The American Heritage Dictionary defines prayer as : A reverent petition made to God, a god, or another object of worship. Essentially, that’s what prayer is- asking God to do something.
Mechanically, there is no perfect way to pray. Some methods (IMHO) are more effective than others. However, I believe that as long as the supplicant is unselfish , has faith, qualifies the prayer by the will of God the prayer is a Lawful prayer.
Here how I compose a prayer:
I believe that there are 3 elements to a prayer: preamble, body and closing.
Preamble: A call to God and the heaven hosts by name (if known). Here, I mention the condition, circumstance or event I’m praying for by name. I like to be as specific as possible (i.e. name, dates, places, and the specific conditions involved.)
Body: Since I was raised in the Catholic Christian tradition, I will say the Lord’s Prayer, Hail Mary, or my favorite traditional/untraditional prayer (3 times or more).
Note: The number 3 always held a special place in my heart (more on that at a later date). Your mileage my vary.
Closing: Here I call for my prayer to be qualified by the will of God. Since I’m not all-seeing or all-knowing I want God’s will to trump my human (i.e. imperfect) will.
I hope these suggestions help with your own prayer compositions.
