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Using Prayer for Effective Living
 
How?  By living your theistic worldview, by using prayer so you can be used more effectively by God and therefore are living more effectively.   We also can view this as using prayer for problem solving when it's defined broadly:  if a problem is an opportunity to make things better in any area of life, you are problem solving whenever you are trying to make things better, and you can use prayer for problem solving (for making things better) in all of your living, in your feeling-thinking-doing.     {problem solving includes almost everything you do}

 


 

AN OVERVIEW
 
Living a Worldview:  A person's worldview is their view of the world, used for living in the world.  A person who is a theist — who believes (unlike an atheist) that God exists, and (unlike a deist) that God actively “does things” in the world — has a theistic worldview.  But in everyday thinking-and-actions, if a theist lives as if God is not active, they are not living their worldview, they are not using "their view of the world" {or at least the view they claim to believe} for "living in the world."  Instead they are using an atheistic-deistic worldview {so is this what they actually believe?} for their everyday living.   /   In a theistic worldview, the most important view-of-life is actually believing – by actualizing your belief in your thinking-deciding-doing, when you're actually living by faith that “what happens” depends on what you do (in your praying and in your other actions) plus what God does.     { applications in education? }

 

Why am I writing about prayer?
Here are two answers, general and personal:
 
Relationships: God + (you + a neighbor)

Generally, I have faith that theists will live better when they live their worldview, and I'm hoping this page will encourage them to ask God for help with everything they do — especially with their problem-solving activities when they're trying to “make things better” — because they believe that God can help them improve their problem-solving skills & results, and He will help them improve so together (God + them) they can “make things better” more effectively.  During everyday living, every theist should want to always include God, by asking for His help with all of their thinking-and-actions, with their situations and relationships.  But too often we try to live without God, as shown when you move your mouse over the upper-left part of the diagram.    {more about living with God or without God}

Relationships without God: just (you + a neighbor)This “living without God” – by not living my theistic worldview – is what I want to avoid, and hope you want to avoid.

 

Personally, I (Craig Rusbult) have been motivated to write this page (during life on a road less traveled) by remembering many experiences of thinking “oops” after I did an ineffective decision-and-action, and then asking “why was it ineffective?” and “why did I make this unwise decision?” so I could learn more from my failure-experience, to help improve my decisions-and-actions in the future.  When asking “why?” my usual answer-for-self was “not enough attention-to-process and/or not enough prayer.”  I had failed because I wasn't effectively doing problem-solving process and/or I wasn't effectively praying (as one part of living my worldview).     {using prayer to improve problem-solving process & more}

 

my self-evaluations:  I feel competent in writing about prayer.  But I'm only a semi-competent learner in doing prayer, am just trying to improve, to be teach-able so I can learn.  I'm justifiably humble about my praying, am certainly not feeling “holier than thou, so let me show you how.”

my continuing process:  I'm still "trying to improve" because I haven't fully actualized internally (in my feelings, thoughts & decisions) and externally (in my actions) the principle of Exodus 17:11 where we see that “what happens” depends on what we do plus what God does, with human actions (Moses praying & Joshua fighting)* plus God's influencing-of-results.  God wants me (as part of us) to wisely combine what I do with what He does.  Although I realize that based on the biblical principle of “my actions + God's actions” I should be using more time for prayer, when I'm feeling overly busy – thinking “too much to do, not enough time” – often I want to use more of the available time for my actions, so I can get more done.  Instead, more often I should be living my theistic worldview by humbly acknowledging the central importance of theistic actions, so we (me + God) can get more done – and do it better – by using more time for praying.    /   * the praying actions (of Moses) and other actions (of Joshua) are both human actions.    {more about our actions + God's actions}

 

options:  You can read a 1-page Overview.  And you can put this page into its own window (so it spans the full width of your browser, which is useful if you're viewing on a small-screen phone or tablet);  or put it into a left-side frame with a supplementary page on the right side, so this page remains open (on the left side) when you click its links.

