What has your prayer experience been like with most churches?
Matthew 6:5-8
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Growing up, I’d often been warned against churches that had preachers yelling and screaming from the pulpit, and then praying loudly, still yelling, going on and on. I was told it was not biblical. Then as I got older, I found different churches did it different ways. I felt that the screamers – well, it was just for show for the audience. I doubted they prayed this way while in private.
Prayer is very personal, and folks pray differently and I think a lot of it has to do what they were exposed to while they were growing up.
Do you often pray publicly? If so, how do you do it? Are you a long-winded prayer, or is your prayer finished quickly?