going to bed, but beforehand, and then do some things? And is it possible to watch TV after this?
– Regarding “watching TV”, a new joke has now appeared: “Father, is it possible to watch football during Lent? It seems like a gamble...” - “Well, if it’s a Russian team, then it’s possible. This is grief, this is prayer.” Therefore, it depends on what program there will be and whether it will be a moment of entertainment. Still, do not forget that TV is a distraction. Of course, prayer can be shared, we are not in a monastery, we are not tied to any specific time frame when all the monks are gathered at the same time. That is, you can pray at a time convenient for you and divide the prayer in the way that is convenient for you. The main thing is to remember that prayer does not arise when you open the prayer book, but when someone distracts you, it is at this moment that prayer begins: you talk to people and ask God to help you.
– During prayer (including general prayer), there is such an interesting moment when we say forty times in a row: “Lord, have mercy.” And we encounter questions when they ask why exactly forty times, why so many? Indeed, at one moment it is said three times, at another twelve, and at the third forty. What is this? Why is it necessary to say “Lord, have mercy” so often and in a row?
– In fact, if we remember that we love God, then at least a million times... There are no restrictions at all. And when we begin to remember that we are mere mortals, sinners, we begin to come up with some kind of restrictions. Here, each number has a certain symbolism. Three is the Trinity, twelve is the twelve apostles, forty also has certain symbolism. Each number has some symbolism. It really doesn't matter how many times. Endlessly. We will die sooner or later, and we also need to pray there. And if we don’t know how to say “Lord, have mercy” at least three times here, then what are we going to say there?
- By the way, about death. We pray for the repose of our loved ones, and not only loved ones, but in general “the Orthodox Christians lying here.” We say that we need to pray for them. Why? Can our prayer really help the departed?
“If we don’t pray, then it turns out that no one will pray at all.” And it is prayer that we are talking about today. Here God forces us to do this out of love. You love him, but you don’t know: is he in hell or in heaven? Even if in heaven... For example, the canonization of Seraphim of Sarov did not occur immediately. Xenia the Blessed was also not immediately canonized. This means that all these centuries we have been praying for her repose, knowing that her soul is in heaven. And there is no sin in this. Even if we are alive, we pray for each other. And if we pray for peace, the Church suggests so. We remember this at every litany: we ask for Christian death for ourselves. That is, we are selfish, we ask for this, this is normal. But how afraid we are of death, it turns out! Because we are afraid to meet God. “No, no, no, I still have things to do.” - “What are you doing? What are you talking about, man? The tea is getting cold, come in already.” (Laughs.)
– Question from a TV viewer: “I pray to the saints: Matronushka, Nicholas the Wonderworker, other saints, the Mother of God, Jesus Christ. Am I doing the right thing by asking them for forgiveness so that they can help me? I listened just now: only the Lord forgives.”
– Once upon a time this thought struck me too. I once prayed to Mitrofan of Voronezh. And one day I was driving past Voronezh and suddenly remembered: I once prayed to him once, he helped me, and now I’m finally in Voronezh, and during all this time I didn’t even thank him. And I suddenly felt ashamed. Mitrofan of Voronezh, please forgive me. We very often forget about someone altogether. Having turned to the saint once, we attracted him to our need, he somehow helped us, begged God for our problem, and then we turned away from him and forgot. And he stayed with us. That is, all the saints are not traitors, they remain with us. There are maybe a million of them around each of us, but we are all about ourselves, and we are in our egoism. We forgot about them.
Indeed, let me remind you once again: prayer should not only be petitionary, but also grateful and doxological. The saints do not take offense at us, they no longer know how to do this, but we need to think carefully about what we are doing. Because we ask for something, but we don’t get what we want. “Please, Lord, give me patience.” The Lord sends me suffering: “Be patient, and you will endure great things.” And the person does not understand: “Lord, I asked for patience.” - “Please, train.” And you, it turns out, train – and faith increases, love increases, because love is impossible without patience, courage is impossible without suffering; it's all interconnected. But I wanted something else. And God gives us exactly what we need. But sometimes it happens that we beg him for something, like capricious children: “Lord, I want ice cream, I want cake.” He says: “Well, take it.” And this will be to your benefit, because others will look at you as you revel in all this goodness, and they will simply twist their finger to their temple and say: “You are a natural crazy person.”
- That is, for someone this is an example...
- ... will be vaccinated. We don’t know when a person will come to his senses. This is unknown to us. God alone knows how He wants to save everyone. As one saint said: “Lord, save us fools, somehow.”
– If we pray for what we simply really need, as it seems to us... For example, a car, but the Lord does not send me a car, but sends me an illness, and such that I will simply never be able to get behind the wheel. It seems that he asked for a car, but in reality the Lord sent something completely different. What is this? My unworthiness or my murmuring?