 

Problem Solving and Effective Living

What?  I define Problem broadly, as any opportunity to “make things better” in any area of life, so Problem Solving (when you do “make it better”) can include almost everything you do in life.  God wants to help you improve everything you do, so He wants to help you improve your problem solving in all areas of your life, so you can live more effectively, so you can be more effectively used by God.   {more}

When?  If you want to improve everything you do — and if you have a theistic worldview (so you believe that God actively “doing things” in the world & in your life) and if you believe that God will more effectively “do things to help you” when you pray — then you will want to "pray for everything," as Paul tells us in Philippians 4:6.   {but "pray for everything" doesn't mean praying constantly*}   {5slides(03-07) – i.e. 5 slides (numbers 3,4,5,6,7) in my PowerPoint Outline for an academic talk in 2018}   {more and more about living with God vs living without God}

Why?  God wants you to cooperate with Him, to help Him "make things better" in the ways He wants, to pursue His goals that usually (especially if you are abiding in God) also are your goals, but not always.  For a theist who is praying, the proper attitude is wanting to be used by God, not wanting to use God.  Effective Living, as defined by God, is for you to BE what God wants, and DO what God wants.  Therefore, your Effective Living will "improve" when you are moving closer to becoming the person God wants you to BE, and you are being more effective (with the actions you DO) in helping God achieve His goals.*  If you do this consistently, you can look forward to God asking “what did you do with the life I gave you, with your abilities-and-opportunities?” and hearing Him say "Well done, good and faithful servant! ... Come and share your master’s happiness!"  You will be a productive partner in The Kingdom of God now during Life (by submitting to His authority as Your King, putting Him “on the throne of your Life”) and later during Afterlife in God's Heaven-Kingdom.  Jesus is your Friend (yes, "what a friend we have in Jesus") who loves you, wants you to love Him, and to have a loving relationship with each other;  Jesus also is your Lord (ruling over your life), and your life will be better when you willingly & consistently submit to His lordship by “putting Him on the throne of your Life” in your praying and living.    {what are the connections between joy and faith & being thankful for your life-situation?}   {3slides(16,24-25)}   {more}

What?  * Prayer will help you to BE and DO (what God wants you to be, and do) and also to love Him and be loved by Him.  God wants to improve the depth & quality of your relationship with Him.   /   This is a wonderful opportunity, graciously given to us by God.  It's one of the most important results of prayer, to help us fulfill The Greatest Commandment, to fully love God with our hearts-and-minds, in our feelings, thoughts, actions.

How?  God solves problems – to make things better in the ways He wants – by using a combination of what we do plus what He does, as illustrated in Exodus 17:11 with human actions (Moses praying + Joshua fighting)* plus God's influencing-of-results.   God's influencing-of-results can produce effects that are internal (by affecting your heart and mind, influencing what you feel & think & do) and external (by affecting other people, and situations);  all of these divinely-produced effects can lead to better results.   God wants you to wisely combine what He does and what you do, to do praying-actions as if everything depended on Him, and do other productive actions — wisely chosen, based on what you have learned from the Bible and from your experiences in life, and your accurate real-time awareness of your current situation and what God is wanting you to do — as if everything depended on you, with your current thinking-deciding-doing supported by your praying.     {* notice that praying actions and other productive actions are both human actions}     /     One purpose of prayer is your personal acknowledging — certainly to God, and maybe to people (if they know you are praying) — that you believe He is affecting “what happens” and you are inviting His active participation in the world, you are wanting him to influence-the-results in ways that are both internal & external.     {a counter-example:  a "personal acknowledging" of God's theistic actions was consciously rejected when the author of Inner Tennis decided “I've got this now, God” and later, in a more important rejection, when he decided to reject his earlier theistic worldview by changing his view of “God” to “my unconscious inner self” so he could exclude God from his new non-theistic worldview of his own Inner Game.}   {more about human+divine cooperative collaboration, with human actions + divine actions}

How?  * Usually you want to focus on your human actions while you are doing them, so you can do them better.  Therefore, "pray for everything" (as described above) doesn't mean pray constantly.  Instead, one way to improve your actions (what you think-and-do) is to optimally regulate your thinking, including your thinking about God.   You should not "pray constantly" unless...   {unless your praying lets you "focus on your human actions," as explained in more about two kinds of praying, plus self-regulating your thinking, and using the different benefits of praying before, during, and after your actions. }     {5slides(19-23)}

 

What is Your Process of Praying?   I say "Your Process of Praying" – not “THE Process of Praying” – because prayer is basically just being with God (to enjoy, listen, talk, think,...) and the ways you do this (as decided by you and Him) are different than how another person does it.  And each person will use different ways of praying in different situations.  There is no “correct formula” for praying, because a process-of-prayer depends on who is praying, and their situation, so there are many ways to pray.   {6slides(16,19-23)}   {more & more}

