Academic literature on the topic 'Faith and prayer'

Prayer was a basic goal of the lives of Christian monks. Historia religiosa by Theodoretus of Cyrus conveys a lot of valuable information on the subject of prayer of Syrian ascetics. The bishop of Cyrus used the notion of prayed to refer to any kind of requests and begging or thanksgiving and admiration. Theodoretus recorded particularly numerous examples of recoveries, which occurred by dint of intercessive prayer of ascetics. Monks prayed at different times of a day and in various postures (standing, lying or kneeling), they were also familiar with many kinds of prayer and addressed God with varied intentions. Historia religiosa in­forms us as well about gestures that accompanied prayers, such as bows, raising arms and eyes to the sky and places where it could be said. An important issue discussed by Theodoretus was the time of praying. In Historia religiosa we can find references to the ideal of incessant prayer and to morning and evening prayers typical for Christians. The aim of prayer was to help ascetics control their bodily needs, it drew the mind of an ascetic towards God, tearing them, at the same time, from worldly issues. Prayer was also a reflection of monk’s faith, since through it, they worshipped God, referred to him their requests and thanksgiving.

The Prayer Application Reaps Wisdom in fetching your dreams is Prayer Early Time. Prayers at the beginning of time show the level of faith, piety, and love for Allah. Congregational Prayers at the Mosque. Prayers in the congregation are prayers performed by two or more people together. Prayers that are established in congregation reap benefits from the viewpoint of mathematics and economics, because they have multiple merit values, especially if they are performed in mosques that get 27 degrees. The Wisdom of Prayer Reaping Blessings is that Rawatib circumcision prayer is jewelry. The wisdom of the 24 cycles of rawatib prayer if it is carried out continuously or for eternity istiqomah it will become a piece of jewelry for a person in the hereafter, it will become a jewelry on the face that carries out namely the emanation of faith and obedience Dhuha Prayer is Wealth is a sunnah prayer to seek and ask for sustenance. Tahajjud prayer is tranquility, because of the business of a believer, it sends a servant away and lulled by intimacy with Allah in the clear silence of the middle of the night so that I get peace and serenity. Witir Prayer is Life because Witir Prayer is a right (life), so people who want to do it will get the right, every servant has the right to perform Witir prayer as much as he likes. One rak'ah, three, five, seven, nine, and eleven. So if a servant exercises his right, namely witir prayer, then he has the right to get his right to life.

Previous reports suggest that clergy frequently pray with parishioners during hospital visits. In this study, 286 parish clergy and lay volunteers characterize these prayers as meditative, liturgical, or extemporaneous. Content for the latter two categories is further described as intercession, confession, or thanksgiving/praise. Respondents reported 44,403 hospital pastoral visits during the previous year and most, regardless of faith group, estimated that they prayed during 100% of these visits. Further, these prayers were usually extemporaneous intercession; meditative and liturgical prayers were used less frequently. Despite the demonstrated association between prayer and mystical experiences, clergy mysticism scores were significantly lower than those reported in the literature and were not significantly related to the style or content of prayers during hospital visits.

This paper discusses the values of leadership in congregational prayers according to a review of Islamic education. Aims to reveal the meaning of congregational prayer and describe the values of leadership in the implementation of congregational prayer from the perspective of Islamic education. This research is included in the type of library research. The data collection method is carried out by conducting searches through relevant journal articles and books. The results of the study indicate that congregational prayer is a prayer that is performed in a congregational manner, which is jointly led by a faith. In congregational prayers there are two shields that the leader in front is called the imam, while the second shield is those who follow him called the makmum. Of course, what is being done is a worship activity that is carried out in two parts, namely faith and belief and both doing what is called congregational prayer.Among the leadership values that are reflected in congregational prayers include: The leader is always in front, the leader has a qualified capacity, and also motivates his congregation to always do good and spread many benefits to others.

