sunilbernard

Q1. (1:17-18). What do you learn from Paul's manner of prayer for the Ephesian believers? If Christians stopped praying for people to receive a revelation of God, would people come to know God on their own? Would God work in them at all? How important is this kind of prayer? From Paul's manner of prayer, we learn to pray without ceasing, giving thanks for new believers, pray with burden and commitment. As we have learnt previously, intercessory prayers are not ordinary two bit prayers but they are prayers of commitment and deep involvement. It should not be taken lightly. When the disciples were rebuked and asked to keep quiet when Jesus made His truimphal entry into Jerusalem, Jesus answered them that if the disciples were forced to keep quiet, then the stones would cry out. Yes, if we stopped praying God would raise some other source of revealing Himself to His people, but then we would miss out on the great opportunity of being ambassadors for Christ. God would stop working in us and we would be relegated to 'have beens' and face voluntary retirement from active service to the Lord. To be in constant 'limelight' of the Lord or rather be in His fellowship continuously, we need to have such kind of prayer life. A prayer life that builds up society, church, and members in need of prayers. Its true, prayer accomplishes many things. If we believe that, then we should spend more time in quality prayer.

Q4. (22:43) Did Jesus get "special treatment" because he was the Son of God to have angels help and strengthen him in his spiritual struggle? Do we get that help, too? Jesus did get helpful treatment from Angels. But that was not special. The same treatment is available to each one of us, His children. Each one of us have our gaurdian angels. They keep watch over our houses, our properties and our spirits. They wage battle against the evil forces in the spiritual realms. They provide necessary succor in times of distress and grief. Jesus ministers to us through these Angels. We have the power of the Holy Spirit from within our bodies and we have the help of these Angels outside of our bodies. Indeed, we are the most privileged lot among God's creation.

Q3. (22:42) When Jesus prayed "not my will, but yours be done," was the Father pleased? Why is the Father not pleased when we are passive and uncaring and dispassionate in our prayers that his will be done? What is required for us to pray the prayer of submission with authenticity? [COLOR=green]Yes, the Father was mighty pleased with His Son. He is always pleased with anyone who put the Father's will above self. The Son was willing to lay down His life at the behest of His Father. What more can the Father expect? He expects absolute obedience from each one us, His children. Can't we strive to please Him!!! He is not pleased when we carelessly utter words in our prayers that have no meaning. Mechanically uttered phrases, heavily used phrases, flowery language phrases, all these have no meaning if there is no backing of the heart in it. God is not bothered about them and they hardly cross the roof under which they are uttered. What is required is absolute involvement in the said prayer, as we have learnt in the earlier study on Daniel's prayer. Such kind of involvement in the intercession yields results. God wants that kind of commitment from His children so that He could honor them as He is a promise keeping God and prayer answering God. We are privileged and honored to have a faithful God as our Father. May we be sincere while praying and submitting our petitions before Him.[/color]

Q2. (22:42) Why did Jesus pray that the Father take the cup from him? According to Mark and Matthew, Jesus repeated this prayer three times. Why was he so intense about it? What did this mean? Why was Jesus resisting the Father's will? Or was he? Because He was a human being and the impending suffering would cause any person to naturally seek to avoid the pain and suffering. But because He was the Son of God and His mission was to suffer and die for the sins of mankind, He knew He had to endure the ignominy of death on a cruel cross. From a human point of view, He went to His Father to seek if there was an alternative plan within His will, if it was possible. The impending disaster was so heavily weighing on His mind that He went to His Father again and again, 3 times to find if there was a way out. If you went to a doctor for treatment and he instructs the nurse to give you an injection; as you watch the nurse prepare the syringe and is about to poke you, your muscles become taut and your BP rises. Just thinking of a small needle poking our body causes so much discomfort to us, think of Jesus, very well knowing about the next days program. Hours of torture at the soldiers hands and then followed by some more hours of excruciating pain on the cross. Just to think of it causes goosebumps on our bodies. What might have been the condition of Jesus, in a human form, at the precise moment. That was the reason why He went to His Father 3 times to know if there was any alternative way within His will. He was never, at any time, resisting His Father's will. He always wanted to do what His Father wanted. But the time of separation from His Father acccompanied by physical pain was too great for Him even to think of. But in the midst of all this, He was always eager to do His Father's will. So He time and again said, not my will, but thine be done.