What is Your Process of Problem Solving?   As with prayer, I say "Your Process of Problem Solving" – not “THE Process of Problem Solving” – because there is no “correct formula” for problem solving.  But there are strategies for how to use problem-solving actions more effectively, with goal-directed flexible improvisation, to form a problem-solving process that is analogous to the goal-directed flexibly improvised actions of a hockey player, but is not like the rigidly choreographed actions of a figure skater.   {8slides(10-13,15,28-30)}   {more - 3 Perspectives on Problem-Solving Process}

 

What happens?  Does praying really help you make things better?

Based on reading the Bible & believing it – and my personal experiencing of “evidence” for God's activity – I think the answer is YES.*  If you're a theist who is living your worldview, you should believe that what happens will depend on what you do plus what God does, and that both parts will improve when you pray, that

what you do will be better when you pray for your process, and for your thinking, because...

    • when you ask God for help with your process of problem solving, asking “what should I do now?” (so you are paying attention to your process, and are listening for guidance from God), you are more likely to DO each part of an effective problem-solving process — by choosing a worthy problem (so you're using your time wisely),* getting accurate understanding (with situation-knowledge & people-empathy) and doing creative-and-critical productive thinking — and doing each part of the process will help you design a problem-solution that is effective because it's a good way to make things better.   /   Ben Franklin said "time is the stuff life is made of" and using time wisely is an important part of using life wisely, as a grateful response to God's giving-of-life to you;  one strategy for using time well is asking "what is the best use of my time right now?"}   {more & more};  and
    • when you ask God for help with your thinking (in each part of the process), God can provide insights to help you think more productively.
 

what God does will be better when you pray, because...

    • when you ask God for help through His influencing-of-results, thus acknowledging God's ability to "make things better" through His actions, He is more likely to do what you ask, if doing this will help Him pursue His goals for you and for others.
 

And...

    • when you pause to pray, this “take a break” interlude can be naturally refreshing for your mind and body.
    {more}   {1slide(27)}
 

* I say “YES, praying does help” but do I really believe this?  During times when I'm not praying enough, am I really believing that “YES, praying does help” and living this worldview-belief ?  And if not, why not?  During times of not-enough-prayer, usually I'm overly busy, feeling “too many things to do and not enough time,” so to “get more time” I just DO instead of PRAY-and-DO.  But a better strategy for using prayer (and using time) — if I have faith that "results of prayer" (below) will (above) be better — is with DOING plus PRAYER, with DOING based on PRAYING, because I have faith that my two human actions (PRAY, DO) will make the combination of human actions + divine actions more effective.

How can these unwise decisions — to "just DO instead of PRAY-and-DO" in an effort to "get more time" — be changed?   Currently I have a two-part strategy:  self-persuasion with reasons for praying (as described in this page) to persuade myself that praying does help;  and putting prayers on my daily list of exercises-to-do because "when I'm paying attention to the list I usually do the exercises [and prayers], but I usually don't when I'm ignoring the list."

 

What are some results of prayer?

When you pray, God can help you improve – can help you BE what He wants, and DO what He wants – in many ways, including...

    your character, when you "hunger and thirst for righteousness" so you want to "be transformed" by God, because you want to become the person He wants you to be, and (with your continuing cooperation) He is doing this transformation, to help you improve your fruits of the Spirit – your love, joy, kindness, humility, self-control,...  {whats-and-hows of improving character, from the Bible}   {connections between having faith and being thankful and being joyful}
    your relationships, both interpersonal (with God & people) and intrapersonal (with yourself);  one aspect is
    your understandings of God, self, and other people,
    your understandings of life-situations (as with “court vision in basketball”),
    your compassion for others,
    your love for God and people (in The Love Commandments, 1st & 2nd) actualized in your attitudes, relationships, and actions,
    your wisdom in making decisions about actions;   for situations with people, pray for empathy and self-empathy, asking “what do they want? what do I want?” and “how might we achieve a better win-win result?”;   for effective use of your time (and thus your life, given to you by God), ask “what should I do now? and later?”
    your thinking-and-actions now (in the present) and, if you are learning from your experiences, later (in the future),   {more}
    the results of how your thinking-and-actions affect the life-situations of others & yourself, because the overall results of your thinking-and-actions depend on what you do and what God does.   So... are you-and-God “making it better” for you and for others, in the short term & long term?
   {more}   {1slide(26)}