– In fact, there is this machine - this is your body. You're driving, so you got it all.
- It's clear. (Laughs.)
– The road ahead of you is bright, good, with signs – everything is as it should be.
– Question from a TV viewer: “How to be saved in the world while living alone?”
– This is the most difficult thing actually. Because when there are a lot of people around me, each of them is pulling somewhere, wants something... Therefore, for me, salvation arises by itself, I simply work for their sake, for their good. And when a person is alone, he only cares about himself. And not all monks dared to go into the schema, that is, into complete solitude. This is one of the hardest feats when you are alone. Let us remember Anthony the Great, when all his life he endured nightly suffering from demons, and somewhere closer to old age Christ came and drove them all away. And Anthony, like a child, burst into tears: “Lord, Lord, where have you been?” And He says: “I was nearby, I looked at your feat, always ready to intercede for you. Well done, you did it." That is, for us, looking from the outside, this is a wonderful story. What if it's about us? For example, a person lives, say, alone, and someone is torturing him behind the wall. And he has a question for God. And then: “Lord, he finally stopped shouting and playing his music loudly”... And my friends say: “We were right here next to each other all the time, but we never stood up for you, because you’re great, you’re doing a great feat.” . Our friends and I will simply stop communicating after this.
– I understand that it is really very difficult for one person.
- Hard. We are looking for friends, but salvation is possible in any case. And it’s right that we put this at the forefront. That is, wherever I am, no matter who I am with, the main question is salvation. If I'm sick, I immediately dial 03, if I'm being attacked, I immediately dial 02, if there's a fire, 01. I understand that rescue is required, but I forget that this rescue is required not just every day, but every second, I get used to stability of your life. And when a person is alone, his stability can easily collapse because no one will help him. You never know - the connection won’t help, I won’t be able to reach the phone. I'm alone, I take a lot of risks. Therefore, they say it’s easier for a lonely person, but in reality it’s more difficult. Because no one will help him, he is alone.
– Another aspect of this question: how to be saved?
“Christ said to the apostles: “This is impossible for man, but possible for God.” That is, we must learn to trust Him: “Lord, everything is possible for You.”
“And here I remember, of course, the Gethsemane prayer, when the Lord asked to deliver Him from the Chalice, but: “Thy will be done.” And here I understand that in solitude humility is the main thing.
- Yes. Well, it happened so, and it’s not bad that you are slowly starting such a semi-monastic lifestyle. It’s bad that maybe you don’t have a confessor, there’s no person who would give you advice on how to live in this semi-monastic lifestyle. Therefore, do not be upset, do not despair, ask God, the Lord, over time, may send you a comforter who will tell you how best to save yourself alone. The main thing here is not to be discouraged, because despondency is the root of all sins. If we despair, become disappointed, or become depressed, then all our achievements will simply be destroyed at once. Therefore, under no circumstances should you give in to despondency, but learn to continue praying. Yes, you are alone, but you can continue to pray for everyone.
– We have already talked about common prayer, we talked about private prayer. I would also like to talk about a prayer called “prayer by agreement.” What it is? Is it when we just get together to pray together, or is it some other form?
– This is what Christ spoke about: where two or three gather, whatever they ask, I will give. But here again we should not go to extremes. That is, it is not prayer that is important in this case, but precisely that we work together. This is a public prayer, not my individual one. That is, like a choir, we sing together.
- But we ask for one thing.
- Yes. Just like we sing together. Or is it like on a bicycle: we spin the same pedals... Therefore, the moment of tandem, the moment of empathy and sympathy for each other is important here.
– That is, again, love. The root of prayer is love.
Question from a TV viewer: “I recently experienced grief in my family; my brother committed suicide in February. And so I kind of feel guilty; maybe this is my fault too. How can I help him now? Help me, how can I cope with this grief?
“For us, thank God, the Patriarch has already given his blessing: there is a rite of prayer for such unfortunate people who went against the laws of the Church for one reason or another. We still need to consider, of course, what the reasons are. Maybe there was pain here that the person could not survive and endure. Therefore, in such cases, sometimes even the Church allows funeral services. Therefore, here you and the priest need to consider his life in more detail. Maybe he has, shall we say, excuses; maybe he had a mental illness or cancer that was very difficult for him to overcome physically.
But if he had mental suffering and left without permission, then, of course, this sin is the most serious, we know about it. But even in this case, we do not separate it from prayer, we continue to pray for it. Yes, we don’t write notes, but we can pray, we can light candles, we can light lamps at home. And we still have prayer. God is love, He does not divide us. He gives us the opportunity to unite, and the soul of this person can also gain salvation thanks to your intense prayer. God help you!
