How-to-Pray
-hebraicstudies.net-
Please do NOT visit this site on שַׁבָּת - Shabbat or on the מוֹעֲדִים - Mo’a’dim - Feasts!
Re Tanakh versions:
Throughout
this site I may use any of three versions of the Tanakh: 1. “Jewish Publication Society” (JPS-1917), 2. “Mechon-Mamre.org” (MEC), and 3. “Sefaria.org” (SEF), three brilliant versions, However, the
JPS-1917 is my preferred version!
Colour coded
details of our beloved TaNaKh:
1. Torah =
History & Law, 2. Nevi’im = The Prophets. 3. *Ketuvim = all other Writings.
*The Ketuvim - Includes, Poetical
books - Psalms, Proverbs, Job, the Megillot, or
Scrolls - Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations of
Jeremiah, Ecclesiastes, and Esther, prophecy of Daniel, and history
of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles I & II.
Please Note: Some alterations
or (additions) have been made relating to ‘Names’ and ‘Attributes’ of אֱלֹהִים - Elohim (God), having been corrected like it once was pre
the “Masoretic Text”.
YYYYYYY
Remember the following truth from our beloved Torah!
“Ye shall NOT ADD TO THE WORD which
I command you, NEITHER SHALL YE DIMINISH FROM
IT, that ye may keep the commandments of אֱלֹהֵיכֶם יְהוָה - the LORD your Eloleichem,
which I command you”. Davarim - Deuteronomy 4:2. (JPS-1917).
YYYYYYY
With Rabbi, Dr. Reuven Ben Avraham-Goossens, PhD.
Over many
years as I have travelled the world, there have been those who have asked me …
‘Does אֱלֹהִים יְהוָה - the LORD Elohim listen to our תְּפִלּוֹת - Tefillot - prayers’?
Maybe you
believe אֱלֹהִים listens to our prayers, but somehow you
felt like those prayers for healing yes, but for the restoration of a loved
one, to our beloved faith is so much harder!
And indeed for many that is really an honest
feeling we have, and one that many Hebrews struggle with when we spend a lot of
time in תְּפִלָּה - ‘Te’fee’lah’ - prayer and feel they
just did not get a response!
So how can we know if יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ - the LORD our Eloheinu (God) listens to our prayers? How will we know if He will
answer certain prayers? Are there only certain types of prayers and from only certain
types of people that get answered?
I suggest that you read on and learn more about how אֱלֹהִים - Elohim’s views prayer requests, as well as how He responds to our petitions as we look at questions we have about the nature of prayer and אֱלֹהִים’s response.
The primary connotation of the English word “pray” is to “request”, and this has led to a widespread image of prayer as being centred around asking for such things – ‘health’, ‘wealth’, ‘success’, and so on.
Prayer is often thought of as being difficult in an effort to overcome their helplessness in the face of overwhelming natural forces. For many people their prayer rituals are sadly ‘meaningless’, ‘antiquated’, just a ‘formal ceremony’ often in a language they do not really understand.
It is largely forgotten that up until our great-grandparents’ generation sadly far too many Hebrews have sort of fallen away from attending the Shul, etc, they may just turn up on Yom Kippur’. Thankfully the faithful finds it quite natural to say all their daily prayers, as well as pray directly and spontaneously to אֱלֹהִים, seeking all ‘their needs’ and ‘pouring out their hearts’. For those today, the very idea of praying and seeking help and guidance from אֱלֹהִים in their own words is ‘mystifying’, ‘awkward’, and ‘unreal’. They feel that אֱלֹהִים is so awesome and far away.
However, if אֱלֹהִים knows everything, including our very thoughts, why is it necessary to seek Him? When you talk to a person, you see their reactions and hear what they have to say. But how do you expect אֱלֹהִים answer?
“It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say: ‘Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say: ‘Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?’ But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it”. Deuteronomy 30:12-14. (JPS-1917 version).
Prayer does not have to mean speaking to אֱלֹהִים “who is out there”. It can be as direct as a ‘loving’, ‘intimate prayer from your heart’. If you look at the actual content of many of the Psalms and prayers of our Siddur, although prayers of ‘request’ and ‘petition’, especially for ‘spiritual illumination’, has a prominent place, but they are just one aspect of our prayers.
There are also many descriptions of יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ - the LORD our Eloheinu ‘works’ and ‘activities in nature and history’ and ‘praises’, ‘thanks’ and ‘acknowledgment’ – because we should recognise His active presence in our lives and the world around us is one of the most important ways of experiencing our connection with our beloved Creator.
Another important part of our prayer is ‘affirmation’: we repeatedly remind ourselves of our beloved ‘faith’, ‘hope’ and ‘trust in אֱלֹהִים; and we exhort ourselves against ‘fear’, ‘demoralization’ and ‘despair’; and we set our minds on the qualities of ‘justice’ and ‘righteousness’, ‘kindness’ and His loving ‘mercy’ that we want to cultivate in our own lives.
Below are some suitable verses regarding the subject of prayer! (All verses are from the JPS-1917 version).
Psalm 5:3: “Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my אֱלֹהִים; for unto Thee do I pray”.
Psalm 65:3: “O Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee doth all flesh come”.
Psalm 86:6-7: “Give ear, O יְהוָה - LORD, unto my prayer; and attend unto the voice of my supplications. In the day of my trouble I call upon Thee; for Thou wilt answer me”.
Jeremiah 29:12: “And ye shall call upon Me, and go, and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you”.
Praying אֱלֹהִים’s promises is not begging into a void. When you anchor your prayers in out Tanakh, you are enforcing covenant, reminding the enemy what אֱלֹהִים has already ‘sworn’, and ‘moving from emotion’ into ‘spiritual authority’. This guide, I pray has assisted you on how to pray with power, so a breakthrough may move from ‘distant hope’ into a ‘tangible reality’.
May יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ - the LORD our Eloheinu richly bless you with your prayers!
YYYYYYY
Please Note: “hebraicstudies”
links are located down the page!
This site was originally created, for those
who desired to return to our blessed and wonderful faith. Thus be wise and work
on your faith and pray at least two or three times a day (if possible) and
always seek our beloved אֱלֹהִים - Elohim’s guidance,
for His love is always with us, especially when we seek Him, blessed be He!
However this site has become very much a teaching site with hundreds of
studies!
Remember what אֱלֹהִים - Elohim, blessed be He, said the following through a number of
our prophets...
“The More Torah,
the More Life”,
For Elohim is the One who gave us our ... “Life!”
May the שָׁלוֹם - Shalom =
Peace of צְבָאוֹת- יְהוָה= the LORD
of hosts, be with you, and please always uphold our blessed שַׁבָּת - Shabbat,
as well as the מוֹעֲדִים - Mo’a’dim - Feasts, and
continue saying your daily תְּפִלָּה - Tefeelah’s - Prayers and
regular בְּרָכָה - Be’ra’chah’s - blessings before
food and drinks, etc!
שָׁלוֹם
עֲלֵיכֶם - Shalom Aleichem - Peace be with you!
Enter ...