 


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Supplementing the Overview

Above, my Overview is intended to "explain what IS and ISN'T being proposed by me, to avoid misunderstandings."  In the rest of this page, the main purpose is to explain some aspects of "what is and isn't" more deeply, AND (although The Overview is more thorough overall) to introduce a few extra ideas that then are explored more deeply in the right-side page, Pray so you can Love More Effectively`.

 

an update:  In February 2024, I streamlined this page by moving some of “the rest of it” into another page.

The sections that remain are...  Theistic Worldviews  —  Tough Questions for Education  —  Problem Solving and Prayer (with Process of Prayer & Purposes of Prayer and Human Actions plus Divine Actions and Pray for Your Problem-Solving Process)  —  Does prayer help you improve?  (yes, but we should have Appropriate Humility)  —  Can you pray constantly? (and should you?) (how?  by self-regulating your thinking & praying)  —  Three Overviews (Similar yet Different),

and sections that have been moved are...  EVIDENCE (does praying really help you improve?)  —  3 Perspectives on Problem-Solving Process.

 


 

general Theistic Worldviews:  This page probably will be more relevant-and-useful for people who, like me, have a theistic worldview (especially a Christian theistic worldview)* so we believe that God can help us live better in every area of life.

Christian Theistic Worldviews:  Above (in the Overview) I describe prayer for generic theistic worldviews, but below it's often described in the context of Christian theistic worldviews.

  Diversity in Theistic Worldviews:  * Here, instead of “The Christian Theistic Worldview”, I say "a Christian theistic worldview" that varies from one person to another, when personal variations are combined with the essential Bible-based principles that should be shared by all Christians.  These Christian theistic worldviews are similar, in many ways but not all, to Judeo-Christian theistic worldviews or Judaic theistic worldviews or (with more diversity) general theistic worldviews.     {as a Christian, do I think that God also helps non-Christians?}   {what about secular “mindful meditation” in public schools?}

 


 

Tough Questions for Education:

The ideas in this page, about Using Prayer for Effective Living (overview), are appropriate-and-useful in some educational situations, but not others.

In a private school that is theistic-religious, should we explicitly encourage theistic-religious praying?   if not, why not?   or if yes (as I suggest), how? {by using what kinds of explanations & activities, in what settings:  in classrooms and/or chapel services, and/or...?}   {1slide(17)}

In a public school, should we encourage (or even allow) religious praying that is Christian, Judeo-Christian, Jewish, Islamic, generically monotheistic, or generically religious?  {will our answers differ for public prayers heard by all students, or in what we say about optional voluntary silent-praying by individual students during generic “quiet times”?}     should we encourage activities like mindful meditation that claim to be non-religious but are similar to prayer in some ways?   should theists meditate? and if yes (as I suggest), and (because some ways are better than others) how?     {more and more}   {1slide(18)}

 


 

Problem Solving and Prayer

Almost everything you do is problem solving — if a problem is defined very broadly as "any opportunity, in any area of life, to make things better" — and always, but especially when you pray, God can help you use a process of problem solving to "make things better" in many ways, for yourself and for other people, so you can cooperate with God to achieve His purposes for you and for them.  God can help you improve your performing (so you think-and-do better now) and/or learning (so you will think-and-do better later, after you have learned from your experiences) and/or enjoying, in any area of life{performing + learning + enjoying}     {IOU - In early-2023, maybe I'll describe a very wide variety of everyday activities – including almost everything you do – that I define as problem solving.}

 

Relationships: God + (you + a neighbor)Life with God?  Do you want to live with God or without God?  Each of us should want to always live with God by always including Him (with our praying and in other ways, with our thinking-and-actions) during all of our human situations and human relationships.  Relationships without God: just (you + a neighbor)But too often we live without God, as shown when you move your mouse over the upper-left part of the diagram.   {more about living with God or without God}   {but praying for everything does not mean praying constantly}

Examples of “living with God” and then “living without God” come from Inner Tennis: Playing the Game, where its author describes a change in his thinking:

    I had reached a kind of resolution to my problem.  I was then going through a religious phase in my adolescence, and I decided to put the question of winning and losing entirely in God's hands.  Before every match I prayed, "Whatever you want, God, is okay with me. It's up to you." ..... [then when he could win a major match with one more point, Timothy Gallwey thought...]  Thank you very much, God, for your help, I said to myself.  I can take it from here!"  What happened in the match, and later in his life?   {more of the story – and my thoughts about it}

 

Process of Prayer:  How do people pray?  This depends on the person, and their situation, so there are many ways to pray.  But they're all variations of a simple process.  Basically, praying is just “being with God” to enjoy, talk, listen.   {my second page about problem-solving prayer has more about process of prayer}   {an edifying sermon is Growth in Prayer (32:02) by Mike Safford, and soon (iou) I will summarize ideas from it, to share with you here;  Mike also has messages about finding the will of God}   {and you can pray for wisdom about your praying, by asking God to help you learn how you can pray more effectively.}

 

Purposes of Prayer:  God wants you to help Him "make things better" in the ways He wants, to pursue His goals for The Kingdom of God.  His goals also will be your goals (usually but not always) IF you are placing Him on the throne of your life, with a Christ-Directed Life.  With the proper attitude of a disciple, you should want to be used by God, instead of wanting to use God.     { Rich Nathan, explaining Why Christians Pray, says "Christian prayer invites Jesus Christ into a situation to do what He wants to do." }

Joy & Faith & Being Thankful for your Life-Situation:  Whether or not a Christian has obvious reasons to be thankful, being thankful is a good way to feel.  It's essential for joy, as described in a web-page about living with joy as a Christian: "joy is a deep-seated sense of happiness in what God has done and what He is doing,” and looking forward with faith to what He will do;  it's being contented with what God is doing in your life, willing to thank God for your life-situation.  Basically, it’s having a "thankful heart" and is a key part in Paul’s description of how to thankfully-and-joyfully live by faith, in Philippians 4:4-7, "Celebrate joyfully in the Lord, all the time. …  Don’t worry about anything. Pray about everything.  With a thankful heart, offer up your prayers and requests to God.  Then the peace of God, surpassing all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

 

Effective Living, as defined by God:  When you pray, many kinds of purpose-goals are possible, because God can help you in many ways;  you-and-God, with cooperative interactions, can use prayer to "make it better" in all aspects of life, for you and for others, in the short term & long term.  Therefore you can have a wide variety of goals for your praying.  Also, God will have His own goals for your praying;  if you are “in tune” with God, usually His goals will be similar to your goals, but won't be identical.  {what about prosperity promises?}   Many kinds of purpose-goals are possible because God can help you improve your problem-solving process, and your decisions & actions;   and your relationship with Him;   and your character, so you will have better attitudes toward God & people, with better motives and goals;   and the results, both internally (re: what happens within you) and externally (re: what happens in life, for you & others) because "what happens" depends on...

 

Human Actions plus Divine Actions:  Instead of claiming “God will make you live better,” theists believe "God can help you live better" because what happens depends on your human actions plus God's divine actions, as with Moses-and-Joshua plus God in Exodus 17:11. ("whenever Moses raised his hand [to acknowledge God's divine actions and ask for His blessing on their human actions], the battle went well for Israel;  but whenever he lowered his hand to rest, Amalek began to win.")   The results of your thinking-and-actions depend on what you do plus what God does.  An essential interaction between these two levels-of-action occurs when — in an effort to “get help” for your own Human Actions when you're trying to solve problems so you can "make things better" for yourself and others — you decide to...    

 

Pray for Your Problem-Solving Process:  Christians believe that God will help us more often, and more effectively, when we ask for help.  If you believe this, you can pray for every part of your problem-solving process, from beginning to end.  Of course, you also can pray for every part of your praying process, asking God to help you learn how to pray more effectively.

Why should you pray for your process, and how?  When you pray, asking God for help with your process of problem solving, two good things happen:

because you have asked for help, God is more likely to help you improve your thinking, AND you are paying attention to your process, so you will try to think productively by getting accurate understanding and doing creative-and-critical thinking, by asking...