Two self-report experiments examined how religiosity affects attributions made for the outcome of a tornado. Undergraduate students ( N = 533) and online adults ( N = 537) read a fictional vignette about a tornado that hits a small town in the United States. The townspeople met at church and prayed or prepared emergency shelters for three days before the tornado; either no one died or over 200 people died from the tornado. Participants made attributions of cause to God, prayer, faith, and worship. In both studies, individuals identifying as Christian made more attributions to God, prayer, faith, and worship, but only when no one died; when townspeople died, Christian participants made fewer attributions to God, prayer, faith, and worship (the God-serving bias). Individuals identifying as agnostic or atheist did not show this bias. Directions for future research in terms of implicit religious beliefs and normative evaluations of religion are discussed.

BackgroundCare of people with serious mental illness in prayer camps in low-income countries generates human rights concerns and ethical challenges for outcome researchers.AimsTo ethically evaluate joining traditional faith healing with psychiatric care including medications (Clinical trials.gov identifier NCT02593734).MethodResidents of a Ghana prayer camp were randomly assigned to receive either indicated medication for schizophrenia or mood disorders along with usual prayer camp activities (prayers, chain restraints and fasting) (n= 71); or the prayer camp activities alone (n= 68). Masked psychologists assessed Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) outcomes at 2, 4 and 6 weeks. Researchers discouraged use of chaining, but chaining decisions remained under the control of prayer camp staff.ResultsTotal BPRS symptoms were significantly lower in the experimental group (P= 0.003, effect size –0.48). There was no significant difference in days in chains.ConclusionsJoining psychiatric and prayer camp care brought symptom benefits but, in the short-run, did not significantly reduce days spent in chains.Declaration of interestNone.

Persons of all major religious groups use prayer as a spiritual discipline when dealing with sickness, and a majority of Christians report faith in healing prayer. The purpose of this research was to explore the use of prayer as complementary therapy for healing by Christian adults in the Bible Belt of the United States. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was used in this qualitative study. This project was a secondary analysis of a larger study whose aim was to document stories of miraculous healings (n = 14). Open-ended questions focusing on participants’ use of prayer followed the initial telling of their stories. All participants used prayer as complementary to their traditional medical treatments, and emerging themes included prayers of the people, rituals and traditions associated with prayer, prayers of supplication, and experiences related to the act of praying. These findings support prior published studies regarding the prevalence of prayer and its use as complementary therapy. Participants commonly used prayer in times of illness and the effects of prayer included a sense of wellbeing, increased calmness, decreased anxiety, and positive healing experiences. Participants utilized self-prayer and prayer support from family, friends, clergy, and healthcare professionals.

The idea of God’s fatherhood seems very obvious in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus presents God as the Father who wants all what is good for all His children and invites all His children for a deep, spontaneous and intimate rela­tionship with Him. The idea of God’s fatherhood is present especially in the prayer which Jesus taught His disciples. The “Our Father” is a Christian prayer but it has Jewish roots. Jesus was a Hebrew and prayed according to Jewish faith. The structure of “Our Father” is as follows: invoca­tion followed by seven requests. The contents of the prayer reveal many references to Jewish prayers, known already at the time of Jesus (Abinu malkenu, Kaddish, Shemoneh Esreh). The similarities between “Our Father” and vari­ous prayers of the Jews do not exclude uniqueness of the prayer which Jesus taught His disciples. The idea of God’s fatherhood is present also in other parts of the Sermon on the mountain: the blessings of the peacemakers (Mt 5,9), the role of the disciples (Mt 5,13-16), love for enemies (Mt 5,43-45); the call to follow Christ (Mt 5,48); the Father who sees in secret (Mt 6,1-6.1618); Father’s forgiveness (Mt 6,14-15); Father’s care (Mt 6,25-34); Father’s good­ness (Mt 7,7-11) and God’s fatherly will (Mt 7,21). All these passages, just like the prayer “Our Father”, underline the importance of filial trust in God as the Father.