Q1. (22:40-41, 45-46) Why did he ask his disciples to pray? What temptation did Jesus know they would be facing? What was the content of their prayer to be? Did they actually pray this prayer diligently? How does the Lord's Prayer word this kind of prayer? Why do you think Jesus wanted to be alone during his own prayer? Prayer is done when we need communion with God. This was the time when God's communion and protection were needed the most. That's why Jesus asked His disciples to pray. Because He knew they would face the temptation of their basic faith in Jesus. Whether they would accept Him as thier leader and stand up for Him. Thier content would be for protection against temptation. That they would resist the temptation. They took things lightly. They were not aware of the gravity of the situation. As was the custom, they made it to the Mount of Olives and as usual, they went to sleep. They did not think that this was their last night with Jesus. Otherwise they would be around Him and praying with Him. They did not pray diligently as they did not fully undestand the gravity of the situation. Or even if they knew, they thought that Jesus would deal with the situation with His miraculous powers. In the Lord's prayer, the term ' lead us not into temptation' is closely associated with this. Jesus wanted to be alone with His Father as He knew that this partucular event had to be faced by Himself alone. This temptation to escape the wrath of God should be faced by Himself alone and conquered by Him. That's why He went ahead for some distance and prayed that great burdensome prayer setting in motion the great example for us to follow. Not our will but the will of the Father is more important in our life.

Q4. (2:4) What danger is Nehemiah in? Why does he pray quickly and silently before he answers the king? How does this quick "arrow prayer" relate to the four months of prayer he has just finished? Nehemiah is in danger of being banished from the King's presence, losing his job, his position or even his life. So he quickly dashes off the arrow prayer. As discussed, this arrow prayer is not isolated. In fact it is the continuation of the 4 months ordeal that Nehemiah has been enduring. It is the culmination of those four months intercession and now is the results time. This is the day. Now is the time. How many times we have heard those terms. And how many times we have just ignored them out of callous indifference. God will judge us for what we do in our earthly life. Lets be warned through this lesson. God gives us oportunities in the places we are placed so that we are instrumental in furthering His causes. If we are unfaithful, then we may face lifelong banishment from the Kingdom of God.

Q3. (1:11) In what way does Daniel's situation compared to Esther's. Why does God place his people in strategic positions today in the community, in business, in the military, in government? What responsibilities do we have to God that can cause danger to our positions and our lives? Has this ever happened to you? How do you pray in situations like this? The question should read Nehemiah instead of Daniel. Both Nehemiah and Esther were serving in the Persian Kings court. They were close to the Kings. They had opportunity to influence the King. Thier lives were in danger if the King was disappointed with them. Both of them used the God given opportunity to bring deliverance to thier people. They were instrumental in deliverance and building up the Jewish community. God places His children in high society, influential places, able to change the functioning of the Government to bring into effect His own agenda. God has a way of making His will known and obeyed in the kingdom of this world. Sometimes these positions can be toppled and the executives scrapped. This is the danger of these high positions in the Government. But God has a plan and purpose for everything. Wherever we are placed, our job is to do His will and make His will known to all and make others aware of His will so that they too will have a chance of obeying God.

Q2. (1:7-11) What is the basis of Nehemiah's appeal? How does he argue his case before God? What do we learn from this about intercession? Nehemia's basis is God's word. He defends his prayer through the promises God gave to His children. That He will scatter them if they disobey and bring them back together if they obey. It is a good thing to know the promises of God and claim them according to the circumstances. If we do not know God's promises, then we fail to claim them in our daily lives and thus forgo the blessings already reserved for us. He argues his case before God on the basis of His relationship. He says they are your children, bearing your name and living in a place designated by you. It is your honor that is at stake because your city is in ruins. You have scattered them and now you have brought them together, but the city that bears your name lies in ruins. So its your responsibility to restore unto them the city of the Lord. What we learn from this intercession is very delightful. Here Nehemiah turns the tables on the Lord Himself and pressurises the Lord to hurry and solve the problem. Its not arm twisting but it is lesson of closeness to God. Once he knows the promises of God, Nehemiah clings to those promises and asks the Lord to deliver. Much to our delight, we too can do that, provided we know the correct promises that are in the Word of God. How simple and easy our Lord is to access. We should know the correct buttons to press and our Lord will surely answer. We Christians are the most privileged people of the lot.