     “what is the best use of my time? (i.e. what should I be doing, in my efforts to make things better?)” to choose a Problem-Objective,

     and while you're trying to solve this Problem, “what should I do next, in my goal-directed flexibly improvised decisions about how to solve this problem?”,

     and “can I think more effectively in creatively Generating Ideas and critically Evaluating Ideas?”,

     and for problems involving people, “what do they want? what do I want?” with empathy & self-empathy, and “how might we achieve a better win-win result?”

While you're thinking about (and praying for) your Problem-Solving Process, you may find it useful to use a checklist for Problem-Solving Actions.

 


 

Will prayer help you improve?

Earlier, I say YES because I think that when Christians ask God for help during a process of problem solving, our praying will help us improve in many ways,* when...

     God provides insights & guidance, 

     we pay attention to our process of problem solving, with metacognition,

         and also because...

     God can influence our actions, and the results of our actions (as in Exodus 17:11),  and

     just taking time to relax usually is beneficial,  and

     just expecting to improve often brings improvement. (with a placebo effect)

 

* re: WHAT can be improved, the "many ways" include improving our character, understandings, compassion, love-in-action, and wisdom, now & later, plus the situation-results of our thinking & actions.

 

Yes, prayer will help us improve, but we should have...

 

Appropriate Humility

When you ask God for help, He will help you improve in many ways.  But you should have appropriate humility — not too little, and not too much — because although God is helping you improve, He will not make you perfect during your life on earth.  There is no “formula for total success” that is foolproof, because we sometimes behave like fools,* and (even when we're operating at our best) some problems are difficult, and some problems don't have a satisfactory solution because "making it better" doesn't make it totally satisfactory.  But even though we don't have a guarantee for an easy process or satisfactory solution, God does promise that your life — in your problem solving and in other ways — will be much better with Him than without Him.     {transformation and humility}

* One way to “behave like a fool” is to be arrogantly overconfident about answering a question that is justifiably controversial — because different answers are proposed by devout Bible-believing Christians who have diligently studied the question and what the Bible says about it, and have prayed — with an overconfidence shown by arrogantly declaring that “I prayed about this, so I have The Correct Answer, given to me by God.”

{more - imperfect transformations and examples of non-humble arrogance}

 


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Can you pray constantly?  (and should you?)

In the Overview I say,

Usually you want to focus on your human actions while you are doing them, so you can do them better.  Therefore, "pray for everything" doesn't mean pray constantly.  Instead, one way to improve your actions (what you think-and-do) is to optimally regulate your thinking, including your thinking about God.   You should not "pray constantly" unless...   {unless you are praying in a way that lets you "focus on your human actions," as explained [in this section]}
 

One kind of praying that "lets you focus on your human actions" is when you use your praying to...

dedicate your actions to serving God:  Paul describes this worldview-perspective in Colossians 3:23-24 and Romans 12:2, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart" because "it is the Lord Christ you are serving," so "offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to His service and pleasing to him."  Every day, you (and I) should live in ways that please God and bring glory to Him, that help Him achieve His goals;  in afterlife, when God asks “what did you do with the life I gave you?”, the way you lived will be your gift to God.  You can live more effectively, in ways that are pleasing to God, when you improve your use your praying to...

improve your decisions about WHAT to do (so you're more wise) and HOW to do it (so you're more effective):  What?  Ben Franklin observed that "time is the stuff life is made of."  This is true, so you want to make wise decisions about how you use your time, and thus your life.  God can help you make better decisions about WHAT to do when you ask Him for wisdom, with frequent quick prayers asking “what is the best use of my time right now?” and with longer prayers about long-range uses of your time and your life.   /   How?  You want to focus on your human actions while you are doing them (so you can do them better), but most kinds of prayer will hinder your focus

iou -- tomorrow (Nov 2) I'll continue developing this section, beginning with a radical revising of the secion below about Two Kinds of Abiding Prayer.  One idea i'll use is a quote from Jim Elliot, “Wherever you are, be all there! Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.” along with some scientific discoveries about the inefficiency of multi-tasking that typically decreases your effectiveness at doing each of the multiple tasks.

Dedication to Quality:  what to do, how to do it

 

Two Kinds of Abiding Prayer  —  Verbal (+ Consciously-Aware) and Non-Verbal

Abiding Verbal Prayer — with verbal expressions (in words, silently or aloud) of what you are thinking — cannot be done constantly during most Actions, and should not be done constantly.  Instead the Verbal Praying is done on-and-off (Prayer, Action, Prayer, Action,...) so it's multitasking with time-sharing, with attention shifting back & forth between Verbal Prayer & Action.