The undertaken analysis of Lk 22,31-32 (in relation to Lk 9,28-36 and Acts 12,1-17) allowed us to perceive Peter, who is an example of intercessory prayer, meaning the unceasing and effective prayer of Christ for him (and all of his successors). This prayer, joined with the prayer of the Church, saves Peter (as well as every Christian), assists in his conversion and brings him back to the community. Peter felt the prayers of Christ and the Church, he gave witness to it, and in this way strengthened the faith of his brothers. Peter is a clear sign of the presence of Jesus in the Church – the strength of His intercessory prayer.

In the age of secularisation, prayer is becoming an increasingly difficult act of believers to understand. Extremely dangerous individualism and subjectivism is the contemporary threat to common and community prayer. All of this makes it necessary to take a new look at this category of prayer so that it leads to an authentic testimony from Christians in the world. In this way, it also prevents the dangerous exclusivity of believers themselves when faced with challenges. Among the whole variety and categories of prayers, communal prayer and the prayer of community are very important. This distinction is necessary because it reveals to us the truth that every prayer has a communal character even though it is not always a common prayer. However, prayer celebrated together is the source of life for the Christian, the Church and the clearest and most readable testimony of faith.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation is an attempt to show the centrality of prayer in the Christian life, in faith and obedience, according to Karl Barth. It is argued that the Christian life was not the focus of Barth’s theology. The focus of his theology was the divine reality upon which the Christian life is grounded and in which it continually finds its own reality. In its correspondence to and dependence upon God’s reality, God’s Word and work, the Christian life is for Barth both faith and obedience, and at the core of faith and obedience, it is prayer. The inseparable relationship between faith, obedience and prayer, is not due to the nature of humanity, the Christian, or even the Christian life as such, but due to the divine reality which gives faith, obedience and prayer its reality. Faith and obedience are inseparably related. Both are equally impossible for humanity by its own power and capacity. It is only by the grace of God in Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that humanity is justified and sanctified, thus turning its unbelief into faith and its disobedience into obedience. The unity of faith and obedience lies therein that they both form part of the one event of the reconciliation between God and humanity, which is accomplished in Jesus Christ. Both form part of the Self-revelation of this reconciliation by God’s Word. The reconciliation between God and humanity, revealed by the Word of God, does not depend on faith and obedience, but is effective by its own power and grace, which brings both faith and obedience simultaneously into existence. The reality of faith and obedience is a hidden reality, a divine reality, an eschatological reality, which is not externally observable, but can only be believed in faith, to which we are moving in obedience, and which we ask for in prayer. Faith and prayer are also inseparably related. Faith, knowledge of God, is a personal response to God’s gracious and miraculous Self-revelation, which humanity cannot produce by its own power. And therefore faith is to pray. Faith is always praying, for God’s Self-revelation never becomes the possession of the believer, but is always given anew, thus necessitating faith to always ask anew for God’s Self-revelation. Faith knows God in personal response, knows God in asking always anew, and therefore knows God in prayer. Faith only has knowledge of God by talking to God, by responding in prayer to God’s prior Self-revelation to faith, and by asking for God to reveal God-self always anew. Obedience and prayer are also inseparably related. Both obedience and prayer exist in the freedom of being bound unconditionally to God’s action and Word. Freedom is not freedom from obligation, but the freedom of living within the claim of God’s lordship over our lives. The freedom of obedience is the freedom to act in reaction to the action of God. It is the liberation from pondering over different possibilities, and the freedom for living in the one and only path laid before it, the path of obedience. The freedom of prayer is the freedom to respond in correspondence to the Word of God, by which it is addressed and claimed. It is the liberation from all other voices and claims, and the freedom to give witness to the one and only voice which claims its life in totality. Faith, prayer and obedience are inseparably related. All three form part of the one Christian life lived under the Lord, who is Lord over the whole of creation, and who is Lord over the whole of the Christian life. In faith, obedience and prayer the Christian lives in correspondence to God’s lordship over the world, the church and the individual. Becoming a Christian, means believing in Jesus Christ. It means continually looking away from oneself, to Jesus Christ, who justifies humanity despite its unbelief, despite its pride, despite its faith in itself. Faith discards trust in itself, and trusts Jesus Christ completely. Being a Christian, means obeying Jesus Christ. It means to surrender to Jesus Christ as the only Lord whom one is to obey in life and in death. As Jesus Christ sanctifies disobedient and slothful humanity, obedience is the freedom to rise and follow Jesus. Acting as a Christian, means praying with Jesus Christ. It means to ask in the Name of Jesus Christ, in the power and presence of Jesus Christ, in the grace and lordship of Jesus Christ, that we will be able to believe what we cannot believe by our own power, and that we will be able to obey what we cannot obey by our own power.