Q1. (1:1-6) Why does Nehemiah pray day and night for four months? Why does he fast and weep? Isn't that excessive? The time, four months, is given to us not to measure the time but the intensity and concentration with which Nehemiah prayed. We are supposed to pray without ceasing, according to Paul. So four months is nothing in comparison. In effect, whenever we take up intercession, it has to go on until we get an answer for it. That is the significance of the prayer of Nehemiah. Fasting and weeping, again, is a sign of his deep commitment and involvement in the present affair. We weep only when our close relatives die or when deeply disturbed emotionally. Nehemiah was fasting and weeping in the sight of the Lord, in deep agony at the state of affairs of his native land. He was feeling so dejected at the sorry state of affairs. He was feeling sorry at the rebellious attitude of his people which led to thier captivity and thier unrepentant attitude, still not lifting a finger to repair the city of God.

Q4. (9:15-19) What was Daniel's essential prayer? What are the various grounds of Daniel's appeal? How did God answer the prayer (see Daniel 9:20-23)? Daniel's essential prayer was of confession and intercession. Daniel brought before the Lord the actual facts concerning Himself and His people. The people who bore His name, the Land that bears His name were in shame and captivity. Daniel reminds the Lord to redeem Israel for the sake of His name, His glory, His righteousness and of course the precedence that His name has set before. On these four grounds Daniel intercedes with the Lord for Israel's redemption from captivity. God answers Daniel's prayer by sending His angel and describing to him the things that will soon happen. Yes, God answers our prayers, provided we interecede with full zeal and complete involvement in the process. God likes that kind of commitment and He will surely answer that kind of intercessory prayers. Once again I thank and praise God for the revelation that He has granted me through this wonderful Bible Study. Right now I am going through a tough time in our family. Death of my mother in law followed by the drunken brawls of a brother in law. We were praying for him, but now I have learnt this lesson that I have to take on his sins on myself to intercede for him so that God would answer our prayers. Praise God!! Hallelujah!!!

Q3. (9:5) Since Daniel is such a righteous man in his generation, why does he identify himself with the sins of his people? He didn't commitment them. How does this compare to how Jesus sought forgiveness for his people? This was a great revelation to me. That we have to own the sin of the person on whose behalf we are interceding. That is getting into the thick of the action. Even though I may not be a drunkard or a rapist, I have to become one in the sight of God, by taking the ownership of the sins committed by the person we are interceding for. Its a great responsibility to make intereceding prayers even as we compare our Lord Jesus, who became sinful even though he was without sin and blemish. When we see what kind of punishment our Lord endured because He became sinful for our sake, it's painfulness and sacrifice cannot be compared. Its too great a responsibility. May the Lord give us the burden to shoulder such great responsiblity to strive to get one back slidden person to the Lord.

Q2. (9:3-4a) What is Daniel's demeanor as he prays? How does he prepare? Why is this so important in this case? In what ways might you and I prepare for intercession? Abject humility. That is the attitude that he has when he went to the Lord for forgiveness on behalf of his people. Daniel knows that God is a merciufl God but to claim His mercy, he has to humble himself before the Lord and intercede for his people. Outward appearance also counts toward inward resolution. Fasting, putting on sackcloth and ashes are a way of focusing on the subject. He knew that he has to represent himself before the Lord and ask forgiveness on behalf of the Israelites. This is an imporant factor all the time. Our attitude counts when the Lord takes into account our purpose and significance of the prayer.

Q1. (9:1-3) What encourages Daniel to seek God for the forgiveness and restoration of Israel to its homeland? What trait on Daniel's part brings this encouragement to pass? Daniel knew that he was gifted by God in a supernatural way. Deciphering dreams for the kings and explaining thier meaning was not possible by any normal person. So when he studied Jeremiah's prophecies and knew they were about to be fulfilled reg the return of the Israelites to thier native land, he knew he must go to God and beg for forgiveness on their behalf. God was a merciful God and He would surely forgive the sins of Israel and restore thier homeland to them. So the knowledge that this is the right time to approach God and prepare Israelites for the return home encouraged Daniel to seek God for forgiveness. His ability to interpret dreams and forecast the times made Daniel take the steps to go to God for forgiveness and prepare Israel. He was putting his talents into good use. God had given those talents to him and he was using them for His glory. How many of us have talents that God has given us. But we hide them and are sometimes not aware of their existence. May God give each one of us the discernment power to introspect and find out how we can serve our nation through God given talents.