Abiding Non-Verbal Prayer — a nonverbal abiding with God that is practicing the presence of Godcan be done constantly during any Action, and it can "let you focus on human Actions" so it can help you live more effectively in all Life-Situations, including your Verbal Praying.   /   But should we consider non-verbal “practicing the presence of God” to be praying, or a way of life, or both?   Is it praying? yes, if prayer is being with God.  And yes, Abiding Prayer (including both non-verbal & verbal) should be your way of life because Jesus says "abide in Me" and Paul tells us to "pray without ceasing."  So... yes and yes, it's praying and is a way of life.

I.O.U. – The rest of this sub-section (about 3 kinds of abiding prayer) is very un-developed so there are lots of loose ends.  Maybe in late-2022, I'll develop it.

Abiding Consciously-Aware Prayer — when you are consciously aware of God [[some characteristics of verbal & non-verbal, focus (partially or totally) is on God so cannot give full attention-focus to Actions, but awareness isn't verbalizing -- zb, maybe with goal of fully loving God with heart-soul-mind-strength as in 1st Command?

both:  If abiding is your "way of life," your praying will include verbal abiding, so it's Abiding Verbal Prayer.  If you constantly do Abiding Prayer, you are doing some Verbal Abiding Prayer and some NonVerbal Abiding Prayer. / [[  {but what is the meaning of "pray without ceasing"? it cannot mean constantly 24-7 but it could be verbal prayer that is done “regularly with perseverance” or it could occur when some kind of praying (with one of 3) is literally done constantly without ceasing

 

Below is more about Verbal Prayer and Abiding Prayer.

 

Timings of On-and-Off Verbal Prayer:  To make Verbal Praying more useful for everything you do, you can use the different benefits of praying before, during, and after your actions.  Or, viewing from a different time-perspective, you can pray for actions in your future, present, and past, by...

    using prayer before your actions, asking God to help you improve the quality of your future actions,
   
and sometimes — but not always, because you want to regulate your thinking about your own thinking (using metacognition) and your thinking about God or your talking with God — using quick prayers (on-and-off) during your actions,* you can ask God to help you improve the quality of your current actions,
    and using prayer after your actions, you can ask God to improve the results of your past actions, and to help you learn more from your experiences so you can improve the quality of your future actions.
* During a typical Action Situation, short prayers are more useful than long prayers.  During an Action, or during a pause within the Action, you can quickly decide whether to “stop and pray” for 1 second, or 3 or 10 or more.   /   But in a longer-time Action Situation — as with an important decision you want to make in the next hour, or day, week, month — longer prayers can be very useful.
 

Effectiveness of On-and-Off Verbal Prayer:  Usually multitasking decreases the productivity of your Actions, but Prayer can help you be more productive so this kind of multitasking (by mixing Prayer with Action) can help you be more productive.  How?  You can use your praying more effectively when you do a Self-Regulation of Your Praying, similar to a...

 

Metacognitive Self-Regulation

your Self-Regulation of Your Thinking:  During an Action, sometimes you'll want to use metacognition — to think about your thinking — in an effort to improve your performing (in the present) and/or your learning (so you can perform better in your future).  And sometimes you'll want to minimize your metacognition so you can focus on your Action.  Deciding when to use metacognition (of a selected type & amount) and when to avoid metacognition — deciding when to “turn it on” and “turn it off” — is how you regulate your metacognition.

your Self-Regulation of Your Thinking is similar to...

your Self-Regulation of Your Praying:  During an Action, sometimes you'll want to Pray — to converse with God (to listen & talk), or just be with God — in an effort to improve your performing (in the present) and/or your learning (so you can perform better in your future).  And sometimes you'll want to minimize your verbal praying so you can focus on your Action.  Deciding when to use praying (of a selected type & amount) and when to avoid praying — deciding when to “turn it on” and “turn it off” — is how you regulate your praying.

For example, usually you don't want to "pray constantly" consciously with Verbal Prayer, because usually (in most life-situations) this won't be a strategy for thinking that is optimally effective for your performing and/or learning.  In addition to the usual kinds of metacognitive regulation (by choosing when to “think about your thinking”), now you also are regulating when you do & don't want to “think about God” (or “talk with God” or “consciously abide with God”) during your Action, while you are busy thinking-and-doing.