– Here again we are talking about the power of prayer and the fact that it is effective. We can perceive this as a feat, as a routine, as something ritualistic, if we do not put anything from our hearts into prayer. But if from the heart, then I would like you to talk very briefly about what mental-heart prayer is. That is, sometimes a term replaces some meaning. Please explain what kind of prayer this is?
– These are very deep prayers of monks, when they are already with rosaries and go so deep into their prayers, their contemplations, that it is impossible to even distract a person from this prayer. It is no longer possible to offend him in any way, you can utter any kind of slander against him, he will not even understand what you are talking about. That is, his state in this prayer is very similar to the state of Christ, when the Pharisees and Pilate accused Him, but He did not react in any way. He was already in prayer. And in this state of grace a person can remain, one might say, forever. But it is very difficult to learn this. Of course, we can say that this is good if we learn. But this is not given to everyone. Therefore, here, without a mentor, without a confessor, it is very dangerous to dare to pray such prayers; a person can easily fall into delusion, and this is considered the most serious sin for us Orthodox.
We may think that we are praying, but in reality we are very little capable of thinking... We are simply constantly chasing thoughts, experiences, but we do not think. If I have a task, I must solve it, I think - I solve it. So is prayer. That is, I can set it as a specific task. And what goal do I want to set in prayer? The main goal is spiritual peace. That is, I must learn to be calm, to speak correctly, calmly. And if I am tormented by passions, if I do not change, then it turns out that I do not have the fruit of prayer, my prayer is fruitless. That's all. That is, we forget how to track it: what centimeters, kilograms I have in order to measure my own prayer. You will know them by their fruits.
- Yes. And here I still remember: “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief."
– Yes, we forget that we don’t believe, that we don’t really pray; we don't love, we just learn.
– To summarize, I would also really like to ask about the Jesus Prayer, because it seems to be very short: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”...
– You can add some of your own words, for example: “Forgive me, damned one.” That is, creativity is possible here.
– That is, prayer is given to us as a model, like pearls that our saints have collected over the centuries, but still we can pray in our own words.
- Certainly.
“And if we are able to do this, then that’s good.” Or is this still daring?
- We must dare. “Be brave, daughter, faith saved you.” And here the Lord accepts any prayer, even if it is selfish... Even if we pray selfishly, we pray, we are already training our soul, because only our soul can pray, the body cannot. It seems to participate only physically, it will die, it simply participates. Therefore the soul must train. And here the main prayer is still “Our Father.” There are very important words: “Thy will be done as it is in heaven and on earth.” We are that land. “There is land and you will go back to the land.” The earth is different. Sometimes the land is barren, deserted, waterless, no matter how much you water it, it is useless. And sometimes the land is fertile, cultivated, but it must be cultivated, watered, constantly monitored, and then something will appear on it - there will be fruit.
“Otherwise there will be thorns that will choke the fruit.”
Presenter Gleb Ilinsky
Recorded by Elena Kuzoro
The Power of the Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer is rightfully considered one of the most powerful and universal Orthodox prayers. You can read it in times of despondency, illness, or any trouble, and always receive help from the Lord God.
Jesus Christ said: “Praying means sending luminous streams into space. If you do not receive help and protection from Heaven, it is only because you yourself did not send the light. The sky will not deal with what has gone out. Do you want it to answer your calls? Light all your lamps."
By turning to prayer, you open access to subtle energy layers and can really influence fate, karma, and health. It is important to learn to turn to prayer not only in grief, but also in joy and gratitude.
The power of prayer is in the words addressed to the Almighty
Prayers are not just a set of words. This is the sent energy, light and love for God. Let's talk about what is the power and magic of prayers? Why do they help a person with his requests and aspirations?
The word is what we use to live, create, how the day begins in our life: “Good afternoon” and ends with “Good night.” The speech of human communication is difficult to replace, it contains the whole palette of our feelings towards the words spoken, our attitude towards the event being described, it is difficult to replace it with something else.
“Language is a storehouse, a container of human knowledge, influencing the development of a person as an individual.”
People have always felt the power of words and approached it with reverence. It is no coincidence that they say:
“Words can kill and melt the soul.”
Have you noticed that when we say the word “thank you” dozens of times a day, without really thinking about its essence, we feel warmth and special gratitude to the one we thank. And if you delve deeper into the essence of these sounds, this is nothing more than “God SAVE.” Or other bright word formations:
“Thank you”: “Thank you, I give.”
“Hello”: “Be in good health.”
Believers who revere God's temple, who serve God with joy and depth of feeling, always recognize the power of prayer, calling it a connection with God.
