1. Your thumb is nearest you. So begin your prayers by praying for those closest to you They are the easiest to remember. To pray for our loved ones is, as C. S. Lewis once said, a 'sweet duty.'
2. The next finger is the pointing finger. Pray for those who teach, instruct and heal. This includes teachers, doctors, and ministers. They need support and wisdom in pointing others in the right direction. Keep them in your prayers.
3. The next finger is the tallest finger. It reminds us of our leaders. Pray for the president, leaders in business and industry, and administrators. These people shape our nation and guide public opinion. They need God's guidance.
4. The fourth finger is our ring finger. Surprising to many is the fact that this is our weakest finger, as any piano teacher will testify. It should remind us to pray for those who are weak, in trouble or in pain. They need your prayers day and nig ht. You cannot pray too much for them.
5. And lastly comes our little finger - the smallest finger of all which is where we should place ourselves in relation to God and others. As the Bible says, 'The least shall be the greatest among you.' Your pinkie should remind you to p
"Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you." Jeremiah 29:12
I just got THIS LINK, which I think some of you Christians will want to see and send along to others....it's about praying for our nation and it fit my post so well that I had to add it here....plus, it has Andrea Bocelli singing THE LORD'S PRAYER...very nice. Please pray for America.
thanks for the 5 fingers of prayer, Mom xxxx
z
22 comments:
Clever way to keep track of prayer.
And that's a nice video. With the lush voice of Andrea Bocelli doing the Lord's Prayer too. Very inspiring. I hope it is inspiring many to pray for the nation.
thanks Z. Have a blessed Sunday.
What a great reminder! Prayer is not something I usually forget, but I definitely could use some organization. Do you mind if I make a copy of this post?
The link is also thought provoking.
The verse from 2 Chronicles has been on my mind a lot. And 1 Timothy 2:1-8. And Psalm 2....
Heather
I've never used this prayer method before. Surprised that I didn't hear of if when I was teaching in a Christian school.
Not to nitpick, but the Lord's Prayer does not mention counting rosary beads or fingers (or directing them to anyone one but God).
I believe "ritualizing" prayer in such a manner can rob it of sincerity. You're caught up in "remembering what to do" rather than simply.... doing it.
God is not a computer that returns error messages or results in process failures if the wrong button is pushed.
"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
The Lord's Prayer addresses God, acknowledges His holiness and power, and acknowledges Him as the source of sustenance, grace, and forgiveness, authority, and protection.
All that without incense, candles, and other claptrap.
With faith, all things are possible.
Beamish: The Lord's Prayer addresses God, acknowledges His holiness and power, and acknowledges Him as the source of sustenance, grace, and forgiveness, authority, and protection.
Well said.
Our Lord's Prayer is not a formula by which we implore the great "sky-genie". Neither is it simply intellectual recognition that "God is the Boss". But rather, it is the essence of the attitude with which one approaches the Throne.
We come as children, acknowledging our need and utter dependence on our Maker for our very existence.
I'm not interested in ritual, or beads or praying to dead people. I don't see a need to incorporate fingers as part of some supposed magic incantation, either. But I do often forget that there are more things about which to pray than just "me" and it doesn't hurt to have that sort of reminder, um..."on hand".
Heather
Glad you liked this, too, everybody.
Beamish, I agree: this is absolutely nothing anybody needs to use.......this is a suggestion to shake it up a little, pray for things you might not have otherwise. I just thought it was clever. You'd be surprised how many people I've heard say they don't know how to pray, as if it's a rule kind of thing they could fail, but this starts people into something...
like using ACTS when people ask "how do you pray?":
A: Adore (praise)
C: Confess
T: Thank
S: Supplicate (ask)
That also helps people remember what they might want to include...after that, TALK TO THE GUY~!!! :-) There ARE NO RULES!
By the way, having been raised in the Armenian Orthodox tradition, I LOVE candles, incense and other 'claptrap'...to some Protestants, it's highly legalistic and odd, but to me and many others, it's the 'fragrance of Jesus', as I Corinthians suggests and the loveliness of candlelight, never taking from, but only adding to, worship.
Heather "on hand"..VERY very good :-)
Faith, Bocelli is quite something, isn't he? It's difficult for me to watch him but what a sound.
They've been showing The CANADIAN TENORS on PBS lately and I'm surprised how much I like them. I'm usually not an 'easy listening' type appreciator but these guys have such excellent, pleasant voices, and their harmonies sometimes reach amazing heights..not enough, but I know why they hold back on the harmonies; if you do it too often, it gets OLD...at least when I produced shows that was my thought, but I think they can pull that off more and rise to even new heights. They're handsome, talented and seem like good guys, too...
have you seen them at all?
Ah, back to Sunday school. :)
I tend to agree with Beamish. To be moved to prayer, in itself, to me is sufficient and most heartfully felt.
I do pray for our country everyday.
If I focused on my fingers, except for praying for strength, I'd say my pinkie get's pretty short shrift!
My most urgent concerns lie with my country and those I love.