Q4. (139:23-24) Why is this prayer of surrender to God so difficult to pray? When was the first time you prayed this kind of prayer to God? What was the result? Can a person be a genuine disciple without praying this kind of prayer? This kind of prayer is about abject surrender to His will. Our natural tendency is to take control of ourselves. The basic human nature always tries to overcome the spiritual side. It is difficult to take sides, but when we are in the Lord, He takes control of our lives and then we are together in Him and He directs our paths. Then this kind of prayer become easy. It was a long time before. Years ago when I first surrendered to Him and then slowly went back to my old selfish ways. But His love is never lacking. He always is at our side, ready to welcome me back when I turn to Him. His presence is so comforting. It changes life. Our fears and worries are conquered. There is no worry of tomorrow or its consequences. We grow in Him and in His fellowship. At every step, we feel His presence. That is the kind of life we get with Him. A true disciple of Jesus can never rest in peace without surrendering to Him completely. There is always the struggle between the flesh and the spirit when we try it in our own strength. Whereas, if Jesus takes control, then there is peace in everything we attempt and there is absolutely no conflict in any sphere. That is the result of surrender to God's will and guidance.

Q3. (139:13-16) How is an awareness of God's involvement in your prenatal development meant to encourage you? What might this mean to a young woman carrying a child? A young father-to-be? Why is such knowledge overwhelming to us? When God Almighty takes care of me right from the day of conception, what more do I need. Its a great feeling to know that my life has been taken care of, the whole term through. Whether I live for 4 days or 40 years, I know my Lord knows every bit of that term. It is a feeling beyond all measure, that only we as children of God are privileged to have. For a young woman or a man, this is a special occassion. They have, with the help of God, started a new life in thier married life. They are responsible for that life, which God had entrusted them with. Abortion should be deleted from thier minds. It is a God given responsibility that they should fulfill with all their hearts. This kind of knowledge is too mystifying to us. Even David who was so close to God, said it is too deep for me to understand. We are limited in our understanding of the ways of God. And we should not try to understand everything. If God gives us the revelation, then its good. Otherwise, we should leave it to the will of God. We should not make amends or course corrections in our life or in the childs life out of our own will.

Q2. (139:5, 10). In verses 5 and 10, how does God's hand touch the psalmist? Have you ever felt God's hand on you in a special way? Was it for your good? What was it like? As discussed, the touch of God's hand may result in either negative or positive way. But here David experiences the positive touch of God's hand. David was lucky. In many places in the old testament, the hand of God scorched people but here David experiences the love and kindness of God's hand, leading him and guiding him. I have not felt it personally, but when my son 10, fell down from the 1st floor in 1993, and didn't even have a scratch on his body, we knew His angels brought him down to earth. Later he told the family members that the day before he dreamt that he was falling from a great height and the angels came and carried him down. It happened just like that. That evening when our family was in worship, the Lord spoke through my brother in law, then 20, through an out of the world voice, which shook all of us, " I AM WITH YOU AND WILL NEVER FORSAKE YOU" That was a frightening as well as comforting presence. That was the most practical way I experienced the presence of God. There are many instances in which He was there and I could feel His presence. Missed many narrow accidents because of the loving hands of the Master. Innumerable instances, all of which lead me to praise God immediately. Experiencing the presence of God is something to crave for. Its not an every day affair for ordinary people like us. We feel His presence when we sincerely seek His companionship, fellowship and company. When we truly seek Him, He will make Himself available according to His promises.

Q1. (139:7) Why do people sometimes want to flee from God? Why do people imagine that God doesn't know what they do? Have you ever felt this way? People want to flee from God because of thier own foolishness. In fact, it is not possible to flee from God because He is an Omniscient God. He is everywhere. We cannot flee to any place where He is not there. I call it the Ostrich mentality. We think that by going into the dark recesses of our mind, and enjoy doing our favourite sins, we are fleeing God. Its just plain foolishness. We are fooling ourselves. Out of sheer wickedness and blatant hard heartedness, we do those things and think that God is not watching us as we are beyond His purview. How foolish we get sometimes. Because God is Holy and sinless, we tend to think that God will not step in when we are in the process of sinning. So we go on doing it thinking that God has turned His face away. God doesn't do any of that and it is our foolish imagination and Satan's blatant lies that make us think like that. God is always watching every move we make and every thought we think. We have to be conscious of the fact that nothing can escape God and all our motives, thoughts, words and deeds are under His precious scrutiny and there is no escaping His Holy gaze. I have not felt this way but I have done things that I should not do out of sheer care not attitude. When I did those things, I knew God was watching me but I just pushed Him aside and did those things. Isn't it true in most of our lives? We just push God aside and do those sins, mindful of the fact that we are going against God. Ezekiel says, " and thier foolish hearts were darkened". God have mercy on us.