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif is ‘n poging om aan te dui dat gebed in die hart staan van die Christelike lewe, in beide geloof en gehoorsaamheid, volgens die teologie van Karl Barth. In hierdie studie word aangevoer dat die Christelike lewe nie die fokus van Barth se teologie was nie. Die fokus van sy teologie was die Goddelike werklikheid waarop die Christelike lewe gegrond is en vanwaar dit voortdurend ‘n eie werklikheid ontvang. In ooreenstemming met en in afhanklikheid van God se werklikheid, God se Woord en werk, is die Christelike lewe volgens Barth gelyktydig geloof en gehoorsaamheid, en in die kern van geloof en gehoorsaamheid, staan gebed. Die onskeibare verhouding tussen geloof, gehoorsaamheid en gebed, is nie vanweë die aard van die mens, die Christen, of selfs die Christelike lewe in sigself nie, maar vanweë die Goddelike realiteit wat aan geloof, gehoorsaamheid en gebed hul werklikheid skenk. Geloof en gehoorsaamheid staan in ‘n onskeibare verband tot mekaar. Beide is ewe onmoontlik vir mense in hul eie krag and vermoë. Dit is net deur die genade van God in Jesus Christus, deur die krag van die Heilige Gees, dat die mensdom geregverdig en geheilig word, waardeur ongeloof in geloof, en ongehoorsaamheid in gehoorsaamheid verander word. Die eenheid van geloof en gehoorsaamheid lê daarin dat beide deel uitmaak van die een gebeurtenis van versoening tussen God en mens, wat in Jesus Christus plaasvind. Beide maak deel uit van die Self-openbaring van hierdie versoening deur God se Woord. Die versoening tussen God en mens, wat die Woord van God openbaar, is nie afhanklik van geloof en gehoorsaamheid nie, maar is effektief in eie krag, deur genade, en dit bring beide geloof en gehoorsaamheid tot stand. Die werklikheid van geloof en gehoorsaamheid is ‘n verborge werklikheid, ‘n Goddelike werklikheid, ‘n eskatologiese werklikheid, wat nie van buite waarneembaar is nie, maar wat slegs in geloof geglo kan word, waarnatoe ons beweeg in gehoorsaamheid, en waarvoor ons vra in gebed. Geloof en gebed staan ook in ‘n onskeibare verband tot mekaar. Geloof, kennis van God, is ‘n persoonlike antwoord op God se genadige en wonderbaarlike Self-openbaring, wat die mens nie in eie krag kan skep nie. En daarom is geloof om te bid. Geloof bid voortdurend, want God se Self-openbaring raak nooit die besitting van die gelowige nie, maar word altyd opnuut gegee, wat dit noodsaaklik maak vir geloof om altyd opnuut te vra vir God se Self-openbaring. Geloof ken God deur ‘n persoonlike antwoord, deur altyd opnuut te vra, en daarom ken geloof vir God in gebed. Geloof het slegs kennis van God deur met God te praat, deur in gebed te antwoord op Gods voorafgaande Self-openbaring aan geloof, en deur vir God te vra om Godself altyd opnuut te openbaar. Gehoorsaamheid en gebed staan ook in ‘n onskeibare verband tot mekaar. Beide gehoorsaamheid en gebed bestaan in die vryheid om onvoorwaardelik gebonde te wees aan God se Woord en werk. Vryheid is nie vryheid van verpligtinge nie, maar die vryheid om te leef binne die aanspraak van God se heerskappy oor ons lewens. Die vryheid van gehoorsaamheid is die vryheid om aktief op te tree in reaksie op die aksie van God. Dit is om bevry te word van bepeinsing oor verskillende moontlikhede, en die vryheid om te leef vir die een en enigste pad wat voor sigself lê, die pad van gehoorsaamheid. Die vryheid van gebed is die vryheid om te antwoord in ooreenstemming met die Woord van God, waardeur die mens aangespreek word en in beslag geneem word. Dit is die bevryding van alle ander stemme en aansprake, en die vryheid om te getuig van die een en enigste stem wat die lewe in totaliteit in beslag neem. Geloof, gehoorsaamheid en gebed is in ‘n onskeibare verband tot mekaar. Al drie maak deel uit van die een Christelike lewe wat geleef word onder die Heer, wat Heer is oor die hele skepping en ook oor die Christelike lewe. In geloof, gehoorsaamheid en gebed leef die Christen in ooreenstemming met God se heerskappy oor die wêreld, die kerk en die individu. Om ‘n Christen te word, beteken om te glo. Dit beteken om voortdurend weg te kyk van sigself, na Jesus Christus, wat die mensdom regverdig ten spyte van hul ongeloof, ten spyte van hul trots, ten spyte van hul geloof in hulself. Geloof vertrou nie op sigself nie, maar vertrou Jesus Christus volledig. Om ‘n Christen te wees, beteken om Jesus Christus te gehoorsaam. Dit beteken om sigself oor te gee aan Jesus Christus as die enigste Heer wat gehoorsaam moet word in lewe en in sterwe. Jesus Christus heilig die ongehoorsame en trae mensdom, wat aan die mens die vryheid gee om op te staan en Jesus te volg in gehoorsaamheid. Om op te tree as ‘n Christen, beteken om te bid saam met Jesus Christus. Dit beteken om in die Naam van Jesus Christus, in die krag en teenwoordigheid van Jesus Christus, in die genade en heerskappy van Jesus Christus, te vra dat ons in staat sal wees om te glo wat ons nie self kan glo nie, en dat ons in staat sal wees om te gehoorsaam wat ons nie self kan gehoorsaam nie.