The title of this section asks "should we pray constantly?" and my answers are YES for Abiding Prayer (if it's done well), but NO for Verbal Prayer (it should be used on-and-off with wise self-regulation, and in some Action Situations you should avoid Verbal Prayer so you can focus on your Situation and your Actions).

 

Practicing the Presence of God (with Abiding Prayer) was made famous in a book by Brother Lawrence.  Pulpit Commentary describes Paul's "pray without ceasing" as "an exhortation to live in a devotional frame of mind.  It is impossible to be always on our bended knees, but we may be in the spirit of prayer when engaged in the duties of our earthly calling.  Prayer may be without ceasing in the heart which is full of the presence of God, and evermore communing with him."

 

MORE about Abiding Prayer & Verbal Prayer, about Multitasking and Regulation.

 


 

Three Overviews – Similar yet Different

For this topic – Using Prayer for Problem Solving – I've written three overviews:  a Web-Page Overview and 1-Page Outline and PowerPoint Overview.

Overall, I think the Web-Page Overview (above) will be more useful for more people.   It briefly explains the main ideas, so it's useful for getting a quick overview.  And if you click its links for "more" you can explore the ideas more deeply,  and then it also will be more complete, with many additional details.

 

Compared with this Web-Page Overview,...

The 1-Page Overview is shorter.  Its focus is more pastoral (because it was written as an outline-handout for a sermon), with nothing about Tough Questions for Education.  It's more useful for some purposes — to get a quick overview, and for convenient printing — but not others.

The PowerPoint Overview (made for my Talk plus Questions-and-Responses at an academic conference) has some additional details, even if you don't click links for "more".  It's intended to be self-contained, although it's very incomplete compared with the entire contents of my three web-pages.   Typically it has shorter sentences than in the Web-Page Overview;  each style of writing (with sentences that are shorter or longer) offers benefits, and you may prefer one or the other.

A reading strategy that you may find useful is to:

    • first read the 1-Page Overview,
    • then read the Web-Page Overview without clicking its links (unless something looks especially interesting),
    • and (if you want to continue exploring the ideas) read the PowerPoint Overview, and maybe the talk-Abstract,
    • and then (if you want) read the Web-Page Overview again, but this time clicking links whenever you want to explore.
 
And below here, the first paragraph describes how the rest of this page – Supplementing the Overview – will "explain some aspects... more deeply."

 

 Here is a “box with info about links, etc” that was in the Introduction but was moved to here in February 2022.  I'll revise it (by moving some of its content into "Three Overviews" or elsewhere) sometime before mid-2024.
This "gray box" is optional reading, so you can move on (if you want) to the rest of this OVERVIEW in the yellow area below.

The purpose of this “big picture” overview is to quickly-and-clearly explain what IS and ISN'T being proposed by me, to reduce misunderstandings.  Many ideas are explained more thoroughly when you click a link for "more" (in the last parts of this left-side page (after this yellow-boxed Overview) or in its right-side partner`)* or for "slides" (in my PowerPoint Outline – used in January 2018 for an academic Talk plus Q-and-A – that is similar to this Web-Page Overview, yet different).    Also, a shorter 1-page Overview is more pastoral (with more “for edification” and less “about education”) because it was used for a mini-sermon in May 2018, and for leading a home-group discussion in October 2018.     {more: a summary of pros & cons for my three overviews, in the sections you're now reading and in a PowerPoint and 1-page outline}

* Or instead of having both pages open you can open only one page – left or right – if you have a small-screen (on a phone or tablet).

 
Here are two possible strategies for reading:  you may want to...
  1a. read this Overview without clicking any links,  and then
  1b. re-read this Overview and, if you want to learn more, click links for "more" or "slides".
 
  2. first read the 1-page Outline, then do 1a-and-1b.
 

 

 

 


 

If you want to discuss any of these ideas,
you can contact me, <craigru178-att-yahoooo-daut-caum> ;
Craig Rusbult, PhD - my life on a road less traveled
 
Page-URL is https://educationforproblemsolving.net/design-thinking/mc-pr.htm
Copyright © 1978-2024 by Craig Rusbult.  All Rights Reserved.
 
This page is designed to be on the left side, so put it there.