Acceptable and Biblical forms of prayer?

It seems to me that you've put up a pretty good barrier against prayers you don't like.

Let's start with "vain repetition." The key is "vain." You use an "outline" of the Lord's Prayer. I suppose that's to keep you from "vain repetition." To repeat Scripture, with the hope of learning from it and acknowledging it, is not vain. The Savior has taught you how to pray. It's only vain if you don't mean it.

The most sincere prayers I have every uttered have been repetitious. For a friend and for myself, I asked God repeatedly, incessantly, to grant something. In one case, he graciously granted it. In the other case he did not, despite hours of pleading and bargaining, and I am still learning how to live God's decision.

To seek a personal encounter with God may be either right or wrong. If it is only for your personal satisfaction, it may be wrong, but then again, it may not. If you want to have a deeper relationship with your wife or child, is that wrong? If you want to meet God as a way to serve him and your brothers and sisters, how can that be wrong?

Prayer is meeting God on his terms, not yours. But he is gracious and understands your weaknesses. Pray and let him lead you to where you need to go, not where you want to go.

 

Do not consider me an expert on prayer. All I can tell you is what I have experienced.

Should we seek a sign? In Matthew 16, Christ is being taunted by the Pharisees. They had no interest in what Christ might reveal. That is not the case for those who have put their faith in Christ. Didn't Gideon ask God for a sign to understand what he was to do?

But you are right to be cautious in seeking a sign. We mere mortals are eager to interpret anything that comes our way as a sign. Often we seek a sign when the clear teaching of Scripture tells us what we should do but we would rather not do it. Sometimes we seek a sign when God has not made it clear what we are to do and we decide what we should do and are enlisting God for what we want to do.

And sometimes "we receive a sign" and use it to enrich ourselves and deceive the faithful into joining their fraud.

Pray as you will. Tell God the desire of your heart. You will not always receive the answer you want, but as you pray you will approach God in a way that will please you and God.