Applied research project (D. Min.)--School of Theology and Missions, Oral Roberts University, 2003.
Includes abstract and vita. Translated from Korean. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 191-195).

Applied research project (D. Min.)--School of Theology and Missions, Oral Roberts University, 2008.
Includes abstract and vita. Translated from Korean. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 225-233).

Applied research project (D. Min.)--School of Theology and Missions, Oral Roberts University, 2008.
Includes abstract and vita. Translated from Korean. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 199-205).

Applied research project (D. Min.)--School of Theology and Missions, Oral Roberts University, 2003.
Includes abstract and vita. Translated from Korean. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 241-247).

Applied research project (D. Min.)--School of Theology and Missions, Oral Roberts University, 2008.
Includes abstract and vita. Translated from Korean. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 202-208).

This paper aims to fill the gap in major Islamic topics by developing an ontology for the Book of Purification in Islam. Many trusted books start with the Book of Purification as it is the key to prayer (Second Pillar after Shahadah, the profession of faith) and required in Islamic duties like performing Umrah and Hajj. The strategy for developing the ontology included six steps: (1) domain identification, (2) knowledge acquisition, (3) conceptualization, (4) classification, (5) integration and implementation, and (6) ontology generation. Examples of the built tables and classifications are included in this paper. Focus in this paper is given to the design and analysis phases where the technical implementing of the proposed ontology is not within this paper’s objectives. Though, we presented an initial implementation to illustrate the steps of our strategy. We make sure that this ontology or knowledge representation on the Book of Purification in Islam satisfy reusability, where the main attributes, concepts, and their relationships are defined and encoded. This formal encoding will be available for sharing and reusing.