Prayer Words
I think the word "just" should be eradicated from everyone's prayer vocabulary. It is such an abused and overused word, and it is often used ad nauseum in the common prayer. God doesn't "just" do anything.
Also, I remember a pastor once saying to me:
"If you don't say thank you after your prayer, you are either rudely ungrateful or you don't have faith for what you just prayed."
Interesting.
posted by Dboy @ Thursday, August 30, 2007
15 Insightful Contributions
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15 Comments:
Too true dear brother. I just had a convo with my bio teacher and she was saying how much she didn't realise that God was personal before she was a Christian. God is personal and therefore there is a way in which to speak to Him, especially as He's blessed you so much already and the little fact that He's the Maker of everything!
Wronf vocab mudbrick. Should have said:
JUST Too true dear brother. I just had a convo with my bio teacher and she was JUST saying how much she didn't JUST realise that God was JUST personal before she was a Christian. God is personal and therefore there is a way in which to JUST speak to Him, especially as He's JUST blessed you so much already and the little fact that He's JUST the Maker of JUST ABOUT everything!
JUST seems to be an affectation, a conversational marker we use - another one is 'REALLY'
(As in: "I JUST REALLY WANT TO ASK THAT YOU WOULD JUST REALLY ANSWER MY PRAYER.)
Another is: " Hmmmmm, yes Lord! Jeeeeesus"
Sometimes meant, often a marker that the pray-er fits with that peer group!
Ah, well God has a sense of humour with his kids!!
I am SOOOOOOO glad someone else is irked by that word. After a while, I stop listening to the prayer so I can stop hearing the word, "just." It's not intentional, honest. I know it's nit-picky and all, but it does get annoying.
Your Naruto skills leave me breathless!
Has this blog been inspired by a certain Adrian Plass?
I suppose it's a good thing God sees what's in our hearts, so if the wording isn't always spot in he knows what we mean. :P
God is just.
However, he is not merely just.
Wow! Double meanings... that both mean the same thing? Weird...
"I'd like to double her entendre..."
God just might see your heart, just Luke, but he just hears your words and probably just thinks "Far out, that guy is just so annoying."
Seriously though, if words are not important, then why did God create the world with them?
Jesus said "...if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you." (emphasis added, Matt 17:20).
The words we choose and use are important.
I think it's insulting to request that God "just/merely/only" do anything - what if he is wanting to do more?
If he wants to do more i can't imagine the word "just" stopping him.
I think i agree in part with just-in and in part with DCMM. People use "just" as a marker or a filler like "um" or "ah". It is annoying but praying can sometimes be a bit like carrying on a one-sided conversation (no doubt that comment will open a whole other can of worms). People seem to just let loose a stream of words without pause or planning and also want to make it sound good and flow without mistake (how often do you hear someone pray "oops God, i actually meant to say...") so they use filler words to gather their thoughts.
Parallel to this whole conversation is the question of why we repeat things back to God that he clearly already knows, even if only because we just spent the last 20 minutes talking about it.
Eg: "Lord, i just want to pray for John's nose - you know that it's broken and its really annoying him, that he can't smell properly Lord. Please bring healing to it Lord, please heal John's nose we pray. Amen"
I bolded the necessary bits, in one way or another the rest is just fluff/for the audience.
It all makes me think of this and this.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Words can be important because they are the primary way that we express ourselves. Could you also argue that sometimes words are not important at all?
Rom 8:26
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express
zombie groans?
Hmmm... yes, interesting. Perhaps I find it more annoying than wrong, however I still believe that the words we say have a real effect on the way that we view, and the events that occur, in our lives.
Buckets of it.
Oh OK - Are we talking about things that annoy us in Christianity? That is another post altogether.
How about PEOPLE that annoy us...lets list them
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