Blog Post #4: Prayer

What are new things that you learned about prayer from this unit? Be specific.

This is an ACTS prayer, it explains what each part of
the prayer means.  This is one of the type of prayer
I learned this unit.

I learned many new prayers and information about prayer from this unit.  I learned that prayer can be anything from just talking to God, to meditating, to reading prayers from the Bible.  You don’t have to believe in God to pray.  You can pray through meditation, or being thankful for all that you have.  If you do believe in God, you can talk to him through prayer by telling him how thankful you are for all the blessings he gave you, asking for forgiveness, making an ACTS prayer, and doing so much more.  I learned what an ACTS prayer was.  The A stands for Adoration, the C stands for Confession, the T stands for Thanksgiving, and the S stands for Supplication.  Prayer is a way for people to step away from the stresses and things to do in their lives, and just focus on silence and relief.  Praying can make someone’s day so much better if they just take a few minutes and relieve themselves from everyday stress.  The last thing I learned was a new type of prayer called Lectio Divina, where we read Scripture and interpret what message God is trying to send to us.

Can you see yourself implementing any new prayer practices?

This is a picture of someone meditating, which is a type
of prayer I want to implement into my life.  This will
create peace and positivity in my life.

To be honest, I never really took the time out of my day to pray and just have a peaceful moment.  This unit has opened up my eyes to see that prayer is a very important thing for my life and it can improve my mind state and health.  I can see myself implementing meditation into (hopefully) my everyday life.  I want to take at least 5 minutes each day to just step away from everyday life and focus on peace and relaxation.  I also want to somehow communicate with God everyday.  Whether that be by telling him one thing I am thankful for, telling him my stresses, or by creating a simple ACTS prayer.  My overall goal is to have a less stressful life and a happy mind so I can make other people’s days happy.  Having less stress will be better for my health, which is why I want to start practicing doing different prayers everyday.

What were the main messages you got from the movie The Case for Christ?

I did not have the chance to watch the second half of the movie, but I did take away some messages from the first part of the movie.  One message I got was that everything happens for a reason.  In the beginning, the lady didn’t just happen to walk by to save the little girl by accident, she was there for a reason.  Everything in life has a reason, whether that event is big or small, it is in your life to shape your future.  Another message I got from the first part of the movie is that God is always with you, he never leaves you

These are virtues of love.  This movie showed that love
is overcoming differences and listening to you partner,
no matter what the circumstances.

.  One scene from the movie displayed this message, which was when Leslie explained how she felt so distant from God.  The lady explained that Leslie shouldn’t feel distant from God because he is alway with her guiding her through life.  The last message I got from the movie is that someone’s beliefs shouldn’t dictate a relationship.  Someone’s opinions shouldn’t dictate your love for a person, because if you truly love that person it wouldn’t matter what their beliefs are.  You should accept what they believe, even if you don’t believe in the same things, and move past the situation.

What new things did you take away about yourself from this unit, perhaps from Lectio Divina, the Gratitude class, the meditation, or the movie?

This unit has brought to my attention the many blessings
that I have in my life and how thankful I should be to God
for everything.

From this unit, I took away many things about myself.  I found that I don’t pray as much as I should because prayer is such an important thing to have in life.  Before, I thought that I didn’t need to pray everyday, but now I realize it is an important practice to have because I can benefit from it in so many ways.  I also learned that I take many of the blessings I have for granted.  God has given us humans so many beautiful things that we should be thankful for, and I feel that sometimes I forget the things that he gave me.  I should be more thankful for what I have because many people don’t have the joy that I have because of the blessings that I have.  The last thing I took away about myself from this unit is that I put too much stress on myself.  I have to balance sports and school and feel like I have to do more than my best in all my classes.  I have to put less stress on myself and take away some of my stress through meditation or doing some type of prayer during the day.

“Best 25+ Acts Prayer Ideas on Pinterest | Christian Prayers, Faith Prayer and Daily Prayer.”Pinterest, 

        www.pinterest.com/explore/acts-prayer/.

“Meditation Classes & Studio | The DEN Meditation, Los Angeles.” The DEN Meditation, denmeditation.com/.

www.chicagonow.com/six-brown-chicks-media/2016/08/how-long-is-too-long-to-wait-for-true-love/.

“Counting Your Blessings.” Benny Hinn Ministries, 2 Sept. 2015, www.bennyhinn.org/counting-your-blessings/.