Friday, August 30, 2019

Monthly Question Page

Q. Is there anything in the Bible to support the practice of conversational prayer? This is where one person starts by praying for something, and then another prays for something else, and so on, around the circle.

A. There seems to be no principle in Scripture to support this kind of prayer. However, there are some things that can be considered, which indicate that it is not a good practice.

For instance, does it involve women? The Bible states, “I will therefore that men pray everywhere” (2 Timothy 2:8). The men is in contrast to the women in the next verse. There is no verse that would encourage women to pray publicly in the presence of men.

What God encourages more than anything else is private prayer. “Thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret” (Matthew 6:6). Also, the Bible mentions prayer in the family: “Husbands … giving honour unto the wife … that your prayers be not hindered” (1 Peter 3:7).

While we don’t want to discourage prayer in any way, we must be careful not to take up with methods for which we have no Scriptural basis.

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