I think in a way, rituals, while inspiring and beautiful, can be limiting and become too important.
I was talking with a fellow who works in the produce section of my market. He was relaying that a coworker had been very ill, and lamented the fact that when he was in church he forgot to pray for his friend.
I suggested he could pray for him "right here and now", no matter where he is. That it's the prayer that matters, not the place he does it, and God is everywhere. He said yes he would.
I only mention this because he was limiting himself to a place, instead of following his heartfelt need to help his friend.
Z, this is a beautiful video, and very inspiring, and we can all use inspiration. It does lift us up. No question. Thank you.
And Beamish, yes, with faith all things are possible. Beautifully said.
Pris
Our nation, Z -- our nations needs its citizens' prayers now more than ever, if we are expected to survive. The challenge is real, it is here, and it needs not just prayers but direct address.
BZ
Not familiar with the Canadian tenors. Just listened to a little at You Tube but probably not enough to appreciate them. Not my kind of music either. Really, neither is most of Andrea Bocelli's music but I love listening to that rich voice so I've become familiar with his most popular songs. I got used to his blindness.
I guess I could complain about the video too, but I think the main point of it is to inspire prayer for the nation and that's not to be complained about. I hope it accomplishes its mission.
However, I hate images of Jesus for instance -- nobody knows what He looked like, most of the pictures make him look pretty sappy, and it can be a form of idolatry to have a picture of him at all.
And I agree with others here that the Lord's Prayer was not meant to be a rote prayer but a master plan for prayer. It can be used to stay focused on what God wants us focused on, taking it line by line and using it to launch your own thoughts and petitions on the same theme.
I looked at this post prayer thing as kind of fun and a good reminder....I haven't prayed like this FINGER thing in my life..or since Sunday School, as Brooke suggested!....and didn't advocate it, just got it as an email and thought it was very sweet and an encouragement.
I'm SO SORRY if it got read otherwise!!?? and kind of surprised....
This is FUN, it's a good reminder, I'm pretty sure many people do not pray for our leaders right now...for example.
Just nice reminders....
It's kind of like attending church to worship; we don't HAVE TO, nobody says we must, but it gives us a beautiful and solid base for our own scriptural studies and prayer times......not mandatory, just a fantastic encouragement and support..
Faith, I don't look at pictures of Jesus quite like you do, nobody knows what he looked like, but it's nice for people to have something in their mind to think about visually...and he almost always looks different, doesn't he!! But, I do understand your thoughts on it.
As for Bocelli or the Canadian Tenors, I'm SO with you on "VERY not my kind of music" but the tenors floored me cuz I found myself actually enjoying their voices. weird, I'm the LEON RUSSELL FREAK!! THE BAND freak, COCKER freak....
this easy listening stuff, as I'd mentioned previously, usually sounds like elevator music to me !!! Glad you agree, Faith!!
BZ, I couldn't agree with you more..it's why I include the Sunday Faith Blog and various other Christian subjects from time to time at the risk of turning off readers....and I think it has.
Z, I think Bocelli has a beautiful voice, and I love just about any group of tenors and their music.
Such a nice change from much of the stuff performed today that they call music.
I loved The Three Tenors, Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras, probably the best of them, and I enjoy Il Divo, their adaptation of Amazing Grace is wonderful.
I'm not sure I've heard the Canadian Tenors, I probably have, but I'll check it out.
I really like all kinds of music except Rap and Heavy Metal neither of which I consider music. It depends on my mood, as to what I feel like listening to. But only classical, chorales, or patriotic really chokes me up.
Pris
I think Jesus had the dark skin complexion of the Semitic peoples of the Eastern Mediterranean region, wore a beard, and had the muscular build of a manual laborer (try 20+ years of carpentry without power tools).
Not a bit at all like blonde haired, blue eyed hippy "Jesus" of Renaissance art portrayals.
Z,
By the way, having been raised in the Armenian Orthodox tradition, I LOVE candles, incense and other 'claptrap'...to some Protestants, it's highly legalistic and odd, but to me and many others, it's the 'fragrance of Jesus', as I Corinthians suggests and the loveliness of candlelight, never taking from, but only adding to, worship.
My only problem with that is when it becomes a doctrinal "incantational necessity" - like a magic spell requiring components and ritual to be done in order to "create an atmosphere" in which to worship Jesus.
Ceremony is nice, but never necessary.
Beamish, that's not at all what I'm talking about.........no spells, no nothing..
It's like you're describing Witchcraft!
By the way, a friend pointed out that it's interesting it's the middle finger we pray for our leaders with (CRACKED ME UP!!!)
xx
OOps, she's on the phone and reminds me it's the TALL FINGER (sorry!) :-)
By the way, a friend pointed out that it's interesting it's the middle finger we pray for our leaders with (CRACKED ME UP!!!)
Have to shamefacedly admit the thought crossed my mind :S
Have you ever tried the experiment where you place your knuckles on a table--extend your ring finger and try to lift it by itself? To my knowledge, it cannot be done. But you can individually extend and lift each of the other fingers.
H
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