Q4. (20:3) What is the basis on which Hezekiah asks for healing? Why is personal righteousness and holiness important in getting your prayers answered? How can unrighteousness prevent answered prayer if all gifts from God are by grace anyway? Hezekiah does not imply that he is a self righteous guy but he claims that he walked in the footsteps of God and that God would be the ultimate judge of his conduct. Upon this basis, he petitions the Lord for his healing as well as delivering the nation from oppression by a heathen king. God hears his prayer and promises deliverance as well his physical healing within 3 days. Peronsal righteousness is importat in getting answers from the Lord because then the Lord will open his mind to the prayers and answers them. An unrighteous person cannot have admission into His Holy presence and therefore, the prayers go unanswered. All God's gifts are by His grace only. We don't deserve anything good. Even then, those gifts that He gives, are for people who request them; they are the righteous people, saved by grace and allowed into His holy presence. They get the gifts and their prayers are answered.

Q3. Why is Hezekiah's healing important for his nation? How did it relate to God's promises to David? At a time when the nation was facing a threat of war, and there was still no successor for Hezekiah, his good health meant a lot. For the continuation of the kingdom, Hezekiah had to be healed. They were troubled times. Everything was uncertain. At a time like this, a Godly king who walked in the way of the Lord had to continue. Otherwise, the nation would perish. But God had promised King David that his line would not finish and out of this line God would ultimately provide a Savior to the whole World. What a great promise. And God's promises will not fail. So it was destined that Hezekiah would ultimately recover and would have an heir apparent to continue his line. So the Lord's promises to King David would continue down the line through the life of Hezekiah, even today. The totality of this whole episode is that God would surely honor His promises made to His children, but we need to be in the purview of the will of God to enjoy the proximity and close connections of God and enjoy His works in our lives.

Q2. (19:15) How do the first two sentences of Hezekiah's prayer (verse 15) correspond to the first sentence of the Lord's Prayer? How are they important to faith? How are they important to God answering the prayer? Hezekiah recognised the Lord God for who He really is, just as Jesus Christ knew God. He is the Lord of Hosts, dwelling in the most High places, exalted and lifted high among men. That is the due place to be given to God in our worship time and in our practical living. Recognising God for who He is and what He does in our lives add to the increase of our faith life. Our faith in a God who is above all and who can do anything for His children. When our faith in this God is unshakeable, God honors those prayers and answers them. In effect, we learn to pray in the will of God knowing that God who is the supreme ruler and controller of all things, will surely honor a prayer of faith.

Q1. (19:14) What is the significance of Hezekiah spreading out the enemy's message before the Lord? What is the underlying principle illustrated here? How can we apply this principle to our own lives? What happens when we don't apply this principle? Hezekiah did a very practical thing. He knew very well that this problem cannot be solved by armies or swords. This is a real gigantic problem which only the Lord God can solve. So the logical thing that he does is to go to the Lord with the message from the enemy and practically reads the letter to the Lord. The basic principle is to determine who we are. If we think that we are the children of the most High God, which He promises in John 1:12, then we have the assurance that our Father in heaven can take care of the bullies that rag us and tease us. Its a basic human reaction to run to our parents when troubles come. Every Christian should apply this basic principle and hand over the problems to our Father in Heaven. We need not bother to investigate and discuss the pros and cons and try to work out a solution depending on our own strength and capacity. That will be dishonoring the Lord and His strength. When we try to solve the problems ourselves, we end up running deeper into the maze and hopelessly get entangled that it is impossible to get out of the mess. We end up having high tensions, BP and all accompanying physical ailments that shift our focus from Jesus to the problems on hand. We need to make a mental note that everytime a problem crops us, its best to take it to the Lord in prayer and He will take care of things according to His promises. His promises are true and they fail not.

