Is there a certain way to pray?

 

What a great question! I am going to start by asking another question: WHAT IS PRAYER?

The most basic answer from a Christian perspective is this: prayer is talking to God. But you cannot talk to someone that you don’t believe exists. You need to believe that God exists and that He sent His son Jesus to die and rise again for sinners.

Okay, so we believe God exists. How should we pray then?

Jesus once told his followers:

“This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
 Give us today our daily bread.
 And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
 And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from the evil one.’” Matthew 6:9-13 NIV

Pretty simple, right? Yes, but this tells us certain things to pray for. We certainly can pray this prayer. I would encourage everyone to read each line and think about what it all means. It is a very good list of things to pray for.

But the original question was “IS THERE A CERTAIN WAY TO PRAY?”  I like to look to the book of Psalms to answer this question. In our own lives, we often want to ask God for things, but we think He wouldn’t care or that we have no right to ask Him anything. But the Psalms have many, many examples of a person talking to God in all kinds of situations. Are you sad and feel neglected? Are you excited and want to worship God? Do you feel like enemies are about to ruin you? Are you feeling horrible because of the guilt of your sin? There are examples of people in these situations pouring their hearts out to God. And you know what? These example are for those of us who believe in God. We can talk to Him about ANYTHING. We can bring any request to Him. Read Psalms chapters 42 and 43 to see examples of a writer asking God why He has rejected him!

Hebrews 4:16 says “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” If you are a believer, you can approach God with confidence. That means you can PRAY to Him at any time an in any place!

The simple answer to the question, “is there a certain way to pray” is this: if you are a believer in Jesus, come to God confidently and share the depths of your heart with him. He is our creator and loving Father. Sometimes He answers no, but He does listen to His children. Cry, laugh, yell, scream, whisper. He hears you and He knows your heart.

I’ve heard it said that prayer doesn’t change God. So why pray then? When we pray to God, it changes US. We often want things that are not good for us or things that are clearly against what God says is right. During prayer, I often realize that I need to change what I’m asking for, or sometimes I realize I am in sin. God will often use our prayer time to redirect our hearts and minds to the right things.

Read through the Psalms. Pay attention to how David and the other writers talk to God. This has been the greatest example I’ve seen to teach me how to pray.

Remember, God’s all sovereign…

Where did dinosaurs come from?

               Genesis chapter 1 tells us that God created all things. Chapter 1, verse 20 through 23 it says,  

“And God said, ‘Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.’ 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.’ 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.” 

  On the 5^th day God created swimming and flying animals.  And then verses 24-25, it says,

“And God said, ‘Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.’ And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.”

  That was on the 6^th day.

What can we learn from this? We know there were “dinosaurs” that swam in the oceans, flew in the skies, and walked on the land. So these creatures would have been created on the 5^th and 6^th days of the creation week. 

But why don’t we see any living dinosaurs today? When God judged the earth with the flood in Genesis we find some clues. The story is found in Genesis 6:9 through 9:17. In chapter 7 Noah was commanded to take pairs of animals on to the Ark. It is not unreasonable to think that dinosaurs were included. They didn’t have to be full grown giant t-rexes or giant full-grown brontosauruses. They were very likely small, maybe even babies of these kinds of dinosaurs. Also, keep in mind that the Bible does not name all the kinds of animals that were taken onboard the Ark.  Well, when the flood destroyed the living creatures on the Earth, many were swept away and buried instantly, creating the fossils that we see today. 

So why don’t we see dinosaurs today? Some of the descriptions of the world in Genesis suggest that the atmosphere was different before the flood. The atmosphere changed after the flood. This likely caused many of the dinosaurs to die out over hundreds or more years. Sometimes scientists find creatures in the ocean that they thought went extinct long, long ago. So there are many unanswered questions that scientists today cannot answer.

Another Old Testament book gives us possible references to what may be dinosaurs. It is the book of Job. Bible scholars believe Job is the oldest book in the Bible. Not that its events are necessarily the oldest, but that whoever wrote it, wrote it before Moses wrote Genesis. The creatures that I am referring to MAY be dinosaurs. We just aren’t sure, but their descriptions could be some sort of dinosaurs. When God is talking to Job near the end of the book, God mentions “behemoth” and describes the creature. Here’s part of what He says,

15“Look at Behemoth,

    which I made along with you

    and which feeds on grass like an ox.

16 What strength it has in its loins,

    what power in the muscles of its belly!

17 Its tail sways like a cedar;

    the sinews of its thighs are close-knit.

18 Its bones are tubes of bronze,

    its limbs like rods of iron.

19 It ranks first among the works of God,

    yet its Maker can approach it with his sword.

20 The hills bring it their produce,

    and all the wild animals play nearby.

21 Under the lotus plants it lies,

    hidden among the reeds in the marsh.

22 The lotuses conceal it in their shadow;

    the poplars by the stream surround it.

23 A raging river does not alarm it;

    it is secure, though the Jordan should surge against its mouth.

24 Can anyone capture it by the eyes,

    or trap it and pierce its nose?”   Job 40:15-24 NIV

And also in Job chapter 41 God describes a creature called “leviathan.” Some of what God says about this creature is here,

^{12 “I will not fail to speak of Leviathan’s limbs,}

    ^{its strength and its graceful form.}

^{13 Who can strip off its outer coat?}

    ^{Who can penetrate its double coat of armor?}

^{14 Who dares open the doors of its mouth,}

    ^{ringed about with fearsome teeth?}

^{15 Its back has rows of shields}

    ^{tightly sealed together;}

^{16 each is so close to the next}

    ^{that no air can pass between.”  Job 41:12-16 NIV}

^{Again, these MAY be dinosaurs. Many Bible commentators say they are probably a hippopotamus or a crocodile. But the descriptions of behemoth and leviathan sound less like a hippo or a crocodile to me. They sound more like dinosaurs to me.}

So the short answer of the question, "where did dinosaurs come from" is:  Dinosaurs were created on the 5th and 6th days of the creation week. It is not unreasonable to think that Noah took very small dinosaurs of all kinds on the ark. After the great Flood the atmosphere of the earth changed and the dinosaurs (like many other types of animals) gradually went extinct. The book of Job may mention a couple of creatures that were dinosaurs. 

*A couple of books I looked at for reference:

Hamm, Ken, editor. The New Answers Book. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2006.

DeYoung, Donald B. Dinosaurs and Creation: Questions and Answers. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000.