In Igbo we translate How to pray to Etu esi ekpe ekpere. I would have preferred to write at times in Igbo entirely but maybe I'm going to do a mix.
How do you pray in a developing world as ours? How do you pray in a time when they seems to be no time. Even the world bears witness that time is short as everything we do in our world today seems to be in a hurry thanks to growing knowledge in science and technology.
As a Christian, you may agree that you've prayed on several occasions and that on the average you at least know how to pray, even if it is just the Our father(Nna anyi no n'eligwe) that Jesus taught.
One question I would like to ask you then is how many times have you in such prayers ever felt an out of body experience. How many of such times have you felt strongly the presence of another being. Have you felt happier or sadder after performing an activity you would consider to be a Prayer(Ekpere)?
Oburu na ikpere ekpere, mmuo gi ya metu eligwe - If you prayed, your spirit would reach heaven. If you have really prayed, your being would feel an after effect after such a session.
Prayer transforms us and remoulds us but the problem is that most times, we do not really pray, we do not really connect to God. We do not exactly raise up our minds and hear to God rather we just mutter words that carry no power or heart.
When you want to pray, here is what I suggest that you do:
1. Recognize the presence of God with faith
2. Concentrate and forget your immediate physical environment - Your spirit is about to travel.
3. Say what you mean and mean what you say
4. Try to comprehend what you say and don't rush it
5. Slow down your prayer in order to connect with the words that you are saying
6. Keep silent and listen to God's response
7. Pray respectfully - I mean, you are talking to the most important person in existence!
8. Pray with true love and ask for mostly spiritual gifts
Chi anyi na aza ekpere n'oburu n'aikpere ya ofuma.
Getting instant results
The truth is that the more you pray, the more you would want to pray. You need to learn how to set out time for a quiet personal prayer and it could be 1 hour per session once or twice a day. Prayer helps move you up the ladder of holiness as it transforms you and the environment around you. With prayer, you get this positive energy around you that would just synchronize everything in your life making nature to work in your favour. With much prayer, you would be a able to understand God the more and see his will in everything.
You would need to test for the effectiveness of your prayer and see if it is really working for you. To do this, try and ask God for a specific thing and write down that request in a diary. Wait for it to happen and when it does, you would know that your prayers are working. A lot of people just pray and they end up forgetting what they asked for so it's a good thing to remind yourself of God's blessings to you when they do happen
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