Q4. Why is a person's attitude with regard to giving related to that person's attitude towards praise? Why does an attitude of possessiveness with regards to giving get in the way of worship? In what sense do all your possessions belong to God? What then should be your relationship to your possessions? How will these truths re-energize your giving? Your praise? Giving is a sign of thanksgiving. A sign of a contented heart. When my heart is contented and thankful, I give praise to God naturally. So when God gives me in abundance, then my heart is filled with gratitude and I give praises to God along with my tithes and offerings. Possessiveness is a selfish attitude. It goes against the principle of giving. When someone doesn't want to give, naturally his heart is filled with worldly and selfish thoughts. There is no place in his mind about worship and thanksgiving as all the time his thoughts are on his possessions. Jesus said, where your money is, there will your mind be. So, his preoccupation with acquiring and holding possessions doesn't leave him with time to worship and praise. God is the giver of all gifts. He gives us strength to earn our daily bread and also our wealth. When we become conscious of this fact, then we will be in a position to realise that everything belongs to God as He is the source of all the good gifts. When we realise that all things belong to God, we won't go back to give him our all. Our relationship to our possessions will drastically alter. We won't go back to offer our possessions for the sake of the gospel as well as our worship and praise. Our mind is occupied by Jesus and we would definitely want to please Him and honor Him with everything that we have.

Q3. Verses 11 and 12 both attribute various characteristics to God, such as glory, honor, and might. How might you begin to mention God's greatness in your own prayers? Where is this kind of praise found by example in the Lord's Prayer? What are your favorite songs that point to God's greatness? Each individual is different. We use different terms to praise and worship God. But the English language has some common terms to exalt the name of the Lord. Almighty, Powerful God, Omniscient God, Holy One, Everlasting Merciful God etc are some of the terms that I use personally. The Lord Jesus in His model prayer said Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed by Thy Name, Thy kingdom come. Even Jesus, being the son of God, acknowledged the greatness of His Father and metioned that in his model prayer. There are so many of them: Great is Thy faithfulness; How great Thou art; Holy -3 Lord God Almighty; Immortal, Invisible God only high; Majesty worship His Majesty; Ascribe greatness to the Lord our God etc.,

Q2. In what way does praise exalt God? Why should we exalt God? What does this exaltation do in us? What does it say about us? Praise places God where He belongs. High in a place we look up to!! Exalted means lifted up. We lift up our hands in a symbol of worship. That's placing God on a high pedestal and bowing down before Him. We should always exalt God because He deserves it. He is the source of everthing we have. Our life, possessions, talents, accomplishments, everything we have is because of Him as He gave them to us. So its natural and proper that we place everything before Him and accept His authority over us in our lives. This exaltation places us in the proper perspective. "God above, man below", as one songwriter puts is. Accept Him as our whole and sole provider and take our position at His feet. This position brings an attitude of humility in us. It makes us humble and reminds us of who we are in His sight. Though we are dust and of no consequence, yet God, in His grace, has given us the blessed privilege of being called His children. This brings about a feeling of togetherness. We belong to each other. One family. What a great feeling to know that I belong to the family of God. It just says that we are a blessed people. Though made out of dust, we are more precious than the most precious stones. Gives us more reason to praise, adore, glorify and exalt God in our lives.

Q1. In what way do our prayers of praise "bless" God? What do we mere humans have that God desires in a blessing? What are prayers like, that don't include blessing God? Praising and honoring God is a way of blessing God. When we lift our hands in worship and total surrender, that attitude is a way of blessing God, with which He is happy. God is honored when we give our everything to Him in praise and adoration. When we pray to God, He wants our total attention to Him. Total means our mind, body and spirit in unison, praising Him in totality. That is blessing God. Attitude means a lot to our Father in heaven. He looks to the attitude of our hearts when we come to Him to pray. When our tongue, mind and spirit are united in praising God, that is a perfect attitude that God desires when we bless Him, so to speak. Blessing is giving away. What do have to give to the Almighty God? Except our praises and adoraton!!! Prayers that don't include blessing God are fake prayers, uttered just with the tongue, without the involvement of the mind and spirit. They are just a blabbering of flowery language. Nothing more than that, which most hypocritical christians do. God forbid that we fall a prey to such pretentious prayers, which accomplish nothing. In fact, they don't even clear the roof under which they are uttered. Let us abstain from such frivolous activity!!!